The 'D' in DS3 stands for durability - the solid capacitors used at various points on the board. Not that this is necessarily worth the price difference in itself, quality liquid caps have a long life span.

The other difference is BIOS updates. If you compare the BIOS updates between the two boards you can see the DS3 gets more frequent updates and eventually the S3 gets the same updates going by the BIOS revision notes just not as often.

(Sorry, admin please delete my previous post, i am not aware that we cannot post the smaller or larger symbol)

I am using this board as well, found out that hihg performance ram need to increase at least +0.3V to work! After reading this review, I plan to go for the E6600 with MCH +0.2V o'clock. My previous MCH +0.1 voltage overclock only bring the E6600 to FSB not more than 400 and RAM FSB lower than 800.

Heard that new bios will release this week... Can't wait for the new BIOS.

Ya, the BIOS battery holder very fragile, during o'clock, i broke the holder when resetting the BIOS...Now using double side tape to hold the battery.

Yes, I can o'clock this board... But i face some problem after that, i cannot shut down my windows!!! Shut down hang halfway...

I mange to bring the CPU FSB to 400, that is 3600MHz on my E6600 with CPU Voltage 1.4V, MCH +0.3V and RAM +0.3V. Can run full 3Dmark 06 and 05 benchmark.

I found out that the hanging was due to SATA HDD and DVDROM on Intel ICR8 south bridge chipset. I checked the OS event log, it stated that that HDD timeout on my Barrucuda 10 7200 320G 16MB SATAII.

I try to recover the error but failed. Now reinstall the whole OS and it is runnig well.

Any idea on the hanging? Please advice...

If I'm a little harsh with my criticism it is because trying to read the article has left me feeling extremely frustrated. Your approach to the board is right on and I saw no reason to question your technical competence, but your writing skills are atrocious. Your style is awkward and confused. The information seemed to mostly be there, but trying to understand what you were saying was a major pain! Your writing lacks clarity and your sentence structure really gets in the way. The article told me basically what I wanted to know. However I had a hard time following it and I remain uncertain about the nuances.

Hey there,

About the capacitors: Have you guys been living under a rock? The old capacitors are much more subject to degradation than newer ones, remember the those popped capacitors on all those MSI series mainboards?
O.K. they have improved the capacitors of that generation, but they still tend to pop now and then. This is plain BAD, it happens wihtin 2-4 years with many current mainboards and that is what the D stand for in DS3: Durability!

Just so you guys know that this Solid Capacitor thing is quite a good step forward in mainboards, more than most people will give it credit for...

I am using DS3. I overclocked E6300 to 1600FSB, I only added 0.1V for ram, MCH is running on normal voltage, CPU voltage even set at 1.1750V, but it also works well!

The SATA HDD still giving me same old timeout problem...There are none overclock this time...
Well, i think i may need to reinsatll the whole thing again, the HDD will hang there after log into XP.

I come across some forum, it stated that the BIOS will cause the CD/DVD rom in PIO mode,
as well as the IRQ not properly assigned... This will cause the timeout issue on ATAPI or HDD...

Some said this board can flash to DS3? Anyone here, please clarify this...

You mentioned that the huge capacitors interfered with installing the Tuniq cooler. Would you please add an addendum to the article elaborating on this trouble and what other coolers would be affected?
Thanks.

jus bought one, cheap overclocker

How high are the capacitators on the board near the cpu bracket?

Cheap mobo. Mine died in the first 10 days. Passive cooling not good enough since i used 7*400 and +0.1v MCH with E6300.

great article. it answered my questions without leaving more. thanks a bunch.

I own this motherboard, too. I also agree with this report to 100%! I also know that there are better motherboards, but not for this prize and performance! I`m really impressed from this board! Give it a chance you won`t regret it!!!!!!!!!

"Unable to find any devices of the type needed for this installation type" > get ready for such messages if you plan to use Linux on it - Gogabyte should really reconsider their approach towards Linux.

I have problem for instaling of linux with this motherboard.

please guide me, how I can installing linux for the P965-ICH8 series MB.
My email:
barzegarab@yahoo.com

nice update. I have problems with memory settings on this board, its such a pain in the ass ifyou get the memory wrong.. but messing with power/fsb changes is very simple.

Why in heaven"s name is there no description of bios boot options!!!

I am from Romania and your article is very good.
I have the same mainboard and same processor
I followed your advice and it works ok. Thanx
a lot.