Event Coverage

Gigabyte @ Computex 2008

By Vincent Chang - 3 Jun 2008

A Dynamic Gigabyte

A Dynamic Gigabyte

It's looking like another 'dynamic' year ahead for Gigabyte, which showed off its entire range of products from components to consumer electronics at Computex 2008. As you may have noticed, Gigabyte has been rather aggressive in marketing its motherboards, to the extent of directly attacking rival ASUS' marketing claims as false while promoting its own Dynamic Energy Saver technology. While a war of words (aka press releases) have broken out between the two sides, we'll be skipping the histrionics and focusing solely on the products. In the case of Gigabyte, they have a staggering number of motherboards available using the latest chipsets at its booth and here are some of our picks

 Gigabyte has one of the larger booths at Computex, as one would expect from a major manufacturing vendor.  .

P45 Motherboards

 Featuring a new Hybrid Silent-Pipe, which consists of a separate, almost full length sized array of radiating fins for the motherboard's cooling system, the Gigabyte GA-EP45T-Extreme is as extreme a solution as its name suggest. Here it is paired with a GeForce 9600 GT and there's no interference between the heat pipe and the graphics card.

 Looking at the board alone, the EP45T-Extreme uses Intel's latest P45 chipset with a ICH10R Southbridge and supports up to 1600MHz FSB 45nm Intel Core 2 processors. It can do DDR3 up to 1900MHz overclocked. Gigabyte claims it has a virtual 12 CPU power phase with 2 phases each for memory and the Northbridge. Besides supporting CrossFireX via two PCIe x 16 Gen 2 interface, this board also has Realtek's ALC889A HD Audio providing it with a SNR of 106dB and Dolby Home Theater.

 The DDR2 version of the EP45-Extreme is exactly the same as the 'T', DDR3 version in every other way except for the memory support.

 The ultra high-end P45 flagship in Gigabyte's stable is of course its DQ6 variant. Here it is paired with a GeForce 8800 GT.

 For those desiring the extreme high-end (in terms of features) solution, the DQ6 is Gigabyte's answer. Supporting DDR2 1600MHz along with Gigabyte's full suite of energy saving/efficiency technologies like its 6-Gear switching, this board has all the standard P45 chipset features (and a lot of the high-end stuff you saw on the Extreme), 4 x Gigabit Ethernet and even a TPM chip onboard for full 2048-bit encryption. You can read more about it in the preview article done before Computex.

 Almost the equal of the DQ6, the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS5 has the more typical dual Gigabit Ethernet instead of the DQ6's four and apparently lacks the virtual 12 power phases on the DQ6.

 With a less prominent cooling system, the EP45T-DS4 has the usual Advanced DES found on Gigabyte's new motherboards, along with the standard P45 features and dual channel DDR3 support.

 This DDR2 GA-EP45-DS4P is equipped with a more comprehensive cooling system than the DDR3 DS4 and has the TPM chip found on higher end Gigabyte boards. Confused yet about the differences?

 Mainstream enthusiasts are more likely to go for the EP45-DS3P, which besides the standard P45 features, also has Advanced DES with 6-gear switching and the same ALC889 HD Audio CODEC as its high-end relatives.

 

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