Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

The DDR2 memory slots are unusually low down the PCB and to some degree this does hinder removal of memory with a long graphics card in the PCI-Express x16 slot, but it's not impossible to do. The CPU socket is also surrounded on all sides but the heatsinks aren't particularly tall enough to cause a problem with any modern cooler and these heatsinks thankfully don't sacrifice rear I/O connectivity.


In terms of the "2oz" copper adverts from Gigabyte showing a clearly chunkier PCB on the packaging, this equates to just 0.07mm of extra thickness, however when we compared this four layer board to the other six-layer PCBs we had in the lab, like the GA-EP45-DQ6 above for example, it's virtually no different. Most of the difference can be attributed to the resin used to seal the layers together.


With three PCI and PCI-Express x1 slots this board has plenty of upgrade potential, although it's obviously missing the capacity for CrossFire. No matter, just buy a Radeon HD 4850 X2 or 4870 X2 if you fancy doubling up! Most of our community prefers the absolute benefits of running a single GPU anyway.

Overall, the feature set appears quite minimal but it's not exactly "basic" as Gigabyte drops in its high quality, exclusive Realtek ALC889a codec as usual for 7.1 channel High-Definition audio goodness. In addition, there's a single PCI-Express Gigabit Ethernet socket from another Realtek chipset.

There's space on the PCB for another, but Gigabyte hasn't included it in the UD3R even though it did in the DS3R, as do many other companies even in models of around this price. Is the loss of teaming or two networking a detrimental loss? Not hugely, unless you particularly need the feature and there's a wealth of boards that already offer it, but most people just need the one socket and use a switch.