GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD5 Review
Introduction
Product on Review: GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD5
Manufacturer: GIGABYTE
Street Price: £230 inc. VAT
The GIGABYTE UD5 was perhaps my all-round favourite motherboard based on the X58 chipset. It offered the best of both worlds. It could serve as an excellent, everyday mainstream motherboard yet it was also a very accomplished overclocker. It looked great, had plenty of accessories, supported SLI and Crossfire and best of all had a competitive price point. Sure, there may have been better motherboards but those cost quite a lot more, much the same as GIGABYTE's UD7 and UD9 flagship motherboards. The UD5 then has always represented value for money but sacrificed little in terms of performance.
Fast-forward three years and with the introduction of the X79 chipset, we see that GIGABYTE are keen to follow on from its phenomenal X58 success with the release of the X79-UD5.
The X79-UD5 has all the new features of the X79 chipset as you would expect, quad channel support, PCIe Gen3, SATA 6GB/s along with USB 3.0. Much like the MSI X79 GD65 motherboard we are comparing it to today, it too has 8 DIMMS capable of hosting 128GB. It boasts on-board switches, Ultra Durable power components and SLI/Crossfire support. So on the face of it these two boards are pretty evenly matched and appear to be perfect solutions for those looking for a mid-high end foundation of Intel's Sandy Bridge-E processor range. Which is best? Well, you'll have to carry on reading but I would advise you not to skip straight to the conclusion and there are many small differences between the two combatants in today's review.
We've already seen what the new Intel Processor and chipset are capable of so with the experience GIGABYTE have of making quality components we hope to be in for quite a ride. GIGABYTE after all is in the Premier League of component manufacturers making anything from motherboards to graphics cards, keyboards to mice. Let's hear what GIGABYTE had to say about their latest motherboard offering:
Let's take a look at the products features and specification...
Manufacturer: GIGABYTE
Street Price: £230 inc. VAT
The GIGABYTE UD5 was perhaps my all-round favourite motherboard based on the X58 chipset. It offered the best of both worlds. It could serve as an excellent, everyday mainstream motherboard yet it was also a very accomplished overclocker. It looked great, had plenty of accessories, supported SLI and Crossfire and best of all had a competitive price point. Sure, there may have been better motherboards but those cost quite a lot more, much the same as GIGABYTE's UD7 and UD9 flagship motherboards. The UD5 then has always represented value for money but sacrificed little in terms of performance.
Fast-forward three years and with the introduction of the X79 chipset, we see that GIGABYTE are keen to follow on from its phenomenal X58 success with the release of the X79-UD5.
The X79-UD5 has all the new features of the X79 chipset as you would expect, quad channel support, PCIe Gen3, SATA 6GB/s along with USB 3.0. Much like the MSI X79 GD65 motherboard we are comparing it to today, it too has 8 DIMMS capable of hosting 128GB. It boasts on-board switches, Ultra Durable power components and SLI/Crossfire support. So on the face of it these two boards are pretty evenly matched and appear to be perfect solutions for those looking for a mid-high end foundation of Intel's Sandy Bridge-E processor range. Which is best? Well, you'll have to carry on reading but I would advise you not to skip straight to the conclusion and there are many small differences between the two combatants in today's review.
We've already seen what the new Intel Processor and chipset are capable of so with the experience GIGABYTE have of making quality components we hope to be in for quite a ride. GIGABYTE after all is in the Premier League of component manufacturers making anything from motherboards to graphics cards, keyboards to mice. Let's hear what GIGABYTE had to say about their latest motherboard offering:
GIGABYTE X79 series motherboards are designed to unite unrivalled desktop PC performance with a new level of flexibility and hardware control. Based on the latest Intel® X79 Express Chipset, supporting the new LGA 2011 Intel® Core™ i7 processors, GIGABYTE X79 series motherboards bring DIY builders to a new area of performance-oriented computing.
Let's take a look at the products features and specification...
