Gigabyte is really become a symbol of excellence they really made very great, quality and performer motherboard. They really give tough competition to the other major brands in the motherboard market.Today we will take a look an x79 motherboard which is Gigabyte GA x79 UD5. P35 and X38 chipsets and seen the change in the technology and components used on these motherboards. The release of a new chipset usually means that there’s something new about the motherboard and that it is capable of running the latest and best hardware available on the market, or it could also be just a different chipset for a different market segment. These are the times when manufacturers like GIGABYTE like to show off their latest features and advancements that they have been developing for several months or years. This time around, we have GIGABYTE’s X79-UD5 high-end motherboard, the top performance X79 chipset platform combined with Intel’s flagship Core i7-3960X Extreme 6-Core processor.With the release of the X79-UD5, GIGABYTE also introduced their latest features, a new Dual UEFI BIOS, and a new digital power design for the CPU and Memory, called 3D Power. While we’ve been waiting for these upgrades for a while now, it is also questionable whether we can call these new features ‘upgrades’. Its not that we do not welcome new motherboard designs from GIGABYTE, but it’s more about reliability/stability, and user friendliness we’re looking for. There are a few down sides we’ve noticed with the current implementation of the digital power design and the new UEFI BIOS that comes on the X79-UD5.X79-UD5 buyers also get twice as many memory slots, two more internal SATA 6Gb/s ports, and power and reset buttons compared to the scantly-clad G1.Assassin2, along with nearly twice as many voltage regulator phases. Gigabyte even switches its X79-UD5 voltage regulator to the solid capacitors so heavily favored by one of its competitors, helping to clean up the space around the CPU interface.On the other hand, the lack of a Killer NIC to get in the way leaves us disappointed not to find a PCIe x1 slot at the top of the X79-UD5. That’s because Gigabyte includes the same Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo card found in its other bundle, with the same problem of graphics cards potentially covering up all of the board's PCI Express slots.Most users who don’t need three-way CrossFireX or SLI will find the X79-UD5’s layout nearly perfect, though a front-panel audio header placed far into the lower-rear corner is out of reach for the somewhat-short cables of some ATX enclosures.While the other Gigabyte board was meant to be a bit Spartan in its cable kit, we were a little bummed to find only four SATA cables included with the more broadly-featured X79-UD5. We do, however, find the same CrossFire, SLI, and three-way SLI bridges, along with Gigabyte’s Wi-Fi/Bluetooth solution and a USB 3.0 bay adapter.
Lets take a look at its features :
GIGABYTE 3D Power
GIGABYTE X79 series motherboards are the first to take advantage of the exclusive GIGABYTE 3D Power, an all new hardware and software-based Digital Power Engine for both the PWM and Memory that delivers unprecedented power delivery control.
GIGABYTE 3D Power (patent pending) Utility
Users can now enjoy a fully interactive 3D utility that facilitates adjustment of the 3 dimensions that control the power delivery to your CPU and Memory: Voltage, Phase and Frequency. These parameters are crucial to how the digital PWM supplies power to critical areas of the motherboard and can help users quickly obtain the highest, most stable overclock.
UEFI DualBIOS Technology
At the heart of this exciting 3D BIOS technology is a pair of 8MB physical BIOS ROMs containing GIGABYTE's exclusive in-house designed UEFI BIOS technology. With a superior graphical interface capable of 32-bit color imaging and fluid user-friendly mouse navigation, UEFI DualBIOS™ makes BIOS configuration a new and exciting experience for novice and experienced users alike. UEFI BIOS also brings native support for large hard drives on 64-bit operating systems.
4 Channel Memory on 8 slots
With a potential data bandwidth of up to 25GB/Sec and 256 Bits memory addressing, the Intel® X79 platform offers unrivalled memory performance. Supporting up to 64GB of DDR3 1600 memory (X79-UD5 only), GIGABYTE X79 series motherboards give you the ultimate performance for today's memory-intensive applications.
Designed for PCI Express Gen.3 Support
The GIGABYTE motherboard is fully configured to provide gamers with the latest Gen.3 PCI Express technology, delivering maximum data bandwidth for forthcoming discrete graphics cards.
3-way CrossFireX™ and 3-way SLI™ Support
The GIGABYTE X79-UD5 is equipped to help extreme gamers see the enemy from distance, regardless of how bloody the battlefield, offering the utmost graphics flexibility and upgradeability with multiple GPU support, that includes three PCI Express slots for both AMD CrossFire™ X and Nvidia SLI™ technologies in 3-way discrete card configurations. The GIGABYTE X79-UD5 motherboard delivers maximum FPS, allowing gamers to see more clearly, aim faster, and move more quickly.
OC-DualBIOS™
OC-Dual BIOS features a unique back-panel BIOS switcher and LED indicator, allowing users to select one BIOS for normal use, and another for specifically designated for overclocking. This means that if your overclocking configuration suffers from instability, you can easily revert to your stable settings if needed. With OC-Dual BIOS, users can also easily compare two different BIOS versions, a very useful feature when users want to update to a new BIOS, but don't want to lose their original settings.
GIGABYTE Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi Card
With 2 kinds data transfer mode, GIGABYTE Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi Card providing spec 150 Mbps transfer rates, 802.11n supports the latest WiFi specifications for better signal coverage, and featuring the newest Bluetooth 4.0, you will not suffer from signal loss like before.
3x USB Power Boost
GIGABYTE motherboards feature a 3x USB power boost, delivering greater compatibility and extra power for USB devices. GIGABYTE’s unique USB power design is also able to efficiently regulate output over the full voltage range, which greatly enhances USB device compatibility. In addition, dedicated lower resistance fuses ensure lower voltage drops, and provide more stable and plentiful power delivery.
SuperSpeed USB 3.0
GIGABYTE motherboards boast SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology made possible through an additional onboard host controller. With superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps, users are able to experience a theoretical 10x improvement over USB 2.0. Additionally, backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 assures users of long term use of their legacy USB 2.0 devices.
SATA 6 Gb/s
GIGABYTE motherboards are High-Speed SATA Revision 3.0 compatible, delivering superfast 6Gbps link speeds for twice the data transfer rates of SATA Revision 2.0 (3 Gbps). When used in RAID 0 (Stripe) mode, they offer even faster data transfer rates of up to a theoretical 4x the speed of current SATA interfaces.
GIGABYTE On/Off Charge
GIGABYTE X79 series motherboards feature ON/OFF Charge, a unique GIGAYTE technology which allows you not only to charge your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, but also allows you to Quick Charge it. As an added bonus, it can even be charged when your PC is turned off, so even if you forget to plug it into your charger after you've synced up your music, it will be fully charged when you need it.
GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 3
GIGABYTE X79 motherboards are equipped with the highest quality components that guarantee lower system temperatures, improved energy efficiency and enhanced stability for overclocking. GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 3 design features 2 ounces of copper for both the power and ground layers which dramatically lower system temperature. GIGABYTE's Ultra Durable™ 3 also features Japanese made solid capacitors, PowerPAK MOSFETs and Ferrite Chokes which combine to offer lower motherboard temperatures, less wasted power and extended product longevity.
This motherboard is really awesome and perform really well.Lets run some tests........
- Features.
- 3x PCI Express 3.0 slots.
- 3D UEFI BIOS.
- Best Overclocking.
- VRM capable of over 300W.
- Low Power Consumption than other Motherboards in Idle mode.
- High Power Consumption in full load.
- Expensive as mid level x79 motherboard.
- BIOS is a bit complex.
