GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R (Rev. 2.0) Motherboard Review

By alton

The GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R (Rev. 2.0)

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R(Rev. 2.0)

GIGABYTE has released a number of X58 based motherboards since the chipset made its appearance in 2008. While they don’t have the most X58 boards out there, they do offer some of the best. GIGABYTE first released the GA-X58A-UD3R (Rev. 1.0) not too long ago and it was well received with it’s low price and excellent performance. Recently however, GIGABYTE saw fit to release a revision to the GA-X58A-UD3R (Rev. 2.0) adding some minor changes. Just looking at the board and box will more or less leave you hanging as far as what the differences are.

It still features the same low $200 price range, USB 3.0, SATA 3, a 3 year warranty, and an identical layout as the original but GIGABYTE added four more power phases compared to eight. Another added feature is an extra USB header(red one) that employs GIGABYTE’s new On/Off USB Charge technology that maintains power to the front USB even when the computer is turned off. GIGABYTE also says that the header provides around three times as much power than a standard USB port meaning that devices such as iPhones charge a bit quicker .

Most people already know about and what’s expected of the X58 chipset so I won’t go into details about it other than it’s my preferred chipset.

Before going any further let’s take a look at the specs.

CPU
  • Intel Socket 1366 Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition/Core i7 Processor
  • Supports Intel Turbo Boost Technology
Chipset Intel X58 / ICH10R
Memory
  • 6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 24 GB of system memory(Note 1)
  • Dual / Triple channel memory architecture
  • Support for DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
  • Support for non-ECC memory modules
  • Supports Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
Audio
  • Realtek ALC889 Codec
  • High Definition Audio
  • 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
  • Support for Dolby Home Theater
  • Support for S/PDIF In/Out
  • Support for CD In
LAN Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Expansion Slots
  • 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16
  • 2 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (The PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2, PCIEX8_1 and PCIEX8_2 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
  • 2 x PCI Express x1 slots
  • 1 x PCI slot
Multi-Graphics Technology
  • Support for 2-Way/3-Way ATI CrossFireX / NVIDIA SLI technology
Storage Interface South Bridge

  • 6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_0, SATA2_1, SATA2_2, SATA2_3, SATA2_4, SATA2_5) supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices
  • Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

Marvell 9128 chip

  • 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
  • Support for SATA RAID 0, and RAID 1

GIGABYTE SATA2 chip

  • 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
  • 2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_8, GSATA2_9) supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
  • Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD

JMicron JMB362 chip

  • 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s connectors (eSATA/USB Combo) on the back panel sup- porting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
  • Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD

iTE IT8720 chip

  • 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive
USB South Bridge

  • Up to 10 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (6 on the back panel, including 2 eSATA/USB Combo, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

NEC chip

  • Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
IEEE 1394 T.I. TSB43AB23 chip

  • Up to 3 IEEE 1394a ports (2 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header)
Internal I/O Connectors
  • 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector Connectors
  • 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
  • 1 x floppy disk drive connector
  • 1 x IDE connector
  • 8 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
  • 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
  • 1 x CPU fan header
  • 3 x system fan headers
  • 1 x power fan header
  • 1 x North Bridge fan header
  • 1 x front panel header
  • 1 x front panel audio header
  • 1 x CD In connector
  • 1 x S/PDIF In header
  • 1 x S/PDIF Out header
  • 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
  • 1 x IEEE 1394a header
Back Panel Connectors
  • 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
  • 1 x PS/2 mouse port
  • 1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
  • 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
  • 1 x clearing CMOS button
  • 2 x IEEE 1394a ports
  • 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
  • 2 x USB 3.0 ports
  • 2 x eSATA/USB Combo connectors
  • 1 x RJ-45 port
  • 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/ Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)
I/O Controller
  • iTE IT8720 chip
H/W Monitoring System voltage detection

  • CPU/North Bridge temperature detection
  • CPU/System/Power fan speed detection
  • CPU overheating warning
  • CPU fan fail warning
  • CPU/System fan speed control
BIOS
  • 2 x 16 Mbit flash
  • Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
  • Support for DualBIOS
  • PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b
Bundled Software Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
Operating System Support for Microsoft Windows 7/Vista/XP
Form Factor ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm

With all these features it would be a challenge not to like the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R. During the review we’ll be looking at the performance of some key features like SATA3 and gaming along with some applications such as 3DMark Vantage and PCMark Vantage. Let’s move onward to the retail packaging before powering it up.

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