GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS4P

Interesting features, tempting price, and some other third thing.

Crawling out of the packaging like a mutant hybrid of the DS3R and DQ6, the DS4P is a compromise between those two other boards, offering some premium features, and other more standard ones. Dressed with premium chipset cooling, but with the power regulation around the CPU more like the standard, the CPU socket is relatively open, and can fit most large coolers. The RAM slots are also quite free, with plenty of room around them to fit larger memory sticks with elaborate heatsinks – you’ll just have to pull out the graphics card to install some.

Power ports are again in a very good spot, with the FDD and IDE in the same places as the other GIGABYTE boards. Six SATA ports are down below, and none are right angled. They’re also moved out of the way of longer graphics cards in an attempt to maximise the actual usage of them. Included along the bottom are the usual USB headers, Firewire and front panel stuff, as well as onboard buttons for power, clear CMOS and reset, which are extremely handy for those who overclock in or out of a case.

The expansion slots are the same as the DQ6, with nothing amazing to note. Front panel audio is in the worst spot ever – right in the middle of the board again, requiring a case with a long cable, and for it to be run underneath the front of the expansion cards.

Moving to the back of the board, it appears to be a duplicate of features from the DS3R, with the eight USB, two Ethernet and two Firewire present. Spread liberally around the board is an array ferrite chokes and solid capacitors, rounding up the overall quality feel.

The Optimal default in the BIOS again frustratingly disables USB keyboard support (if any GIGABYTE BIOS engineers are reading – please change this!), but the overclocking options are well fleshedout, and very easy to use.
For a small increase in price over the DS3R, you get a board with lots of premium features and better chipset cooling, without the expense of the DQ6. This is definitely a very good choice for any enthusiast.