I'm not new to the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L motherboard, since I've puchased one for my HTPC build.  I've reviewed it here before.  So when I built my new gaming rig, I didn't want to break the bank with a motherboard that cost $200 with features I won't use.  Instead, I bought what I thought was the same motherboard I used before.

When it finally came (along with the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600), it looked pretty much the same as the old one.  It was when I booted up I noticed a difference - the chipset used for the SATA ports were changed, so I saw an extra line of text!  The firmware is also slightly different, but the features were all still there.  Then I noticed on the box a label that indicates this is their 2nd revision.  Hmm...  is it as good as the original?

Just like the previous version, it was just under $100, making it a better deal than the x48-based motherboards.  It also have optical and coaxial digital audio out, which while desirable in my HTPC build, didn't matter much for my gaming rig. I acutally own a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality sound card, which includes an internal drive bay box with many audio inputs and outputs.

I also already have a PCIe video card (GeForce 7900 GTX), but upgraded to the GeForce 8800 GTX instead.  I had to purchase memory, however, since my last Athlon x2 64-based rig used DDR while this new set up requires DDR2.

After all is said and done, the P35-DS3L motherboard is still the star of it all, since everything is connected to it in one way or another.

In the Box
The box is very basic. Inside, you get a manual (no quick-guide though), a set of cables (2 SATA, 1 IDE, and 1 floppy), a Gigabyte sticker, and the motherboard itself.  It's what you'd expect for a mid-range motherboard.

Specs and Features

CPU Socket Type
LGA 775

CPU Type
Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium Extreme / Pentium D

FSB
1333/1066MHz

Chipset
North Bridge - Intel P35
South Bridge - Intel ICH9

Memory
4 slots of 240pin DDR2 800 (Dual Channel), 8GB Max

Expansion Slots
1x PCI Express x16
3x PCI Express x1
3x PCI Slots

Storage Devices
1x PATA (ATA100) by JMicron (via PCIe) (2 devices - Master and Slave)
4x SATA-II 3Gb/s

Onboard Audio
8 Audio Channels (analog)
3 Digital outputs (1 internal SPDIF, 1 optical, 1 coaxial)

Onboard LAN
10/100/1000Mbps by Realtek (via PCIe)

Rear Panel Ports
2x PS/2 (Mouse and Keyboard)
1x COM (serial)
1x LPT (parallel)
4x USB 2.0
S/PDIF Out, 1x Optical, 1x Coaxial
Audio Ports, 6 Ports (7.1 surround)

Onboard USB
8 x USB 2.0 (total)

Physical Spec
Standard ATX Form Factor
Dimensions, 12.0" x 8.3"

Electrical
24 Pin ATX Power Pin, 4-pin 12v AUX
All solid aluminium capacitors (will not leak or go bad!)

Installation
The P35-DS3L rev 2 is an orginal "standard size" ATX form factor - the same size and shape when the form factor debut some 13 years ago. This made installing this P35-DS3L a breeze, as well as the cable management.

One of the nice thoughtful touch is that the retention mechanism for the 16x PCIe slot (for the video card) is easier to use than the others. While others require you to push on a latch that is obscured by the video card itself, or have a knob where you pull to one side while lifting the card (hard to do for some, though easier than the first), this motherboard will have you push a latch towards the PCIe slot itself while you pull on the card.

The SATA slots are towards the bottom, and the perfect placement if you have short SATA cables. The floppy cable is up higher (near the center) and is perfect for a short floppy cable (where most floppy drives are near).

The IDE connector, on the other hand, would be a good spot for hard drives, but with SATA the norm now-a-days, it will be used mostly for optical drives that have not yet gone the way of SATA yet. I'm currently using an IDE-based NEC DVD-RW drive, so this is nice for me.  It still works and is as fast as today's SATA drives, so I see no reason to replace it.  While it's a great place for HDDs, the location for the IDE connector is too low for optical drives where they traditionally reside at the top of the tower case.  I was lucky enough to find a cable that would reach.

I personally hate it when the ATX power connector (20/24-pin) is located right were the optical drives are. Because of the location of the drives as well as the stiff nature of the ATX Power connector, it makes for a difficult connection during a build.  Unfortunately, the P35-DS3L have this trait.  It's by no means a deal breaker, and I can definately work through it (bend the cable, push it, pull it, work in tight spot), but this one place where the P35-DS3L can improve.

The slot locations are perfect, however. 3 PCI slots occupy the bottom while 2 PCIe x1 slots distance the PCI cards from the PCIe 16x slot (where a video card would reside). Then above the PCIe 16x slot is another PCIe x1 slot. This gives 2 usable PCIe x1 slots if you wish to leave a slot free between the video card and the other cards.  Since there is only one PCI-e 16x slot, there really isn't room for another nVidia video card for dedicated PhysX duties.  The board does not support SLI, and PhysX isn't really on one game that I want to play (Mirror's Edge) anyways, so it didn't matter to me.

In Use
Unlike the HTPC build, I was going to push this board to the max!  I read most people had good results overclocking the Q6600, so I was going to see if I can as well.

Because the northbridge chipset does not have a fan, it is also very quiet (very HTPC friendly!). It does get hot to the touch, though, but didn't seem to affect stability.  I was able to overclock even with the stock heatsink, but I ended up replacing it with a heatsink that had a fan on it just to be safe.

Using default settings and the Intel Q6600 (2.4 GHz using 266 MHz FSB with 9x multiplier), everything worked without a hitch. SpeedStep allowed the CPU to go down to 1.6GHz (6x266 MHz) during idle, while speeding up to a maximum 2.4GHz (12x200 MHz) under load.

The Gigabyte P35-DS3L has a feature called M.I.T. (Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker) which allows for automatic dynamic overclocking. It works with SpeedStep as well, so you can still save power when idling without sacraficing speed. When the CPU is fully loaded (100% utilization), SpeedStep will bring the CPU to the max multiplier (for my Q6600, its 9x). Then M.I.T. will start turning up the FSB. So with just SpeedStep, I get a stock 9x266 MHz FSB = 2.4GHz. M.I.T. will start turning up the FSB as high as it can go without sacraficing stability. It may go as high as 333 MHz for a result of 9x333 MHz FSB = 3.0GHz at stock voltage! Talk about a lazy man's way to overclock!

Overclocking
3.0 GHz was still not good enough for me, so I actually had to disable the auto-overclocking feature and do it with my own elbow grease.  After fiddling with it for months, I was able to get it to hit 3.5 GHz!

While it does depend on the particular CPU you have, I was able to hit 3.2 GHz at the stock voltage, which was 200 MHz faster than M.I.T. was willing to go (stock voltage was at 1.25v).  Pushing to 3.33 GHz required only 1.35v. 3.4 GHz was possible at 1.375v. 3.5 GHz was good at 1.425 volts (a jump of .05v!). 3.6 GHz proved hard to attain. I was not able to get any Prime95 stable results at 3.6 GHz with voltages up to 1.5v, which is the highest I feel safe (at least for short term testing).

The Upshot
It's a modest motherboard in certain ways (only 4 SATA-II connections), it is excellent in others (digital outputs, 3 PCI slots, good placement of slots, M.I.T. overclocking, manual overclocking, high stable overclocks, etc.).

Overall, if you are looking for a mid-range motherboard that has more than just your basics, look into this Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L rev2!  It's still good the second time around!  Gigabyte also have more in their P35 line that includes RAID (this does not have RAID), support for DDR3, dual PCIe 16x slots, more SATA connections, and even FireWire (which this does not include). But this is their lightest P35 model, but it has more features than any other motherboards in this price range.

It is STILL a good buy.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 99