Gigabyte 8I945P-Pro: Even More Features
Although there is no dual Gigabit Ethernet as seen with Foxconn's 945P motherboard, Gigabyte offers DualBIOS, which uses two EPROM chips for providing a backup BIOS, Firewire chips for both 1394a and 1394b, a GigaRAID UltraATA/133 controller featuring two channels and HD audio with both optical and coaxial outputs.
It's a pity that Gigabyte decided to use a three-phase voltage regulator only, as four phases would be capable of handling a Pentium D 840 or Pentium Extreme Edition 840. However, our Pentium D 840 did not seem to stress the motherboard at all.
We appreciate that both chipset components do not require active cooling. Should you require a Northbridge fan, just click it on, as there is one included for optional use. Also, this is the only motherboard that has the floppy connector at a place where it can be accessed easily using the floppy cable that comes included.
Gigabyte usually masks the higher level memory settings. It's the same with the GA-8I945P-Pro. If you want to change certain parameters, you need to enter the BIOS and press STRG+F1 for receiving the chipset features menu. Enthusiast will certainly consider this a real pain while the average user likely will never notice that something is missing. The settings you can choose as well as the overclocking options are far over-average and make this board an excellent choice for performance geeks and enthusiasts.
