Gigabyte EP45-DS3R P45 Motherboard Review

A Closer Look at the Gigabyte EP45-DS3R

The layout, color scheme, and design of the Gigabyte EP45-DS3R are common of most recent Gigabyte boards with a number of colors around the board. The SATA ports and cables are orange, the IDE connector is similar to a lime green, the heatsinks are gold, the PCIE slots are blue and a peach color, and the PCI slots are white. The PCB is dark blue with yellow and dark orange slots for memory. Quite a variety! It sounds like a big mess, but all-in-all the board is not that bad looking.


Starting at the top right of the board, we see the 12v connector and socket 775 CPU slot. Both are in rather typical spots and we don’t see any clearance issues with aftermarket heatsinks or water blocks. Moving down the right side we have the PLL clock generator IC (ICS 9LPRS914EKLF). PLL clock generator ICs make use of external clock signals and output a clock signal that can then be used as the main clock signal to another chip.



Next up, on the bottom right corner, are the multi-gear power phase design LEDs. When the CPU workload is light or at idle, the Dynamic Energy Saver downshifts gears and only allows the minimum required power phases needed to accomplish the task to operate. As each gear is activated, a color-coded LED representing each gear lights up; giving six LEDs in total.

Moving across the bottom of the board we see the 24pin connector and the RAM slots. Both the RAM slots and the 24 pin connector's locations should allow for plenty of clearance for large CPU coolers.


The Northbridge cooler is a gold color and is located above the RAM slots and in between the CPU and the first PCI-E slot. Nothing fancy here, but it does the job for the cool-running P45 chipset. The Northbridge and Southbridge coolers are attached to the board using a simple plastic clip system, similar to many other boards. To remove the clip, a set of needle nosed pliers does the trick nicely.


The Southbridge cooler is a similar design to the Northbridge, with a polished gold color. Looking under the Northbridge cooler we find the Intel P45 chipset. The TIM was very hard and had to be cleaned and reapplied after removing the cooler.


Next to the IDE connector, we see the J Micron JMB368 chip. This is a 1-lane PCI Express to 1-port PATA Host Controller. The JMB368 chip also provides Legacy IDE support. Moving to the corner of the board we have six SATA ports which are a light orange color to match the included SATA cables.


We don’t usually include a shot of USB and 1394 connectors but there is a reason to on this board. Each of the USB and 1394 connectors have text at the bottom showing which plug goes where. This is nice as users would not have to consult the manual to see where the USB or 1394 connectors are located.

Moving up to the top left corner of the board, the pcb is marked with the board revision. In our case the board is a Rev 1.0. Later revisions usually come out after a little time and include very slight modifications or bug fixes.


In the same area, we see the ITE I/O controller chip. The ITE IT8718F chip provides the most commonly used legacy Super I/O functionality plus the latest Environment Control initiatives such as H/W Monitor and Fan Speed Controller. Also in this area are a series of smaller capacitors, the audio chip, and SPDIF input and output. The caps all over the DS3R are all solid. Soilid caps are said to be of higher quality and more durable than the older electrolytic style capacitors which have often been a source of trouble on older electronics.


The Realtek ALC889A chip runs the sound on the EP45-DS3R. The ALC889 codec is a high-performance multi-channel High Definition Audio Codec with Realtek proprietary loss-less content protection technology. This protects pre-recorded content while still allowing full-rate audio enjoyment from DVD audio, Blu-ray DVD, or HD DVD discs. The ALC889 provides ten DAC channels that simultaneously support 7.1 sound playback, plus 2 channels of independent stereo sound output (multiple streaming) through the front panel stereo outputs.

Nearby, between the PCI-E slots we have the motherboard CMOS battery. Since the CMOS is used as a form of non-volatile memory, it needs power supplied to it in order to maintain the data that is stored in it. The CMOS battery is that power source.


The PCI-E 2.0 slots are set up at the maximum possible distance apart which gives users quite a bit of space to manoeuvre. Large video card heatsinks and waterblocks will fit easily. Nearby we have two final chips to examine, the Realtek RTL8111C (x2). The Realtek RTL8111C is a Gigabit Ethernet controller and combines a triple-speed IEEE 802.3 compliant Media Access Controller (MAC) with a triple-speed Ethernet transceiver, PCI Express bus controller, and embedded memory. In plain English it runs your LAN port.


Last but not least we have the I/O panel, where you connect all of your external components. The I/O panel on the EP45-DS3R is quite advanced for a low to mid range board and includes audio outputs, one PS/2 mouse port, one PS/2 keyboard port, eight Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports, two LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED), two types of Firewire ports, and both optical and coaxial outputs for HD audio.