Gigabyte positions EP45C-DS3R as a mainstream motherboard, targeted to Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors. But what is the criterion used to differentiate a mainstream motherboard from a high-end one?

Initially, the chipset. Its manufacturer (in this case, Intel) classifies the chipsets as performance, mainstream or value. In many cases this classification changes with new releases. P45 chipset was considered a "performance" one, but with the introduction of X38 and X48, it was downgraded to "mainstream". But that does not mean that its performance has dropped, of course.

Another characteristic that generally classifies a motherboard as high-end is the presence of fancy cooling features, which sometimes have more aesthetic value than real high-performance cooling capability. In this aspect, EP45C-DS3R is not a high-end model. Ditto for accessories, as many motherboards are classified as high-end merely because of special boxes, extra displays or other fancy accessories that only increase the price of the product for the end user.

However, another high-end characteristic is the presence of high quality components, especially the electrical ones (capacitors, chokes, MOSFET transistors) and the auxiliary chips (audio codec, south bridge with resources like RAID, firewire ports, etc). In this matter EP45C-DS3R can be easily compared to the best motherboards available.

Thus, although not officially classified as "high-end", Gigabyte EP45C-DS3R is full of features that will satisfy the needs of almost any user. These features, however, come with a price: this motherboard comes with a price tag more than twice higher the one from value motherboards. It, however, cost less than half the price of a "real" high-end board.

So, if you need a resourceful motherboard providing an excellent performance and you can pay a little more than the price of a value motherboard but don’ t want to sell a kidney to buy a high-end product, EP45C-DS3R is an excellent option.