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There has been a lot of controversy over Gigabyte's latest mainstream motherboard ... the EP45 UD3. Why? Well, believe it or not ... it was all to do with cooling the motherboard. Gigabyte's EP45 UD3 is the world's first ever motherboard to use a PCB that features a 2oz copper layer. For this reason, Asus was one of the first to make an official statement, strongly critising Gigabyte on the "GREEN" issue. In the statement, Asus raised the question and asked why Gigabyte would want to use a PCB that features a 2oz copper layer? What ever happened to "Saving the Planet" and the "Environment".

Well it's not surprising to see that these two companies (Asus and Gigabyte) having a go at each, again. Mind you, Asus does have a point ... but having said that, they forget to mention that most of their motherboards are not so "environmentally friendly" either. Most of their motherboards contain MORE than 2oz copper anyway ... not on their PCBs but through its copper heatpipe chipset coolers. The Gigabyte EP45 UD3 does not feature a copper heatpipe chipset cooler ... but instead an Aluminum heatsink.

Let's put this argument aside and take a look at what's really important. Gigabyte have included their new Ultra Durable 3 technology on their EP45 UD3 motherboard ... it's their latest and most advanced yet. Like before, the motherboard uses Japanese solid capacitors, Lower RDS(on) Mosfets and Ferrite Core chokes, but this time they use a new 2oz copper layer PCB design. What's more, you also have Gigabyte's DES (Dynamic Energy Saver) feature ... all of this gives effective cooling of the whole motherboard with great energy efficiency.

In this review we'll be taking a closer look at the Gigabyte EP45 UD3 motherboard. It's based on the already proven Intel P45 chipset, and supports 1600FSB and DDR2 memory upto 1366+ Mhz (overclocked). The motherboard is designed and aimed at the mainstream market and therefore does not support dual PCIe slots for Crossfire configuration. What is interesting about this motherboard, is how effective this new Ultra Durable 3 feature really is? Does it really cool the motherboard, and does the 2oz copper PCB make that much difference?

In our tests we'll be testing the Gigabyte EP45 UD3 using the usual PC Mark 2005, 3D Mark 2005, 2006 and Vantage tests. we'll also be running some DX games too. We will also be taking a look at the motherboard temperature as well as the total power consumption. Our test rig includes an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ default 2.4Ghz, Radeon HD 4850, Kingston HyperX DDR2 PC2-9200 2Gb Kit, PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 860W PSU and a 24" Samsung SyncMaster 245B LCD monitor. Windows Vista with native DX10 was used as our OS.

OK, let's not waste any more time an take a look a closer look at the Gigabyte EP45 UD3 motherboard  ...