GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R Motherboard Review :: GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-DS3R Layout

There is plenty of room around the CPU Socket to install large after-market cooling solutions. There are a row of capacitors on the top of the CPU Socket and another on the right hand side of the Socket. Cooling on the Northbridge consists of a single long heatsink. The Southbridge is also covered by a smaller heatsink.

Under the CPU Socket are four DIMM Slots for up to 16GB of DDR3-1900MHz memory. As noted earlier the memory can run up to 1900MHz if overclocked. Under the DIMM Sockets is the 24-pin power connector. The 8-pin power connector is located on the upper right hand corner of the board, making for easy access from the PSU.

The expansion on this board includes two PCI Express x16 slots, three PCI Express x1 slots and two PCI slots. The spacing between the PCI Express x16 slots is designed to fit dual slot video cards without interference from the other devices. In between the two card slots are two PCI Express x1 slots. There are no SATA ports under the video card slots.

Disk expansion on the board consists of the standard six SATA ports. They are located on the left hand bottom corner of the board, out of the way of video cards. Next to the 24-pin power connector is the FDD controller and next to that is the IDE controller. Again keeping in mind the dual slot video cards, the IDE controller is in a sideways facing orientation.

Next to the SATA ports are two USB headers for up to four USB ports. To the left of that is a Firewire port, then the FP IO. The FP IO is color code. Next to the FP IO is the LPT port then a COM port. The CD In port is to the left of that. That brings us to the left hand corner. To the right of the CD In is the ITE chip. Next to that is the SPDIF O port.

Onboard sound is provided by a Realtek ALC889A CODEC. This provides Dolby Home Theater support, has a SNR of 108dB and supports 7.1 Surround Sound+ 2 channel FP audio simultaneously. Intel introduced HD Audio in 2004 with the launch of the LGA-775 platform and the 925X motherboard chipset. HD Audio has all but taken over for the add-in cards from companies like Creative Labs on the market.

The Rear IO on the board consists of two PS/2 ports for the keyboard and mouse, SPDIF Out and Coaxial ports, 8 USB 2.0 ports, Firewire IEEE-1394a and b ports, dual Ethernet ports, and 6 audio jacks for the onboard sound. The total USB ports supported by the EP45T-DS3R board is 12, the total Firewire ports supported by the board is 3, making this a good candidate for a Home Theater PC motherboard.