DS3L or DS3R?

Joined
Dec 4, 2007
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I apologize in advance, because I'm sure this has been asked before, but I haven't been able to dig up a solid answer for this. I don't plan on running RAID, but I do certainly plan to overclock. I've been told that the DS3R has better overclockability by people, but how true is that? I'd rather not drop an extra $30 if it's a very small difference, but if it's noticeable, I may. Thanks in advance.
 
The DS3L is a fine overclocker, and if you don't need RAID it is certainly recommended.
 
Right on. I may just go for the DS3L, if it does have about the same overclockability as the DS3R. Any other opinions out there on this?
 
well i just built a DS3R based system for my brother for xmas, and used the E2180(stock 2.0ghz) and it chugging along nicely at 3.2ghz on stock voltage if that helps. The board is rock solid imho. Great buy if you decide on it.
 
I would make a choice based on the max cpu mulitplier.

The DS3's cpu power supply is stronger, if you think you will ever put a quad in it I would recommend the DS3 (R or not R, they do make just a plain DS3 ) pull up both boards on Gigabytes web site and compare the zoomed board photos side by side and look around the power supply section.

Now about the cpu multi. I just built a "L" based budget gamer for my son. All the OCing settings are there, no worries about that. Using an E4500 I had it running 11 x 300 3.3GHz (1.40Vcore) 2 minutes after I booted it up. Rock solid. Great board, very happy, etc. etc. have run orthos on it for 2 days continous. However before I determined what my target OC would be I played with seeing how high the FSB could go using a lowered mulitplier, I have difficulity (as in would not boot) with anything over 400FSB. This is with a fan applied to the MCH/Northbridge. It would do 390 all day long. So if your max cpu multi was 8 your max OC would be 3.2GHz ish , good, but some chips can do better.

I have NOT built a DS3 but they have the rep of over 400FSB easy (again put a fan on the MCH/Northbridge) so if my max cpu mulitplier was 8 or less I would go DS3 so your OC will not be FSB limited.

If the cpu has a max mulit of 9 or more the DS3L is very sweet. Seems well made as in not slapped together but there are some features that have been removed or made less expensive and some engineering that has been toned down. If your budget is tight it is an excellent board and I recommend it. If you can go the $30 and will be keeping the board a long time (keeping in mind this time next year Nehalem cpu's (sp?) with onboard memory controller is going to make all our boards obsolete) before the next motherboard upgrade I would go DS3 regular.

So, I cant say, you have to decide based on YOUR needs and plans. Good news is it will be difficult to screw up badly. Both are excellent boards.
 
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