Gigabyte GA-EG31MF-S2 (G31 Chipset)
The second board in this little roundup comes from Gigabyte and is called the GA-EG31MF-S2. Unlike the Foxconn product, it offers four DDR2 memory slots, although you are still limited to the maximum supported memory capacity of 4 GB for the G31 chipset. It does not come with all solid capacitors, which doesn’t have to be a disadvantage. Again we only found a D-SUB15 analog output for displays, which we think is not the best choice—any modern graphics solution should at least have a digital DVI output.
Features
The board comes with the same basic features as its competitor, but Gigabyte adds some more components, such as a FireWire/400 controller. A second port can be activated once you purchase an adapter cable and attach it to the additional FireWire header on the board. The same applies to four more USB 2.0 ports; four are ready to be used. Chipset components are kept cool using heat sinks with no moving parts, which is good for keeping both system noise and power consumption low. You get one UltraATA/100 channel and a floppy port as well as two 32-bit PCI slots. Like Foxconn, Gigabyte provides one x16 and one x1 PCI Express slot for upgrades.
Power and Performance
All mainstream and better Gigabyte boards are equipped with voltage regulators that Gigabyte states are fully VRM 11.1-compliant. The layout on the GA-EG31MF-S2 is based on four phases and solid capacitors, which provides better voltage stability at high current levels. This is necessary for power-hungry processors such as 3+ GHz quad core models. However, we found that the Gigabyte board required considerably more idle power than the Foxconn board, despite similar components and despite the fact that Gigabyte’s Dynamic Energy Saver (DES) technology was activated. DES allows the system to switch off voltage regulator phases when they’re not required.
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This is all well and good, but where's the comparison with AMD? Surely they should see how a low power Athlon X2 (e.g. 4050e) with 780G chipset compares!
Comparing this Intel setup with an AMD's offering will make it even more interesting like the one used in this article, http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/amd- [...] 6-21.html. Instead of using Phenom 9600@95w B2 processor, use something like Athlon X2 4850e 2.5ghz 45w processor. The setup using Phenom 9600 consume 58w on idle. This is way over to be compared to this artcles setup but with Athlon X2 4850e, probably it will be on par. And if so, mind you that you'll have a lot more latest feature, ample horsepower at 2.5ghz, way better video/3d performance and upgrade paths. I would love to see reviews comparing both setup.
780G! Compare! Please!
Have a Foxconn and a Gigabyte G31. I don't need all the features of the more expensive chipsets and purchase task specific discrete GPUs.
The Foxconn runs a htpc, cool and almost silent, the Gigabye runs an overclocked desktop / gaming pc. Both are very effective and cost effective solutions.
I have had problems with the interrupt handling with the Foxconn board but found their technical support to be prompt and informative.
The Gigabyte board's memory dividers mean that I had to use pretty good quality RAM, but otherwise no complaints for under £40 delivered each.