Computex 2008: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DQ6 - First motherboard with 4x Gigabit Ethernet

[W1zzard]

As the name suggests, the GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DQ6 is based on Intel's new P45 chipset. What makes this board special is that it supports four Gigabit Ethernet ports, with an optional teaming feature. While this feature is only of limited use for desktop users, it becomes interesting when building a powerful office or LAN party server. Also included is a TPM chip which is becoming more and more useful in the business world, and might even make it onto gaming PCs for the use of game copy protection.

[Easy Rhino]

woah. so i guess you could spread it out so two are in and two are out and the two in are split and the two out are split. i guess that would improve performance using this as a lan party server for 1000 people. id like to see this tested.

[tigger]

gigabyte boards are ok,but i think they're losing the plot a touch with quad bios,quad lan,quad this n that.So it has no esata or usb on the back,just loads of lans.Great for the average user....not.

[W1zzard]

afaik teaming only works well for outgoing data. you could of course have multiple ips so the clients connect to a pool of 4 ips which are handed to each client in some more or less random way

[lemonadesoda]

Originally Posted by Easy Rhino

woah. so i guess you could spread it out so two are in and two are out and the two in are split and the two out are split. i guess that would improve performance using this as a lan party server for 1000 people. id like to see this tested.

A server chipset with 2 quad xeons and just 2 ethernet port would pwn that.

8 USBs, 4 ethernets, but NO eSATA, no VGA/DVI (or double), no COM.

I'd personally swap 2 ethernets and 2 USB for eSATA and COM. HDMI even.

[Easy Rhino]

so then perhaps this would make sense if you had 4 external IP addresses and ran multiple sites and stuff from the one machine.

[tigger]

I'm guessing it wont be very popular with the avg joe user,who'd prefer usb etc on the back,i have 2 lan on mine and dont even use both of them.

[Beertintedgoggles]

I'm not sure why no one else can see this but from that picture I can count 8 USB ports on the rear of the motherboard. However, I can say with absolute certainty that I will never need nor use 4 ethernet ports on one machine (at home).

[Mussels]

as a LAN server, i cant see how it'd help. I've used teaming before and it doesnt help for crap - mechanical hard drives cant handle simultaneous access, so the only real way for this to work is to have 4 people connecting to the system via different ethernet ports, copying off a different HDD each - otherwise you get bottlenecked way too early, from the other components.

Gigabit is barely getting saturated in most environments so i just dont see the need for this.

[tigger]

DOH,i'm claiming i'd just got up........*walks away whistling*

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

TPM chip? say it aint so ...

[jocksteeluk]

Well it looks like some third party usb hub makers will be going out of business.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by jocksteeluk

Well it looks like some third party usb hub makers will be going out of business.

*checks*

well my main system has 6 on the back and an additional 4, and my LAN rig has the front 4 connected to its case.

Why the hoohah over 8, when 10 has been out for ages? simply cause its on the rear instead of E-sata and firewire?

[tkpenalty]

This board has, 1x16x slot, 1x8x slot, 2x4x PCI-E, dual phase memory, dual phase NB, 10x SATA, and almost every IC that provides extra IO has a heatsink on it. Afaik, gigabyte added a chip which provides 8x more PCI-E bandwidth.


However, one poorly designed NB cooler there... That heatpipe should be DOWN LOW, around 5mm above the core, not bloody 3cm abve it.

[lemonadesoda]

I think the heatpipe probably double-backs on itself. It is high to avoid caps and regulators on the mainboard. Makes sense.

Listen. NOBODY so far has given a plausible reason for 4 ethernets on one PC that is not a server. Remember, if you want a serious hard core data managing/serving PC you get a dual socket Xeon system. THERE I could imagine 4 ethernets, but NOT on a desktop.

2, ok. One for LAN, one for DMZ. But 4? i can't imagine anyone wanting to connect to 4 separate and unique separate LAN/WANs.

Is there any possibility these ARENT 4 separate ethernet ports, but is, in fact, just a switch/bridge?

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by lemonadesoda

Is there any possibility these ARENT 4 separate ethernet ports, but is, in fact, just a switch/bridge?

If it was, there'd be more evidence of it. Currently they simply look like four normal gigabit ports with USB on top. also, it'd be in the marketing stuff if it could do that - not a feature you'd forget to brag about.

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by lemonadesoda

I think the heatpipe probably double-backs on itself. It is high to avoid caps and regulators on the mainboard. Makes sense.

Listen. NOBODY so far has given a plausible reason for 4 ethernets on one PC that is not a server. Remember, if you want a serious hard core data managing/serving PC you get a dual socket Xeon system. THERE I could imagine 4 ethernets, but NOT on a desktop.

2, ok. One for LAN, one for DMZ. But 4? i can't imagine anyone wanting to connect to 4 separate and unique separate LAN/WANs.

Is there any possibility these ARENT 4 separate ethernet ports, but is, in fact, just a switch/bridge?

You're an Ignorant person

I know a lot of people who need that many NICs. Moreover in server environments it is not unusual to use normal consumer grade hardware, "server grade" hardware is more high-end.

[SpookyWillow]

i used to use both NIC's on my last 2 mobo's and was gutted when my current one never had 2. i would use 3 of those easily and the forth most likely instead of using a router.

i only ever use 2 usb's at one time and i dont use esata so something like this would be ideal for me.

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

Originally Posted by SpookyWillow

i used to use both NIC's on my last 2 mobo's and was gutted when my current one never had 2. i would use 3 of those easily and the forth most likely instead of using a router.

i only ever use 2 usb's at one time and i dont use esata so something like this would be ideal for me.

+1 customer

[jbunch07]

very nice board.
i've always like gigabyte boards, good for them.

[will]

Originally Posted by tkpenalty

I know a lot of people who need that many NICs.

+1
For example setting up a small network at home with a few computers, you're not gonna buy a server for that! Also would be perfect for small lan games with a few mates. I personally think this would be very useful as it gets rid of the need for a powered switch which you have to buy and they get in the way and use up more power! I actually really like this design: I don't personally use eSata (quite a few enthusiast boards don't have it anyway), I like the 8 USB ports as I always seem to run out and adding a usb backplate is a hassle, especially if you have loads of expansion cards taking up the slots.

[PVTCaboose1337]

I team with my dual gigabit Ethernet... not could you do two teams of two? That would be neat... INSANE speed.

[BigBruser13]

I'm so surprised that all but one guy here in this forum cared about the end of bit torrent because if you like a free game and app to test before you by well it's good by with that chip.
But hey I guess nobody care but me and the guy [I.R.A.]_FBI

[will]

Originally Posted by BigBruser13

I'm so surprised that all but one guy here in this forum cared about the end of bit torrent because if you like a free game and app to test before you by well it's good by with that chip.
But hey I guess nobody care but me and the guy [I.R.A.]_FBI

I don't get it... what is that TPM chip and what does it have to do with bittorrent?

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by tkpenalty

You're an Ignorant person

I know a lot of people who need that many NICs. Moreover in server environments it is not unusual to use normal consumer grade hardware, "server grade" hardware is more high-end.

seriously... give us some examples. who the heck needs 4x gigabit ports on the one system, particularly in relation to teaming.