Gigabyte GA-EP45T-Extreme

Gigabyte keeps the hits coming with the GA-EP45T-Extreme, the latest in a series of boards based on Intel's P45 chipset.

This particular board came with the Hybrid Silent-Pipe, a large copper passive cooler that aids in keeping temperature down. Gigabyte also included DES (Dynamic Energy Saver) on this board, a function that throtles power when the CPU doesn't need to work as hard.

The EP45T-Extreme is designed for overclocking. Indeed, there are plenty of options in the BIOS for OC tweaking-enough to keep any overclocking junkie happy for hours. If you prefer to do your overclocking in a Windows environment, the board includes Gigabyte's EasyTune 6 interface.

The EP45T-Extreme has plenty of headroom: I pushed the FSB to 500MHz with no trouble or signs of instability. If you like options-having a mobo that can be both an energy efficient green machine and a powerful overclocker-buy the E45T-Extreme.

by Seth Colaner







www.gigabyte.us

Computer Power User January 2009