Introduction :-
Earlier last month a beast was born. That beast was called the Gigabyte X58A UD9. This is the latest and greatest to come from Gigabyte's stable in Taiwan and is the newest addition to the X58A family of motherboards. Gigabyte was founded in 1986 and have been making motherboards for over 2 decades now with revenues crossing the 2.5 Billion US $ mark. From the looks of it, all that experience and manufacturing might has been brought to bear on the Gigabyte X58A UD9. Designed with a single purpose in mind, which is to DOMINATE the world of overclocking and to provide the best performance and quality the world has to offer, the Gigabyte UD9 is truly a king of all trades.
This is Gigabytes Flagship motherboard for socket 1366 and being the flagship means that it has been adorned with just about everything you could ask for from a motherboard including a newly designed 24 Phase Power supply with Unlocked CPU Power, support for the new 6-core Gulftown processors as well as 4-core Nehalem's , 4 way SLI and Crossfire X across 7 PCI-E 2.0 slots using 2x NF200 chips (for x16, x8, x16, x8, x16, x8, x16 lanes) , support for tri-channel DDR3-2200+ memory , On-board buttons for power, reset and clear CMOS , 2x 8-pin ATX 12V connectors, 2x Realtek Gigabit Ethernet ports , 2x SATA 6Gb/s connectors with the new Marvell controller , and 2x USB3 connectors via the NEC controller, making it the only motherboard in the world to have all that functionality built into one package.
All this performance and quality doesn't come easy or cheap! This board is Big, Heavy and Expensive. It currently holds the distinction of being the most expensive single socket motherboard in the world with it costing approximately 700 $ in the US and also is probably the heaviest too , tipping the scale at a solid 1.5 KG ! Does this motherboard justify its price with its Features and Performance ? The answer to that question is what i hope to uncover through the course of this review
Specifications and Features :-
CPU Support :-
1. Support for an Intel® Core™ i7 series processor in the LGA1366 package (Kindly Go to GIGABYTE's website for the latest CPU support list.)
2. L3 cache varies with CPU
QPI Support :-
1. 4.8GT/s, 6.4GT/s
Chipset Specifications :-
1. North Bridge: Intel® X58 Express Chipset
2. South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R
Memory Support :-
1. 6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 24 GB of system memory(Note 1)
2. Dual/3 channel memory architecture
3. Support for DDR3 2200+/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
4. Support for non-ECC memory modules
5. Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
Audio :-
1. Realtek ALC889 codec
2. High Definition Audio
3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
4. Support for Dolby® Home Theater
5. Support for S/PDIF In/Out
6. Support for CD In
LAN :-
1. 2 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
2. Support for Teaming
3. Support Smart Dual LAN
Expansion Slots :-
1. 4 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2/PCIEX16_3/PCIEX16_4)
2. 3 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1/PCIEX8_2/PCIEX8_3) (All PCI Express slots conform to the PCI Express 2.0)
Multi-Graphics Technology :-
1. Support for 2-Way/3-Way/4-Way ATI CrossFireXâ„¢/NVIDIA SLI technology
Storage Interface :-
South Bridge :-
1. 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
2. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
Marvell 9128 chip :-
1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
2. Support for SATA RAID 0, and RAID 1
GIGABYTE SATA2 chip :-
1. 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
2. 2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_8, GSATA2_9) supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
3. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD
JMicron JMB362 chip :-
1. 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s connectors (eSATA/USB Combo) on the back panel sup- porting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
2. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD
iTE IT8720 chip:-
1. 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive
USB Specifications :-
USB Integrated in the South Bridge :-
1. Up to 12 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 USB 3.0 chip :-
1. Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
Firewire Specifications :-
IEEE 1394 :-
1. T.I. TSB43AB23 chip ( Texas Instruments )
2. 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. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
2. 2 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
3. 2 x 4-pin Molex PCIe 12V power connectors
4. 1 x floppy disk drive connector
5. 1 x IDE connector
6. 8 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
7. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
8. 1 x CPU fan header
9. 3 x system fan headers
10. 1 x power fan header
11. 1 x North Bridge fan header
12. 1 x front panel header
13. 1 x front panel audio header
14. 1 x CD In connector
15. 1 x S/PDIF In header
16. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
17. 3 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
18. 1 x IEEE 1394a header
19. 1 x power button
20. 1 x reset button
Back Panel Connectors :-
1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
2. 1 x PS/2 mouse port
3. 1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
4. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5. 1 x clearing CMOS button
6. 2 x IEEE 1394a ports
7. 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
8. 2 x USB 3.0 ports
9. 2 x eSATA/USB Combo connectors
10. 2 x RJ-45 port
Size :-
1. Length - 13.58 Inches (345mm)
2. Width - 10.375 Inches (263.5mm)
Supported Cases :-
Unique Features :-
* Supports new generation Intel 32nm 6-core processors
* The best CPU VRM Power design for extreme 6 core CPU overclocking
* 4 Way SLI with 2 nF200 SLI bridges & 4 Way CrossfireX support for ultimate graphics performance
* 7 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots for maximum expansion capability
* Unique On/Off Charge delivers the best recharging capability to iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch
* Ultra Durable 3 Technology with copper cooled quality for lower working temperature
* Supports newest NEC SuperSpeed USB 3.0 with superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps
* 3X USB power delivery for greater compatibility and extra power for USB devices
* Provides newest Marvell SE9128 high speed SATA3 storage interface with superfast 6Gbps link speed
* Smart 24 power phase design with mutual back-up to each 12 phase
* Revolution energy saving design with DES 2 featuring hardware based Dynamic 6-Gear switching
* Supports 3 channel DDR3 2200+ memory
* New Hybrid Silent-Pipe 2 design provides unequalled heat conductivity
* Unique hardware control IC to provide more precision voltage control
* Onboard Debug LED display simplifies motherboard troubleshooting
* Patented DualBIOS with dual hardware BIOS protection
* Smart Dual LAN for non-stop network connection & 2GbE speed
* Supports Dolby Home Theater audio to create a stunning surround sound listening experience
* Stylish Power/reset/Clr CMOS onboard button for easily operation on the workbench
* Blu-ray playback outputs supported by high quality 108dB SNR ALC889 HD audio
* Compatible with Window 7 to deliver the best operation experience
* Meet European Union ErP(Energy-related Products) requirements
Packaging and Contents :-
The Motherboard comes in the biggest box i have seen yet ! Gigabyte has done a very nice job with the packaging of this product. All over the box one can see the highlighted features of this board in a very easy to read manner.
This is some of the most attractive packaging i have ever seen from gigabyte and i must say the colour scheme with the big red 9 looks very nice indeed. The box itself flips open to reveal the motherboard through the transparent plastic. Gigabyte has used the other side of the flip open lid to put even more information about the motherboard and its amazing feature set.
The inner box is made of a silver colored thick cardboard and does a very good job of holding and protecting the motherboard.
You can also see the Hybrid Silent Pipe 2 North Bridge Heat-sink that provides for additional cooling of the north bridge and VRM's. Gigabyte also supplies some thermal paste and the required screws to mount the Silent Pipe 2 heat-sink on the motherboard which is a nice touch. The reason for it being called Hybrid Silent Pipe is that one can use water cooling along with air cooling for some serious heat dissipation action.
After i lifted the motherboard out of the box i was very happy to see that gigabyte had stuck a nice thick foam pad under the motherboard as well as behind the I/O ports for that added bit of protection . Kudos to gigabyte for the attention to detail , after all no one likes a board that's DOA thanks to shipping damage .
The inner box actually has 2 boxes one containing the motherboard and the other below it for its manuals and accessories. Everything is neatly held in place and the whole packing exudes that feel of high end quality that one would expect from a product of this stature!
As accessories Gigabyte has included just about everything one would need to set up just about any configuration. Whats included is all the Manuals and Driver discs , 4x Blue Sata 6Gb/s wires , 1x IDE 80 pin cable , 1x Floppy cable , 1x Single Flexible Sli Bridge , 2x Flexible Crossfire Bridges , 1x 3-way Solid Sli Bridge , 1x 4-way Solid Sli Bridge , the I/O Sheild , some motherboard standoff's for additional support if needed , an E-Sata+ power expansion bracket with the required external power cables and the VIP card which gives you special access to tech support and Gigabyte's Bios Engineers amongst other things !
The only accessory that they have not included is an additional Firewire and USB Header expansion slot which is not that much of an issue, but given the price of the motherboard , i would have liked to see its inclusion.
The Board & Layout :-
Earlier last month a beast was born. That beast was called the Gigabyte X58A UD9. This is the latest and greatest to come from Gigabyte's stable in Taiwan and is the newest addition to the X58A family of motherboards. Gigabyte was founded in 1986 and have been making motherboards for over 2 decades now with revenues crossing the 2.5 Billion US $ mark. From the looks of it, all that experience and manufacturing might has been brought to bear on the Gigabyte X58A UD9. Designed with a single purpose in mind, which is to DOMINATE the world of overclocking and to provide the best performance and quality the world has to offer, the Gigabyte UD9 is truly a king of all trades.
This is Gigabytes Flagship motherboard for socket 1366 and being the flagship means that it has been adorned with just about everything you could ask for from a motherboard including a newly designed 24 Phase Power supply with Unlocked CPU Power, support for the new 6-core Gulftown processors as well as 4-core Nehalem's , 4 way SLI and Crossfire X across 7 PCI-E 2.0 slots using 2x NF200 chips (for x16, x8, x16, x8, x16, x8, x16 lanes) , support for tri-channel DDR3-2200+ memory , On-board buttons for power, reset and clear CMOS , 2x 8-pin ATX 12V connectors, 2x Realtek Gigabit Ethernet ports , 2x SATA 6Gb/s connectors with the new Marvell controller , and 2x USB3 connectors via the NEC controller, making it the only motherboard in the world to have all that functionality built into one package.
All this performance and quality doesn't come easy or cheap! This board is Big, Heavy and Expensive. It currently holds the distinction of being the most expensive single socket motherboard in the world with it costing approximately 700 $ in the US and also is probably the heaviest too , tipping the scale at a solid 1.5 KG ! Does this motherboard justify its price with its Features and Performance ? The answer to that question is what i hope to uncover through the course of this review
Specifications and Features :-
CPU Support :-
1. Support for an Intel® Core™ i7 series processor in the LGA1366 package (Kindly Go to GIGABYTE's website for the latest CPU support list.)
2. L3 cache varies with CPU
QPI Support :-
1. 4.8GT/s, 6.4GT/s
Chipset Specifications :-
1. North Bridge: Intel® X58 Express Chipset
2. South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R
Memory Support :-
1. 6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 24 GB of system memory(Note 1)
2. Dual/3 channel memory architecture
3. Support for DDR3 2200+/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
4. Support for non-ECC memory modules
5. Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
Audio :-
1. Realtek ALC889 codec
2. High Definition Audio
3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
4. Support for Dolby® Home Theater
5. Support for S/PDIF In/Out
6. Support for CD In
LAN :-
1. 2 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
2. Support for Teaming
3. Support Smart Dual LAN
Expansion Slots :-
1. 4 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2/PCIEX16_3/PCIEX16_4)
2. 3 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1/PCIEX8_2/PCIEX8_3) (All PCI Express slots conform to the PCI Express 2.0)
Multi-Graphics Technology :-
1. Support for 2-Way/3-Way/4-Way ATI CrossFireXâ„¢/NVIDIA SLI technology
Storage Interface :-
South Bridge :-
1. 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
2. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
Marvell 9128 chip :-
1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
2. Support for SATA RAID 0, and RAID 1
GIGABYTE SATA2 chip :-
1. 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
2. 2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_8, GSATA2_9) supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
3. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD
JMicron JMB362 chip :-
1. 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s connectors (eSATA/USB Combo) on the back panel sup- porting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
2. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD
iTE IT8720 chip:-
1. 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive
USB Specifications :-
USB Integrated in the South Bridge :-
1. Up to 12 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 USB 3.0 chip :-
1. Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
Firewire Specifications :-
IEEE 1394 :-
1. T.I. TSB43AB23 chip ( Texas Instruments )
2. 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. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
2. 2 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
3. 2 x 4-pin Molex PCIe 12V power connectors
4. 1 x floppy disk drive connector
5. 1 x IDE connector
6. 8 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
7. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
8. 1 x CPU fan header
9. 3 x system fan headers
10. 1 x power fan header
11. 1 x North Bridge fan header
12. 1 x front panel header
13. 1 x front panel audio header
14. 1 x CD In connector
15. 1 x S/PDIF In header
16. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
17. 3 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
18. 1 x IEEE 1394a header
19. 1 x power button
20. 1 x reset button
Back Panel Connectors :-
1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
2. 1 x PS/2 mouse port
3. 1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
4. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5. 1 x clearing CMOS button
6. 2 x IEEE 1394a ports
7. 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
8. 2 x USB 3.0 ports
9. 2 x eSATA/USB Combo connectors
10. 2 x RJ-45 port
Size :-
1. Length - 13.58 Inches (345mm)
2. Width - 10.375 Inches (263.5mm)
Supported Cases :-
Unique Features :-
* Supports new generation Intel 32nm 6-core processors
* The best CPU VRM Power design for extreme 6 core CPU overclocking
* 4 Way SLI with 2 nF200 SLI bridges & 4 Way CrossfireX support for ultimate graphics performance
* 7 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots for maximum expansion capability
* Unique On/Off Charge delivers the best recharging capability to iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch
* Ultra Durable 3 Technology with copper cooled quality for lower working temperature
* Supports newest NEC SuperSpeed USB 3.0 with superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps
* 3X USB power delivery for greater compatibility and extra power for USB devices
* Provides newest Marvell SE9128 high speed SATA3 storage interface with superfast 6Gbps link speed
* Smart 24 power phase design with mutual back-up to each 12 phase
* Revolution energy saving design with DES 2 featuring hardware based Dynamic 6-Gear switching
* Supports 3 channel DDR3 2200+ memory
* New Hybrid Silent-Pipe 2 design provides unequalled heat conductivity
* Unique hardware control IC to provide more precision voltage control
* Onboard Debug LED display simplifies motherboard troubleshooting
* Patented DualBIOS with dual hardware BIOS protection
* Smart Dual LAN for non-stop network connection & 2GbE speed
* Supports Dolby Home Theater audio to create a stunning surround sound listening experience
* Stylish Power/reset/Clr CMOS onboard button for easily operation on the workbench
* Blu-ray playback outputs supported by high quality 108dB SNR ALC889 HD audio
* Compatible with Window 7 to deliver the best operation experience
* Meet European Union ErP(Energy-related Products) requirements
Packaging and Contents :-
The Motherboard comes in the biggest box i have seen yet ! Gigabyte has done a very nice job with the packaging of this product. All over the box one can see the highlighted features of this board in a very easy to read manner.
This is some of the most attractive packaging i have ever seen from gigabyte and i must say the colour scheme with the big red 9 looks very nice indeed. The box itself flips open to reveal the motherboard through the transparent plastic. Gigabyte has used the other side of the flip open lid to put even more information about the motherboard and its amazing feature set.
The inner box is made of a silver colored thick cardboard and does a very good job of holding and protecting the motherboard.
You can also see the Hybrid Silent Pipe 2 North Bridge Heat-sink that provides for additional cooling of the north bridge and VRM's. Gigabyte also supplies some thermal paste and the required screws to mount the Silent Pipe 2 heat-sink on the motherboard which is a nice touch. The reason for it being called Hybrid Silent Pipe is that one can use water cooling along with air cooling for some serious heat dissipation action.
After i lifted the motherboard out of the box i was very happy to see that gigabyte had stuck a nice thick foam pad under the motherboard as well as behind the I/O ports for that added bit of protection . Kudos to gigabyte for the attention to detail , after all no one likes a board that's DOA thanks to shipping damage .
The inner box actually has 2 boxes one containing the motherboard and the other below it for its manuals and accessories. Everything is neatly held in place and the whole packing exudes that feel of high end quality that one would expect from a product of this stature!
As accessories Gigabyte has included just about everything one would need to set up just about any configuration. Whats included is all the Manuals and Driver discs , 4x Blue Sata 6Gb/s wires , 1x IDE 80 pin cable , 1x Floppy cable , 1x Single Flexible Sli Bridge , 2x Flexible Crossfire Bridges , 1x 3-way Solid Sli Bridge , 1x 4-way Solid Sli Bridge , the I/O Sheild , some motherboard standoff's for additional support if needed , an E-Sata+ power expansion bracket with the required external power cables and the VIP card which gives you special access to tech support and Gigabyte's Bios Engineers amongst other things !
The only accessory that they have not included is an additional Firewire and USB Header expansion slot which is not that much of an issue, but given the price of the motherboard , i would have liked to see its inclusion.
The Board & Layout :-