With the Z68X-UD7-B3 Gigabyte presents it flagship model which supports Intels latest Sandy Bridge CPUs. This board also comes with the new color scheme which really is very nice to look at. Furthermore there is the long feature list which comes with every motherboard that is based on Intels latest Z68 chipset. 
The P67A-UD7 belongs to the high end motherboards regarding Gigabytes lineup for the Intels Sandy Bridge CPUs. Therefore we're really curious what they've done from the layout and design perspective.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Spezifikationen / Lieferumfang
| CPU | Intel Socket 1155 Core i7, Core i5, Core i3 |
| Chipset | Intel Z68 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR3, 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB DDR3, 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered |
| Multi-GPU |
2-/3-way ATI CrossFireX 2-/3-way NVIDIA SLI |
| Slots | 2 x PCI-Express x16 (dual at x16/x16
mode, compatible with PCIe x1 and x4 devices) 2 x PCI-Express x16 (at x8 mode, compatible with PCIe x1 and x4 devices) 1 x PCI-Express x1 2 x PCI |
| Sound | Realtek ALC889, 7.1-Channel HD Audio Codec, Dolby Home Theater certified, S/PDIF Out |
| Storage | 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10) 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1) 4 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD) 2 x eSATA 6 Gb/s |
| I/O internal / Connectors | 1 x CPU fan header 3 x System fan headers 1 x power fan header 1 x Chipset fan header 1 x Front Panel header 1 x Front Panel Audio header 1 x S/PDIF Out header 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 headers 1 x IEEE 1394a header 1 x Clear-CMOS Button 1 x Power Button 1 x Reset button |
| I/O external | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mous 1 x optical S/PDIF Out 1 x coaxial S/PDIF Our 2 x IEEE 1394a 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 6 x USB 3.0/2.0 2 x eSATA/USB combo 2 x RJ-45 6 x Audio Jacks |
| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (2 x 32 Mb flash ROM, Award BIOS) |
- Manual
- 1 x ATX I/O bezel
- 8 x SATA cable
- 1 x External connector bracket
- 1 x SLI Bridge
- 1 x CrossFire Bridge
- 1 x Driver CD, Antivirus software, ASUS Update, ASUS Utilities
- Stickers
Regarding the delivery you'll find everything you need. Next to a CrossFire bridge you can even find a SLI bridge which allows a 3-way SLI setup.
Features
| Dynamic Energy Saver | Utilizing Gigabytes Dynamic Energy Saver the board is able to enhance the systems overall power efficiency. Therefore it is able to regulate power consumption of CPU, memory, chipset, graphics card, hard drive as well as connected fans. Of course all this will happen automatically. |
| On/Off-Charge | With On/Off Charge Gigabyte has a Feature onboard which allows users to recharge for example their iPhon, iPod or iPad via USB without starting it up. Furthermore the devices can draw more power from these special USB ports than from standard ones. |
| 24 Phase Power Design | Gigabyte equips its high-end motherboards with their 24 phase power design. It is made of high quality components which guarantee a long lifespan, hight stability and good overclockability. |
| Cloud OC | Cloud OC should allow easy overclocking via an external device that can access the web. The program lets an overclocker access the different settings via a website. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Layout
With the P67A-UD7 Gigabyte finally got the courage to change the design of their boards completely. Therefore the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturer now uses a black PCB as well as black expansion slots. If you look at the heatpipe you see that the UD7 features anthracite and cooper. Finally there are also some white spots which aren't distracting at all. We've been very positively surprised of Gigabyte presenting such a beautiful mother. We even think that this is one of the most beautiful boards ever introduced to the market. The only mistake regarding the layout can be found right next to the northbridge cooler. The PCI-Express x1 slot really is too close to the cooling block which bares the consequence that the slot becomes almost useless.
Like other Gigabyte boards before the P67A-UD7 comes with a 24 phase power design which guarantees stable current supply and very good overclockability. Furthermore the 24 pahse VRM design is equipped with high quality polymer capacitors which have a life expectancy of 50'000 hours on average, low RDS(on) MOSFETs for lower temperatures and high quality inductors made of ferrite.
Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the P67A-UD7. Officially supported are DDR3-2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 with up to 32 GByte capacity. The DIMM-slots are quite close to the CPU socket which might cause some compatibility problems with big coolers especially when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders.
Northbridge, Southbridge as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via a passive heatpipe cooling solution. The fact that the cooling blocks around the CPU socket aren't too big make it comfortable to install a big aircooler. We also noticed the very high manufacturing quality of the cooling blocks and their weight which is quite immense.
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| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Anschlüsse und I/O
Totally Gigabyte provided the P67A-UD7 with eight angled SATA ports which should be enough for any office PC or gaming system. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons. Gigabyte even thought of a debug display which is very useful if you should once have issues with one of the components in your system. It is quite common that the last PCI-Express x16 slot is also the expansion slot the closest to the bottom edge of the board. That has the consequence that the connectors at this place aren't accessible anymore. With the UD7 Gigabyte took this into account and placed the last PCI-Express x16 slot as the second last expnsion slot and therefore there wont be any complications.
Totally you'll find eight fan headers on the Gigabyte P67A-UD7 which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped midrange or even a high-end-system with fresh air. The fanheaders are located around the CPU and their also spread over the whole board which makes them easily accessible from any position in an enclosure.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel Gigabyte provided the P67A-UD7 with a PS2 mouse/keyboard connector, six USB 3.0/2.0 ports, a firewire port, tow eSATA ports, two gigabit ethernet port, a SPDIF and coaxial optical out as well as an analogue audio panel.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Fazit
| General | + | - | |
| In our opinion the
P67A-UD7 is without a doubt one of the most beautiful boards ever
introduced to the market. The layout has been very well thought and
there is only one thing which could have been done better. The concerns
the PCI-Express slot which has been placed right next to the northbridge
cooler. As a result it is almost useless. On the other hand there are
the connectors at the bottom edge which are always accessible. There
won't be any graphics cards covering them because there is a PCI slot
inbetween. Once again we have to mention the new color scheme: we have been very surprised that Gigabyte had the courage to now produce boards with an entirely new design! |
- Design - Layout |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
|
Generally the Gigabyte P67A-UD7s layout is very well thought. Once more very practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. Also the debug display can become very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Furthermore the placement of the PCI-Express x16 slots is well thought too and therefore nothing needs to be criticized at this point. The only thing we didn't like about the layout concerns the PCI-Express x1 slot right next to the northbridge cooler. It has been place that close the it's almost useless. |
- Angled SATA connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Connectors a the bottom edge accessible in any case |
- PCI-Express x1 slot too close to the northbridge cooler | |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch