Introduction
Last month, we reviewed and raved about Gigabyte's mainstream Broadwater motherboard, the excellent GA-965P-DS3 for its down to earth price, sound engineering and incredible overclocking potential. The GA-965P-DS3 is one of those rare motherboards that will not only be sought after by enthusiasts all over, but suited equally well for the mainstream market segment.
Gigabyte GA-965G-DS3 motherboard featuring the new GMA X3000 integrated graphics engine based Intel G965 Express chipset.
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Now as we all know, Intel's Broadwater lineup also includes a brand new onboard graphics chipset, the G965. Though the discreet P965 has made its appearance in the market first, the G965 has been garnering some hype of its own due to Intel's latest incarnation of its Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) integrated graphics onboard - the GMA X3000. Today, we bring you a special double preview not only of the GMA X3000, but one of the first G965 motherboards to reach our labs.
Intel G965 chipset diagram.
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Gigabyte's GA-965G-DS3 is basically an identical twin to the GA-965P-DS3 in all aspects of features, design and layout. The difference of course is in the chipset, so let's see if the GA-965G-DS3 lives up to the standard that has been set.
Gigabyte GA-965G-DS3 Technical Specifications
| CPU Support | - Supports
90nm/65nm LGA775
processor package
- Supports Intel Core 2 Duo / Core
2 Extreme
- Supports Intel Pentium
D / Pentium
Processor Extreme Edition
- Supports Intel
Pentium
4 / Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
- Intel Virtualization
Technology ready
|
|---|
| Chipset |
- Northbridge: Intel G965
- 533
/ 800 /
1066MHz front side bus
- PCI Express x16
graphics
- GMA X3000 graphics accelerator
- Southbridge: Intel
ICH8
- Intel High
Definition Audio
- Supports six PCI
Express x1 lanes
- Supports up to ten USB 2.0 ports
- Supports four SATA 3.0Gbps ports
- Integrated
10/100/1000Mbps MAC
- Intel Quiet System Technology
|
| Memory | - Supports
four
unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM
- Supports 800/677/533
dual channel
DDR2 memory
architecture
|
| Storage |
- Intel ICH8
Southbridge
- 4 x SATA 3.0Gbps
interface
- Gigabyte
SATAII (JMicron JMB363) SATA/IDE Controller
- 1 x Ultra
ATA
33/66/100/133 (data transfer rate up to
133MB/sec.)
- 2 x SATA 3.0Gbps interface
- Supports AHCI and NCQ
- Supports
SATA RAID 0,1,0+1,JBOD
|
| Audio |
- Intel High Definition
Audio (Azalia)
- Realtek ALC883 8-channel HD
Audio CODEC
- Optical and coaxial S/PDIF
support
|
| Networking |
- Marvell 88E8053 PCI Express
Gigabit Ethernet
controller
|
| I/O Interface | - 1
x Floppy connector
- 1 x Ultra ATA
IDE connectors
- 6 x SATA
connectors
- 10 x USB 2.0
ports (4 x rear, 6 x header)
- 1 x VGA port
- 1 x RJ45 LAN
port
- 8-Channel Audio I/O
ports
- 1 x Optical S/PDIF Output
- 1
x Coaxial S/PDIF Output
- 1 x 9-pin serial port
(header)
- 1 x parallel port
- 1
x mini-DIN-6 PS/2
mouse port
- 1 x mini-DIN-6 PS/2
keyboard port
|
| Expansion Slots | - 1 x
PCIe x16
slots,
PCI Express Bus specification v1.0a
compliant
- 3 x PCIe x1
slots, PCI
Express Bus specification v1.0a
compliant
- 3 x 32-bit
PCI slots,
PCI 2.3 compliant
|
| Special Features | - Gigabyte
S-series - 'Safe', 'Smart', 'Speed'
- Durability
Enhanced - All-Solid Capacitor Design
|
| PCB |
- ATX Form Factor, 12"x 8.26"(30.5cm x 21cm)
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Rear panel includes optical/coaxial S/PDIF, analog surround jacks, USB 2.0 and RJ45 ports. The board sacrifices a Serial port for the VGA out. Notice that there are no other video output options.
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