CPU -Support for an Intel® Core™ i7 series processor in the LGA1366 package -L3 cache varies with CPU Chipset -North Bridge: Intel® X58 Express Chipset -South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R QPI 4.8GT/s, 6.4GT/s Memory -6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 24 GB of system memory(Note 1) -Dual/3 channel memory architecture -Support for DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules -Support for non-ECC memory modules -Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules Expansion Slots -2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2) -2 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1/PCIEX8_2) (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-GPU Support -Support for 2-Way/3-Way ATI CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI technology Storage Intel® ICH10R Southbridge -6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports (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 PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller - 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports (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 3.0 Gb/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 3.0 Gb/s connectors (eSATA/USB Combo) on the back panel supporting 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 LAN - 1 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000Mbit) Audio -Realtek ALC889 codec -High Definition Audio -2/4/5.1/7.1-channel -Support for Dolby® Home Theatre -Support for S/PDIF In/Out -Support for CD In 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) USB NEC® USB 3.0 controller - Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel Intel® ICH10R Southbridge -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) Back Panel I/O Ports 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 (Centre/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/ Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone) 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 Bundled Software Norton Internet Security (OEM version) Other Special Features Support for @BIOS Support for Q-Flash Support for Xpress BIOS Rescue Support for Download Centre Support for Xpress Install Support for Xpress Recovery2 Support for EasyTune (Note 5) Support for Dynamic Energy Saver™ 2 Support for Smart 6™ Support for Auto Green Support for eXtreme Hard Drive Support for ON/OFF Charge Support for Q-Share Form Factor ATX Form Factor: 12 inch x 10.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )

The motherboard boasts some impressive specifications and we can see that Gigabyte have added a lot of their own innovations to it, namely their additional SATA2 chip for extra SATA 3.0Gbps and IDE connectors. It's surprising to see these legacy connectors when Intel have officially stopped supporting them but Gigabyte know that some people still rely on IDE hard drives and floppy drives, so having them onboard will no doubt attract customers.

The main question is how does this board differ to the previous revision or even the more costly UD5 variant? Apart from the superior VRM circuitry, there doesn't seem to be any difference between the two revisions of the GA-X58A-UD3R. The 12 chokes surrounding the CPU instead of 8 is indicative of the upgraded motherboard. The layout of the board is also slightly different but no significant changes have been made to internal connectors or components. The heatsink design remains unchanged. Compared to the UD5, it becomes quite clear that the UD3R is a step behind, albeit not significantly. The UD5 sports a 2 heat pipe chipset cooling system and a bigger Southbridge heatsink. The layouts of both boards are very similar but the UD5's has been altered slightly to accommodate an onboard Power and Reset button, and 16 phase PWM power (the 1st revision of the GA-X58A-UD5 had a 12 phase design). The other notable addition is an extra Ethernet port at the back panel. Nonetheless the revised UD3R is much cheaper and excellently positioned in Gigabyte's line up.