nad_masters's Full Review: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard
Do system builders still read ePinions for user reviews? I certainly hope so, because this is a surprisingly pleasant motherboard to work with!
I was looking to upgrade my P4 3GHz HTPC (Home Theater PC) which was measured to suck power at around 210W while viewing HDTV. It was starting to stutter and I figure this was a good time to upgrade to something that demanded less power.
I decided to get the eco-friendly Conroe-based CPUs. After doing much research and shopping around, I decided to use Intel's Pentium Dual-Core processor. I will never understand Intel's need to confuse people with their CPU names. It's pretty much a dumb-downed Core 2 Duo. How so? You take a Core 2 Duo and slash the cache size down to 1 MB (from 4 or 2 MB, depending on the Core 2 Duo model). It still have 2 cores, and is based on the Conroe core just like the Core 2 Duos.
I can't just change the CPU. It uses a new socket so I will have to buy a new motherboard. I already like the Gigabyte GA-P35 series, but was pleasantly surprised when using NewEgg to filter out all boards that did not have what I was looking for. Basically it has to have 3 PCI slots (I have 3 TV tuners), space between the PCI slot and the 16x PCIe slot, an IDE connection, decent amount of SATA connections, and also a good amount of USB headers. After seeing the Gigabyte P35-DS3L on top of this list, I was shocked. I didn't know they have a P35 series in this price range! It was just under $100! It also have optical and coaxial digital audio out, which is desirable in a HTPC build. No need for a 3rd party sound card! Just hook it up to your receiver!
I also had to shop for a new PCIe video card as well as DDR2 memory since the old machine was using an AGP video card and DDR memory. Phew, the shopping list is getting longer! For memory, I picked up some Patriot 2GB DDR800 DDR2 memory (4-4-4-12 low latency!) and an MSI PCIe 8500GT video card that had a DVI, HDMI, and S-Video/Component output (perfect for the HTPC build!). The video card also allows you to hook up to a SPDIF connector internally or externally (using the coaxial audio out) to port sound to the HDMI connector, making this particular card a must-have for my project. Also, nVidia added on-board decoding of HD content (PureVideo HD is finally included in their driver instead of a paid-for decoder!).
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.
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
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 board is much smaller than the over-sized Gigabyte GA-8KNXP P4 motherboard it replaced. This is the orginal "standard size" ATX form factor when it was first debut some 13 years ago. This made installing this P35 motherboard a breeze, as well as the cable routing.
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 (though they are starting to crop up now). Keeping this in mind, the location for the IDE connector is too low for optical drives where they traditionally reside at the top of the tower case.
I personally hate 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.
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.
In Use
I did not push the set up very high as I normally would for a full performance-based review since it was for a HTPC build. Also, the goal was different from my typical high-end gaming builds. It was made specifically to sip as little power as possible while remaining powerful enough to watch HD videos and TV recordings. The video card (8500GT) along with the PureVideo HD-enabled driver (included in the 163.xx version) does most of the decoding work. In fact, only the 8500 and 8600 series are able to do hardware decoding of HD codecs (VC-1, MPEG-2, WMA9-HD, and H.264). The high-end 8800 only does it partially and requires a relatively high-end CPU. This makes the mid-range 8500 and 8600 series attractive for HTPC builds.
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.
Using default settings and the Intel E2180 (2GHz using 200 MHz FSB with 10x multiplier), everything worked without a hitch. SpeedStep allowed the CPU to go down to 1.2GHz (6x200 MHz) at 1.1v (according to CPUZ - a CPU/Memory reporting utility) during idle, while speeding up to a maximum 2.0GHz (10x200 MHz) at 1.2v (though rated for 1.25v).
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 E2180, its 10x). Then M.I.T. will start turning up the FSB. So with just SpeedStep, I get a stock 10x200 MHz FSB = 2.0GHz. M.I.T. will start turning up the FSB as high as it can go without sacraficing stability. It may go as high as 250 MHz for a result of 10x250 MHz FSB = 2.5GHz at stock voltage! Talk about a lazy man's way to overclock!
Lets not forget that we are here to conserve power however. So my trick didn't involve this cool feature. Instead, I undervolted the CPU to 1.0v and kept SpeedStep working. The CPU idles at 1.2 GHz, but can speed up to 2.0GHz and stay stable at 1.0v! I made sure it was stable by running Prime95 x2 (need two of them to stress both cores) overnight.
As stated in the begining, the power consumption was reduced significantly! From my old set up at 210W to the new set up at 130W! At idle, the power consumption was 175W/104W respectively. Something to think about when building your next HTPC or server that stays on almost 24x7. With my HTPC, I save more by putting it into stand-by. Windows Media Center will power the machine back up to record shows and put it back to stand-by when it's done.
It was able to play my TV shows in HD as well as downloaded HD clips (in various formats such as MOV/H.264, MPEG, and DivX) smoothly and without hiccups.
Conclusion
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, 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! 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.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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