Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6: DDR3 comes a knocking, again
by Gary Key on May 30, 2007 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6 Board Layout and Features
Gigabyte provides the user with a good layout considering the massive heatsink system employed on this board. The board features a dual six-phase power regulation system and 100% use of conductive polymer aluminum capacitors that provided excellent stability during testing at stock and overclocked speeds. The P35T-DQ6 installed easily into our Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 case and cable management was very good for power, optical, and hard drives, although the 8-pin ATX connector was a tight fit due to the heatpipe system.
During our overclocking tests we found the massive heatpipe system worked well but additional airflow was required to ensure stability. However, our larger heatsinks such as the Scythe Infinity barely fit and were difficult to install. Also note that the cooling backplate on the bottom of the board requires removal or the use of longer screws to attach coolers that require a backplate mount.
The board comes with two PCI Express x16 connectors (1x16 electrical, 1x4 electrical), three PCI Express x1, and two PCI 2.2 connectors. This is a very good dual x16 connector design. The second PCI Express x1 slot and first PCI slot will be physically unavailable if you utilize a double slot card design in either x16 slot.
Unlike the ASUS P5K series, Gigabyte took a more legacy approach with the rear panel options. The standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, parallel, and serial ports are included compared to ASUS only including a PS/2 keyboard port.
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| Click to enlarge |
Gigabyte provides the user with a good layout considering the massive heatsink system employed on this board. The board features a dual six-phase power regulation system and 100% use of conductive polymer aluminum capacitors that provided excellent stability during testing at stock and overclocked speeds. The P35T-DQ6 installed easily into our Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 case and cable management was very good for power, optical, and hard drives, although the 8-pin ATX connector was a tight fit due to the heatpipe system.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
During our overclocking tests we found the massive heatpipe system worked well but additional airflow was required to ensure stability. However, our larger heatsinks such as the Scythe Infinity barely fit and were difficult to install. Also note that the cooling backplate on the bottom of the board requires removal or the use of longer screws to attach coolers that require a backplate mount.
The board comes with two PCI Express x16 connectors (1x16 electrical, 1x4 electrical), three PCI Express x1, and two PCI 2.2 connectors. This is a very good dual x16 connector design. The second PCI Express x1 slot and first PCI slot will be physically unavailable if you utilize a double slot card design in either x16 slot.
Unlike the ASUS P5K series, Gigabyte took a more legacy approach with the rear panel options. The standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, parallel, and serial ports are included compared to ASUS only including a PS/2 keyboard port.
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SirJoe - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - link
this is cool for you computer buffsGooger - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - link
I just did a google search for XMS3 and the only merchant to have it in stock at the bargain price of $599 is Tiger Direct! Yikes, I think I will wait a while untill the price of DDR3 becomes competitive with DDR2.AdamK47 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
Sorry Gigabyte, I just can't see myself ever buying a board with pink memory slots. Shoulda stuck with the blue.Stele - Friday, June 1, 2007 - link
"Pink it's my new obsessionPink it's not even a question..."
:D Sorry, couldn't resist the temptation :P
yacoub - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
Thank you especially for the note about larger heatsinks being very difficult to mount and the associated image of the back of the motherboard so folks can see what they face if they have a heatsink that requires connecting a backing plate (as most of the larger ones do).yyrkoon - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
What annoys me, is that every Gigabyte motherbord review has this same 'annoyance' written in. Come now fellas, you can only say it about 500 times, beore it starts getting old, and how hard is it really to press two keys in combination ? Gigabyte obviously is doing this for a reason, and if it takes me writting this comment to point that out, well, I just dont know . . .
Saying something like: 'You will need to press cntl + F1 to access the 'protected' portion of the BIOS . . .' Would sounds less critical, would not come off as negativity, and would keep you guys from sounding lazy . . .
TA152H - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
It's not hitting the keys that is the problem, it's remembering to do it. When you have loads of computers with motherboards, it's nice if they have a standard way to access features, instead of adding an inane key sequence like CTRL-F1. It is annoying, because four years down the road if you have to work on this motherboard, for whatever reason, you have to try to remember this bizarre and otherwise trivial detail. Standards are nice, especially when following them doesn't involve a tradeoff.yyrkoon - Thursday, May 31, 2007 - link
Yeah, well I personally have a bad memory, but after reading countless Gigabyte motherboard reviews from AT here, I do not think I will ever forget this key combination.Anyhow, this is one reason why when given the chance I always opt for ABIT boards, while other may opt for Asus, Gigabyte, whatever. Once you become used to a given OEM BIOS Layout, it is hard to make a change in OEMs without suffering a bit in the knowledge department(at least temporarily).
*yyrkoon hugs his NF-M2 nView . . .
TA152H - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - link
Keep in mind, not everyone buying a motherboard from Gigabyte is going to be reading these articles, and proper journalism dictates they don't depend on people knowing every previous article, so they appropriately bring it up. Before you remark what's the point in them mentioning it for people that don't read it, it's certainly going to be read by Gigabyte and by complaining enough times, they may take notice.I agree that it is often best to just buy from one maker, or limit the number. Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and I end up with stuff from too many makers. I try to buy only Intel and Supermicro, but they are too expensive sometimes, so I've ended up buying a lot of Taiwanese junk before finally finding a company from there I have had success with (don't ask me why, but Epox seems to work best for me). So, I've got all this Asus, Soyo, Aopen, MSI, Gigabyte, Tyan and a few I don't even remember running and it's difficult to deal with all the different BIOS settings when they get cute and try to be different. On the plus side, these motherboards tend to break pretty regularly so I have less and less of the inferior brands. Well, except for Epox. I have no idea why these things never break on me, but I have a feeling it's just random luck :P .
Frumious1 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
I won't forget, but I'm still annoyed by this, just like I'm annoyed by a BIOS that moves certain features into odd areas. I hate that there are about 20 ways to manage memory timings, voltages, bus speeds, etc. (and that's just picking either an AMD or an Intel platform). What's really stupid about Gigabyte's method of hiding settings is that it's not even all of the settings that get hidden. The major area lately that doesn't show up is memory timings. You can tweak voltages and fry your RAM, but GOD FORBID you play with memory timings! (There are some other things that get hidden as well, but I don't recall exactly what. I base this off my DS3 system.)