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- Date:
- Tuesday , September 21, 2010
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
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GIGABYTE X58A-UD5 Motherboard Review
The X58A-UD5 is one of the latest boards in GIGABYTE's refresh of its Intel X58 chipset board line. The board improves upon an already solid design, adding support for the newest Intel based processors and the much touted SATA 6G and USB 3.0 technologies. Has Gigabyte built us overclockers a better X58 motherboard?
Introduction
GIGABYTE is a long running and well known top tier component manufacturer. While other companies aim to push the envelope on pure performance only, GIGABYTE has always stood behind the stability of their products with its offerings giving a very good mix of rock solid stability and supreme performance. Gigabyte meets the performance demands of its consumers by combining innovative design practices with the highest quality board components.
The X58A-UD5 stands as a testament to GIGABYTE's manufacturing prowess, and we will show you why on the following pages.
The GIGABYTE X58A-UD5 motherboard combines the Intel X58 and Intel ICH10R chipsets in order to offer a good breadth of features. The combined chipsets offer support for the following technologies: the Intel LGA1366 Core i7 processor line, DDR3 memory operating in Triple Channel memory mode up to 1333MHz officially, and either NVIDIA SLI or ATI CrossFireX graphics mode using matched video cards. GIGABYTE chose to integrate the following onboard devices in to the X58A-UD5: 6 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the Intel ICH10R controller; 2 SATA II ports (RAID 0 and 1 capable) and 1 ATA-133 IDE port on the GIGABYTE controller; 2 SATA 3 6Gb/s ports on the Marvell 9128 controller; 2 e-SATA ports on the JMicron JMB362 controller; 10 USB 2.0 capable ports (6 in rear panel, and 2 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 USB 3.0 capable ports in the rear panel; 2 Realtek GigE Ethernet ports in the rear panel; Realtek 8-channel HD audio codec with integrated S/PDIF optical and RCA component output ports; onboard power and system reset buttons; CMOS reset button in the rear panel; 2 digit diagnostic LED display; and PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports in the rear panel.
Main Specifications Overview:
Detailed Mainboard Specification List:
Packaging
As is commonplace with its Intel X58 line of boards, GIGABYTE kept the box art clean and simple for the X58A-UD5. Across the front panel are the board name and supported technologies, very clearly indentified. GIGABYTE chose to package in the following accessories with the motherboard: an IDE ribbon cable; SATA drive cables; the rear panel shield; single and 2-way NVIDIA SLI connectors; an SLI support bracket; and the normal complement of manuals and drivers discs.
Board Layout
As expected from a GIGABYTE board, the X58A-UD5 is cleanly designed with an almost artistic layout, with no real tight areas on the board whatsoever. All the normal board hot points are covered by good sized heat sinks, and are all interconnected by an unobtrusive heat pipe. The board's revision number is located in the upper left corner of the board, silkscreened to the surface. The board used in testing was a 1.0 revision. The serial is located on a white sticker along the outer edge of the 24-pin ATX power connector. For the board's power needs, GIGABYTE selected high quality polymer solid-electrolyte capacitors.
The CPU socket is fully clear of obstructions, with all surrounding power components and heat sinks placed well away from this critical area. The standard LGA1366 based mounting solution is used to fix the CPU cooler to the socket itself. The board's Intel X58 based Northbridge chipset sits to the left of the socket, covered by a massive and thin finned heat sink, which is also in the middle of the heat pipe cooling path. Just above the Northbridge chipset is the front panel audio connector, with the ATX12V power connector to the CPU socket's upper right. The CPU temp and voltage LEDs, as well as the CPU_FAN header, are located to the socket's lower right side.
The onboard DDR3 memory slots are arranged in a bi-colored six-slot array, directly below the CPU socket and Northbridge chipset, arranged in dual colored sets. Note that the white colored slots are the primary memory slots, with Triple Channel memory mode activated when 3 like modules are placed in matching colored slots. The PWR_FAN header, 24-pin ATX power connector, and onboard power and reset buttons are located to the lower left of the DIMM slots, with the CPU power phase and frequency LED banks to the lower right of the memory slots.
The integrated Intel ICH10R Southbridge chipset is under the low profile heat sink labeled with the GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 logo in the board's lower left quadrant. The 10 onboard SATA slots are situated directly below the Southbridge's heat sink, all built in to 90 degree standoff ports. The blue colored SATA 2 slots are directly controlled by the Intel ICH10R Southbridge chipset, with the 2 inside white colored slots belonging to the Marvel 9128 SATA 6G controller. The outer white colored SATA ports, as well as the ATA-133 IDE port along the left side of the Southbridge cooler, are paired to the GIGABYTE SATA-2 controller. The CMOS battery and SYS_FAN1 header are located to the lower right of the chipset, with the 2 digit diagnostic display, and front panel header to its lower left. The onboard USB 2.0 headers, SYS_FAN2 header, and IEEE 1394 header are located just above the front panel header along the lower left edge of the board.
GIGABYTE integrated 7 total card slots in to the X58A-UD5's design: 4 PCI-Express x16 slots, 2 PCI-Express x1 slots, and 1 PCI slot. The IEEE 1394 header and onboard floppy port are located along the outside edge of the PCI slot. The S/PDIF output and CD_IN headers are located directly above the PCI slot, with the S/PDIF input header located just above the primary PCI-Express x16 slot.
The rear panel of the X58A-UD5 contains the following ports: PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; a CMOS reset button; 4 USB 2.0 ports; 2 shared e-SATA / USB 2.0 ports; 2 USB 3.0 ports (purple colored ports); 1 full sized and 1 mini IEEE 1394 port; 2 Realtek GigE Ethernet ports; and 6 analogue and S/PDIF optical and RCA component audio output ports.
GIGABYTE EasyTune 6
For windows based monitoring and overclocking, GIGABYTE chose to package version 6 of its EasyTune software on the install DVD with the version shown being revision B09.1104.1. The application itself has been streamlined when compared to previous versions of the app, with all functionality accessible through a series of tabs across the app pages. By default, the application starts in the Tuner tab, which allows for automated and user controlled manipulation of the various board bus speeds and voltage. The Quick Boost mode is active by default, allowing the user to select from 1 of 3 overclocking scenarios. The Advanced mode allows for full user control of board bus frequencies and voltages, with settings shown similar in nature to those shown in the BIOS.
The CPU tab shows real time system statistics on the various bus speeds, and well as detailed CPU and BIOS related information. The memory tab shows memory statistics for all onboard slots on a slot by slot basis.
The Graphics tab shows current core and memory speed for the video card in use, as well as allowing for direct video card based core and memory speed manipulation.
The Smart tab contains settings for the CIA2 dynamic overclocking chipset, as well as controls for manually setting the CPU Smart Fan temperature thresholds for optimal CPU cooler performance.
The HW Monitor tab displays statics on all BIOS monitored voltages, fan speeds, and temperatures. This screen also allows for the configuration of alert settings for the monitored fan speed and temperature devices.
Clicking on the summary icon in the upper right corner of the application display the Quick Summary window, which displays high level information on board device and bus speeds, voltages, and memory.