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Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Review (@OverclockersClub)

Conclusion:

The GA-P31-DS3L acts like both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As a budget desktop offering, it is the mild mannered Dr. Jekyll. Start playing in the M.I.T. section of the BIOS and Mr. Hyde comes out to play. That can be taken one of two ways, very good or very bad. In this case, it is very good. I was pleasantly surprised to see a budget offering overclocking like some of the better known hardware on the market. I was able to adjust the front side bus up to 465MHz with the default multiplier on the E6750 and stopped at 425x8 with my Q6600 used in this review. In no way was I expecting the overclocking results that I pulled from this board. It was not the best in every benchmarking category, but it was at least comparable to its big brothers' performance when it was not exceeding their results. The two things that I really did not like were the hidden performance options in the BIOS, and the voltage settings. It really is more of a nuisance to find the performance settings without doing the research in the manual. Once found, they do offer enough flexibility to get the job done. If you don't know what the beginning voltages are for the chipset and memory, it makes it difficult to make sane adjustments to the voltages. If you are looking for a motherboard that is inexpensive yet has excellent overclocking potential, you may just want to check out the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L. It has the neccesary tools to function as both the little desktop that could, as well as performing like a thoroughbred purpose-built overclocking board if it needs to.


Pros:
Overclocking Potential
Inexpensive Performance
Solid Aluminum Capacitors
Crash Free BIOS
Stable at the Max Bootable FSB


Cons:
Hidden Performance Options
Voltage Labeling

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Intel P35 Express Motherboard Review (@PcStats)

The Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R motherboard overclocked fairly well, reaching a maximum speed of 495 MHz. Anything higher and the motherboard would BSOD while loading Windows XP. A clock speed of 495 MHz is good for a mainstream motherboard, but not stratospheric.

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Intel P35 Express Motherboard Review (@PcStats)

The Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 handled overclocking well, but showed signs of instability at 465 MHz FSB. The Northbridge voltage was then increased to 0.25V above stock, and the issue gone. In the end, PCSTATS was able to overclock the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 motherboard to a maximum speed of 515 MHz. To get there the motherboard chipset voltage had to be raised to 0.375V above stock... which is a little high.