Gigabyte joins the P35 party ... but they might have a something that the others don't. DDR2 and DDR3 slots on the same motherboard? 

INTRODUCTION

Last week we received a review sample of the Gigabyte GA-P35C DSR motherboard, and thanks to Gigabyte, we are now able to bring you yet another UK EXCLUSIVE review ... only available at CPU3D.

You should all know by now, that Gigabyte is a brand name that's been around since the early days of the PCs. They are among the world's largest manufacturers of computer components in the industry, producing everything from motherboards to graphic cards. So much so, they have even started a Thermal Division handling chassis and cooling products. Check out our reviews on some of Gigabyte's chassis.

In this review we will taking a look at the GA-P35C DS3R motherboard. It's based on Intel's latest P35 chipset aka Bearlake, and supports Core 2 Duo/Quad processors as well as DDR2/DDR3 ram. Yes, that's right. It's one of the first motherboard that support both DDR2 and DDR3 ram.

The motherboard is aimed at the mainstream market and lacks some of the features you'll find on some enthusiast boards. Things like onboard firewire, dual PCIe x16 slots for SLI configuration and silent heat-pipe cooling. However, it does have Gigabyte's "Ultra Durable 2" feature which includes all-solid japanese capacitors, ferrite core chokes and low RDS(on) mofsets ... all of which will give the motherboard extra stability and longevity.

The motherboard supports native DDR2-800 and DDR2-1066 (via overclocking). Don't be alarmed, when I say overclocking, it's really more like going into the BIOS and selecting DDR2-1066 rather than AUTO. Another selling point of the board is the added support for DDR3 ram. You get 4 standard DDR2 DIMM slots and 2 DDR3 DIMM slots, this is ideal for any users wishing to upgrade to DDR3 ram at a later date, when they become more widely available.

In our previous review of the Asus P5K Deluxe which also used the P35 chipset, we tested the board with a Core 2 Duo E6400 processor, which I think didn't really do it any justice. This time round however, we're armed with Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor, and we're got some scores to compare the DS3R with.

There have been mixed reactions from the public about the P35 chipset, some say it's just a repackaged P965 with added support for DDR3 ram, while others believe otherwise. Whatever the stories, I can tell you this ... when I tested the Asus P5K Deluxe using correctly match components and settings, such as 1333FSB for CPU and DDR2-1066 for ram, then system performance was outstanding. I expecting similar results from most P35 based motherboard.

OK, let's not waste anymore time, and take a closer look at the Gigabyte GA-P35C DS3R motherboard ...