The IGP Chronicles Part 1: Intel's G45 & Motherboard Roundup
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Gary Key on September 24, 2008 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H
Our second board is the Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H and it has an interesting secret hiding underneath an otherwise excellent set of features and BIOS options. In fact, from a layout and component overview, this was initially our favorite board after opening our retail boxes. Why did we change our minds, well Gigabyte decided to take an opposite turn when it came to deciding on the discreet graphics capability for this board. Sometimes, taking a left when everyone goes right is good, but we think Gigabyte missed a great opportunity with this board.
You see, the x16 graphics slot is not run off the MCH that would have provided a true x16 PCIe 2.0 capable slot. Instead, Gigabyte placed an x16 connector on the board that actually runs off the ICH10R at x4 PCIe 1.1 speeds. Not only is this slot bandwidth limited, it must also negotiate with the MCH via the DMI link that further slows progress. This is not bad for simple 2D graphics or even Vista’s Aero interface, but that is the limit. Why did Gigabyte make this decision? They thought the market for true multi-display output via an IG solution that retains its strengths (accelerated BD playback, HDMI audio) was greater than the SFF performance/enthusiast sector.
Gigabyte might very well be right, but we think that market would be more inclined to utilize the G43 or G33 chipsets in a business environment where accelerated BD playback is probably no more warranted than the number of enthusiasts looking to build a SFF performance system. Unfortunately, with the G45 chipset you cannot have both, as the digital output is muxed across the x16 lane in the MCH, which prohibits the use of the X4500HD and a discrete GPU at the same time unless you run the dGPU off the Southbridge.
Otherwise, the BIOS options and feature set of this board matches that of the ASUS and in some ways is better in our estimation. The BIOS offers a dizzying array of options for the enthusiast or for those just wanting to undervolt their system in order to save energy costs. Gigabyte continues with their Crtl-F1 policy for accessing the advanced options in the BIOS. The GA-EG45M-DS2H features Realtek RTL8111C PCIe Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire 400 support from a TI chipset, PATA support via the iTE8213 (noticed a pattern yet that JMicron is out, so we rejoice), HD audio from the now standard ALC889a codec featuring DTS Live and Dolby Home Theater capabilities, and RAID from the ICH10R. Of note, the latest version of Gigabyte's DES power saving technology actually performed slightly better on this board than the ASUS EPU-4 engine on the P5Q-EM. Overall, Gigabyte built a high quality and full featured uATX board that should satisfy just about any HTPC or SOHO user.
Gigabyte provided a very good layout if one considers that a discrete graphics card will probably never be used in this board. If so, we found it difficult to change the memory with a full-length video card in the slot. Our only other problem is that low profile CPU fan/heatsinks like the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 LP will not work due to the height of the MCH heantsink. Otherwise, we did not have any further problems when installing a variety of peripherals. The MCH and ICH heatsinks provided adequate cooling in our Thermaltake case during 24/7 operation.
Gigabyte also utilizes an excellent four-phase power delivery system along with very good solid capacitors throughout the board that resulted in superb stability throughout our four hundred hour testing regimen. We utilized the latest F3F BIOS that features several improvements including enhanced 8GB compatibility along with memory performance enhancements, additional processor support (EO steppings), and improved overclocking support with lower end processors like the E5200. Support from Gigabyte has been very good on this product.
We were able to reach the 407~412FSB range when overclocking with the X4500HD active. This matches the ASUS board and seems to be the level where stability is still possible when utilizing the IG core. We were able to go higher, but started running into application problems, mainly games like Age of Conan and BD playback. Neither of which we would normally utilize with an overclocked system. In fact, we tend to want to underclock and undervolt our home theater systems during playback sessions. As far as the performance penalty incurred for running a card like the AMD 4850 or NVIDIA 8800GT off the Southbridge, it tends to be around 15~22%. We are running tests with the AMD 4670/NV 9600GT cards and will report additional results in our final article.
We would like to commend Gigabyte for their new labeling design on the various USB, Firewire, and other connectors on the motherboard. It would not be a typical article without us commenting on the crayola color scheme but we have come to accept it as Gigabyte’s trademark. However, the last time we checked, colors did not make or break a board’s stability or performance. That said, keeping things cool when running a 24/7 media center is important and the fact that this board only had two fan headers is a bit puzzling. The fan control and monitoring via the BIOS or Windows is very good, we just expected another fan header to be included. S1 and S3 resume support worked correctly with a variety of components and BIOS selections.
Pros/Cons
Overall, we have a board that confuses us (yes, shiny trinkets do the same but bear with us on this one). The design, component selection, BIOS options, and general performance scream of a board that is just waiting to go into a performance oriented SFF system. We were hyped about comparing the ASUS and Gigabyte boards against each other in a future SFF guide. After reading the specifications and then contacting Gigabyte to be make sure the technical document group did not screw up, we had a supreme let down.
However, this chipset is targeted to the multimedia and SOHO crowd and as such, we cannot fault Gigabyte too much for their decision, as unpopular as it seems. On the plus side, Gigabyte did include an eSATA port on the IO panel and if you must use onboard audio, they have the best solution in this roundup. If we were to improve the board, our first item would be a true x16 PCIe slot for graphics, then a different MCH heatsink design, and finally at least one more fan header. If you need a feature rich and high quality motherboard for HTPC or SOHO duties only, then the Gigabyte FA-EG45M-DS2H is an excellent choice.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
53 Comments
View All Comments
computerfarmer - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
It is good to hear about new technology, initial issues and how they are worked out.I hope the second part of this article is sooner than the follow up of "AMD's 790GX/SB750" expected chipset review. The AMD announcement was on August 6, 2008, with an expected review to follow.
On September 10th, Gary Wrote:
"An update, DFI decided to proceed forward with their uATX 790GX board. My retail kit arrived today and I will be testing it shortly. Also, based on your comments and others I will show a 4870x2 vs 4870 CF on this platform and compare it to 790FX. The roundup should be up late next week, G45 is up on Monday with 790GX/780G/GF8300/NF750a comparison results.
Sincerely,
Gary "
The recent article on Power Supplies was excellent.
The information is good, but some items appear not to be as important as others.
Now we are still waiting - AMD 790GX/SB750.
erikejw - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Who cares about if MSI or ASUS have a faster IGP board, compare with NVIDIAS and AMDs boards.It is as useless like running a review of the new Nehalems when they arrive and don't compare them to any AMD chips at all, and we all know that will not happen.
BD2003 - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Glad to see the p45 is getting quality coverage, I was looking very closely at getting one for my HTPC. Theres a few things I'd like to see touched upon, hopefully in future articles.First, how about a comparison of the post-processing capabilites and quality of the competing solutions? Supposedly intel's "clear video" is supposed to give us the same kind of solution for noise reduction, sharpening, and other postprocessing that nvidia and amd have been offering. Is it an automatic solution that you have no control over like amd, or is there an applet where you can choose how much effect is applied like nvidia?
Also, what about the new revision of intel turbo memory. I always see it mentioned in diagrams and previews, but have never seen it implemented on a board. Does it need onboard flash to function, or is there a PCIE, SATA or USB solution that can be added on to a g45 board in order to enable it? If onboard only, are there any actual boards that have implemented it? My understanding is that its little different from readyboost in vista, but the capability to actually choose whats in the cache is quite interesting to me. On my HTPC, I regularly use the same few apps, and I'd love to get those loading at solid state speeds.
Also, what software is required to enable the hardware acceleration of H.264 and the like? I'm not a fan of using desktop programs like PowerDVD on my HTPC - they often require me to pull out the keyboard which defeats the purpose of an HTPC imo. Can the acceleration be used in Windows Media Center, Mediaportal, or any other HTPC specific software?
Freezebyte - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Hey, what happened to the preview of the DFI Lanparty P45 T2RS? Its between that one and the Asus P5Q-EM for my new SFF setup I wanna build in the next month.I"ve been hearing lots about discrete video cards not working well or at all in the P5Q-EM. Did you guys run into issues with this or did you not even put in discrete video cards at all? Also, will the Asus support the higher Q9000 series Intel CPU's?
I"m trying to build a decent SFF gaming rig soon, and I wanna know what im getting myself into with either of these boards.
Clart - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
I personally think you should have made price a bigger point, frankly you're comparing the G45 with the 780G, but the 780G boards average at US$80, while you can't get a G45 for less than US$100, plus a could go to newegg and get a 780G+Radeon 4670 for US$145, that's just 15 dollars more!!!Besides when this site reviewed the 790GX there where some criticism about that chipset not actually targeting any specific market, well here is a hint, how about comparing the 790GX with the G45, both cost around 120 dollars.
Is the G45 a good Business board? Really? Well the way I see it a business pc that doesn't care about graphics performance or ou HTPC characteristics would be much better served with a US$66 780G, that's half the price of a average G45 motherboard, or even a US$49.99 740G.
Sorry if I was a little acid, but I'm just tired of IT sites comparing boards that aren't even in the same price range, the only reason I see for this is that Intel can't/doesn't compete in the same price range as the 780G/8200, but if that is the case then IT sites should compare the G45 with the 790GX.
P.S: Gaming in IGPs is not inexistent, ever heard of VALVe? The entire Orange Box runs on a 780G/8200(possibly the G45 also). But I do agree that with cards like the Radeon 4670 out there IGPs loose a lot of their(little?)value for gaming.
CSMR - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
AMD has an advantage in IGPs (less with G45) but a disadvantage in processors. If you care about price and don't care about power consumption/noise/processor performance you should go with AMD. Businesses will care about these things and are not so price sensitive.snakeoil - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
this is pathetic.....pathetic also that intel fanbois think larrabee will change the world and bring world peace.
pathetic
jmurbank - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
"8-channel LPCM but no 24Hz Playback"Is this correct that frequency response will not include 24 hertz. Is this a joke by Intel or by the author. I assume the author is trying to state 24 bit playback.
You should state that hardware MPEG-2/H.264/VC decoding is only supported in Windows.
I prefer AMD processors because they have IGP that works better than Intel's IGP offerings. Also IGP for AMD processors works in Linux while IGP from Intel does not. Intel fans are still stuck with Intel's IGP that are still pathetic.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
My apologies, the two are actually unrelated but I wanted to group them both under the same header.1) 8-channel LPCM is supported
2) 24Hz refresh rates don't work properly currently, this is for video.
Take care,
Anand
CSMR - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Thanks for the review review, a lot of useful information. Regarding the DG45FC board, voltage changes would be useful; but as you and SPCR have found, in combination with the E5200/E7200 processors it is a very power-efficient choice. You can build a low power but relatively high performance system without any tweaks (SPCR had 35W idle, 45W blu ray, 65W max load).