Legit Reviews

Gigabyte GA-EP45T-Extreme Motherboard Review

Gigabyte Technology is no stranger in the enthusiast hardware community. Today, we are taking a look at Gigabyte's GA-EP45T-Extreme motherboard, designed from the ground up with the extreme enthusiast in mind. The GA-EP45T-Extreme features Intel's new P45 chipset along with the new ICH10R southbridge. Let's see what this extreme motherboard has to offer those that are looking an enthusiast board that won't let them down.

Enthusiasts looking for a DDR3 board with the P45 chipset should look no further for a top tier performance motherboard. Given how DDR3 prices have plummeted lately, adopting this new platform isn't restricted to solely those who competitively benchmark or have deep pockets. The GA-EP45T-Extreme lives up to its Extreme name and gives the consumer another option in the high-end motherboard arena.

Article Title: Gigabyte GA-EP45T-Extreme Motherboard Review
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/773/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: $166.25 plus shipping

nice review! and sorry for my being anal, but

The PCB for the GA-EP45T-Extreme is incredibly packed with nearly every square centimeter of space covered in components.

its actually a PCA since its populated with components. sorry for some reason little stuff like that really irks me

martini161 wrote:its actually a PCA since its populated with components. sorry for some reason little stuff like that really irks me

Somebody smack this man...btw what's PCA stand for?

Great review.

printed circuit assembly

This thing is a nice beast! Only thing that worries me is why is it so cheap? Wierd worry, I know, but with water cooling, etc I would think this would be in the $250 range.

Prices were showing for the regular and not the EXTREME one which is sated as $260 in the conclusion - I comment while I read so I dont get confused with all the big words in my head :p

Mike

Now, how do I butter the old lady up to talk her into letting me get this...lol - $260, never gonna happen.

6.1GHZ fold baby fold.

What is the difference between this board and a Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R ? Will there be a noticable difference unless your are planning on liquid cooling?

Im planning on running a E8500 with a THermalright 120 ultra... would i be better to go with the Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R over the extreme?

unco_tomato wrote:What is the difference between this board and a Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R ? Will there be a noticable difference unless your are planning on liquid cooling?

Im planning on running a E8500 with a THermalright 120 ultra... would i be better to go with the Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R over the extreme?

I don't believe you'll notice a difference between the DS3R and the Extreme with a dual-core. The extra PWM cooling and higher quality capacitors are really only useful when you are pushing heavy overclocks with a quad-core. I have no experience with the DDR3 DS3R but the DDR2 DS3R is a fantastic and well priced board. It was a fantastic match with my E8400 and I imagine the EP45T-DS3R would be just as good of a match. I wish I had a more solid answer, but I haven't laid my hands on an EP45T-DS3R and doubt I'll have a chance.

That was pretty much my guess, From the looks of the two they are fairly similar and i don't push my clocks that high, (i would be aiming for around a 4.2-4.3 clock with my E8500). The only thing i noticed was the obvious cooling system on the extreme over the DS3R. But other than that they seemed fairly similar.

Thank you for the answer

I'm planning on upgrading to a Q9300/GA-EP45-UD3R combo here in a few weeks, from every review and testimonial I've read online, it's hard to beat the reliability and potential of the GA-EP45-XXXX family.

Good god almighty. It's the Juggernaught! Could there BE more copper on that beast!?

Why yes. Yes there could!
The Thermalright True Copper

stopthekilling77 wrote:I'm planning on upgrading to a Q9300/GA-EP45-UD3R combo here in a few weeks, from every review and testimonial I've read online, it's hard to beat the reliability and potential of the GA-EP45-XXXX family.

The boards really can hold up to some serious punishment. I don't keep precise logs but now this board I have(my original one) has somewhere around 80 to 90 hours of run-time under liquid nitrogen when I'm positively beating the hell out of the PWM system and the northbridge. Add onto that hundreds of hours under air cooling and it really is a champ. Makes me wonder what the X58 board will be like with their UD3 improvements.