Gigabyte P35C-DS3R Motherboard Review

[One4yu2c]

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Gigabyte's US Headquarters, where I was given a tour of Gigabyte's new products, including their "Ultra Durable 2" Series of motherboards. Today, HL takes a look at Gigabyte's ultra-versatile GA-P35C-DS3R. Built around INTEL's P35 Bear Lake Chipset, the GA-P35C-DS3R is unique in that it's the first board we've covered that supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory.
Rich Caporali

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[robodude666]

Very nice motherboard for the price. $100 cheaper than the DQ6 but still a powerful board and overclocker.

I just really don't like how they crammed the connectors into the corner so they can silkscreen the corner with feature names =/ If your going to cram it, then make it a mATX board >_>

[Capper]

Originally Posted by robodude666

Very nice motherboard for the price. $100 cheaper than the DQ6 but still a powerful board and overclocker.

I just really don't like how they crammed the connectors into the corner so they can silkscreen the corner with feature names =/ If your going to cram it, then make it a mATX board >_>

Yeah, I had issues with that as well. I'm one of those people that puts a lot of time and effort into case wiring, and I want my connectors as close to the boards edge as possible.....to me there is just too much wasted soace there. I'd have rather they spread stuff out, or move the SATA ports further away from stuff.

the board is awesome, as all gigabyte boards have been lately, i don't particularly care for the BIOS, but they know that. i've even seen several reviews of their boards where reviewers didn't even know about the CTRL+F1 memory menu. I also like to see what my voltages are....not PASS/FAIL.

I don't know how feasible a board is that supports both DDR2 &3, but I was actually very happy with this board. I'm even more impressed with the P35-DQ6, which you'll see sometime next week.

[robodude666]

Can't wait for the DQ6 review! If Phenom X4 and FX don't impress me, I might switch to the dark side and get a DQ6 + Q6600 or penryn :( *cries*

[Capper]

By the time AMD releases those you'll have the X38 to consider, and if you are looking at enthusiast level boards, the X38 is head and shoulders above the P35

[Jokerswild]

Colorful board. I don't like the fact that it uses both DDR2 and DDR3, reminds me of a old board I had that supported SDRAM and DDR. Better just to use one or the other IMHO.

[robodude666]

Originally Posted by Capper

By the time AMD releases those you'll have the X38 to consider, and if you are looking at enthusiast level boards, the X38 is head and shoulders above the P35

True, but whats so special about the x38 compared to p35? All I can see different is new on-board audio which supports hd-dvd and blu-ray, and more sata/usb ports.

[Capper]

Blue Ray and HD-DVD is supported by most boards now.

You'll see, depending on the manufacturer, a board much more feature rich, and dedicated to the enthusiast. you'll see some major overclocking improvements.

[robodude666]

Originally Posted by Capper

Blue Ray and HD-DVD is supported by most boards now.

You'll see, depending on the manufacturer, a board much more feature rich, and dedicated to the enthusiast. you'll see some major overclocking improvements.

Sweet, can't wait to see! I like the DQ6 for its cr@zy heatpipe system. Looks very sexy in a case w/ a window :) The X38 photos I saw have similar heatpipe systems. But I guess that will help keep costs down, in turn keeping retail price down.

[Tyreal]

I have the DDR2 only version of this board and it has been very good so far. That is all I can say... I haven't overclocked with it yet.