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  • SirJoe - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - link

    this is cool for you computer buffs
  • Googer - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - link

    I just did a google search for XMS3 and the only merchant to have it in stock at the bargain price of $599 is Tiger Direct! Yikes, I think I will wait a while untill the price of DDR3 becomes competitive with DDR2.
  • AdamK47 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    Sorry Gigabyte, I just can't see myself ever buying a board with pink memory slots. Shoulda stuck with the blue.
  • Stele - Friday, June 1, 2007 - link

    "Pink it's my new obsession
    Pink it's not even a question..."

    :D Sorry, couldn't resist the temptation :P
  • yacoub - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    Thank you especially for the note about larger heatsinks being very difficult to mount and the associated image of the back of the motherboard so folks can see what they face if they have a heatsink that requires connecting a backing plate (as most of the larger ones do).
  • yyrkoon - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    quote:

    Gigabyte has provided the user a fairly comprehensive BIOS that is enthusiast oriented in the latest F2N release. In our opinion, Gigabyte continues to annoy the crowd that will buy this board by insisting on using the Ctrl-F1 sequence to open up the additional performance oriented BIOS settings. However, with the "secret" settings revealed we were able to match all BIOS settings on the ASUS P5K3 when tuning the board.


    What annoys me, is that every Gigabyte motherbord review has this same 'annoyance' written in. Come now fellas, you can only say it about 500 times, beore it starts getting old, and how hard is it really to press two keys in combination ? Gigabyte obviously is doing this for a reason, and if it takes me writting this comment to point that out, well, I just dont know . . .

    Saying something like: 'You will need to press cntl + F1 to access the 'protected' portion of the BIOS . . .' Would sounds less critical, would not come off as negativity, and would keep you guys from sounding lazy . . .
  • TA152H - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    It's not hitting the keys that is the problem, it's remembering to do it. When you have loads of computers with motherboards, it's nice if they have a standard way to access features, instead of adding an inane key sequence like CTRL-F1. It is annoying, because four years down the road if you have to work on this motherboard, for whatever reason, you have to try to remember this bizarre and otherwise trivial detail. Standards are nice, especially when following them doesn't involve a tradeoff.
  • yyrkoon - Thursday, May 31, 2007 - link

    Yeah, well I personally have a bad memory, but after reading countless Gigabyte motherboard reviews from AT here, I do not think I will ever forget this key combination.

    Anyhow, this is one reason why when given the chance I always opt for ABIT boards, while other may opt for Asus, Gigabyte, whatever. Once you become used to a given OEM BIOS Layout, it is hard to make a change in OEMs without suffering a bit in the knowledge department(at least temporarily).

    *yyrkoon hugs his NF-M2 nView . . .
  • TA152H - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - link

    Keep in mind, not everyone buying a motherboard from Gigabyte is going to be reading these articles, and proper journalism dictates they don't depend on people knowing every previous article, so they appropriately bring it up. Before you remark what's the point in them mentioning it for people that don't read it, it's certainly going to be read by Gigabyte and by complaining enough times, they may take notice.

    I agree that it is often best to just buy from one maker, or limit the number. Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and I end up with stuff from too many makers. I try to buy only Intel and Supermicro, but they are too expensive sometimes, so I've ended up buying a lot of Taiwanese junk before finally finding a company from there I have had success with (don't ask me why, but Epox seems to work best for me). So, I've got all this Asus, Soyo, Aopen, MSI, Gigabyte, Tyan and a few I don't even remember running and it's difficult to deal with all the different BIOS settings when they get cute and try to be different. On the plus side, these motherboards tend to break pretty regularly so I have less and less of the inferior brands. Well, except for Epox. I have no idea why these things never break on me, but I have a feeling it's just random luck :P .
  • Frumious1 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    I won't forget, but I'm still annoyed by this, just like I'm annoyed by a BIOS that moves certain features into odd areas. I hate that there are about 20 ways to manage memory timings, voltages, bus speeds, etc. (and that's just picking either an AMD or an Intel platform). What's really stupid about Gigabyte's method of hiding settings is that it's not even all of the settings that get hidden. The major area lately that doesn't show up is memory timings. You can tweak voltages and fry your RAM, but GOD FORBID you play with memory timings! (There are some other things that get hidden as well, but I don't recall exactly what. I base this off my DS3 system.)
  • yzkbug - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    Will we ever see boards supporting both DDR2 and DDR3 memory? It would be nice to be able to run DDR2 for now, and switch to DDR3 in the future without buying a new mobo.
  • Stele - Friday, June 1, 2007 - link

    There's already at least one in existence - the Asus P5KC. Check it out http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&a...">here.

    It would be interesting if Anandtech could get hold of this board and see if having support for both memory types sacrifices fine tuning and hence performance/overclocking capability by a measurable degree.
  • slayerized - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    I know it is a bit premature, but do you have n estimate on the targeted price points for these boards and ddr3 memory modules?
  • gigahertz20 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    You can already buy the Asus P5K Deluxe for $225 from here.

    http://www.xpcgear.com/p5kdeluxe.html">http://www.xpcgear.com/p5kdeluxe.html

    My guess is once Newegg and some other places get them in hopefully around $200 or below but maybe not. They will be expensive at first.
  • xsilver - Thursday, May 31, 2007 - link

    are p35 boards recommended for midrange overclocking systems just yet?
    a gigabyte ds3 + e6320 vs. a asus p5k + e4400 combo; which system is likly to have better performance after OC?
  • Sunrise089 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    The above comments reminded me of something many reviews have said recently - that "additional airflow needed to OC" line. What exactly does that mean? Does it simply mean airflow inside the case, as in you first tested with so case fans at all, and had to add some? Or does it mean you added some sort of motherboard specific additional cooling? If the latter, a motherboard that does not require such an added part would be much more appealing.
  • Googer - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    Good Article. But where are the disk and I/O benchmarks?
  • Treripica - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    What the hell is a niggle?
  • johnsonx - Thursday, May 31, 2007 - link

    a 'niggle' is a minor complaint, or perhaps a complaint about a small detail. It's completely unrelated to another word like that with an 'r' at the end.
  • TallBill - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    All applications were run with administer privileges.
  • Chunga29 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    [With apologies to Monty Python, I present the Quest for the Holy Chipset....]
    ------------------
    "One day, lad, all this will be yours!"

    "What, the heatsinks?"

    "No. Not the heatsink, lad. All that you can see, stretched out over the caps and resistors of this land! This'll be your motherboard, lad."

    "B-- b-- but Father, I don't want any of that."

    "Listen 'Erbert. We live in a bloody planet full of global warming. We need all the heatsinks we can get."

    "But-- but I don't like her."

    "Don't like her?! What's wrong with her?! She's beautiful. She's rich. She's got huge... tracts o' land!"
  • Spoelie - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link

    wtf is wrong with intel boards lately??
    I mean, in every article I read, it doesn't matter how HUGE the heatsink is, "additional airflow was required to ensure stability". Or do you mean just a casefan?

    I still have a dfi nforce4 ultra board, replaced the (tiny!) chipset cooler with a thermaltake hr something, and the chipset temp dropped 10°C, htt goes wel over 300. Huge difference there.

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