Is GIGABYTE GA-P31-ES3G a good budget overclocking motherboard?

[sharpT]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128356

I am looking for a cheap(<$70) motherboard to overclock. I had a good experience with GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L. But that board is no longer available from major online sites.
Why? I don't get it.

The closest one would be GIGABYTE GA-P31-ES3G. I read good reviews about GIGABYTE GA-P31-DSL. but that isn't available neither. Is GIGABYTE GA-P31-ES3G as good as GIGABYTE GA-P31-DSL in overclocking? They do have the same BIOS and the same HSF.
Any reason not to?

What is the difference between them anyway besides P31-DSL has 4 DIMM slots while P31-ES3G has only 2 slots? which doesn't bother me. However, they both have 3 PCI slots which has become rare in GIGABYTE's P43/P45 line.


The bottom line:

Can I overclock my exact same E2160 at 9x390 MHZ = 3.51 GHZ with GIGABYTE GA-P31-ES3G as I've already done that with GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L?

I want to find a good home for my E2160 while I am trying out Q6600 with my GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L.

 

[sharpT]

I bought $60 GIGABYTE GA-P31-ES3G. soon I'll let you guys know if it is as good as GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L in OC department.

 

[sharpT]

Yes, I confirmed it. I was able to OC E2610 @ 3.51 Ghz with GA-P31-ES3G.
GA-P31-ES3G is as good as GA-P35-DS3L, but cheaper. Only noticeable difference seems to be 4 DIMM slots vs. 2 DIMM slots. They have the same Northridge HSF and the same BIOS which allows you to change FSB, CPU, and memory Freq and more importantly voltages.

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L is no longer available and GA-P31-ES3G is the replacement.

I almost bought more expensive GIGABYTE's P45/P43 motherboard, but I couldn't see any reason to spend $100 to do so.

here is my cheap rig:

$60, GIGABYTE GA-P31-ES3G
$49, Duo Core E2610 @3.51 Ghz , 9x390 Mhz ,1.55v
$33, G.Skills DDR2 800, 2x1 GB memory, 2.5 ratio = 2x486 Mhz, +2v
$140, HD 4850 card
$35, Logisys case+480 W PSU
$49, Hitahi 320 GB SAT3 HDD

Here are some of my benchmark results:

SuperPI 1M = 18 sec
3Dmark 2001 = 43500 points

 

[TheMan_03]

sharpt exactly what cpu are u using???