ECS & Gigabyte motherboards (Intel P45 and P43)
Author:
Date: 04.12.2008 |
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By the end of 2008, the pressing of Intel P45 based motherboards has somehow subsided from the manufacturers' side. Almost all the interesting and popular motherboards have already been reviewed, and products built on other Intel chipsets of the fourth series have started coming in to our test lab. In particular, this time we are reviewing Gigabyte EP43-DS3 built on the Intel P43 chipset.
As we already stated, the only thing that makes P43 from P45 is the lack of support for the AMD CrossFire. In practice, that means the impossibility of symmetrical distribution of PCI Express v2.0 bus lanes between the two graphic slots. As a result, we can see only one PEG slot on P43-based motherboards. However, Gigabyte EP43-DS3 has two such slots. What's up? We'll find that out now.
Besides the Gigabyte's board, we've got ECS P45T-AD3 built on the Intel P45. At first glance, that looks like a commonplace model, but there is one trait in it: the board is meant to operate with the DDR3 memory. While this type of memory used to be supported by only high-end products (because of the high price for this type of memory), and now its support can be found in mid-end products.
Specifications
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Gigabyte EP43-DS3 |
ECS P45T-AD3 |
| CPU |
- Intel Pentium 4 (Prescott (2M)/Gallatin/CedarMill) with the bus speeds 1066/800 MHz
- Dual-core Intel Pentium D / EE (Smithfield/Presler) with the bus speeds 1066/800 MHz
- Intel Celeron-D (Conroe-L/Prescott) with the bus speed 800 MHz
- Support for Intel Core 2 Duo (Kentsfield (4 cores), Conroe/Allendale (2 cores)) with the bus speeds 1066/800 MHz
- Support for Intel Yorkfield, Wolfdale with the bus speeds 1600*/1333/1066/800 MHz
- Socket LGA775
- Support for HyperThreading |
| Chipset |
- North bridge Intel P43 (MCH)
- South bridge Intel ICH10
- Interbridge communication: DMI |
- North bridge Intel P45 (MCH)
- South bridge Intel ICH10R
- Interbridge communication: DMI |
| System memory |
- Four 240-pin slots for DDR2 SDRAM DIMM;
- Maximum memory capacity 16 GB;
- Supported memory DDR2 667/800/1066/1200*;
- Dual-channel memory access;
- Power indicator; |
- Four 240-pin slots for DDR3 SDRAM DIMM
- Maximum memory capacity 8 GB
- Supported memory DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600*
- Dual-channel memory access |
| Graphics |
- Two PCI Express x16 slots |
| Expansion options |
- Four 32-bit PCI Bus Master slots
- One PCI Express x1 slot
- Twelve USB 2.0 (8 integrated + 4 additional) ports
- Three IEEE1394 (Firewire; 2 integrated + 1 additional) ports
- Integrated High Definition Audio 7.1
- Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller |
- Two 32-bit PCI Bus Master slots;
- Two PCI Express x1 slots
- Twelve USB 2.0 ports (6 integrated + 6 additional)
- Integrated High Definition Audio 7.1
- Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller |
| Overclocking options |
- FSB adjustable within 100 to 1200 MHz in 1 MHz increments; multiplier adjustable;
- Adjustable voltages on the CPU, memory, FSB, and the chipset (MCH + ICH);
- Gigabyte C.I.A 2
- EasyTune 6 |
- FSB adjustable within (200) 333 to 800 MHz in 1 MHz increments; multiplier adjustable;
- Adjustable voltages on the CPU, memory, and the chipset (MCH) |
| Disk subsystem |
- 1 link for UltraDMA133/100/66/33 Bus Master IDE (IT8213; with support for up to 2 ATAPI devices)
- Support for SerialATA II (6 links - ICH10)
- Support for LS-120 / ZIP / ATAPI CD-ROM |
- 1 link for UltraDMA133/100/66/33 Bus Master IDE (JMB361; with support for up to 2 ATAPI devices)
- Support for Serial ATA II (6 links - ICH10R, with support for RAID)
- Support for Serial ATA II (1 link - JMB361)
- Support for LS-120 / ZIP / ATAPI CD-ROM |
| BIOS |
- 2 x 8 Mbit Flash ROM
- Award BIOS with support for Enhanced ACPI, DMI, Green, PnP Features, and Trend Chip Away Virus
- Gigabyte Q-Flash
- @BIOS and Face-Wizard
- Gigabyte Virtual Dual BIOS |
- 8 Mbit Flash ROM
- AMI BIOS with support for Enhanced ACPI, DMI, Green, PnP Features |
| Misc |
- One port for FDD, one serial, one parallel port, ports for PS/2 mouse and keyboard
- STR (Suspend to RAM)
- SPDIF In/Out |
- One port for FDD, one serial port, ports for PS/2 mouse and keyboard
- STR (Suspend to RAM)
- SPDIF Out
- Buttons to power-on, reset, and clear the CMOS |
| Power management |
- Wake-up on modem, mouse, keyboard, LAN, timer, and USB
- Main 24-pin ATX power connector
- Additional 4-pin power connector |
- Wake-up on modem, mouse, keyboard, LAN, timer, and USB
- Main 24-pin ATX power connector
- Additional 4-pin power connector |
| Monitoring |
- Monitoring the temperatures of the CPU, system, voltages, rotational speeds of the 4 fans
- Smart Fan
- EasyTune Center;
- Gigabyte Dynamic Energy Saver |
- Monitoring the temperature of the CPU, system, voltages, rotational speeds of the two fans
- Smart Fan |
| Dimensions |
- ATX form factor, 245x305 mm (9.63" x 12") |
Retail boxes
Design of the packages:
Package bundle
Gigabyte EP43-DS3:
- motherboard;
- User's Manual in English + brief usage guide;
- Software & drivers CD;
- one ATA-133 cable, one FDD cable;
- four SerialATA cables;
- a cap for the rear panel of the housing.
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ECS P45T-AD3:
- motherboard;
- User's Manual in English + brief usage guide;
- Software & drivers CD;
- one ATA-133 cable, FDD cable;
- four SerialATA cables;
- a cap for the rear panel of the housing.
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The package bundle of both the boards is absolutely similar and quite scanty, but it is fully adequate to a product that costs $100. Gigabyte EP43-DS3 costs just $100, so we rate it as "4/5" for the package bundle. As regards ECS P45T-AD3, this model is still not yet presented in the Russian retail.
With the Gigabyte's board, the buyer gets a user manual and a lot of other paper items of various usefulness:
The remaining contents: cables, and a cap.
The package bundle of the Elitegroup motherboard is similar, except there is a bit less paper:
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