Gigabyte EP45-UD3 models

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Linux_Box

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I'm a long-time AMD guy coming back to the Intel side (last Intel was PII-450). Seems like Intel has the advantage for OC'ing and gaming after OC'ing. I'm pretty set on getting a Gigabyte EP45-UD3 motherboard but can't figure out which model.

Are all of them pretty much the same for OC'ing capacity (ymmv I know but in general)?

Is the ICH10R a great deal better than the ICH10 or just a feature set change basically?

I'm going to start with either a 5x00 or 7x00 CPU with 4gb (2x2gb) of 1066 memory. Decent OC'ing potential with a UD3 board?

I don't plan on SLI or Crossfire but since I normally run ATI, Crossfire is a possibility down the road. UD3P is the only Crossfire model?


p.s. I could be convinced to get a different brand P45 (ASUS) but the Gigabytes seem to be very, very solid.
 
Linux_Box said:
Are all of them pretty much the same for OC'ing capacity (ymmv I know but in general)?
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The UD3P and UD3R share the same layout and are both excellent overclockers. I don't know about the lower-end models.
Linux_Box said:
Is the ICH10R a great deal better than the ICH10 or just a feature set change basically?
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Only difference is that the ICH10R has RAID capability. Aside from that, they are identical.
Linux_Box said:
I'm going to start with either a 5x00 or 7x00 CPU with 4gb (2x2gb) of 1066 memory. Decent OC'ing potential with a UD3 board?
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UD3R or UD3P. As I said above, I don't know much about the other ones.
Linux_Box said:
I don't plan on SLI or Crossfire but since I normally run ATI, Crossfire is a possibility down the road. UD3P is the only Crossfire model?
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Yes, the UD3P is the only Crossfire-compatible UD3 board.
Linux_Box said:
p.s. I could be convinced to get a different brand P45 (ASUS) but the Gigabytes seem to be very, very solid.
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The ASUS P5Q series is also excellent. Boards to consider are the P5Q Pro, P5Q Pro Turbo, and P5Q-E for the more reasonably-priced models.
 
I JUST bought a p45-ud3lr and it had no problem getting my q9550 to 400x8.5 at stock volts. I'm super happy with it - was tempted to go for the ud3p but I don't need the extra features as I dislike multigpu and have no need for FireWire of dual nics etc.
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I have the UD3R great board. You just have to watch out for the lan drivers when you first boot the computer. You have to go out and download the latest driver for it.

This is IF you are running vista 64bit.
 
The UD3R takes both DDR2 and DDR3 right? They dont appear to have the same layout. Could the UD3R be less stable or more picky with the RAM?
 
JHFerry said:
The UD3R takes both DDR2 and DDR3 right? They dont appear to have the same layout. Could the UD3R be less stable or more picky with the RAM?
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EP45 Boards take DDR2
EP45T Boards take DDR3
EP45C Boards take both (but not at the same time)

I had a EP45-UD3L that I just sold. Nice board.
 
I know that part but looking at pics of the boards they are different. Im just wondering whatever they did to allow both DDR2 and DDR3 affects stability or performance.
 
JHFerry said:
I know that part but looking at pics of the boards they are different. Im just wondering whatever they did to allow both DDR2 and DDR3 affects stability or performance.
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No effects at all in stability OR performance. So might as well stick to the DDR2 versions.
 
I decided on the UD3R (the UD3L was $75 AR though) since I don't like to skimp too much on my motherboard (for my budget). I'm starting with a e5200 which I'll use for a year or so. Since my 939 x2 @2.9ghz has been enough to this day, a e5200 @ ~3.5ghz (hopefully more) should hold me for at least a year.

Thanks for all the input. I'm definitely learning how it's done on the Intel side of things!!
 
I am really impressed with my UD3R, it overclocked my Q6600 well (9x400mhz at 1.31vcore load) without having to spend hours tweaking.

Have you decided on what kind of ram and other parts you will be ordering? I assume you are reusing most of the parts from your S939 rig.
 
I went with OCZ Gold pc1100 ram 2x1gb. It's $20 AR which is next to nothing imho. Probably should have gone with 2x2gb but 2gb has been enough for my 939 to date. Why 1100 instead of 800 or 1066?... OC head room and it's $20 AR (and OCZ is pretty good about rebates). This is the part of the new rig I second guess the most, not going with 2x2gb.

I'm going to keep my SATA II hard drive, 4830 @940/715 OC and Corsair 550vx. I have it all in a custom made 'cart case!!' with my water cooling. I ordered the Fuzion v1 pro mount, accelerator kit and some MX-2 TIM (my AS5 is old and AC doesn't cool as well for me). With 10 total 120mm fans (8 low speed Yates), it should be enough cooling.

I do wonder how well the stock NB cooler is on the UD3R? I am thinking of using my MCW30 for the NB if I can figure out how to take just the NB part of the stock cooler off the motherboard.
 
The stock NB cooler seems to work well, some people have popped off the blue covers to expose the heat sinks. I have not got around to it yet but when I have felt the coolers after 12+ hours of prime95 it was just warm to the touch.

You can take off the NB cooler and the heat pipe should just slide out off the other heat sink as it's just attached with thermal paste.

When you get all your stuff in you should post a few pictures of it built up. :D
 
fiewtoid said:
I have the UD3R great board. You just have to watch out for the lan drivers when you first boot the computer. You have to go out and download the latest driver for it.

This is IF you are running vista 64bit.
Click to expand...

So I just got a UD3R (ignore my sig, I havent updated it yet) and having a hell of a time with the LAN drivers for vista64. The drivers from GigaByte don't work at all, so where else can I download them from?
 
koretex said:
So I just got a UD3R (ignore my sig, I havent updated it yet) and having a hell of a time with the LAN drivers for vista64. The drivers from GigaByte don't work at all, so where else can I download them from?
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Find out what chipset your onboard NIC uses and get the drivers straight from the manufacturer.
 
I just installed an EP45 for my wifey and I'm unable to get it to boot with 4 DIMMS installed. Checked the RAM and I'm not seeing any problems with the individual DIMMS, but populating those other two slots makes things sad (no booting, no signal out the video card, nada).
 
Alaric_2000 said:
I just installed an EP45 for my wifey and I'm unable to get it to boot with 4 DIMMS installed. Checked the RAM and I'm not seeing any problems with the individual DIMMS, but populating those other two slots makes things sad (no booting, no signal out the video card, nada).
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Will each pair work individually? Do they all have the same specs? Do they all pass memtest with no errors?
 
Newegg was the bomb again and got it here in under 48 hours (3 day ground). I have the basics set up in a spare chassis until my Intel 775 watercooling extras show up today or tomorrow.

Other than the SATA2 HDD installation for Windows XP installation, it seems to be going well. I'm running stock until I get it into my normal water cooling set up. NB seems to be pretty hot to the touch but that actually means it is conducting heat away from the NB chip. I might do a little something with it later.

I'm trying to find a good guide on Intel 775 memory set up and OC. Any recommendations? AMD memory is quite a bit different in how you configure it in the BIOS of the motherboard... the Intel 775 memory "strap" has me a bit confused. I'm leaving it at default/auto for now.

BTW, it says in the bios my memory is running at 553mhz using auto (1100mhz OCZ is installed). Is it actually 553 or 1066 (doubled) for a UD3R MB using Bios F8?

Any pointers for the best bios for the UD3R? F8/newest the best for stability and OC'ing?
 
Zero82z said:
Will each pair work individually? Do they all have the same specs? Do they all pass memtest with no errors?
Click to expand...

Tested the 2x2GB sticks in all 4 slots and I'm not having a problem. Pulled them out and put the other two in and no dice. It appears I've got two bad sticks of RAM (it's almost as if they're shorting out because the PC powers up then powers down, then powers up, then powers down).

Going to go pick up another 2x2GB pair and see what happens.
 
I have an EP45-UD3P and its probably the best motherboard I've ever owned. I had 0 issues during setup, and I hit my OC goal in about 30 seconds with almost no tweaking. I had a Q6700 that I said I would be happy to have sit at 3.2ghz 8x400mhz. Setup the system, went into bios. Set my ram to 1:1, 200mhz fsb. Timings of 4-4-4-12. No CPU vcore adjustments, No mobo voltage tweaks. Started up a stress run of prime95, came back 30 hours later. No issues. its been rock solid for months now.

Love this mobo.
 
This is what I've been looking for... since I have a simple AMD mind!! :)

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/reviews/14031-gigabyte-ga-ep45-ud3r-living-review-2.html

Go down to the 5th picture which is a chart for the straps and explanations. This should be easily found on the net but I've yet to find it until now (2-3 days of searching). Basically it explains what a, b, c and d mean as well as the 2.00, 2.5, etc. in front of the letter.

Also, I noticed that the 533mhz showing up is the actual speed of the memory (i.e. DDR2 533). It appears having auto MCH Frequency Latch and Auto SPD Memory Multiplier has the motherboard setting it to 200 mhz MCH Frequency Latch, 2.66 divider and MCH strapping C. I think I need to get off of auto and go to 200 with 4.00C to get DDR2 800 until I'm ready to start my OC'ing.
 
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I have the EP45-UD3R ... 1st one I got from the Egg was DOA , waiting on the replacement to be shipped, seems like NewEgg got a batch of bad boards since there are quite a few of others posting they got DOA or bad UD3R's as well lately :(
 
Alaric_2000 said:
Tested the 2x2GB sticks in all 4 slots and I'm not having a problem. Pulled them out and put the other two in and no dice. It appears I've got two bad sticks of RAM (it's almost as if they're shorting out because the PC powers up then powers down, then powers up, then powers down).

Going to go pick up another 2x2GB pair and see what happens.
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Set your northbridge strap setting to auto, see if that helps. These boards are VERY picky about memory settings.
 
I love my UD3P. It's been rock solid and has given me a nice overclock IMO. Next card will be ATI, and I like having the option of Crossfire open.
 
I just got an EP45-UD3L to replace my UD3R which was failing, couldn't boot to Windows.

I thought the UD3L is just minus Raid, but I noticed the CPU socket is only 4 pin, vs 8 on the UD3R, and there's no heat sink on the R50 thingies. The heat sinks also lack the blue covers, but otherwise could be the same.

And I picked it up by the big silver heat sink and it partially popped off, which never happened on my UD3R.
 
I have an EP45UD3P and I just enjoyed the fact that about a second after I first booted it up the system managed the fans and I didn't have to adjust a single damn thing. Thermal settings, fan speed and memory speed and timings were perfect on the very first boot. My old 750iFTW can't match that.
 
bigdogchris said:
I have an EP45UD3P and I just enjoyed the fact that about a second after I first booted it up the system managed the fans and I didn't have to adjust a single damn thing. Thermal settings, fan speed and memory speed and timings were perfect on the very first boot. My old 750iFTW can't match that.
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I experienced the exact same thing this week!

My PC is a 750iFTW overclocked Q6600 to 3.2mhz...was a hassle to get it stable.

I built another PC the other night with the EP45-UD3R and a Q9550 but cranked it up to 3.5ghz and it ran cool and stable; exact same case, cooling and ram overclock. Best part was I could do this within Windows on the fly. To top it off there's no noisy mb fan like the FTW has. This board is hands down superior in every way to the 750iFTW yet somehow is much cheaper!
 
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