Board layout continued

     Marvel delivers 10/100/1000 gigabit lan for the DS3.  The DS3 also provides a built-in LAN diagnosis utility for checking LAN cable connection status.

     Surrounding the LGA775 socket is one of Gigabytes new innovations on this board, solid capacitors.  Most boards are using the older Electrolytic capacitors.  Solid capacitors provide better electronic conductivity and better heat resistance.  Both of these factors contribute to a better, longer lasting capacitor that could increase the life of your board. Hopefully, for us, it's going to provide better overclocking too.

BIOS

     Gigabyte provides an excellent BIOS for the enthusiast.  This BIOS gives you a ton of options for overclocking.  But, in case you have this board and you can't seem to find all of the options, remember to press CTRL + F1 to unlock the hidden features.

     There are so many options in here that I had to take two photos.  You will not be able to use all of the FSB options that Gigabyte gives you.  You can manually set the FSB all the way to 600MHz (2400MHz QDR).  Good luck getting that.  The System Memory Multiplier is for your RAM.  The issue I have here is the lowest setting is 2.00.  That is equivalent to a 1:1 ratio with your FSB.  So if you want to overclock to a 400MHz FSB, you're memory will have to be able to run at 800MHz.  Trust me when I say that running your new Core 2 Duo at 400MHz isn't that hard on this board.  This board has voltage adjustments for everything.  As I have found out, leaving the settings to normal does not necessarily leave them at default.  As you push higher speeds the Gigabyte board senses how much voltage you need and automatically adjusts.  Example, leaving my DIMM Overvoltage control to normal with my memory set to 800, gives me a reading of 2.1V using EasyTune 5.  Setting my memory to 533 or 667 and leaving the voltage control to normal, gives me a reading of 1.8V with EasyTune 5.  I have seen reports of this happening with the CPU as well, but I have been pretty lucky with my CPU and it only requires 1.325V to run on a 400MHz FSB and that's all the board gives it.  If you are worried about the board overvolting your CPU, you can always manually set it to your desired voltage.