Gigabyte X79-Line-Up - Layout and Design

Published by Marc Büchel on 26.10.11
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GA-X79-UD5 - Content Creation



Concerning the UD5 Gigabyte talks about this board that it is most suitable for Content Creation. On this PCB you'll find three full length PCI-Express slot of which the first and the third are real x16 and the second is x8. In this case it is possible to run a triple SLI or CrossFireX setup with up to three cards. Below the first to full size PCIe slots there are two x1 slots. Below the thrird GPU slot there is a legacy PCI connector.
A closer look at the power design reveals that Gigabyte put 22 phases on this board. This looks a bit suspicious because until today manufacturers chose from eight, sixteen, twentyfour or thirtytwo phases. In this case we have to wait until Gigabyte discloses the full specs to give you this information.


The UD5 has got eight DIMM slots, which should really be enough for any usage scenario. If one should decide to use eight 8 Gigabyte modules then the system would have 64 Gigabyte of memory. Today there wount be any desktop workload which needs this much memory but probably in two or three years we'll see the first enthusiasts really using this much memory. The eight DIMM slots bear the consequence that the UD5 only fits on an extended ATX PCB, which in other words means that you'll need quite a big case to put it in.
Like with the UD3 Gigabyte makes use of two plain and simple but very nicely designed passiv cooling elements which keep southbridge and current converters at low temperatures. Furthermore both blocks are connected via a heatpipe.
After having taken a closer look at the I/O panel we believe that there are seven USB3.0 ports, two USB2.0 connectors, two eSATA ports, a FireWire port, a Gigabit Ethernet connector, an analogue audio panel and an optical audio out. Furthermore you'll also find a CLR-CMOS button at this place.



Regarding SATA ports you'll find a total of ten connectors which have been angled by 90 degrees which means that extra long expansion cards wont cover them and maintain highest compatibility.
Because of the fact that Gigabyte put three full size PCI-Express slots on this board they have been able to place them in a way that a GPU in the last slot wont block the connectors at the bottom edge of the board. What you'll also find on this board is a power and a reset button. Why Gigabyte put this buttons on this board but not on the UD3 from which they say it is targeted a overclocks too, we simply don't understand.

Page 1 - Introduction Page 4 - GA-X79-UD7 - Enthusiast and Overclocking
Page 2 - GA-X79-UD3 - Mainstream and Overclocking Page 5 - G1.Assassin - Gaming
Page 3 - GA-X79-UD5 - Content Creation Page 6 - Conclusion


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Gigabyte X79-Line-Up - Layout and Design - Motherboards > Intel > X79 - Reviews - ocaholic