BIOS options and tweaking software
Gigabyte has done a good job with its BIOSes of late, especially on the overclocking front. The EP45-DQ6 is no exception, and as you might suspect, the DS3R offers a nearly identical suite of BIOS options.

With front-side bus options up to a whopping 1200MHz—and that's before quad-pumping—the DQ6's BIOS sets the tone early. Gigabyte offers a decent array of memory bus speeds, too, providing dividers that can push DIMMs up to an impressive 1333MHz—that's DDR3 territory, folks.

Gigabyte neatly integrates all of the DQ6's most important overclocking and tweaking options on one page. Even the big four memory timings make an appearance, although you'll have to duck into the advanced timing menu to adjust the DRAM command rate. There, you'll also find access to a whole host of additional timing options that you probably shouldn't be messing with in the first place.

It's in the voltage department that the DQ6's BIOS really shines, though. Control over an impressive nine different voltage settings is provided, and there's plenty of range to play with. CPU voltage options are available all the way up to 2.3V in fine 0.00625-0.02V steps. You can take the memory up to a whopping 3.0V, too. Surely, those voltage ceilings should be enough for even liquid-nitrogen-fueled overclockers.

We can't help but feel a little spoiled by the DQ6's generous overclocking options, which is perhaps why the BIOS's fan speed control section is a disappointment. Temperature-based fan speed control is limited to the CPU fan header, and users only have the option of toggling between three- and four-pin fan settings. Gigabyte really needs to provide automatic fan speed control for the board's system fan headers, as well—ideally with explicit control over temperature targets and actual fan voltages.

All of Gigabyte's P45-based motherboards feature Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chips ripe for the next wave of invasive DRM technologies. However, before you don your tinfoil hat, note that the BIOS provides an option to disable the TPM chip completely.

We rarely have kind things to say about the tweaking software provided with most motherboards, but the latest version of Gigabyte's EasyTune application is much improved over previous iterations. Gone is the garish, over-sized interface and awkward controls, replaced by a GUI that actually looks like it belongs in Windows. The interface has a bit of a CPU-Z feel, and it's quite easy to use.

Specifics on specifications
We've distilled the differences between the EP45-DQ6 and DS3R into a handy chart below. As you'll see, both pull from the same pool of chips; the DQ6 just takes things to a bit of an extreme.