Opinion on gigabyte ep-45 UD3L vs ep-45 UD3R

[smoideen]

Hi,

I'm trying to pick a good, stable mbd for Core2 Duo solution. I don't intend to set up RAID or crossfire, sli, and don't need fire wire. Am I making a mistake if I go with the cheaper UD3L ?

Gigabyte link explaining differences

Link from newegg to:
ep-45 UD3L
ep-45 UD3R
ep-45 UD3LR

Concerns about UD3L
- UD3R seems to have silent pipe thermal solution, where as others have heat sink. Is that worth paying $15 extra ?
- I'll be getting a graphics card that's about 9.5" long. Anyone know if that will cause a problem with UD3L layout ?
- UD3L doesn't have eSATAII - is that for external sata devices ?

Thank you
SM

 

[bilbat]

The heat pipe is only worth it if you intend to OC, and the pipe lays close to the MOBO behind the PCIe slot - if you'll look at pictures, most GPU's have quite a bit of clearnce behind the slot - shouldn't be a problem...
Oh, and eSATA really boils down to a slot bracket and some cables - I cut mine up to move a MOLEX to my front panel, as my case has an eSATA port, but no power connector for it...