Help! i m planning to buy the EP35-DS3L mobo...
and i wanna buy the E7200 , which at $130 is a gr8 deal , and has decent OC features too...
but i saw in gigabyte's website that its only compatible with the F4 version of the bios...
this is my first build and i dont know how to "flash the Bios"....
and i dont think i'll get another processor , if i really do need the flash it...
plz help me out here... or is there a processor equal to E7200

p.s. i haven't OCd before, but i'm willing to do so....

Get a P45 chipset, it supports the E7200 natively.

but i'm on a budget and wud like to stick to the p35...esp the DS3L since it has so many good reviews

Do you have an old pentium 4 800mhz fsb lying around? Or a friend with one or a core 2 duo/quad?

ya i do have a friend having a core 2 duo.. but he may think its a risk to gimme the processor to flash the bios, if thats wat ur asking for....

yes you are going to have to have a functioning cpu to flash the bios, but if you handle the cpu properly there should be VERY little risk.

i prefer p43 or p45 for almost the same price

ya but the P45 DS3L in new egg doesnt have a single review...thats wat stopping me from buying it

I have this combo and the F4 bios. It works just fine with the E7200. I'm running at 3.6GHz at 1.275V.

The only problem with the EP35 is that the VCore sometimes doesn't stick. When I shut down my computer and turn it back on an hour later, the voltage is set back to the default voltage. Gigabyte is working on a bios update though. Here's the link to the beta one

http://rs219.rapidshare.com/files/ [...] 35ds3l.zip

It seems to fix this problem.

For info about the P35-DS3L see:
GUIDE: Overclocking On P35-DS3L

Btw, the board should be shipped with F4 or higher BIOS as I recently (~3.5 weeks ago) bought a E8400 + EP35-DS3L for a bid for a friend and it came with the F4.

i just bought that ep45 with no reviews, comes in thursday, will let you know how it is.

hey man...u got the board.. ?? gimme ur reviews...pm me if u can

my review of the GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P45 is that this board was a complete waste of time. Some of the things experienced while attempting to install windows were, Endless boot cycles, Failed bios installs, repeated BSOD, Reboots during install of windows, and more. Some of the things i tried to do to fix these problems, Update bios to current(failed), Every possible ram location and size and speed adjustment(failed), bought new power supply(failed), trying to install x32 and x64 but xp(failed), tried different GPU(failed). IMO dont buy anything less than 150.00$ cause it just isnt worth is, even if you dont plan to use crossfire or sli, the more expensive boards are worth the extra features and usability. By trolling the gigabyte forums on tomshardware the problems i saw were not limited to my board, others have same problems on almost every chipset by gigabyte, There is also NO solution to most of the problems. I ended up buying a asus pq5 PRO.