Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

[Scorpion44]

I was thinking of getting this board but I'm hung by all the bad reviews its getting and can't deside. Also is anyone having trouble fitting a larg graphics card on the GA-EP45-UD3R motherboard? Looking at the board the ICH10R heat sink next to the x16 slot looks like its in the way if you want to install a large card... say like a XFX Radeon 4850 PCI-e 2.0

[cylix]

Re: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

For a few dollars more the GA-EP45-UD3P has proven to be a fairly nice system board. I rather enjoy the options provided at the cmos level and the gigabyte software is fairly handy. (Though sometimes not intuitive).

In the case of this particular board you may want to update the bios as soon as you have the unit. (It seems to fix issues in this entire series)

If you are building a newer platform and you want to spend a few more dollars the core i7 architecture. However, the cost performance of the P45 series is quite compelling in my opinion. (aye, maybe next year core i7).

Now that said... any system is only going to be as good as the components you invest.

Do you have an idea of what other components you are going to be using. processor, memory, video card and power supply? It's important to understand how these components may interact and what requirements you should be trying to reach. ie, compatible ram and a beefy enough power supply.

[KayossZero]

Re: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

What bad reviews are you talking about? The UD3P and 3R are the same where it counts the only major differences are the 3P supports crossfire and it has dual lan ports AFAIK. Also my UD3P has no issues with a 4870x2 so a 4890 would fit no differently.

[rbmorse]

Re: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

I have a Sapphire HD 5850 on my EP45-UD3P and it's fine.

[CoolMaster]

Re: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

On my UD3R I have ran the 4870 and 5770 with no problems, both cards are very good!

[kick]

Re: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

UD3 ftw unless youre gonna run some raid setup

The 3 board types are supposedly the same except for the above mentioned points.
Oh yeh ud3 doesnt have blue gigabyte "hats" on the heatsinks.

Gx card length is more dependant on your case size,the gx card fits "over" the sthbridge heatsink.
You might have to connect to some of the sata connectors using L connectors but thats about it.

How about a 5850 gx card ,5870 seems a bit expensive .
Then again there is the 5890 xfire on one card..

[Psycho101]

Re: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

I'm also curious to see the source of these bad reviews. The UD3P/R are critically aclaimed products. IMO, for the price, nothing beats them. Forget any other socket 775 Gigabyte board, if buying new and buying now det a UD3 model!

If you mean bad experiences by some on these forums, remember firstly that the good experiences far and away outnumber the problems. People don't generally post on a forum things like "Great board, no problems with it", they only usually come here if they have a problem, it's the nature of support forums. Also the apparent frequency of discussion of help needed with UD3 boards is also down t the huge numbers that thay've sold. An enthuiast grade monster over clocker for the price of a mid end or "mainstream" one is a very popular thing indeed.

The chip-set heat-sinks are not in the way of any of the GPU slots either. I've had cards much bigger/longer/wider than the XFX 4850 (I know the one you mean, its encased in a plastic shroud). If anything the placement of the PCIE slos is one of the boards strongest features in its UD3P guise. There's two whole expansion slots worth of room between PCIe slots, meaning that you can Crossfire with ease even using after market coolers and 120m fans. The Southbridge HS is so low profile that it fits under the PCB of the card with a fair few mm to spare. If it were in the way, there would have been all sorts of ranting and raving etc a long time ago.

[cylix]

Re: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

For comparison sake if you need to judge reviews take a peek at newegg. The reviews are generally quite positive for these units. Just don't look too closely at some of the new Intel boards. (oiy, talk about harsh reviewers)

[Scorpion44]

Re: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

Hi all,

Sorry for not replying but i had to go out of town for work. I know what your saying though, I did buy the board and it seems to be Rock Solid for me. Maybe the posts I had read before are people that were trying to OC the crap out of them and don't know what there doing. Thanks for makeing up my mind for me

[man00]

Re: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R Graphics Cards

I had two bad UD3R boards, and there are others that had the same issues.
Under powered front USB headers, HDD LED headers..ect