The Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard is powered by the Intel P965 Express Northbridge chipset, combined with an ICH8 Southbridge. This motherboard supports 1066/800/533 MHz CPU bus speeds and can handle all Core 2 Duo, Pentium D, Pentium 4/Extreme, and Celeron D LGA775 processors, as well as touting compatibility with upcoming Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core models (using the latest BIOS). This is a full-size ATX motherboard, checking in at 305mm x 210mm, and includes four DDR2 sockets capable of handling up to 8 GB of total memory. Its DS3 naming convention also deserves examination, as the "D" stands for Durability Enhanced, and the "S3" refers to Speed, Smart, and Safe.
System memory on the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard includes support for DDR2-533, -667, -800, and even overclocked -1066 speeds, all in a dual-channel DDR2 architecture. There is also a wide selection of peripheral slots, including 1 x PCI Express x16, 3 x PCI Express x1, and 3 x PCI slots. Storage options come in the form of 1 x floppy, 1 x IDE, and 6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s connectors, with 4 of the SATA ports coming through the ICH8 chipset, and the other 2 using an onboard RAID-enabled Gigabyte SATA2 chip. Other onboard options include four USB standard 2.0 ports + six expandable for a total of ten, Intel High Definition 8-channel audio, and Gigabit LAN. This is a very well rounded motherboard, and while many of the features are standard for the Intel P965, Gigabyte has added a few wrinkles of their own.
There are a few specialized features present on the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, such as an all-solid capacitor design, which provides an extended system lifetime and enhanced stability. Overclocking is handled by a range of BIOS and software options, which offers both clock speed and voltage settings in the processor, memory, PCI-E, and chipset areas. Gigabyte supplies the usual BIOS options, as well as offering the EasyTune5 & M.I.T. (Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker) software/BIOS tweaks for those inclined.
Specialized Gigabyte features include Xpress Install (one-click driver install), Smart LAN (built-in diagnostics), Q-Flash BIOS (easy BIOS update), Boot Menu (dynamically select boot device), and Smart Fan (cool and quiet operation). There are also safety features like Virtual Dual BIOS (BIOS crash free protection), BIOS Settings Recovery (BIOS recovery), Corporate Online Manager (system admin utility), and Xpress Recovery 2 (image backup & restore). The motherboard is also 100% compliant with the RoHS (Restriction of use of certain Hazardous Substances) initiative.
The Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 retail box contains a adequate selection of bundled hardware, and has more than enough to get you up and running. In addition to the motherboard itself, Gigabyte includes one floppy cable, one ATA-66/100/133 cable, four SATA cables, one I/O Shield, a driver and utilities CD, and an extensive 88-page hardcopy user manual. Gigabyte also cranks up the enthusiast engine with a pair of blue case stickers and a fold-out Hardware Installation Guidebook.
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