Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L

[PAGETITLE=Introduction] Intel launched their P35 chipset to much fanfare last May. Although it was an evolutionary upgrade, it brought a lot to the table and offered exceptional performance. The problem, though, was that it was designed for mid-range and high-end motherboards, cutting out the budget offerings entirely. So naturally, a month or two after that launch, Intel followed-up with the introduction of the P31 and G31 chipsets for the value-conscious. The launch of P31 was interesting, most notably because I didn't even know about it until months after the fact. I didn't receive a single press release, either from Intel themselves or board partners. To say it was a quiet launch would be an understatement. In all likeliness, Intel didn't want to push the chipset too hard in order to better promote their higher-end and far superior P35 and G35, considering most of those motherboards still go for reasonable prices. With most budget chipsets or motherboards in general, corners are cut and features are taken out in order to cut down on costs, to create a motherboard that is affordable for anyone, and P31 is no exception. However, as we find out in our performance reports, this chipset shouldn't be undermined... it's a solid performer, making the price/performance ratio a good one. So why is there no P31 love? It's a good question. As it stands right now, there are three available P31 motherboards on one popular e-tailer, and this board isn't one of them. Compare that to the close to fifty that are available with P35. The cheapest P35 boards retail for around $100, but their feature-sets are cut down so much, it almost becomes a P31 board in itself with better memory support. Most P31 boards, however, retail between $70 - $80, with the GA-P31-DS3L retailing for ~$100. Closer Look. The fact of the matter is this: If you are looking for a solid Intel motherboard and are not picky with features, P31 is a good choice. As seen in the table below, the biggest hits are with the south bridge downgrade and lack of overall USB ports. But even with the downgrades, most people are unlikely to even notice, or care. Plus, things are not as bad as they seem, since Gigabyte has released BIOS upgrades and special functionality to help make up for what P31 takes away. Instead of the limited 6 USB ports for example, 8 is possible on this board. The same goes for the top-end FSB frequency, which Gigabyte bumped up to 1333FSB to match the current 45nm dual and quad core processors. Even the NIC uses a Realtek chipset to enable 1Gbit operation, so in the end... this board is not that feature-lacking overall. Specification Intel P35 Intel P31 Southbridge ICH9 ICH9R ICH9-DH ICH7 Front Side Bus 800/1066/1333MHz 800/1066MHz Memory DDR2-800 (12.8GB/s) DDR3-1066 (17GB/s) 8GB Maximum DDR2-800 (12.8GB/s) 4GB Maximum PCI-E 1.1 Graphics 1x PCI-E 16x 1x PCI-E 16x USB 2.0 12 USB Ports Dual EHCI USB Port Disable 6 USB Ports EHCI Integrated NIC 10/100/1000MBps 10/100MBps Et cetera Supports 45nm C2D/C2Q Supports 45nm C2D/C2Q Codename Bearlake Bearlake Like all of Gigabyte's offerings, the P31-DS3L arrived in one of the cleanest-looking motherboard boxes around. Professional, bright and informative. The first thing I noticed, however, was how light the box was when compared to other offerings. Indeed, the board itself is smaller than most, and the included extras are also few. Care to have a little trip around the board? First stop is the bottom-right-hand corner, where we have two on-board USB connectors (each can handle two ports, helping to bring the board total to eight), the single IDE port, four S-ATA 3Gb/s ports, ATX connectors and also a 4-pin fan connector. It might be a value motherboard, but the slots are plentiful. I appreciate the fact that there are three PCI slots. Even most enthusiast motherboards include less than this. In addition to those, there are 3x PCI-E 4x and a single PCI-E 16x for your graphics. The floppy connection is located below all of those, in what could be the most inconvenient location on the board. Neither the P31 or ICH7 chipsets generate much heat, so simple sinks are used. Silence is golden... and so are these heatsinks. Four DDR2 ports are found, although 8GB is the maximum allowed due to chipset limitations. I didn't test out running 2GB modules, but they should function fine, as long as there is only two. A 3-pin fan connector is found here as well, perfect for a RAM cooler. On the side panel we have PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, S/PDIF output, serial and parallel ports, 4x USB 2.0, a single LAN and also the audio, powered by the Realtek ALC888 chipset. Accessories include the manual and driver CD, installation instructions (perfect for new computer builders), two S-ATA cables, single IDE cable, single floppy cable and also the I/O guard. The P31-DS3L might not be an enthusiast-level offering, but given the price, it's a great-looking package. As far as the layout is concerned, I cannot find much complaint. If anything, the floppy connection seems to be in an inconvenient location, with the cable needing to stretch across the chassis. Though, I'm assuming the vast minority will have to deal with this issue, as floppy drives are not commonplace anymore. There are three spare fan connectors, which I consider to be great for a value board, and the PCI-E slot is clear of anything, so installing a large card won't be a problem. Up next we will take a look at the boards BIOS and see if it also represents that of a budget offering. [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=The BIOS] The P31-DS3L, as we've found out, is a value offering, so does the BIOS reflect that? Yes and no. While there is no major functionality missing, there is none added, either. Many people who purchase this board are unlikely to be concerned with that though. I am not a fan of Award BIOS' at all... I find them clunky and difficult to wade through, and this one is no different. AMI's offerings, to me, makes more sense from a functionality standpoint, but it could all be a matter of personal tastes. The Standard CMOS Features screen allows you to configure the time, hard drives, ODDs, floppy drives and also "halt on" error configuration. The Advanced BIOS Features is where things become more interesting. By default, SMART is turned off, but should be turned on if you wish to track hard drive information (such as temperatures). The boot configuration is also found here, although F12 can be pushed during POST to select a different device if need be. Integrated Peripherals is your one-stop shop for configuring USB devices, LAN devices, IDE/S-ATA connectors and audio. Power Management is a screen I've never had to touch in any BIOS, but you might have specific needs that need to be addressed here. The same applies to the PCI/PnP configurations. PC Health is the first screen I tackle on any new build, to make sure that temperatures and PSU voltages are within reason. The BIOS here doesn't delve too much into such information, but all the bases are covered. Of course, it's the tweaking screen that will get the most attention from overclockers, and overall, this one doesn't disappoint too much. In order to access full functionality, CTRL + F1 needs to be pressed at the BIOS main screen. While the BIOS covers the bases here, such as voltages and basic memory timings, it will leave much to be desired for the enthusiast overclocker. That said, there is still some fair potential here, and as we will discuss on the final page of the review, 430FSB was possible with a 100% stability rating (8 hours of stressing), so there is definitely some potential. GA-P31-DS3L BIOS Voltages CPU Voltage: Dependant on CPU Installed, can go up to 2.0V. DDR2 Voltage: Up to 2.5V using +0.7 Option. PCI-E: Unknown stock value, can be adjusted to +0.3V. FSB: 1.2v Stock, can be adjusted to +0.3V. (G)MCH: Unknown stock value, can be adjusted to +0.3V. The biggest downside here is the FSB voltages, but even that might not hold many back from tweaking out every last inch of performance. When I ran the motherboard at 440MHz FSB, I deemed it unstable after a few hours worth of testing, which is why I dropped it down to 430MHz, which did prove to be a very stable solution. As with overclocking in general, your mileage may vary. Time for benchmarking! [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=Testing Methodology, SYSmark 2007, PCMark Vantage] Throughout all of our benchmarks regardless of what we are reviewing, testing is done in a clean and stand-alone version of Windows XP Professional with SP2. The exception is PCMark Vantage, which is tested under Windows Vista. Prior to testing, these conditions are met: Desktop and scrap files are cleaned up, including emptying of recycle bin. No virus scanner or firewall is installed in the stand-alone installation. Computer has proper airflow and room ambient temp is >80°F. The testing rig used for today's benchmarking is as follows: CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 @ 3.0GHz. Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L. Memory: OCZ 2GB NVIDIA 7200 (DDR2), OCZ 2GB DDR2-1333 Platinum (DDR3) Video: ASUS 8800GTX 768MB. Sound: Onboard HD Audio. Storage: Seagate 7200.10 320GB Etcetera: Antec P182 Chassis, Windows XP Professional SP2, Windows Vista Ultimate Cooling: Corsair Nautilus 500 Power Supply: Corsair HX620W Compared Motherboards ASUS Blitz Extreme ASUS Maximus Extreme. ASUS Maximus Formula Please note that for our DDR3 motherboards, we use DDR3-1333 speeds with 7-7-7-20 timings, and for our DDR2 boards we use DDR2-1066 5-5-5-15. Lastly, all tests are run twice, with the results averaged between the two. SYSmark 2007 Preview SYSmark is an industry leading system benchmarking tool, which is completely automated but utilizes real-world tests. It installs common applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel, Photoshop CS2, 3DS Max, SketchUp! among others. SYSmark grades the performance of the system by how well...

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L

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Rob Williams