Realistically, I really wasn't expecting earth shattering frame rate improvements in games. A few extra frames is better than nothing. At least, you know that the board can do more than just tabulate spread sheets and edit A/V files even if it isn't considered an all out "gaming motherboard".

I find that overclocking has a greater chance of success once you've used a motherboard for a few days. It also allows time to update the system's drivers all around for the best possible chance of success. With that in mind, this is how the journey went.

The board's specs do not list that it offers any kind of support or capability of operating at a 1600 MHz Front Side Bus capacity. However, this motherboard was quite easily capable of maintaining 1600 MHz and 1900 MHz without issue. The system Prime stable. And to make sure, 3DMark06 demos were executed several times which meant it's obviously 3D stable. It isn't uncommon for weird issues to surface even if a system passes hours and hours of Prime or Orthos testing.

1600 MHz FSB - Approved

1900 MHz FSB - Approved

And in regards to the supported memory frequencies, the motherboard can operate the tested DDR2 memory kits up to 1200 MHz assuming yours is capable. My test module's sweet spot was 1150 MHz default, but can also reach upwards of 1275 MHz. Even my coveted Patriot Viper PC2-6400XLK scaled the natural frequency from 800 all the way up to 1275 MHz without issue. So, again, there's no reservations here.

And alas, Gigabyte's Dynamic Energy Saver software and features had to be given a detailed inspection. A lot of people don't seem to care about energy saving until they pay that power bill. Consider this scenario, if you will. You're a late night gamer who regularly enjoys playing an MMO that carries your game time in to the early morning hours. All that gaming requires a lot of electricity especially if you have a large screen. Well, choosing this board with its features can truly cut back a bit on your power consumption.

My original system was allowed to run for three days without any down time and without Hibernation modes enabled. Each day, the system was used from 9 AM to 12 AM and 4 PM to 7 PM where Orthos was running. On the fourth day, only the motherboard was replaced with the Gigabyte EP45-DS3R Motherboard and the same testing occurred for the next three days. Afterwards, each system's power consumption was tabulated and compared. The results are a bit surprising.

The Gigabyte system used about an average 30% less power overall when everything was tabulated. To be honest, I was only expecting about 20% or less given the systems should have both used equally less power when the system wasn't being used and the same amount of power when at full load. Since, I'm no electrical engineer, I can't explain the how and why other than to say that Gigabyte saves us the hassle by designing the phase and power circuitry to use only the power needed to maintain the system rather than feeding it too much power.

Conclusion: