Features-wise, the board is equipped with a PCIe x16 slot, 6 SATA II ports, GbE, HDA, HDMI, USB, eSATA, 1394 etc. So far, this board seems to be the most complete. It could be better if it have included sideport memory and debug led on board.

The board has a substantial amount of overclocking options available in the BIOS. One of the interesting option is the GPU CLK which can be tuned from BIOS. We actually set it to 900MHz (up to 1100MHz can be selected). This allowed us to overclock the GPU core to boost the GPU performance. Although we managed to get into VISTA with max NB voltage set, it is rather unstable at even 1GHz.  We managed to get a stable system running at 880MHz.

As for CPU overclocking, the BIOS do have options to set the HTT (200~500MHz), multiplier, async memory settings and voltage options. See gallery for more information. As we are using a X2 5000+ Black edition, we are able to increase the multiplier to 17X giving us 17x200=3.4GHz. Our next quest is to find out what it the max HTT we can do for this chipset. To our surprise, it reached 400MHz (CPU CLK) x 6. Take note that the HT Link is rated at 1604MHz. The weird thing is that if we set the HT Link limit to other than AUTO, the system won't POST at 400MHz. The voltages set for CPU is 1.40v, DRAM +0.3v, NB +0.3V.

In terms of expansion, Gigabyte has many options available. In addition to HDMI , D-SUB, DVI-D all on board., it has eSATA and 1394 which are not available in the other 2 models we reviewed previously.

In conclusion, Gigabyte has again come out with a complete solution for HTPC users. The 1394 and eSATA is definitely one of the plus points of this board. With it's capability of playing back of HD movies in H.264/VC-1, this board paired with a X2 5000+ should be sufficient for all your playback needs without the need to purchase an additional graphics card.

Discuss

Pros

• Excellent Image quality
• Low CPU Utilization when playing back VC-1
• HDMI, D-SUB, DVI-D interfaces all on board
• Hybrid CrossFire support
• eSATA
• Smart FAN

Cons

• no Sideport available
• no debug led
• Clear CMOS jumper is located at a weird position

Ratings

Here are my ratings out of 10.