Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6 Motherboard Review

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Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6 P45 Motherboard Review

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6 P45 Motherboard Review

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Price: Click Here to Compare Prices
Manufacturer Product Page: Giga-Byte Technology Co., Ltd.
Manufacturer's Part Number: GA-EP45-DQ6
Warranty: 3 year limited warranty (First 2 years parts & labor, 3rd year parts only)



The computer industry has always been filled with epic Dave and Goliath battles between competing corporations (AMD vs. Intel always comes to mind), and none is currently more interesting than ASUS versus Gigabyte. These two companies compete across a dizzying array of products lines, from mobile phones to notebooks, from CPU coolers to graphics cards, and obviously in the hotly contested motherboard market as well.

Despite being much smaller than ASUS, Gigabyte is not a company that is sitting still in the shadow of its larger rival. In fact, in recent years, they have really pushed the envelope and raised our expectations when it comes Bang for the Buck, consistently offering more features for less money than the competition.

With the release of the P45 Express chipset, Gigabyte has produced an incredibly varied product line with 14 different models carrying the ‘EP45’ moniker, ranging from the budget EP45-DS3L to the enthusiast-oriented EP45T-Extreme, which we just reviewed a few days ago. While such a vast selection of models may confuse some buyers, we believe that it allows <i>informed</i> consumers to pin-point the feature set that they want and at a price point that they are comfortable with.

The motherboard we are reviewing today is the GA-EP45-DQ6, which is by far the most feature-rich model in the EP45 lineup. This high-end motherboard caters to the “I want it all” crowd, and as you will see it really does not disappoint. Oft-used terms like “Everything and the kitchen sink”, “Swiss Army Knife”, “Overkill” just barely hint at the functionality that Gigabyte has somehow managed to shoehorn into this model.

With a retail price of about ~$280 CDN, the EP45-DQ6 is definitely at the upper price range for a P45 motherboard, but you do get a lot for your money: two physical PCI-E x16 (8x electrical) 2.0 slots, two PCI-E x4 slots, one PCI-E 1x slot, two PCI slots, ten SATA-II ports, four Gigabit LAN ports, twelve USB 2.0 ports, eSATA and FireWire connectivity, unparalleled RAID capabilities, 8-channel High-Definition audio with Dolby Home Theatre technology, TPM hardware-encryption chip, Dynamic Energy Saver (DES) Advanced, diagnostic LEDs, an elaborate copper cooling system, and…well, you get the idea.

Now features and fancy doodads are great, but they are absolutely meaningless if the motherboard is slow, unstable, and overclocks poorly. Therefore, we are here to find out if Gigabyte has truly managed to deliver a complete package with the EP45-DQ6.

 

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Specifications

Specifications

The EP45-DQ6 is based on the recently released mid-range Intel P45/ICH10R chipset combination. The P45 is Intel's second-generation mainstream chipset to be manufactured on the 65nm process, which is a sizeable shrink from the 90nm X38 and X48 chipsets. As a result, the northbridge has a very low default voltage of 1.10V, which means it also runs cooler than its predecessors.

Officially, the P45 does not support the newest 1600Mhz FSB specification, as found on the high-end Core 2 Extreme QX9770 quad-core processor. However, all motherboard manufacturers (aside from ECS) are marketing their models as FSB1600 capable. Memory-wise, the chipset has been validated for operation up to DDR3-1333 and DDR2-800, but several manufacturers have certified their own models for operation up to DDR3-2000 and DDR2-1333+.

On the PCI Express front, the P45 is limited to 16 PCI-E lanes, just like its predecessor the P35. However, the P45 chipset supports the PCI Express 2.0 specification, which doubles the standard bus bandwidth from 2.5 Gbit/s to 5 Gbit/s. This in itself is not particularly noteworthy, since the real-life performance differences between PCI-E 1.0 and PCI-E 2.0 are quite miniscule. However, the P45’s standout feature is that its PCI-E 2.0 slots can work in either 1x16 or 2x8 configuration, which is unprecedented for a mainstream chipset. In effect, a proper CrossFire configuration, no more crippled x16/x4 CrossFire nonsense. It’s not a full-blown x16/x16 setup, but no one could realistically expect Intel to allow a mainstream chipset to share the technological limelight with the higher-end X48.

While the P45 chipset is the first to benefit from the new ICH10R southbridge, there is not much to report... The ICH10R is effectively identical to the previous ICH9R southbridge, both support six SATA II ports, AHCI, and Matrix RAID technology.

Now let’s see what kind of motherboard Gigabyte has built around this new chipset.

 

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Features

Features

In the competitive motherboard market, manufacturer-specific features are one of the strongest selling points when choosing between two motherboards that utilize the same chipset. Gigabyte is obviously well aware of this reality, and they have outfitted the EP45-DQ6 with an impressive assortment of exclusive and innovative features. In Gigabyte-speak, the DQ6 series benefits from 6-Quad, which stands for Quad Bios, Quad Cooling, Quad Triple Phase, Quad eSATA2, Quad-Core Optimized, and Quad DDR2 Slots.

But that is just the tip of the iceberg, so let’s take a closer look at some of the standout features.

<table align="center" bgcolor="#666666" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" width="90%"><tr><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>Dual Channel DDR2-1333+</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-1.png" style="float: left; margin: 4px 5px 0 0;" />With the arrival of the new F10o BIOS, Gigabyte has updated the EP45-DQ6's specifications to list DDR2-1333+ as the highest officially supported memory speed for the EP45-DQ6. Overkill you say? Perhaps, but it does demonstrate that Gigabyte is confident in the memory overclocking capabilities of this motherboard. Also, there are actually a few soon-to-be-released 4GB DDR2 kits that will be able to achieve DDR2-1300 speeds with relative ease, so stay on the lookout for those!</td><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>Dolby Home Theater®</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-3.png" style="float: left; margin: 4px 5px 0 0;" />The EP45-DQ6 features an 8-channel high-definition audio codec chip that supports Dolby Home Theater, which is designed to automatically deliver the best possible surround sound listening experience no matter if you're using two to eight speakers or simply headphones.</td></tr><tr><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>ATI CrossFireX</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-2.png" style="float: right; margin: 4px 0 0 5px;" />Thanks to its two physical PCI-E x16 slots, the EP45-DQ6 is CrossFireX capable, just like most other P45 motherboards. However, unlike most other motherboards, Gigabyte has outfitted this high-end model with two open-ended PCI-E x4 slots, which means that it supports QUAD CrossFireX in an 8x/x4/x4/x8 configuration. It won’t really perform all that well, but it’s nice to see that the capability is there.</td><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-4.png" style="float: right; margin: 4px 0 0 5px;" />The new Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced provides better energy saving capabilities and most importantly it actually works while overclocking, which is something that competing energy saving solutions do not support. Finally, we can all benefit from maximum power savings and maximum system performance, the best of both worlds.</td></tr><tr><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>Ultra Durable 2</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-5.png" style="float: left; margin: 4px 5px 0 0;" />Ultra Durable 2 is the phrase that Gigabyte has chosen to the highlight the fact that the EP45-DQ6 was designed with high quality and energy efficient components, namely Low RDS(on) MOSFETs, ferrite core chokes, and long-lasting solid capacitors. Gigabyte was the first to create a motherboard series that exclusively used solid capacitors, so it’s nice to see them continue and improve upon this tradition.</td><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>2 Power Phases for Both NB and RAM</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-6.png" style="float: left; margin: 4px 5px 0 0;" />In the last 18 to 24 months, motherboard manufacturers have really placed the onus on improving their overall power delivery designs. With processors benefiting from 8-12-16 phase power designs, it was only natural to see similar improvements expand to other critical components. With this in mind, Gigabyte has outfitted the EP45-DQ6 with two-phase power designs for the northbridge and the memory. This will not only help provide better power regulation but improved efficiency as well, which should theoretically improve overclocking. </td></tr><tr><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>Ultra TPM</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-7.png" style="float: right; margin: 4px 0 0 5px;" />Continuing their pioneering efforts, Gigabyte is the first motherboard manufacturer to outfit their motherboards with an onboard Trusted Platform Module (TPM). This Infineon-sourced TPM provides an industry-leading 2048-bit data encryption through a hardware and software approach. We could spend a few pages explaining the intricacies of this Ultra TPM feature, but instead we recommend that interested readers check out Gigabyte’s article.</td><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>High Velocity 4X Bandwidth Boost</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-8.png" style="float: right; margin: 4px 0 0 5px;" />Many of you are already aware that Gigabyte has outfitted the EP45-DQ6 with a record four Gigabit LAN ports. While it is certainly overkill for most, Gigabyte argues that this design provides fault tolerance, preventing network downtime by simply switching from a failed port to a working port. Also, the Teaming/Bonding functionality allows the 4 single connections to act as a single ultra-high-speed connection with a theoretical 4Gbit/sec throughput.</td></tr><tr><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>Hardware Overvoltage Control ICs</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-9.png" style="float: left; margin: 4px 5px 0 0;" />Catering to the enthusiast crowd, the EP45-DQ6 features hardware overvoltage control ICs which allow for linear real-time voltage control options for the CPU, memory, and northbridge. In addition, these ICs also allow for extremely accurate control, allowing overclockers to perfectly adjust voltages in precise 20mV increments. </td><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>Smart Backup - Plug & Play Hardware RAID</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-10.png" style="float: left; margin: 4px 5px 0 0;" />Taking the guess work out of RAID 1 configurations, the EP45-DQ6 has two onboard RAID controllers which can configure up to 4 SATA hard drives for RAID 1 data backup without user intervention.</td></tr><tr><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>LED Indicators </b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-11.png" style="float: right; margin: 4px 0 0 5px;" />The EP45-DQ6 has a whole slew of LEDs. First, there are 7 onboard diagnostic LEDs which indicate if a malfunction is occurring and allow users to quickly identify the source of the problem. Secondly, there are 4 embedded LEDs which indicate system power status, preventing potential hardware damage due to improper installation/removal of components while the systems is still in a power-on state (S0, S1, S3, S4, S5).</td><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>EasyTune6</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-12.png" style="float: right; margin: 4px 0 0 5px;" />Let’s be honest here, the overwhelming majority of manufacturer provided overclocking/tweaking utilities just plain suck. It is due to this undeniable fact that Gigabyte completely redesigned EasyTune6 from the ground up to make it easier than ever to manage, monitor, and tweak your hardware and system settings. Is it any good? Well we will examine it thoroughly in the Software Section.</td></tr><tr><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>DualBIOS</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-13.png" style="float: left; margin: 4px 5px 0 0;" />Providing bullet-proof BIOS protection, the EP45-DQ6 has 2 physical BIOS ROMs which permit instant recovery from BIOS damage or failure due to viruses or improper BIOS updating.</td><td align="justify" valign="top" bgcolor="#ececec" width="50%"><center><b>Onboard Quick Switches</b></center>
<img src="http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/mac/reviews/gigabyte/EP45DQ6/features-14.png" style="float: left; margin: 4px 5px 0 0;" />Last, but certainly not least, are the onboard Power, Clear CMOS and Reset buttons which are an undeniably convenient feature, particularly for those of us who operate our computer systems without a traditional PC case.</td></tr></table>

As you can see, Gigabyte really didn’t hold back when it came to equipping the EP45-DQ6 with useful features, and we can’t wait to test them all out for your convenience and reading pleasure.

 

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Package & Accessories

Package & Accessories

Now that we have examined some of this motherboard’s abundant features, let’s take a quick peek at the package and accessories.

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Here we have the very shiny and very appealing Gigabyte EP45-DQ6 box. The box is not only shiny, but it has some crazy rainbow translucent effect to it, very cool. It will definitely be the standout product no matter what shelf it lies on. By the way, although you can tell by the photos, this is no ordinary sized motherboard box. It measures 13.5 inches tall, 11 inches wide, and a full 5 inches deep, which is nearly twice as thick as most other motherboard boxes. Does this mean it's filled with goodies? Let's keep looking…

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The back of the box has an insane quantity of information, in fact the whole packaging has been utilized as an in-depth billboard for listing and describing this motherboard's impressive list of features. In particular, Dynamic Energy Saver gets a very large chunk of box real-estate, which is not surprising since it is Gigabyte's most highly-touted new feature.

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Here is the plain windowed box that is revealed once you pull the inner packaging out of its shiny exterior covering. Foregoing the venerable anti-static bag, the EP45-DQ6 itself is battle-clad in a protective plastic enclosure, so you definitely don’t have to worry about this motherboard getting damaged while in transit.

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Last, but certainly not least, is the very respectable accessories bundle. Let’s break down the list of items:

• 1 x Floppy Cable
• 1 x IDE Cable
• 4 x SATA Cables
• Dual Firewire PCI Expansion Bracket
• 2 x Dual eSATA PCI Expansion Bracket (with accompanying eSATA cables)
• Manual & Software CD + Installation Guide
• Rear I/O Panel
• Gigabyte Sticker
• Dolby Home Theatre Sticker
• Dynamic Energy Saver Sticker

All the cables that Gigabyte has bundled with the EP45-DQ6 are of great quality with really sturdy connectors. In particular, the SATA cables have a clip that ensures that they remain securely fastened to your hardware. The three additional PCI brackets are a welcome addition, and further boost this motherboard's already impressive connectivity options. The eSATA brackets come with a very handy external molex connection, which could be used to power external radiator fans for a water cooling system.

 

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A Closer Look at the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6

A Closer Look at the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6

Our initial impression of the layout was very positive. The ATX power connector, the floppy connector, and the SATA ports are all intelligently located at the edge of the motherboard, which is both convenient and functional. There is a huge gap between the two physical PCI-E x16 slots, which should allow the use of just about any aftermarket VGA cooling solution. The 8-pin CPU power connector is in a decent location, but we would have liked to see it placed even closer to the motherboard’s edge. As it is now, the connector can be somewhat difficult to remove as your fingers are jammed in between MOSFET cooler and the back of an I/O module. Due to its position near the northbridge cooler, the PCI-E x1 slot cannot accept longer cards, but that is a non-issue for the vast majority of consumers. Overall though, Gigabyte has done a great job with the EP45-DQ6’s layout. However, let’s take a closer look at the individual sections:

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As you can, the general CPU socket area on this motherboard is quite clean. Although surrounded by the low-profile northbridge and mosfet cooler, and a number of solid capacitors, there should be no clearance issues with even the largest CPU coolers. As you can see, the EP45-DQ6 comes with a (virtual) twelve-phase power design, courtesy of the high-quality low power loss ferrite core chokes.

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The red and yellow memory slots are well spaced, and also benefit from a two-phase power design ensuring stable voltage to your DDR2 modules. We also have the CPU fan header at the top edge of the motherboard. The floppy connector and 24-pin ATX power connector are right at the edge of the motherboard which is great to see. Lastly, we have the sweet-looking ACPI LED display, which varies according to how many power phases are in use.

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Here we have one of the most densely occupied parts of the whole motherboard, no square inch of PCB space has been left bare by Gigabyte’s engineers. At the top right, you see the two phase power design for the memory slots. To the right of that, we have the EP45-DQ6’s impressive Serial ATA connectivity. The six yellow ports come from the ICH10R southbridge, and support RAID 0/1/5/10. The other two are controlled by two Silicon Image Sil5723 storage processors, and can be used for RAID 1 in coordination with the Smart Backup feature. In the middle we have the southbridge, which is cooled by a small push-pin heatsink, and which shares a heat pipe with the other coolers. To the left of the southbridge is the PCI-E Bridge chip, which is manufactured by IDT and supplies both of the PCI-E x4 slots as well the four Gigabit LAN controllers. At the bottom, we have the IDE connector, as well as the onboard USB and FireWire headers.

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And we have another very densely occupied area. Starting from the right edge we see the onboard Power/Reset/CLR CMOS buttons. At the bottom right, we have the iTE IT8720 chip I/O controller, which is responsible for hardware monitoring and the system voltage detection. To the left of it, we have the Realtek ALC889A high definition audio codec, and then two of the four Realtek 8111C Gigabit LAN controller chips. In the middle, we have all the expansion slots, a PCI-E 1x slot, a PCI-E x16 slot, two PCI-E x4 slots supplied by the PCI-E Bridge, the second PCI-E x16 slot, and then two PCI-E slots. If you are wondering how graphics cards fit in the PCI-E x4 slots, you can see that Gigabyte has left them open-ended.

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The rear I/O panel is where you can see the unprecedented four Gigabit LAN ports, eight USB ports, audio connectors, optical and coaxial S/PDIF connectors, and lastly the PS2 keyboard and mouse ports. Let’s not forget that Gigabyte has packed more ports onto the three PCI expansion brackets.

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The back of the board is pretty standard, aside from the army of push-pins holding the numerous coolers in place. You may also notice that Gigabyte has placed bare MOSFETs on the underside of the motherboard, clearly they don’t actually need cooling.

 

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BIOS Rundown

BIOS Rundown

With a motherboard of this caliber we expected a top-notch BIOS, and thankfully Gigabyte have delivered both in terms of functionality and layout.

Click on images to enlarge​

The initial selection screen should be broadly familiar to anyone who has recently used a Gigabyte motherboard, and it wisely lists the M.I.T. section (that’s where all the fun happens!) as the first option.

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We likey, we likey a lot. CPU multiplier, front side bus, PCI-E bus, northbridge latch, memory multiplier… what an initial greeting! And it gets even better as you scroll down to reveal the “Mother Board Votlage Control” (Spell check anyone?). Aside from a southbridge voltage option, Gigabyte has provided every voltage option that users should require to extract every last megahertz from their components. Not only are there a lot of voltage options, but the individual adjustments are extremely liberal as you can see below:

<table bgcolor="#666666" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" width="735"><tbody><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#cc9999" width="100"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cc9999" width="100">Minimum</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cc9999" width="100">Maximum</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cc9999" width="100">Increment</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#cc9999" width="335">Notes</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">CPU vCORE</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.50000v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">2.30000v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.00625v<1.6v
0.02000v>1.6v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Normal sets the VID for the CPU</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">CPU Termination</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.800v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">1.940v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.020v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 1.20v</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">CPU PLL</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">1.00v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">2.800v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.100v<1.56v
0.020v>1.56v</td> <td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 1.50v</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">MCH CORE</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.800v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">1.800v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.100v<1.14v
0.020v>1.14v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 1.50v</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">MCH Reference</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.246v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.791v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.020v<0.506v
0.015v>0.506v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 0.760v</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">MCH/DRAM Reference</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.490v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">1.750v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.020v<0.950v
0.005v>0.950v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 0.900v</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">ICH I/O</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">1.000v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">2.300v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.100v<1.540v
0.020v>1.540v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 1.500v</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">DRAM Voltage</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">1.800v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">3.00v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.020v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 1.80v</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">DRAM Termination</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.620v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">1.325v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.020v<1.10v
0.050v>1.10v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 0.900v</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">Channel A Reference</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.440v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">1.700v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.020v<1.100v
0.050v>1.100v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 0.900v</td></tr><tr><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">Channel B Reference</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.440v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">1.700v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="100">0.020v<1.100v
0.050v>1.100v</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#ececec" width="335">Standard 0.900v</td></tr> </tbody></table>​

In summary, overclockers will definitely feel at home tinkering within the shiny blue confines of MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T) section and its abundant voltages tweaking capabilities. Just make sure that you use these voltages sensibly, as Gigabyte have provided enough leeway for you to damage any and all components.

Now you may have noticed the “Advanced Timing Control” option in the third screenshot. This is where all the memory overclocking magic happens.

Click on images to enlarge​

This sub-menu gives you access to some of the important sub-timings, but mostly important reveals four more sub-menus. In the “Timings Settings” menus, you get access to the Static tRead Value, which is Gigabyte’s word for the all-important tRD or Performance Level. If you are particularly knowledgeable, you can also tweak the tRD phase adjustment and the DIMM Clock Skews. In the “Driving Settings” menus, we can adjust the memory driving strength, which is a very rare option to find in most BIOSes. Gigabyte has wisely chosen to provide Drive Strength Profiles (667/800/1066/OC-1200/OC-1333), as to take the guess work out of these fairly obscure options.

By adding all these extra options, Gigabyte has definitely pushed this BIOS into elite company, and it should satisfy all but the most fanatical BIOS tweakers.

Click on images to enlarge​

Here we have the Advanced BIOS Features section, which allows you to set boot device priority, enable/disable Intel’s various CPU-specific technologies, and tweak a few other boot-up related settings. The Integrated Peripherals section allows you to enable/disable all of the various onboard devices (RAID, audio, USB, FireWire, LAN, etc).

Click on images to enlarge​

The PC Health Status section is the first real disappointment encountered in the BIOS, as there is a distinct lack of voltages and temperatures being reported. Since this is a high-end motherboard, we would have liked to see Gigabyte include a few additional readouts, for example vDIMM, vMCH, vSB and also the MCH temperature. The second screen enables/disable the Infineon Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and we can’t help but wonder why they did not simply add this option to the Integrated Peripherals section.

This last screenshot is of the Q-Flash utility that is accessed via the F8 key. It is very straight forward and quite simple to get a BIOS quickly flashed. We did some flashing to and from BIOS files through Q-Flash using a USB thumb drive and not once had a problem. Being built right into the BIOS eliminates the step of creating a boot disk and makes it as simple as dropping the BIOS file on a thumb drive and rebooting to the BIOS. Yet another very nice feature well implemented into the GA-EP45T-Extreme BIOS.

Overall. Gigabyte have done a great job with this BIOS. While we are a little disappointed by the lack of voltage and temperature readouts, the superb MB Intelligent Tweaker section more than makes up for this shortcoming. On a side note, and this is a nitpicky detail, we do find the BIOS to be a bit sluggish at times, occasionally hesitating to scroll up or down.

 

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Included Software

Included Software

In this section, we will take a closer look at the two main software utilities that Gigabyte has packaged with the EP45-DQ6, namely EasyTune6 and DES Advanced.

EasyTune6

EasyTune is a system management utility that displays system clock speeds, voltages, temperatures, and fan rotation…but more importantly it allows users to overclock from within Windows. Now anyone familiar with past EasyTune iterations knows that although this utility has always contained a fair bit of functionality, its usability left a little (or a lot!) to be desired. Well thankfully Gigabyte went back to the drawing board, and created a brand new EasyTune version from scratch. The result? A whole lot of Ass-Kickery (that’s good!), and here’s why…

Once you click on Advanced Mode, EasyTune6 reveals its true inner beauty…unprecedented Windows-based overclocking options…and they actually all work! Not only can you adjust the front side bus, the processor multiplier, the memory multiplier, and the PCI-E frequency, but they have actually provided us noble enthusiasts with almost every single voltage option that is found in the BIOS. Hooray!

Now let’s restate something important...all the on-the-fly voltage tweaking options actually work! This is (regrettably) an achievement of epic proportions for a manufacturer-provided piece of software. Aside from when we attempted an impossible clock speed/voltage combination, not once did the software cause a blue screen or system freeze when we <i>intelligently</i> adjusted settings.

The Graphics tab allows you to manipulate your graphics card’s core/memory/shader clock speeds, but we still recommend RivaTuner for VGA tweaking since it is so much more capable.

The Smart tab gives you access to the CPU Intelligent Accelerator (C.I.A) 2 and Smart Fan functions. The CPU Intelligent Accelerator was designed to automatically overclock the CPU according to system load and user-selected level. However, in our experiences, C.I.A.2 proved to be anything but intelligent. The Cruise setting increased the front side bus from 333Mhz to 360Mhz under full load, and the Sports setting upped it even further to 373Mhz. However, all the levels above ‘Sports’ caused instant lock-ups or BSODs. From what we noticed in the Tuner tab, voltages were not being increased along with the FSB, so that would definitely explain why the system would fail past a certain FSB threshold. This might be an inconvenience for novice users, but seasoned overclockers will never use this function anyways,

Lastly, we have HW Monitor which is easily the saddest tab of the whole bunch. Why provide us with a plethora of voltage tweaking options and then give us a pathetic three voltage readings?! I sincerely do not understand the (undoubtedly long) thought process that went into selecting those three voltage readings, while excluding vNB, vTT or PLL. Also, since the +5V rail is there how infinitesimally difficult would it have been to include Mr.+5V’s two little friends +3.3V and +12V? Having said that, this issue is hardware-related (lack of on-board sensors), so we can’t really fault the software itself.

Despite finishing on a few sour notes, we do sincerely like EasyTune6. It was consistently one of the first pieces of software we installed after a fresh Windows installation. If EasyTune keeps improving it will definitely become another worthwhile reason to buy a Gigabyte motherboard.

DES Advanced

Now let's have a look at the DES Advanced energy saving solution, which is arguably Gigabyte’s most highly-touted feature.

After first installing the Dynamic Energy Saver (DES) software, we are greeted with a powered down control panel. This means all DES functions are turned off and disabled. Only when we click on the large DES logo to the right does the panel come to life and power saving begin.

The software is pretty straight forward; we have our power savings meter in the top portion providing us with information about how much power we have saved. We can see the meter total that we can easily reset and the total amount based on the first installation of DES. Just below is the graphic that tells us how many phases of the PWM are actually running. In the image above, all 12 phases are running strong.

Below that are the Dynamic Voltage and Dynamic Frequency gauges. With CE1 and the other power saving features of today’s Intel processors, these features aren't really needed as the board already drops CPU frequency and vCORE at idle states.

In this last photo, we can see the CPU throttling and the power phases drop down to only 4 in use. We also have the on-board LEDs show us how many phases are in use. These LEDs can be turned on and off through the control panel with the little green light to the right under the main DES on/off switch.

Now that we have gone through all the trouble of explaining how it works, the big question is does it work? In order to test this out we enabled all the Intel energy saving features in the BIOS, then let the system idle for 1 hour and measured the KW/h of energy used through our UPM EM100 power meter. We repeated the same procedure for 1 hour of Prime 95 Blend load. We then installed the DES software, set it to maximum energy saving, turned the Dynamic Frequency on, and repeated the tests. Here are the results:

These results prove that DES definitely does work, and in fact works quite well. While the power savings at idle were minimal, under full load the power consumption of the DES-enabled system reached a maximum of 148W, whereas the default system peaked at 153W. This might seem like an insignificant decrease, but remember that our test only lasted one hour. Over several weeks and months the energy and monetary savings would definitely start to add up, especially for those who run intensive programs like Folding @ Home 24/7.

Last, but of particular importance to the enthusiast crowd, is the fact that DES can be used with an overclocked system, which is something that competing energy saving technologies do not support. Two thumbs up for Gigabyte!

 

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Test Setup / Overclocking Methodology

Test Setup

Test Platform:

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6 (F10k BIOS)
• Processor: Intel C2D E8500
• Processor Cooling: Thermalright Ultra-120 + 120MM Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 1600RPM/63.7CFM
• Memory: OEM Micron PC2-5300 (D9GMH) @ 800Mhz 5-5-5-15 1.8V
• Power Supply: Corsair HX620W
• Video Card: XFX GeForce 8800 GT Alpha Dog 512MB (ForceWare 175.16)
• Additional Fans: 92MM Arctic Cooling AF9225PWM
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 7200.11 500GB SATAII 32MB cache
• OS: Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 32-bit (with all updates)

Testing will occur on a Highspeed PC Standard Top Deck Tech Station, and not in a traditional case. This allows easier access to the motherboard for the constant poking and prodding that is required during the reviewing process. The setup remained as pictured during the duration of the benchmarking and overclocking process.

Overclocking Methodology

Although it is not part of Gigabyte’s enthusiast-oriented EP45 Extreme series, we still expect to see some solid overclocking from this high-end P45 model…and we are most definitely going to find out what it is capable of! The overclocking section is definitely the part of our reviews that we take the most pride in, and we spend an excruciating numbers of hours testing, tweaking, failing, and succeeding in order to give you the best possible insight into each motherboard’s overclocking capabilities. After all, if you are anything like us, the overclocking section is the first (and often last!) part that you read when checking out a motherboard review.

For the purposes of this review, our overclocking efforts will primarily focus on three main areas: maximum stable memory frequency, maximum stable front side bus, and then overall stable system overclock.

In our overclocking tests, we put an emphasis on stability. You will not find suicide screenshots in our motherboard reviews, since they are a disservice to consumers and the community as a whole.

While the question “What is stable?” could be debated endlessly, we have devised a methodology that combines a wide range of programs that test the stability of the entire system.

Here is the suite of applications that will be run in order to validate each of the overclocks:

• Dual 32MB runs of SuperPi Mod 1.5 (ran at the same time)
• 2 hours of dual Prime 95 v25.6 using the Stress Testing Blend
• 2 hours of OCCT Custom 2H Mix OCCT v2.0.0a - Except for Memory Overclocking
• 3-4 hours of dual HCI MemTest in Windows using all available memory
• Multiple loops of 3DMark 06 (30 minutes of looping the full tests each)
• 1 hour of game play in Team Fortress 2 & Crysis @ 1680x1050

Altogether, the above suite should provide enough stress testing to ensure a completely stable overclock, however we are always up for new suggestions. As always, no two systems are ever alike, so your results may vary. Also, overclock at your own risk! If you aren’t fully confident in what you are doing, feel free to stop by our forums and our helpful members will be glad to offer some assistance.

 

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Overclocking Results

Overclocking Results

Now traditionally Gigabyte has not been known as ‘The Overclockers Choice’, but that is a perception that the company is working hard to change. Back in May, Gigabyte held the Spring Break & Plug-Fest 2008 benchmarking event in which they unveiled their P45 lineup and allowed several dozen journalists to poke and prod the new models as they saw fit. Not only did this event reaffirm Gigabyte’s commitment to producing enthusiast-friendly motherboards, but it also allowed the company to receive priceless feedback on what to fix and improve before the models were released.

As a result of this renewed focus on overclocking, we were definitely anxious to test out the EP45-DQ6’s capabilities. Now we won’t go into detail, but our initial experience with the board was downright dreadful, as the included F5 bios was clearly immature. No worries though, a quick visit to Gigabyte’s website revealed the much more recent F10a bios. This bios was significantly better (which is not saying much!), but its memory overclocking capabilities were still subpar, and it required pin-point accurate tweaking of nearly every relevant BIOS settings in order to achieve a stable 490Mhz FSB. Thankfully, on August 19th, Gigabyte came through in a big way and provided us with the F10k bios. This beta BIOS, which was the precursor to the now publicly available F10o, completely changed the character of the board and allowed us to achieve the following results.

Before starting, please note that Everest, MemSet and CPU-Z all mistakenly report the memory type as DDR3. Also, MemSet misreports the memory clocks, so rely on CPU-Z instead.

Maximum FSB Stability Overclocking
Click for full size…

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Now, for full disclosure purposes, this is not actually the highest stable FSB that this motherboard is capable of…we think. Due to time constraints, and the fact that we had to redo all of our testing with the F10k BIOS, we had to stop somewhere and five-hundred-and-fifty seemed like a good solid number. After all, 550Mhz at 1.40V is nothing to scoff, it is in fact an excellent and surprising result. When we first received the EP45-DQ6 we were honestly a little worried that this model wouldn’t be a great overclocker due to sheer number of things that Gigabyte has jam-packed onto the PCB. However, as you can see this was clearly not the case. From our experiences, the key to unlocking high stable FSBs with this model rests with high VTT (1.40-1.50) & PLL (1.60-1.80) voltages, mild vNB voltages (1.36-1.44V), and a ‘perfect’ MCH Reference voltage, everything else can be set to AUTO.

Now some of you may be focusing on the tRD (Performance Level) of 10, which is relatively high. However, you have to take into consideration that the P45 chipset does not appear to be capable of running with a tRD under 10 when using the 1:1 memory ratio. We experienced this same issue with our ASUS P5Q PRO, and have read about similar user experiences on various forums. We wanted to test tRD levels with another memory ratio, but with an FSB this high, the second lowest ratio (x 2.40) would have required memory capable of 1320Mhz, which we simply do not have on hand…yet. We were however able to get up to 515Mhz with a tRD of 8, as you can see in our memory overclocking results. Nevertheless, even with a tRD of 10, this motherboard is very fast when using the 1:1 memory ratio.

For the curious among you who aren’t satisfied with the mere’ 550Mhz FSB, we will be posting the true maximum FSB on our forums within a few days.


Maximum Memory Stability Overclocking
Click for full size…

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As you can see, we were once again able to surpass the 10,000 MB/s Everest Read speed milestone, which was once a feat achieved only by an elite few benchmarkers. However, that is not the surprising news. Prior to this review, we were under the impression that this OEM Micron PC2-5300 kit (with D9GMH ICs) topped out at about a stable DDR2-1216. They had achieved this same result on 2-3 different motherboards, so it was a logical assumption. However, the EP45-DQ6 threw all logic aside and we were able to extract another 20Mhz, pushing these relatively ordinary 667Mhz modules up to 1236MHz 5-5-5-15…an 85% overclock! We are not entirely sure what Gigabyte has done to this motherboard (Voodoo comes to mind), but it certainly impressed us with its memory overclocking prowess. In all seriousness though, we can likely attribute this new record to the rarely seen Drive Strength memory options that Gigabyte has wisely included in the BIOS (F10k & newer). Having said that, we did not actually have to individually tweak any of the Drive Strength settings since Gigabyte has provided convenient Drive Strength Profiles (AUTO/667/800/1066/OC-1200/OC-1333+).

Last, but not least, do notice the very low memory latency. Gigabyte has obviously done a top-notch job tweaking this new BIOS, and we are excited to see what kind of numbers world-class overclockers will be able to achieve with this motherboard.


Maximum Overall Stability Overclocking
Click for full size…

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That’s right, this motherboard gave us enough confidence to recommend it for 500Mhz FSB 24/7 use. This is not something we would do with a lesser board, but considering the relatively low voltages required, the capable cooling system, and the excellent stability the EP45-DQ6 exhibited throughout our tests, we have no qualms about using it at such a high front side bus speed. 4.0Ghz/500Mhz FSB/DDR2-1200…does it get much better? Not really, this is a speed demon with great features. We are going to be using these clock speeds as the overclocked configuration in the subsequent benchmarking section.

 

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Benchmarking Methodology

Benchmarking Methodology

For this review, our benchmarking section will focus solely on the Gigabyte EP45-DQ6, in stock and overclocked configuration. The reasoning behind this approach is that there is often a miniscule clock-for-clock performance difference between two motherboards that share an identical chipset and declaring one product a winner based on a 1% performance advantages seems futile to us.

We have outlined the two setups in the sample graph to the right. The blue results will indicate the performance at the BIOS defaults. The only changes that will be made are to the memory in order to get it running at its rated frequency and timings. Every other setting will be at the default that the BIOS sets. The red results are going to display the overall best overclock we found for this particular setup.

These overclock results are again, the best overall overclock we could manage with this motherboard and the hardware used in the review. As was mentioned in the overclocking section, we used Everest bandwidth benchmarks and a few other performance tests to determine which settings were ultimately faster, not just higher. For all of the benchmarks, appropriate lengths are taken to ensure an equal comparison through methodical setup, installation, and testing. The following outlines our testing methodology:

A) Windows is installed using a full format.

B) Intel Chipset drivers and accessory hardware drivers (audio, network, GPU) are installed followed by a defragment and a reboot.

C) Programs and games are then installed followed by another defragment.

D) Windows updates are then completed installing all available updates followed by a defragment.

E) Benchmarks are each ran three times after a clean reboot for every iteration of the benchmark unless otherwise stated, the results are then averaged.

We have listed the benchmark versions on each graph as results can vary between updates. That should about cover everything so let's see what kind of numbers this motherboard puts up in the suite of benchmarks we have chosen.