With Intels new X79 chipset series in mind, Gigabyte redesigned the portfolio of their high end desktop motherboards. Nowadays the UD3 marks the entry level into the X79 leauge. This board comes with a very clean design and an attractive feature mix. Furthermore it should also be a serious contender for overclocking and extreme overclocking. 
Gigabytes new X79 line-up really leaves a nice optical impression. And as you migh expect we're very curious how this thing is when it comes to the layout and design part.
| 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 2011 2nd Generation i7 Processors |
| Chipset | Intel X79 |
| Memory | 4 x DIMM max 32 GB, DDR3 2133 / 2000 /
1866 / 1600 / 1333 /
1066 MHz Quad Channel |
| Multi-GPU | NVIDIA 4-Way SLI AMD 4-Way CorssFireX |
| Slots | 4 x PCI-Express 3.0/2.0 x16 (quad at x8/x8/x8/x8,
triple at
x8/x8/x8, dual at x16/x16) 3 x PCI-Express x1 |
| Sound | Realtek ALC898, 2 / 4 / 5.1 / 7.1 Channel |
| Storage | 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (Intel, RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1) 4 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (Intel, RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1, JBOD) 4 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (Marvell 88SE9172) 2 x eSATA 6.0 Gb/s (Marvell 88SE9172) |
| LAN | 1 x Intel Gigabit LAN |
| I/O internal | |
| I/O Back Panel | |
| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4 cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (2 x 64 Mbit flash ROM, EFI AMI BIOS) |
Uboxing the GA-X79-UD3 shows an awful lot of accessories. Next to a complete set of SATA cables one will find a quad SLI bridge, a triple SLI bridge, a CrossFire bridge an SLI bridge as well as a 3.5 inch front mount panel with two USB 3.0 ports. Furhtermore there are the different manuals, the wireless LAN and bluetooth expansion card as well as software and drivers on DVD.
Features
| 3D Power | Meanwhile Gigabyte also makes use of digital power designs on their motherboards. What it does is that it controls the flow of power to both CPU and memory. Gigabyte in this case promises maximum stability. |
| 3D BIOS | With their X79 motherboards Gigabyte introduces their interpretation of a UEFI-BIOS. Using a new Gigabyte board you can choose from a 3D Mode or the Advanced Mode. In 3D Mode one can see a picture of the board in BIOS. If you hover over the different areas you can select them and afterwards change the related settings. On the other hand there is the more standard advanced mode which come with a well-known tab based user interface. |
| PCI Epxress 3.0 | The GA-X79-UD3 already has PCI-Express 3.0 Support onboard. Therefore this board is ready for upcoming GPU generations that need even more bandwidth. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
Discuss this article in the forums
[pagebreak]
Layout
Already at a first glance the Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 looks very good with its harmonic design. This time Gigabyte chose to keep this motherboard almost completely in black. Therefore you find a black PCB, black expansion slots as well as black DIMM slots and connectors. There are only a few grey and even less white spots on the board. We for instance like this kind of design very much. The layout itself is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers. The fact that there are SATA connectors which have been angled by 90 degrees, allow an easy installation of oversized graphics cards like for example a Radeon HD 6990.
Gigabyte equipped the Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 with a 16 phase power design. In this case there aren't phases dedicated especially for the CPU and DIMM slots. Each of the sixteen pahses comes with high quality POScaps as well as PowerPAK MOSFETs.
Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3. Officially supported are the following clock speeds: 2133 / 2000 / 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz. There is also engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders.
Southbridge as well as current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via a passive cooling blocks. The cooling blocks have been positioned wisely, which means that they don't collide with memory or CPU cooler. Fortunately Gigabyte decided to not install an active southbridge cooler. Like this the board can be used noiseless right out of the box.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
Discuss this article in the forums
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Anschlüsse und I/O
Totally Gigabyte equipped the X79-UD3 with eight angled SATA ports and two additional straight SATA ports, which is much more than an average office PC, gaming rig or overclocking setup might ever need. With this board you'll not find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons. There is also no practical debug LED, which might be especially helpful if you should have hardware issues. If you should plan to install a dual slot graphics card in the last PCI Express x16 slot, this will make the connectors at the bottom edge of the board inaccessible.
Totally you'll find five fan headers on the Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 which is more than enough, to provide even an overclocking rig or even a high-end gaming machine with plenty of fresh air. The fan headers are located around the CPU and their also spread over the entire board which makes them easily to access from any position in an enclosure (if you should really decide to put this board into a computer case).
Looking at the external connectors directly on the back-panel Gigabyte equipped the GA-X79-UD3 with one PS2 mouse/keyboard connector, two USB 3.0/2.0 ports, eight USB 2.0/1.1 ports, one gigabit ethernet port, an optical and a coaxial 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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[pagebreak]
Fazit
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| The GA-X79-UD3 is the second board from Gigabyte that has been developped with overclocking in mind. Form an optical point of view this thing really looks great. We like the black and orange design. It's kind of aggressiv but still the colors suite nicely, especially on the matte black PCB. Because Gigabyte decided to make use of an XL-ATX PCB there is plenty of space to arrange all the different components and chips very well. On the other hand you'll have to check if this board really fits into your case if you should be thinking about buying this thing. What we also like very much is the delivery. There even is a Quad-SLI-Bridge. Furhtermore Gigabyte even put a WiFi PCI card into the box which can also handle Bluetooth 4.0 and comes with two additional antennas. | -
Design - Layout - 4 x PCI Express x16 Slot - 10 SATA Ports |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
|
Generally the Gigabyte
GA-X79-UD3s Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are
the angled SATA connectors. Unfortunately there are no power- and reset-buttons.
Furhtermore there is also no debug display which might be very useful in case you should
have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. On the
other hand you find a total of four PCI Express x16 slots (x16 / x8 /
x16 / x |
- Angled SATA connectors - Space around the CPU socket |
||
. The last of these slots also is the last expansion slot
onboard. This means, if you should plan to install a dual slot GPU in
this slot, then the connectors at the bottom edge of the board will be
inaccessible. | Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
Discuss this article in the forums
Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch