Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6

When I see a piece of hardware with some kind of energy-saving feature(s), I usually assume an "E" in the name is a synonym for "weak." In the case of the Gigabyte EP45-DQ6, however, the "E" stands for "efficient."
The board features two PCI-E 2.0 slots and CrossFireX supports, and with support for up to 1,600MHz FSB, 16GB of memory, and four-count`em, four-Gigabit Ethernet ports, which Gigabyte claims can be teamed together to function as a single connection to increase the overall throughput fourfold, the EP45-DQ6 wants not for power and speed.
Yet the EP45-DQ6's 65n, P45 chipset coupled with the DES (Dynamic Energy Saver) Advanced technology, with throttles power when the CPu load is low, saves energy. You can even use DES Advanced if the system's been overclocked.
The board also includes a tantalizing number of BIOS options for overclocking, including incrementals voltage boosts, which we used in conjunction with a reduced multiplier to push the EP45-DQ6's FSB to 458MHz and an impressive increase in overall 3DMark Vantage scores (14,264 compared to 10,909 with the default 333MHz FSB).
The EP45-DQ6 works smarter, not harder. It's a solid board that will satisfy enthusiasts without upping the electric bill. Game green, friends.
by Seth Colaner.

Test System specs: Processor: 3GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X9650; RAM: 4GB OCZ Tecnology DDR2 PC2-6400 SLI-Ready Edition; Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT; Hard Drive: 150GB Western Digital Raptor 1500.

Specs: Socket 775; Chipset: Intel P45 Express; 1,600 MHz FSB; Max memory: 16GB DDR2-1200; Audio: Realtek ALC889A 7.`; Slots: 2 PCI-E 2.0 (x16 or dual-x8), 2 PCI-E x4, 1 PCI x1, 2 PCI;Ports: 10 SATA, 10 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire, 4 Gigabit Ethernet.

www.gigabyte.com.tw