# GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 is it worth buying?



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 17, 2010)

well as the title says, is it worth it?

after reading this review by windwithme i'm seriously considering buying one ,
now at first i was thinking of getting a evga motherboard or an asus p6t ,
but this motherboard seems to tick all the boxes of what i need, 
i'e, sata 3 usb3, Parallel ata and even a floppy disc connector
plus i'm not interested in having five graphics cards 
(i only need one x16 pciexpress) 


so what is this thread about ?

well i want my fellow tpu'rs opinions on whether you all think it's worth a look, 
anyone who has this motherboard who isn't a member here can join in by signing up "here" 
(it's free and will only take a minute to do so) and tell me how good or bad it is, 
what problems you've encountered and what workarounds you had to implement to sort things out 

i eagerly await your views

and don't forget to visit techpowerup's homepage for the latest technological news  reviews articles downloads and much more 
(hint click on the highlighted and underlined dark blue letters  )


----------



## Solaris17 (Jan 17, 2010)

im wating to ship out my current EVGA board. ill be getting back my third one. 


imo the whole GIGA UD series has rocked


----------



## SystemViper (Jan 17, 2010)

I have had great luck with GIG boards, the UD3P in 775 and several i7 socket 1366 boards too, They make a solid board and it's fun to overclock them, I will be testing a P55 UD4P with some i5 chips and i am excited to be using the GIG board since i am very familier with the bios and EZtune..

There are so many good boards out there, it's alll about getting what suits your needs and what you like, but you can't go wrong with the GIG boards.


----------



## CDdude55 (Jan 17, 2010)

Solaris17 said:


> im wating to ship out my current EVGA board. ill be getting back my third one.
> 
> 
> imo the whole GIGA UD series has rocked



Just got an EVGA X58 board recently (need to wait like a month and a half for the CPU and RAM), i hope i don't have to do an RMA on mines, don't want to delay this build any further.:shadedshu


----------



## Solaris17 (Jan 17, 2010)

CDdude55 said:


> Just got an EVGA X58 board recently (need to wait like a month and a half for the CPU and RAM), i hope i don't have to do an RMA on mines, don't want to delay this build any further.:shadedshu



mine is the vanilla x3 SLI. if thats the one your getting. the board can do amazing things. but if you have a C0 proc or basically anything that doesnt want to OC dont push it. dont force it to be were you want. like my C0 only wanted 4.2 i couldnt go any more. i tried to see if i could get 4.5 for a bit. but my board wanted nothing to do with it. keep that in mind. it ot to 4 easy enough and 4.2 with a little effort. but when it doesnt want to go anymore. it doesnt want to.


----------



## Pickles24 (Jan 18, 2010)

I have had this board for a few months now, and I have yet to find a flaw in it.  If you plan on cooling the board with liquid the barbs are welded on to the block and they are 10mm.(3/8").  EK is making a block for the nb/sb and mosfits, should be out any day now.  I have heard the silent fan is a little over kill, I have it attached, and it runs real cool..  Compared to the Asus Rampage II Gene I was running the NB and SB are 20c lower.  Some are having difficulty with memory, I have not had a single issue with my OCZ platinum.  Over clocked my 920 to 4.2 first try and only had to tweak some minor voltage settings over the last month.  I believe it's well worth every penny I paid for it..  I hope this helps.


----------



## PaulieG (Jan 18, 2010)

I've owned the Gigabyte UD3R and UD5. Gigabyte simply dominates x58 as far as their across the board x58 and p55 offerings. The UD5 was simply the best of the 7 different x58 boards that I owned. This is a small update/upgrade above that board, so I imagine it is flat out awesome.


----------



## Pickles24 (Jan 18, 2010)

No noises here..  what could possibly make noise on the board?  The only things I really could find people would complain about, were maybe only having 2 gsata 6gbs onboard, and the Hybrid Silent Pipe covering  the PCI 1X slots.  I doubt there is a major change in temp with the NB silent pipe on or off, so it would free the PCI.  It can also be configured to run raid with (6) sata 3gbs controlled by ICH10r, (2) gsata 3gbs, controlled Gigabyte sata2 controller, and (2) gsata 6gbs controlled my Marvell 9128.
I ran the Gigabyte sata2 controller with the XHD(extreme hard drive), I thought the ability to add more hdd's to an array at anytime was dope.  The speed seems to be the same as the intel controller I had my older Raid0 array on.


----------



## PaulieG (Jan 18, 2010)

One suggestion I have is to find a UD5. Basically a very similar board at a significantly cheaper price. I still miss mine. Quite possibly the best of all boards I've ever owned.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 19, 2010)

thanks Paulieg i'll have a look 
apparently i'm going to struggle to get one of these ud7 boards at the mo 
(lucky i started this thread as it gives me more time to research it)as they are out of stock, and the shop i was going to get my parts from wanted £31 or about 50.74 US$ more than it is at an online retailer :shadedshu so that shop might not be getting my money


----------



## Pickles24 (Jan 21, 2010)

After running my LC loop and putting my board back into the case, I didn't have the pump attached to the cpu fan.  When I turned it on, I finally heard the death screech.  I about crapped myself. The board does make the sound, and all the rows of leds were lit up..  Annoying to say the least, you have to unplug to reboot.  All fixed now, I guess it does make the noise if it thinks the board could be damaged.






I am so getting this block in the next week.


----------



## Jaffakeik (Jan 21, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> I've owned the Gigabyte UD3R and UD5. Gigabyte simply dominates x58 as far as their across the board x58 and p55 offerings. The UD5 was simply the best of the 7 different x58 boards that I owned. This is a small update/upgrade above that board, so I imagine it is flat out awesome.



Yes UD5 is superb MB I like it very much,no broblems so far for half a year


----------



## trt740 (Jan 21, 2010)

After further review and some advice from several people who I trust and know I have changed my mind sounds like this is a super good board. I would get it.


----------



## willie_52 (Jan 24, 2010)

I am currently building a new system to replace my 8 year old ASUS. After much research I have purchased the UD7 motherboard. It is sitting in the box waiting for me to finish purchasing other new hardware. I hope to finish the system by the end of February. The ASUS board was a first generation SATA and I have had some unusual compatibility issues over the years but with that said it was a very good product for many years.


----------



## CDdude55 (Jan 24, 2010)

willie_52 said:


> It is sitting in the box waiting for me to finish purchasing other new hardware. I hope to finish the system by the end of February.



I'm doing the same, i bought an EVGA X58 board last month and it's still in it's box waiting till i can afford both the CPU and RAM. Should be done around March hopefully.


----------



## Pickles24 (Jan 25, 2010)

I had to uninstall my raid0 today to put a dual boot win7/Ubuntu Studio(Grub only likes raid 1/5).  So after countless restarts in multiple configurations and transferring over 4tbs of data to and from internal hdds and backups I will say this board is a tank.  It flexed it's muscle and worked flawlessly, never getting over 42c.  Sure it looks great, runs real fast and overclocks like a champ.. but this board is a heavy weight brute. Linux on a 4ghz i7 is like overkill for speed, feels like a stable XP on steroids.  

Using Everest Ultimate Edition and it didn't recognize the board, but a tech emailed me today with a newer version..  It benches with the big boys..


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 25, 2010)

well thanks for your replies and votes guys it's apreciated i'd still like to hear from anyone who wasn't sure or who said no though 
on with the poll


----------



## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 26, 2010)

CDdude55 said:


> Just got an EVGA X58 board recently (need to wait like a month and a half for the CPU and RAM), i hope i don't have to do an RMA on mines, don't want to delay this build any further.:shadedshu





Solaris17 said:


> mine is the vanilla x3 SLI. if thats the one your getting. the board can do amazing things. but if you have a C0 proc or basically anything that doesnt want to OC dont push it. dont force it to be were you want. like my C0 only wanted 4.2 i couldnt go any more. i tried to see if i could get 4.5 for a bit. but my board wanted nothing to do with it. keep that in mind. it ot to 4 easy enough and 4.2 with a little effort. but when it doesnt want to go anymore. it doesnt want to.



I've had my classified for almost a year. And I love it, it's been rock solid 24/7, haven't rebooted my system in almost 3 months. I've owned 5 EVGA boards now, a 750i a 780iFTW, a 790i, a EVGA 160-LF-E659-KR P55 Classified, and a E760 CLASSIFIED, and haven't had a single problem with any of them! I did break a SATA slot off on the 750i, but I will attribute that to being drunk.

Where has my experience has been the exact opposite with Gigabyte, I've owned 4 of their boards in the last 6 years (both Intel and AMD), and have had to RMA every on within a years time, and even had to RMA one board 4 times to get one that worked ( as well as getting the same exact dead board back from RMA still dead). As well as incompitent help from their tech support ( not to mention every reply was in broken english), and even a broken RMA website. Also when you fill out all the forms for RMA and they send you the reply email to so you can mail it off, they still print out a blank from for you to fill out by hand even though they have all your information (LAZY much?). Gigabytes RMA is the worst I have ever encountered for any kind of product, yes even worse than Sony!

A lot of people swear by Gigabyte, and on paper their boards look amazinng and are feature packed. But I have yet to have 1 positive thing happen while using one of their products.

I say go with another manufacturer like EVGA, ASUS, or DFI!


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 26, 2010)

thanks [H]@RD5TUFF that's what this thread is about i want to hear everyones opinion  nothing is set in stone atm (i was even thinking of getting an msi motherboard as the one i've got at the moment is still ok no leaky caps or anything which is a supprise since my powerpack was so faulty) 
oh well on with the poll


----------



## willie_52 (Jan 26, 2010)

Great comments concerning Gigabyte. I have been to many sites read many comments concerning Gigabyte and the UD7 board. Some folks swear by Gigabyte and others have a negative experience. After spending more money then I should have on a motherboard I hope I fall into the favorable column. Over the years I have had not such a good experience with customer support often I blame it on my lack of expressing my problem or my lack of understanding it. I was between the UD7 and the Classified which was slightly more expensive. Here is hoping I did good.
Willie_52


----------



## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 26, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> thanks [H]@RD5TUFF that's what this thread is about i want to hear everyones opinion  nothing is set in stone atm (i was even thinking of getting an msi motherboard as the one i've got at the moment is still ok no leaky caps or anything which is a supprise since my powerpack was so faulty)
> oh well on with the poll



Your welcome. If you were perhaps looking for specific model recommendations I personally highly recommend the EVGA CLASSIFIED 760( I own thsi board and has been running my i7 950 @ 4.1 GHZ 24/7 for almost a year straight, and has been powered down for the total of 15 days I was out fo town on business), or the ASUS P6X58D Premium or ASUS Rampage II Extreme ( Rampage 3 is coming out soon so may want to hold out for that), or ASUS Rampage II GENE or DFI LANPARTY JR X58-T3H6 (configuration can be a bit tricky but for the price, it's hard to beat this board on value and stability).


----------



## trt740 (Jan 26, 2010)

did you see this review  http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...a-x58a-ud7-lga1366-motherboard-review-20.html


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 27, 2010)

thanks everyone, i'll take a look tomorow at the other reviews, hopefully i'll have shifted this damned cold


----------



## trt740 (Jan 27, 2010)

this is a good thread to read http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=240276 this is also good http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=243912


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 27, 2010)

once again trt740 a big thanks, all info is welcome whether it be good or bad


----------



## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 27, 2010)

Also my other question to you is are you 100% set on going X58 ? Or would you be open to going P55, as you can get similar preformance, at a better value.

P.S. I saw your current specs, I still own / use a Athlon xp 2800+ (barton) on a ASUS A8N7-E Deluxe (nForce2), with 512 mb Mushkin DDR 400 and a Saphire ATI Radeon 9600 XT, it's running Linux, I use it for streaming Pandora to speakers in the garage.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 28, 2010)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> Also my other question to you is are you 100% set on going X58 ? Or would you be open to going P55, as you can get similar preformance, at a better value.
> 
> P.S. I saw your current specs, I still own / use a Athlon xp 2800+ (barton) on a ASUS A8N7-E Deluxe (nForce2), with 512 mb Mushkin DDR 400 and a Saphire ATI Radeon 9600 XT, it's running Linux, I use it for streaming Pandora to speakers in the garage.



yep that's what i'm set on getting ,i know the p55 systems will be cheaper, but when i make my mind up to get something it's usually what i go for  

yes this old gals still going ,only thing i don't like about it is it doesn't support my sata dvd drive, i thinks it's because the board was made before sata cd/dvd drives were a common thing, well it's either that or my dvd drive is pooped


----------



## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 29, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> yep that's what i'm set on getting ,i know the p55 systems will be cheaper, but when i make my mind up to get something it's usually what i go for
> 
> yes this old gals still going ,only thing i don't like about it is it doesn't support my sata dvd drive, i thinks it's because the board was made before sata cd/dvd drives were a common thing, well it's either that or my dvd drive is pooped



They do make SATA to IDE conversion hardware, but not sure, that's really worth anything to you.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 29, 2010)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> They do make SATA to IDE conversion hardware, but not sure, that's really worth anything to you.



thanks this dvd/cd writer will be going into the new rig (once i make my mind up on all the components)

here's a small list of what i was thinking of getting

(psu)either a 

Corsair HX 650W £ 94.99 or 153.38 US$
or a 
Corsair HX 750W £ 117.99 or 190.53 US$

(cpu) Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping £ 209.98 or 339.075 US$

(memory) Corsair Dominator 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G1600C8D) [TR3X6G1600C8D] £ 179.99 or 290.64 US$

(graphics card) Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 5870 £ 349.99 or 565.16 US$

(motherboard) Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7  £268.99 or 434.36 US$

i'm realy not sure what case or cpu cooler  i'm going for either


----------



## willie_52 (Jan 29, 2010)

I am putting together a similar system. I purchased an Antec 1200 case 159.99 US$. I am going to purchase a Noctua NH-U9B SE2 54.99 US$  on Monday. I hope this helps with your choices.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 29, 2010)

ye the antec case is a good choice, only thing that put me off one was that it needs modding before i could put my psu in, i'e for air flow from the bottom of the case the noctua is also a good choice,and as i'm not planning on overclocking i beleive it should keep the room temps lower


----------



## btarunr (Jan 29, 2010)

I think a GA-X58A-UD3R should suffice. It's laid out pretty well.


----------



## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 29, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> thanks this dvd/cd writer will be going into the new rig (once i make my mind up on all the components)
> 
> here's a small list of what i was thinking of getting
> 
> ...



I highly recommend the HAF 932 and 922, they push huge amounts of air, and are relitively quiet, as well as having sliding hard drive trays, tool-less 5.25 drive instillation, and room to upgrade to water cooling should you feel the need. Also the CM690 is a good choice, my kid brother just got one. As for Antec, I think they are just too much money for what you get (like Lan-Li) I own a Antec 300, and an Antec 900, and for what I got, the Antec 300 is more or less priced correct, I got it for $22.99 USD price at about 29-30 dollars, but if it was like 35+ dollars I would say it's over priced, but the Antec 900 cost me $98.00 USD, priced at about 90-100 dollars which is way over priced for what you get. 

Also for your graphics card, I strongly recommend you go with XFX in stay of Gigabyte, as they have a double life time warranty, that is transferable, so should you feel the need to upgrade your video card to a 6xxx, or to an Nvidia card when they come out, you can sell the video card and transfer the warranty with it (stay away from Saphire they have horrible RMA, and have shipped cards with the wrong BIOS, and expect customers to flash the bios correctly, instead of honoring waranty's).

And with that set up, I would say perhaps you should step up to an 800, or 850 or more watt PSU, because, the best part about quality PSU's is you can re-use them over and over, it's worth the extra money if you can get 5+ years out of one. I have a ZALMAN ZM850-HP 850W, that's about 3 years old now, and I have used it in 3 different rigs.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 29, 2010)

thanks btarunr, money isn't really a problem, although i don't want to go to over the top, i've got till the end of this poll to make my mind up  although all recomendations are welcome


@[H]@RD5TUFF yes i will need a case with a good airflow i was thinking of a Lian Li Tyr PC-X1000 aluminum PC case about £ 265.64 or 425.66 US$ which makes the whole machine quite expensive if i do go for it ,but i'll give the others you've mentioned a good look 

ye i could go mad with 2 or 3 graphics cards,but i have to consider the heat output ,as my room gets extremely hot in summer 

i also get what you mean about the psu,but as i say i doubt i'll be going with anything newer in the future such as fermi(if it ever arrives) so i'm hoping to just use a 650 or 750w

well i've a laptop psu to fix so cheers for now


----------



## btarunr (Jan 29, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> thanks btarunr, money isn't really a problem, although i don't want to go to over the top, i've got till the end of this poll to make my mind up  although all recomendations are welcome



I didn't look at it from a cost-cutting angle. It's just that you probably won't need the UD7. The X58A-UD3R gives you USB3/SATA6Gb/s, four PCI-E slots (with comfortable spacing for 3-way SLI) and also a PCI for any PCI card you may have.






Liquid-cooling X58+ICH10R is a little farcical (you won't be touching the chipset's voltages), unless there's a nForce 200 chip in there (which adds to the heat). So the UD3R's cooler does the job without being skimpy. 

Then of course the UD3R costs 2/3 the UD7. Invest the money saved in more (or faster) RAM.


----------



## mstenholm (Jan 29, 2010)

willie_52 said:


> I am putting together a similar system. I purchased an Antec 1200 case 159.99 US$. I am going to purchase a Noctua NH-U9B SE2 54.99 US$  on Monday. I hope this helps with your choices.



The NH-U99B is a nice and silent cooler but not for a working i920. Of course depends on the work that you need to do. Go for a bigger one if you have the space in your case.


----------



## mstenholm (Jan 29, 2010)

One reason going for the 7 could be that it will have a bios update for the new 6 cores (and it can handle Xeons).

I have it and it overclock nicely. I have no other X58 to hold it up against, but I'm very happy with it.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jan 31, 2010)

one thing i will say about the ud7 is that has more regulators on it 
i'e "Advanced 24+2+2 power phase design with VRD 11.1 support" 
which is more than the other board has and does come at a premium 
but if it makes it last longer i will be a happy man


----------



## Pickles24 (Jan 31, 2010)

The only way I could find to check temps on the NB is to use HWMonitor.  I have found it runs around 38c passive, 32c with the Hybrid Silent Pipe and under 30c with the stock water block.  Never getting over 50c full load.


----------



## PaulieG (Feb 3, 2010)

btarunr said:


> I didn't look at it from a cost-cutting angle. It's just that you probably won't need the UD7. The X58A-UD3R gives you USB3/SATA6Gb/s, four PCI-E slots (with comfortable spacing for 3-way SLI) and also a PCI for any PCI card you may have.
> http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/Image/mb_productimage_ga-x58a-ud3r_big.jpg
> 
> Liquid-cooling X58+ICH10R is a little farcical (you won't be touching the chipset's voltages), unless there's a nForce 200 chip in there (which adds to the heat). So the UD3R's cooler does the job without being skimpy.
> ...



I have to agree with BTA here. It has all of the features you need, without the "fluff", and from my fairly extensive experience with Gigabyte x58 and p55 boards, Gigabyte does NOT skimp on build quality despite the price point.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 5, 2010)

thanks Paulieg just wondering is the corsair hx psu any good for a system like that?


----------



## TIGR (Feb 5, 2010)

Great board, go for it.


----------



## PaulieG (Feb 5, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> thanks Paulieg just wondering is the corsair hx psu any good for a system like that?



Of course it will. A good psu like this will power this board, a 920, a good card (or 2), a couple of HDD's etc. No worries.


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 5, 2010)

Just waiting for the big block to get here... this is what the stock looks like wet. 3/8" od on the Giga-block.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 5, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> Of course it will. A good psu like this will power this board, a 920, a good card (or 2), a couple of HDD's etc. No worries.



well the reason i ask is a few psu's don't say they are i7 compatible ,whereas some do


----------



## ocnoob (Feb 6, 2010)

TIGR said:


> Great board, go for it.



Yes, it is. I've got it for my computer at home. No trouble yet, but almost no overclocking until now ;-) I'm still reading and learning ...

The Beta-Bios F3k will also flash your SATA-Bios, so expect about 10% more speed for your hdd, at least I've got with my ST32000641AS ATA Device ;-)


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 7, 2010)

well as everyone knows i'm not really into overclocking i like things at default but i might tickle the processor just a little bit  but not as much as some on here  and hopefully it should last a long time


----------



## GSquadron (Feb 7, 2010)

O my god what a beast! Looks like msi's upcoming big bang was born before by gigabyte.
Anyway what i see in this board are the tantalium phases near the cpu socket, but still it is not worth the whole money. And the pci e are so damn near . Hell no i wouldnt buy it.
But if you guys see these kind of phases in a motherboard prepare to pay a lot as the same with the upcoming big bang and the overclocking speed would be diabolic.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 8, 2010)

i see what you mean about the pci e sockets being near ,it's making me wonder if i can get a 5870 and that pci slot cooler in close together, oh well on with the poll


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 8, 2010)

1/2" clearance over my 8800 gts, and could fit a l.c. block in between/around.  If you have the card wet, you should already have the NB as well.  Or air there is no problem at all.


----------



## Wetbehindtheears (Feb 8, 2010)

Voted yes... if you can afford it then go for it. I've a few Giga boards over the last 5 years and have never had a problem with any of them. Currently running a UD5 and I love it...

Go for the biggest branded PSU you can afford.

Case... how about the Zalman GS or MS 1000 series?


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 9, 2010)

i'm still looking into cases, got a while yet march 18th before i finalise all the parts and start ordering


----------



## GSquadron (Feb 9, 2010)

Cooler master cases are the best


----------



## buggalugs (Feb 9, 2010)

I'm an Asus guy myself after a few negative Gigabyte experiences but they have lifted their game in the last couple of years.

 If you have no intention on overclocking dont waste your money on the UD7. Just get the UD3 or whatever the cheapest one is. Unless you need layout.

Anandtech have recommended the Asus X58 and EVGA boards for X58, but yeh Gigabyte are better than they used to be when they had the DPC latency issues and so many boards that couldnt use whatever new CPU had come out.

 Example. Asus P5B series with the P965 chipset could be upgraded over time to the new cpus like conroe core2duo when they came out, and 45nm Penryn after that.

 There are virtually no Gigabyte P965 boards capable of Penryn and most didnt take the conroe core2duos. 

 There was also the Gigabyte 680i debacle with a lot of angry customers that couldnt use a quadcore penryn that came out not long after release.

 If you remember when Gigabyte started advertising "2oz copper PCB" that was to solve the DPC latency issues so i guess that is fixed now but i havent had a gigabyte board since X38DQ6.

  You should be pretty safe with Gigabyte X58 as far as CPU upgrades. We know 6 core 32nm gulftown will work, so you have an upgrade path there.

 I'm sure they have learnt and improved but i got burnt a few times choosing a Gigabyte board so its gonna take a while for me to trust them again.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 10, 2010)

thanks that's what this thread is about, i want to hear the good the bad and the ugly experiences


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 11, 2010)

F4 bios was just released today.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 11, 2010)

have you tried it ? just curious


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 11, 2010)

Yea man...  I updated it last night.  F3/F4 enabled the 6 core Gulftown and fixed memory issues.  I don't have either.  However, it's like fine tuning a a sports car.. On the f2 bios 4.2 ghz was about it without getting the BSOD over time. I tweaked it in 3 minutes with the new bios and ran all night at 4.3 on air.  I could get it higher I think.. I did see on another forum someone had the Gulftown up to 6+ghz on an Asus Rampage.  I bet this board could do it also.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 11, 2010)

i often worry about updating bioses (i've only done mine twice)as i've heard of people killing there mobo, 
although i do wonder what bios this board will ship with if i get one in march , i suppose it'll all depend on how long the one i order has been on the shelf


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 12, 2010)

Mine came with F2 a month ago.  F3 was beta until last week.  Most likely F2.  The @bios feature with these Gig boards is brainless.  It downloads and installs all in windows, with the press of a button.. You just have to reboot from windows and re-configure bios.  The best part about Gigabyte boards is the Duel bios.  Just in case you have a freak accident while flashing, you can use the other.  Then you can flash the original again..no problem..  I loved this feature with my 790, before I went back to intel.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 12, 2010)

just curious what memory issues it had


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 12, 2010)

Some people with Corsair had problems, and others said they did trying to run 12 gigs.. I don't think these are issues any longer.


----------



## GSquadron (Feb 12, 2010)

In thread about the radeon 5xxx series a guy had no problem with crosshair and that is why he sold the 5850


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 12, 2010)

Aleksander Dishnica said:


> In thread about the radeon 5xxx series a guy had no problem with crosshair and that is why he sold the 5850



link please even if it's via private message


----------



## GSquadron (Feb 12, 2010)

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=115036


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 12, 2010)

I haven't heard that one, If you check new egg the older posts are mostly because the bios was immature on this board.  I have found 90% of all the complaints and opinions about this board are from those who do not own one, 5% are legit and the rest are user error.  I knew that before I bought it, and I am still smiling.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 14, 2010)

well i'm stilll looking forwards to getting a new system,
this one doesn't suck eggs it's just not fast enough for my emulatory purposes , and as many programs are turning dual and quad core it's about time i spent some of my vast amounts of cash 
yes i could go for a dual processor motherboard, i just don't want my room to sound like a aircraft hanger testing engines, so i'm going to be trapesing tpu and the net for a good cooler for this processor 
any ideas?


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 15, 2010)

bumping this thread for once 

what good cooler should i get for this processor i'e i7 920?

i'm after something fairly quiet and light enough that it won't rip my board to bits with it's weight


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 15, 2010)

I love this Dark Knight, I have some push/pull action going on..  Never gets out of the 30's, but it's winter.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 16, 2010)

thanks pickles i'm suprised that not many others here have responded  i'll look into that cooler ,and yes it's cold here aswell


----------



## willie_52 (Feb 17, 2010)

I just purchased the COOLER MASTER RR-B20-N620 for my system. Two blue fans, decent price and compatible with just about everything.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 17, 2010)

thanks willie_52 all suggestions are welcome  i'll look into it when i'm feeling better 
(i've still got a damned cold after 2 weeks :shadedshu)


----------



## Wile E (Feb 17, 2010)

If you aren't going to overclock heavily, save your money, and grab the X58A-UD3R: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423

A lot less money, and same number of expansion slots. The only thing the UD7 really has over it is better OCing ability.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 18, 2010)

cheers matey  although i have to admit i do like the look of the ud7


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 18, 2010)

hm it's a shame that this review of the Zalman CNPS9900 NT wasn't on this board i'm thinking of getting, 
as it would have given me a good idea as to whether i could use tall memory chips, 
as far as i can tell it looks like i can  
ohwell on with the poll


----------



## Wetbehindtheears (Feb 19, 2010)

Titan Fenrir is supposed to be the best cooler @ mo... just not sure if it will fit on board tho ....

I'm using a CoolerMaster V8 on my 920 @ present but it struggles to cope past 4.2GHz... the V10 would be better for non OC'd boards but again not sure if it would clear your choice of board...


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 19, 2010)

The Zalman would fit with tall memory.  The DK is larger..the fan(s) extend just a little outside of the mounting screws and still have room for all 6 memory slots. Micro Center has some unreal deals going on right now, including the Promitech Megahalem, and the Xigmatek Thor's Hammer..   
http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?subcategory=HJ1B&sortby=match&category=HJ1&web_group=byopc_cooling&


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 19, 2010)

thanks for the link Pickles24 and thanks to all who have replied so far 
i'm still suprised more haven't joined in ,
hey i'm not going to bite,
 well not yet


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 19, 2010)

Someone posted on another forum that they had just bought the i7 930 with this board and were cruising at 4.8ghz with ease.  I think Fry's is the first to have the chip at about $288.


----------



## mstenholm (Feb 20, 2010)

Linky please


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 20, 2010)

i7 930 at 4.8ghz  yes i would also like a link please


----------



## Pickles24 (Feb 20, 2010)

It looks like the multi goes to x23, I haven't seen a stable 4.8. But I have 4.5, 4.6.  I dunno if there is a HUGE difference.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=245318

http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/669266-testing-i7-930-a.html


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 21, 2010)

again pickles24 i think the 920 will suffice for now, as long as i can get a fairly quiet cooler 
this one is looking more like what i'm going to order, hopefully there will be more available in the uk


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 23, 2010)

well if and when i do get it i just hope i don't get a dead board or worse still get a board that dies and takes everything else with it ,
i have decided to do things a little differently to what others would in the sense if i do get the board and cpu ,it'll be from a local shop which admittedly is a few bucks more, but would mean it's easier to rma if god forbid it does go wrong, saddly i can't get the graphics card and ddr3 memory from the same place,but they are smaller things which should be easier to send back


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 25, 2010)

*different memory choice*

 it seems the memory i was previously going for is no longer available 
so what does everyone think of this stuff  it has a far lower latency ,but i'm not sure if it's compatible with the motherboard ,
i'm hoping to send off an email to gigabyte to see if they know ,
as i said before i'll be keeping the processor at near stock speeds because of temps ,so does anyone think this memory will be ok?


----------



## [H]@RD5TUFF (Feb 26, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> it seems the memory i was previously going for is no longer available
> so what does everyone think of this stuff  it has a far lower latency ,but i'm not sure if it's compatible with the motherboard ,
> i'm hoping to send off an email to gigabyte to see if they know ,
> as i said before i'll be keeping the processor at near stock speeds because of temps ,so does anyone think this memory will be ok?



I own these, there an amazing set of DIMM's I can't imagine a company like Gigabyte having the flagship x58 motherboard not being compatible with Corsairs top end DIMM's, though to achieve the speed of 1866, you may have trouble getting there if your processor isn't sitting @ 3.3 GHZ or higher. So if your not planning on doing about a 1 GHZ overclock on your 920 , though the 930 is coming out soon, you could "step down" to these can't call it a down grade as both are blazing fast. but you could save yourself some money.

Also, for a light cooler that will cope with an OC of up to about 4 GHZ I recommend the Zalman CNPS9900ALED, or the Corsair CWCH50 or XIGMATEK Dark Knight or Thermalright Venomous-X, or if your willing to use one with a fair bit of weight to it, go with Thermalright TRUE Black Ultra-120 eXtreme. Any of these will do the job, but I have to say the Zalman 9900 A, is a beast especially if you use a beefy exhaust fan like Feser / Noiseblocker Triebwerk TK-121 sitting behind it. I have that exact same setup in my Lan rig in a HAF 932, and it keeps my Core i7-860 at 59 c under full load on a 3.9 GHZ OC (that's a 1.1 GHZ OC) and it's whisper queit.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 26, 2010)

thanks[H]@RD5TUFF well as i've said money isn't a big problem ,my thoughts are because it's rated alot faster than i intend my new machine to go is it going to work properly ,as i've had faster ram in the past and it made my scores in 3d mark actualy worse,
has anyone else had that type of problem ?


----------



## GSquadron (Feb 26, 2010)

I think that type of memorie is very expensive, even though it is very powerful. Good choice, if you have the money
In the book of informatics i am studying it says the latency of 3 first numbers which are not equal it is not that good, cuz it causes unstability. For example the dominators you have choosen have 7-8-7-20
If it was 8-8-8-20 it is nearly as better as 7-8-7-20, but if it was 7-7-7-20 it is much better.
I hope i did help a little


----------



## willie_52 (Feb 26, 2010)

I had the concerns about the memory I was going to purchase for the Gigabyte motherboard and sent a note to Gigabyte tech support and received this response from them.
"Unfortunately the memory support list is currently not available for this board, the board can support any non ecc un-buffered DDR3 memory. 
There are no restriction to any type of memory being used. As for processor only the supported ones off our website been tested. We cannot confirm whether if the newer processor can be supported until they are release." 

Hope this helps.


----------



## [H]@RD5TUFF (Feb 26, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> thanks[H]@RD5TUFF well as i've said money isn't a big problem ,my thoughts are because it's rated alot faster than i intend my new machine to go is it going to work properly ,as i've had faster ram in the past and it made my scores in 3d mark actualy worse,
> has anyone else had that type of problem ?



Most likely what you experienced was a sync problem aka a bandwidth problem, though I'm not sure what processor / memory this occured on for you, this was a big issue back in the day, of DDR and P4's and the Athlons, the barton cores in particular, as the FSB ran @ 333, but it was possible to put DDR 400 in with the processor, and often the score would be lower, as the ram and the processor were running at speeds out of sync with each other. Causing a bottle neck, and thus the processor would have a bandwidth problems.

This is not an issue these days, though as I said before you may have problems getting the memory to run 1866, with your processor running at under 3.3 GHZ (really easy to get there, more auto OC features on most boards will get you past that). But owning this set of memory, I can tell you, they run fast, amazingly fast, and the timings are pretty tight, I'm running them @ 8-8-8-22 @ 2035 @ 1.65 v. Now that said, if you get a kit that runs @1600, you will not notice a preformance difference between them and this kit running at 1866, in fact more than likely when you first plug them in that's most likely what they will run at. Get them, if you can't run them at 1866, you can most likely run them at 7-7-7 -19, or maybe even 6-6-6-20, ehich are actually pretty conservative speed for these DIMM's when they are running at 1600, which will in the long run show more benefit than a higher bus speed.



Aleksander Dishnica said:


> I think that type of memorie is very expensive, even though it is very powerful. Good choice, if you have the money
> In the book of informatics i am studying it says the latency of 3 first numbers which are not equal it is not that good, cuz it causes unstability. For example the dominators you have choosen have 7-8-7-20
> If it was 8-8-8-20 it is nearly as better as 7-8-7-20, but if it was 7-7-7-20 it is much better.
> I hope i did help a little



While what you say is true, uneven latency's can cause instability, it's only at higher voltages that this becomes a problem, and by the time these issues would rear their head, your more likely to see a BSOD from instability of your processor, than from your ram, while this was not the case with DDR, and some high speed DDR2 kits, I have yet to experience, or even hear of ram of any brand having this issue. 



willie_52 said:


> I had the concerns about the memory I was going to purchase for the Gigabyte motherboard and sent a note to Gigabyte tech support and received this response from them.
> "Unfortunately the memory support list is currently not available for this board, the board can support any non ecc un-buffered DDR3 memory.
> There are no restriction to any type of memory being used. As for processor only the supported ones off our website been tested. We cannot confirm whether if the newer processor can be supported until they are release."
> 
> Hope this helps.



That's kind of a cop out on Gigabytes part.wtf:


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 27, 2010)

willie_52 said:


> I had the concerns about the memory I was going to purchase for the Gigabyte motherboard and sent a note to Gigabyte tech support and received this response from them.
> "Unfortunately the memory support list is currently not available for this board, the board can support any non ecc un-buffered DDR3 memory.
> There are no restriction to any type of memory being used. As for processor only the supported ones off our website been tested. We cannot confirm whether if the newer processor can be supported until they are release."
> 
> Hope this helps.



well there is a small support list here which is why i went for the lower speed memory, but as the above post says the shop i was going to get them from, hasn't even got them listed now :shadedshu so i'm going for the more expensive gt ,
i just hope they are going to be on the list in the near future


----------



## willie_52 (Mar 2, 2010)

While doing research today for my own build I found out some info concerning memory. Apparently there is no real benefit from installing triple channel memory when compared to dual but there is more potential that hopefully I will be able to take advantage. In another article it was recommended that 1600 offered the greatest bang for the buck and that low latency was a better choice. I also read a review on the "Crucial Ballistix Tracer 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL3KIT25664TG1608". I believe I am leaning toward purchasing. They are also XMP capable. Hope this helps


----------



## [H]@RD5TUFF (Mar 2, 2010)

willie_52 said:


> While doing research today for my own build I found out some info concerning memory. Apparently there is no real benefit from installing triple channel memory when compared to dual but there is more potential that hopefully I will be able to take advantage. In another article it was recommended that 1600 offered the greatest bang for the buck and that low latency was a better choice. I also read a review on the "Crucial Ballistix Tracer 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL3KIT25664TG1608". I believe I am leaning toward purchasing. They are also XMP capable. Hope this helps



Well that's not true, there is a pretty hefty benefit to going triple channel, while it may not scale as well as one would expect for the extra investment it costs, it scales at about 14-20 % depending upon motherboard and application. While you are technically right that for the vast majority of your use it doesn't make a difference it doesn't hurt either.  The place you will see the most benefit is in your load times, and program response when it's running.

You are right about DDR3 1600, being the preformance / economical sweet spot, as you can usually get ram with lower cas, like 7 and 6 cas latency, versus 8 and 9 for ram running over 2000. Now you will not notice any measurable difference between a cas 7 and a cas 6 when running at 1600, but a ram with cas 6 running at 1600, it would be quite easy to find yourself at cas 7 at 1866 or so, and it will likely cost less than an 1866 kit.

IMO crucial is a good brand, but are not a top tier preformance chip imo. Also XMP is really just a gimmic IMO, but it can be of value to novices, or those just not familiar with P55 or X58 platforms.

If your looking into an cas 6 1600 ram set, I highly recommend Mushkin.


----------



## Binge (Mar 2, 2010)

I can assure you the difference is real when you hit 2k on the ram in triple channel, but not real enough to warrant spending over $300 to do it.  The guy above who said there's little difference between dual and triple channel memory is loose one too many screws.


----------



## willie_52 (Mar 2, 2010)

Woefully I have been removed from the technology for over 7 years and if my current computer hadn't died recently I would still be in the dark. First I would like to say that building a system today is more difficult if for no other reason the number of choices out there. I went down to my shop this morning and brought up a my screwdriver. Hopefully I will fix that lose screw thing but in the event that I don't find it or I have more then one thank you for correcting me. I remember purchasing my first hard drive. It cost $450.00 and was 40 mg. Everyone thought I was crazy.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 2, 2010)

willie_52 said:


> Woefully I have been removed from the technology for over 7 years and if my current computer hadn't died recently I would still be in the dark. First I would like to say that building a system today is more difficult if for no other reason the number of choices out there. I went down to my shop this morning and brought up a my screwdriver. Hopefully I will fix that lose screw thing but in the event that I don't find it or I have more then one thank you for correcting me. I remember purchasing my first hard drive. It cost $450.00 and was 40 mg. Everyone thought I was crazy.



 wow what year was that ?


@ binge what i saw willie_52 doing was repeating someone elses quotes, although he could have given the source  that's what i like to see 

it seems this thread is very popular 4271 views so far,the second highest viewed apart from the Mushkin Memory Support Thread but that started Oct 28, 2005, 04:25 AM ,
the boss will be pleased


----------



## willie_52 (Mar 3, 2010)

I don't remember the exact year but I do remember that it was my second computer. The first computer was an Apple and the second was an Apple GS (graphics and sound). I searched forums and reviews and can't locate the exact ones that I had tried to quote but there are three very interesting articles on the Tom's Hardware site that talk about triple channel memory and the I7.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-870-1156,2482.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-scaling-i7,2325.htm
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-module-upgrade,2264.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/triple-channel-ddr3-i7,2128.htmll

   Trying to decide on which type of memory to purchase for my UD7 board i found these articles very interesting.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 6, 2010)

thanks willie_52 i'll root through it all soon


----------



## Pickles24 (Mar 6, 2010)

I swear by these OCZ, ready to put another 6gigs in..

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

And after searching all over for compression fittings I am about to put this board back on water.  Everyone I checked was out of stock in my fitting size. Newegg wanted $25 for shipping.. Danger Den had 3, and Frozen CPU is out...Sidewinder had some, but I put them out of stock after my order..    I also added a nickel plated Apogee GTZ, and the EK block for the board/mosfits... It should look sharp in this acrylic case.

@willie_52 my first hard drive was a tape player circa 1982.


----------



## willie_52 (Mar 6, 2010)

Ah, the good old days when things were simple and there were no gui interfaces. When I was a teenager I spent the summer at Leigh University and their computer was located in the basement and took up one entire wall with many various input devices. Tape drives, card readers and all the while I stood there in absolute amazement all I saw was blinking lights. The caculators found in windows are more powerful then that Univac I saw many years ago. 

Can you post some pictures of your system when it is done? Your setup sounds really cool. I still don't have the confidence to run liquid through my expensive electronic equipment.


----------



## Pickles24 (Mar 6, 2010)

I think I will do a project log..  I have to mod some acrylic also..

Here is one for those who were too young to know..


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 7, 2010)

holy flip thats cheap 
i could do with another drive


----------



## GSquadron (Mar 9, 2010)

That is really cheap as the first hdd ever created by IBM had only 5 MB and costed 35000$


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 11, 2010)

well i'm still waiting to hear from anyone who is using corsair memory with this board and what problems they've had 
also any other types of memory that are compatible with this board, 
as everyone knows who has looked, the compatibility list is not very big,
anyone who wants to leave a comment can by signing up "here" it's free and will only take a minute to do, 
then you can chat to other members ,ask for advice or just show of your latest machine here in the case gallery
anyways on with the poll


----------



## Pickles24 (Mar 12, 2010)

I really wouldn't worry with the Corsair memory issue any longer..  It was fixed in f2, if not then f4.  F5 came out yesterday and f6, f6a are floating around also.  The bios has gone from compatibility issues to performance.  I have seen the Gulftown over 6.3ghz on this board.

http://tinyurl.com/yf52fnm


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 14, 2010)

Pickles24 said:


> I really wouldn't worry with the Corsair memory issue any longer..  It was fixed in f2, if not then f4.  F5 came out yesterday and f6, f6a are floating around also.  The bios has gone from compatibility issues to performance.  I have seen the Gulftown over 6.3ghz on this board.
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/yf52fnm



 holy simolians 6.3ghz, i wonder just how they realisticaly measure that and how much it can deviate from the real value


----------



## Pickles24 (Mar 14, 2010)

Gulftown models will trickle down to reasonable price points in due time.  The 980x is the flagship.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 14, 2010)

hm i think i'll wait for more reviews on that cpu before diving in and making a booboo after reading this



> New tests just released six-core processor by Intel Core i7-980X showed that, despite the better performance than previous processors, it has several limitations.
> 
> After tests revealed that the best processor itself shows when performing tasks such as three-dimensional modeling, the use of filters in Photoshop and video encoding, which uses multi-threading and use all six cores. Performance compared with the quad-core Core i7 with the same frequency of 3.33 GHz is growing at 20-70 per cent.
> 
> ...


source 
i'm sure it'll excell after a few bios updates


----------



## Deleted member 74752 (Mar 14, 2010)

I have a Classified but if all goes well I will be able to test/review the Gigabyte for you folks soon... 

http://hwbot.org/competition/gbt_h55_h57?tab=stage 1: 3DMark Vantage - Performance


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 18, 2010)

thanks to everyone who's replied and to all who have voted keep it up, 
and for anyone who isn't a member of techpowerup click on the first page where the link is cheers


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 19, 2010)

777 said:


> I can tell you anything you need to know about this mobo  its been thoroughly tested by me already
> 
> http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=997664



have you tried corsair memory ? as i see your using gskill


----------



## 777 (Mar 19, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> have you tried corsair memory ? as i see your using gskill



Why would I bother when i have 6gb of £250 $420 Gskill 2000mhz Perfect Storm..... thats pretty serious Ram dude, Ive had it up to 2140Mhz at 9-8-8-21...... 
Never failed me yet in any OC ever, Only critisism would be that it likes alot of QPi voltage, but then thats not strictly linked to the rams hunger for it, it could be the combination of all my componenents together that pulls that kind of requirement. As My OC is limited by the Mobo's BCLK of 219, My Ram has out clocked both my cpu and mobo in the out limits of stable system OC's.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 19, 2010)

i think the ram i'm planning on getting was a similar price 
why did i choose it ?
well it has a good reputation, but i'm all ears when it comes to reccomendations


----------



## willie_52 (Mar 19, 2010)

I believe I have decided on the ram I am going to purchase:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145250 
I made my decision based on low Cas Latency and low voltage. My thought is the socket should determine the memory. Does that make any sense?


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 20, 2010)

makes sense to me  has the compatibility list been updated yet 
thanks to everyone who voted  i was hoping to hear from more owners of this board  there's still time
will probably be getting all the parts soon, not sure exactly


----------



## Binge (Mar 20, 2010)

willie_52 said:


> I believe I have decided on the ram I am going to purchase:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145250
> I made my decision based on low Cas Latency and low voltage. My thought is the socket should determine the memory. Does that make any sense?



It doesn't make sense to me.  That ram is too expensive for the performance.


----------



## Wile E (Mar 21, 2010)

Binge said:


> It doesn't make sense to me.  That ram is too expensive for the performance.



I agree. It would be completely stupid for him to buy that ram. Just as a quick search, with no real research, I found these for $20 cheaper, higher speeds, the same voltage and CAS latency. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231335

9 times out of 10, Corsair memory is overpriced, and offers terrible price:performance ratios.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 26, 2010)

777 said:


> theres no telling some people bud hell they're even trying to convince me to buy corsair ram....... and I already have ram far superior to corsair's offerings   no telling some people



er no i was asking if you had used corsair not suggesting that you should rolleyes:


----------



## willie_52 (Mar 26, 2010)

I thought I mentioned in my post that I had decided to purchase Corsair. I believe they produce a reputable product. I also mentioned that low Cas Latency and low voltage should be the preference. I have invested over $1000 in my new system and I don't think $20.00 is going to break the bank.


----------



## Wile E (Mar 26, 2010)

willie_52 said:


> I thought I mentioned in my post that I had decided to purchase Corsair. I believe they produce a reputable product. I also mentioned that low Cas Latency and low voltage should be the preference. I have invested over $1000 in my new system and I don't think $20.00 is going to break the bank.



Corsair is no more reputable than G.Skill. In fact, if you ask me, they are less reputable, as they charge more for the same or sometimes even _lower_ quality, and they often like to switch ICs without changing part numbers. The ram I listed is faster than the Corsair you bought in every single way, *AND* it uses the same voltage.

I paid $1000 for just my CPU, but I still wouldn't pay extra money for ram that performs LOWER than a cheaper set.

Sorry, but that Corsair ram was a poor purchase, period.


----------



## willslick (Mar 26, 2010)

Hello, Like others who posted here I also have the UD7 and other parts sitting waiting for me to compile all the parts for my build. The ram i purchased for the board are these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231254

Since there are a few of us that will be starting a UD7 build soon maybe we should start a TPU 2010 UD7 build thread  we could help each other sort things out. I know I can use all the help I can get. My first giga board was in 2007 my son and I build him a kick ass duo 2 gaming rig GA-965P-DS3 with our limited knowledge we were able to get a nice overclock two x prime stable 24 hr sorry i don't remember how high we took it but it was not extreme.

Will


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 26, 2010)

welcome to techpowerup willslick ye sure make a thread i'm sure it will be fairly popular

and Wile E i appreciate any input on memory 
and yes you are jammy devil if you've bought the i7-980X


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 29, 2010)

what motherboard are you getting Wile E ? just curious


----------



## Wile E (Mar 29, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> what motherboard are you getting Wile E ? just curious



I grabbed an X58-UD5 off of Paulieg.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 29, 2010)

i see,very nice board 
i'm very tempted to get the same processor as you've got just for a bit of future proofing, but money is tight at the mo so i'll have to see


----------



## Wile E (Mar 29, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> i see,very nice board
> i'm very tempted to get the same processor as you've got just for a bit of future proofing, but money is tight at the mo so i'll have to see



Did you already buy a board? If not, you can stretch your cpu budget by just buying the X58A-UD3P. If you don't OC, the UD7 has no additional features of use to you.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Mar 31, 2010)

no not got one yet people keep throwing spanners in the works  i'm going to have to get something though before this old gal pops her clogs, as there's a few things that just won't work with what i've got


----------



## PaulieG (Mar 31, 2010)

I've got the UD7 heading my way, as I type...


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Apr 1, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> I've got the UD7 heading my way, as I type...



i await your views on it  and problems you may or might not run into and what you consider the best configuration for the board is i'e processor/ ram/ timings and such
(it would be nice if you did a thread on it )


----------



## PaulieG (Apr 1, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> i await your views on it  and problems you may or might not run into and what you consider the best configuration for the board is i'e processor/ ram/ timings and such
> (it would be nice if you did a thread on it )



Well, if it's even as good as my old UD5 or Extreme, then it will rank with the best of the best x58 boards I've owned. Actually, after owning almost all of the x58 boards in Gigabyte's lineup, and a dozen boards total, I can say that I would take any of the Gigabytes boefore any other board, except maybe a Classified, which I'd put on par with the Extreme.

One other observation: I've found that Gigabyte, more than any other motherboard manufacturer puts nearly the same amount of love on their lower end offerings as their high end boards, at least for the x58 platform.


----------



## willslick (Apr 1, 2010)

> Apparently there is a new driver for the Marvell sata controller
> 
> I have yet to see the new firmware listed on GIGABYTE’s website, but it should show up any day now. The version we used for testing is labeled SP1208. Installing the firmware is quite easy. I made a bootable thumb drive and dropped the SP1208 folder as well as the 9128.bat file on the drive then booted to it. After you boot your machine to the drive just type in 9128 and press enter, the software takes over and once everything is completed it asks you to reboot the system.



http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3122/gigabyte_sata_6g_update_raid_0_just_how_we_like_it/index.html


----------



## ckoons1 (Apr 3, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> Well, if it's even as good as my old UD5 or Extreme, then it will rank with the best of the best x58 boards I've owned. Actually, after owning almost all of the x58 boards in Gigabyte's lineup, and a dozen boards total, I can say that I would take any of the Gigabytes boefore any other board, except maybe a Classified, which I'd put on par with the Extreme.
> 
> One other observation: I've found that Gigabyte, more than any other motherboard manufacturer puts nearly the same amount of love on their lower end offerings as their high end boards, at least for the x58 platform.



compared to ASUS RAMPAGE II EXTREME? better? why?
thank you.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Apr 9, 2010)

here's a little bit of info some of you might find interesting 







i asked this question because i was considering a i7 980x,  but obviously unless i got a motherboard with an i7 920 first, then i wouldn't be able to flash it, which would add to the cost of the total build  a 920 it is 

and paulieg have you built your new system yet?


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Apr 19, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> I've got the UD7 heading my way, as I type...



have you got it yet? hows it performing ,and have you had any problems with it ?


----------



## PaulieG (Apr 19, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> have you got it yet? hows it performing ,and have you had any problems with it ?



It's excellent. It's even better than my old Extreme and UD5. I can get the same 4.2ghz overclock on 1.24v as I could at 1.26v on the Extreme. Beyond the slightly higher overclock potential and Sata 3, it's nearly identical to the Extreme.


----------



## willslick (Apr 19, 2010)

> Sata 3, it's nearly identical to the Extreme



paulieg, Is that good or bad?  I have been reading a lot about the ud7 and Marvell controller, the more i read the more confused i become. I have read where people use the Intel driver on the Marvell controller to allow trim. I am not tech savvy but enjoy building my own computers every few years. It is taking longer than I hoped to collect the last of my parts. I still need 2 radiators and optical drives. I would be greatly in your debt if you could help me configure my parts to there best once i get started.

Thanks for any help 

Will F.


----------



## PaulieG (Apr 20, 2010)

willslick said:


> paulieg, Is that good or bad?  I have been reading a lot about the ud7 and Marvell controller, the more i read the more confused i become. I have read where people use the Intel driver on the Marvell controller to allow trim. I am not tech savvy but enjoy building my own computers every few years. It is taking longer than I hoped to collect the last of my parts. I still need 2 radiators and optical drives. I would be greatly in your debt if you could help me configure my parts to there best once i get started.
> 
> Thanks for any help
> 
> Will F.



Being even better than the Extreme is a VERY good thing. Best x58 board I've owned out of a dozen of them that I've owned. I am certainly more than happy to help you out when you get all of your parts. That's what we are here for...at least that's what I'm here for.


----------



## ckoons1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Paulieg turned me on to the UD5 and I am very pleased.
THX Paulieg


----------



## kingtaco (Apr 22, 2010)

Hi,

I am currently getting a system and I've set my mind on a UD7, the only thing I'm currently unsure about is the ram to get.... what do you guys think about

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145253

I am completely open to suggestions for other types of ram, I just heard these are 7-7-7-20 and are much better for OC.


----------



## Wile E (Apr 23, 2010)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9371 1052526967 1052345114&name=6GB (3 x 2GB)

Take your pick. CAS6 1600Mhz, for less money than the Corsair. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Corsair is way overpriced, and generally not worth the extra money.


----------



## ckoons1 (Apr 23, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> It's excellent. It's even better than my old Extreme and UD5. I can get the same 4.2ghz overclock on 1.24v as I could at 1.26v on the Extreme. Beyond the slightly higher overclock potential and Sata 3, it's nearly identical to the Extreme.



is it the board getting those #s or the bios? meaning if you cross flash the ud5 with ud7 bios is it possible to get similar results? or too dangerous and not worth the risk?
thx


----------



## PaulieG (Apr 23, 2010)

ckoons1 said:


> is it the board getting those #s or the bios? meaning if you cross flash the ud5 with ud7 bios is it possible to get similar results? or too dangerous and not worth the risk?
> thx



I think you'd kill the bios that way. I think it's the newer hardware and 24 phase rather than a better bios.


----------



## ckoons1 (Apr 23, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> I think you'd kill the bios that way. I think it's the newer hardware and 24 phase rather than a better bios.



oh well was a nice dream for the moment LOL...
THX


----------



## PaulieG (Apr 27, 2010)

For anyone interested, I will be posting my UD7 for sale tonight along with a golden i7 920. It does have a coat of clear nail polish on it for extreme cooling, but you can't even tell it's there. Keep an eye out for it!


----------



## brandonwh64 (Apr 27, 2010)

nice paulie! 

This is an older thread isnt it?


----------



## PaulieG (Apr 27, 2010)

Nope, it's been active, up until the last couple of days.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jul 6, 2010)

well i just got my motherboard  from this place £276.27 or 419.29 US$ saddly they didn't have any i7 920's in  but the guy behind the counter said they might have some more in on friday, so i just have to wait till then 
i'm getting the recomended ram TR3X6G1866C9DF - 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator, Triple DDR3 PC3-(1866), CAS 9-9-9-24, DHX, XMP, DF, 1.65V, so hopefully i won't have any problems with compatibility


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jul 25, 2010)

so i've got my processor, now i need to know what you guys think of this low latency memory TR3X6G1600C7D - 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) CAS 7-7-7-20, DHX, XMP, 1.65V which i would have to preorder, but is it worth it ?

or should i go for some of this higher latency stuff CMP6GX3M3A1600C8 - 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), CAS 8-8-8-24, DHX, XMP, New connector, 1.65V (which is alot cheaper) and is available, what would you guys and gals do?

what benefits would i get from the slightly lower latency using an i7 920 processor?


----------



## IronRuler (Jul 25, 2010)

Crucial Ballistix 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM...


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jul 26, 2010)

bumpy


----------



## DreamSeller (Jul 26, 2010)

this thread is so old yet so alive


----------



## CDdude55 (Jul 26, 2010)

DreamSeller said:


> this thread is so old yet so alive



Agreed.

But i think the thread should be re-named to ''Help me pick out parts for i7 build'' or something along those lines Since we have already gone way past the original point of the thread.(which was solely to give him feedback on that gigabyte mobo)


----------



## ebolamonkey3 (Jul 26, 2010)

I'd say go for it, especially if you are water cooling. I've always had great success with gigabyte mobos, and that 10x SATA ports is sexy.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Jul 26, 2010)

CDdude55 said:


> Agreed.
> 
> But i think the thread should be re-named to ''Help me pick out parts for i7 build'' or something along those lines Since we have already gone way past the original point of the thread.(which was solely to give him feedback on that gigabyte mobo)



true but it brings in people, 13500 last time i looked  so the name stays for now 
i hope to be building it before i have grey hair  just i picked up a damned virus from a pron linky site cry: so i daren't use my debit card just incase i get ripped of, which means i have to phone them and it aint cheap ringing from a mobile 35 pence or  0.54 US$ a minute

i curse that damned site  infact i wish i had watched tv instead

anyways b o t

i'd like to know what you guys think of this low latency memory TR3X6G1600C7D - 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) CAS 7-7-7-20, DHX, XMP, 1.65V which i would have to preorder, but is it worth it ?

or should i go for some of this higher latency stuff CMP6GX3M3A1600C8 - 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), CAS 8-8-8-24, DHX, XMP, New connector, 1.65V (which is alot cheaper) and is available, what would you guys and gals do?

what benefits would i get from the slightly lower latency using an i7 920 processor?


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Aug 6, 2010)

well after a lot of faffing around i finaly got this ud7 to work on xp, so don't beleive it will be easy to get this working out the box with xp if at all, 

as i had to clone a working xp service pack 3 harddrive just to get this board up and running as it kept bsod'ing complaining about a pci problem with just the old xp pro disc, which is to be expected when trying to install 8 year old software :shadedshu, so that is a consideration you'll have to make before purchasing, 

is it worth it ? 
your damned right it is, a fantastic upgrade from the old machine
i will upgrade to windows 7 somtime but as for now this ud7 is working well enough for me 

i'm not going to overclock it just yet, as it's running fine as it is 

all i can say even with xp(sp3) on, it's so much quicker than the old machine so i'm a happy camper


----------



## mstenholm (Aug 6, 2010)

It took me less then one hour from the box hit my doorstep till it was running on XP. 5 minutes later it ran 4 GHz. Clean install with SP3. You have been unlucky I must say. Have fun with the OC.


----------



## Pickles24 (Aug 6, 2010)

It loves win7 and Linux for that matter.  An i7 with this board on Linux is like a V8 on a tricycle.


----------



## mstenholm (Aug 6, 2010)

Pickles24 said:


> It loves win7 and Linux for that matter.  An i7 with this board on Linux is like a V8 on a tricycle.



A Black Caviar and a win7 in a seal box are just waiting for me to end my current folding/crunching jobs. Let's see if I get any performance gains out it.


----------



## Pickles24 (Aug 6, 2010)

F6 bios.  If you really want it to scream that new install smell..  Then something in DX11 with that Gtx..


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Aug 7, 2010)

mstenholm said:


> It took me less then one hour from the box hit my doorstep till it was running on XP. 5 minutes later it ran 4 GHz. Clean install with SP3. You have been unlucky I must say. Have fun with the OC.



did you have to slipstream sp3 onto your disc?  

as i said somewhere, i had to clone a drive to get this mobo up and running, 

i'm still thinking of doing another clone, as i have this harddrive (640 gb western digital 6 gb/s) on the marvell controller, (but forgot to partition it into 120 gb 480 gb respective), and now if i copy saved webpages or files with long names across from one driv to this wd 640gb, it says it can't because they are to long, and makes the ofline webpages barely usable,  and changes the files to something like this COVERT~1 when it should say Covert Ops - Nuclear Dawn with a bit more writing, so clearly somethings wrong 

anyone any ideas


----------



## Wile E (Aug 8, 2010)

Did you format it in FAT32 or something? That's how DOS naming behaves.

I say throw Vista or 7 on it, and quit playing around with XP. Let XP die already. lol.


----------



## CDdude55 (Aug 8, 2010)

Wile E said:


> Let XP die already. lol.



lol Agreed.


----------



## Anarchy0110 (Aug 8, 2010)

Ah, closed already. Well nice motherboard from Gigabyte  One of the best X58 board outta there


----------



## Frizz (Aug 8, 2010)

I like gigabyte, but the UD7 I received seems to have broken ram slots. When I put the ram in the blue slots system doesn't boot so yeah I received quite a dodgy go.


----------



## Wile E (Aug 8, 2010)

randomflip said:


> I like gigabyte, but the UD7 I received seems to have broken ram slots. When I put the ram in the blue slots system doesn't boot so yeah I received quite a dodgy go.



Did you set timings and voltage before trying? I believe mine says to boot from the white slots first in order to set timings.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Aug 10, 2010)

randomflip said:


> I like gigabyte, but the UD7 I received seems to have broken ram slots. When I put the ram in the blue slots system doesn't boot so yeah I received quite a dodgy go.



how much ram have you got? 



Wile E said:


> Did you set timings and voltage before trying? I believe mine says to boot from the white slots first in order to set timings.



 yes Wile E is correct (unless your using more than 3 slots, it says in the manual to use the white slots) 



Wile E said:


> Did you format it in FAT32 or something? That's how DOS naming behaves.
> 
> I say throw Vista or 7 on it, and quit playing around with XP. Let XP die already. lol.



 yes i know i should


----------



## ZenZimZaliben (Aug 10, 2010)

Excellent Board! I love mine. Since I was forced to switch from DFI, since they stopped making them. I have used Gigabyte p45 ud3r (awesome motherboard) and now the UD7, also an awesome motherboard.

Get your self some Kingston HyperX 2000Mhz ram, it matches perfectly, and runs 2050Mhz at CAS 9 with no problems.


----------



## Konceptz (Aug 10, 2010)

Gigabyte boards are good, but they aren't necessarily the best.....I've never had issues with EVGA or MSI or ASUS except for that horrible P5N-E motherboard.


----------



## PaulieG (Aug 10, 2010)

I'm going to be posting a UD7 for sale over the next couple of days. Best board I've owned out of more than a dozen 1366 boards. I just need to downsize for a bit. Those considering this board should keep an eye out for it.


----------



## Wile E (Aug 11, 2010)

Dammit Paulie, don't do this to me. My wife is already on the verge of killing me. lol


----------



## Lubna (Aug 11, 2010)

I buy one GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 with core 980x and 12 Gb of RAM 2000


----------



## Frizz (Aug 11, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> how much ram have you got?
> 
> 
> 
> yes Wile E is correct (unless your using more than 3 slots, it says in the manual to use the white slots)





Wile E said:


> Did you set timings and voltage before trying? I believe mine says to boot from the white slots first in order to set timings.




Ok so it definitely won't boot if I put it in the blue slots anyways? It will only boot if I have the white slots populated?


----------



## Wile E (Aug 11, 2010)

randomflip said:


> Ok so it definitely won't boot if I put it in the blue slots anyways? It will only boot if I have the white slots populated?



If you have everything on auto, yes, that is correct.


----------



## Frizz (Aug 11, 2010)

Wile E said:


> If you have everything on auto, yes, that is correct.



I have it set on "Quick" atm. 

THIS IS GREAT NEWS, I was going to RMA the board this weekend  I would have been stuck with the same problem, well technically its no problem, just my noobieness . 


I love this board even more now! Its been running very cool and stable ever since I found the sweet spot in my settings . http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=1987800#post1987800


----------



## ebolamonkey3 (Aug 11, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> I'm going to be posting a UD7 for sale over the next couple of days. Best board I've owned out of more than a dozen 1366 boards. I just need to downsize for a bit. Those considering this board should keep an eye out for it.



I'm just gonna pretend I never saw this lol.


----------



## Frizz (Aug 11, 2010)

Wile E said:


> If you have everything on auto, yes, that is correct.



Hmm I tried setting uncore to X16 manually, 1.66 vdimm and 9-9-9-27-CR2 timings @ x8 Multiplier and it still won't boot in the blue slots.

Does it matter if its auto or manual? Are you able to run yours in the blue slots without the white slots populated? :S I'm not fussed though I just wanna confirm whether or not there is something wrong with my board.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Aug 11, 2010)

well i looked in my manual and as far as i can tell the blue slots are used for 4 or 6 memory modules, if you just have 3 they go in the white slots 

although i can understand your fears (no one wants a duffo board)


----------



## ZenZimZaliben (Aug 11, 2010)

randomflip said:


> Hmm I tried setting uncore to X16 manually, 1.66 vdimm and 9-9-9-27-CR2 timings @ x8 Multiplier and it still won't boot in the blue slots.
> 
> Does it matter if its auto or manual? Are you able to run yours in the blue slots without the white slots populated? :S I'm not fussed though I just wanna confirm whether or not there is something wrong with my board.



Isn't the base block 133mhz for uncore? Wouldn't that mean 16x133=2128Mhz? 

I run a 205Mhz uncore, and a 10x Multi on the ram for 2050Mhz.

Think your trying to OC your ram beyond specs...


----------



## Duekay (Aug 16, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> One suggestion I have is to find a UD5. Basically a very similar board at a significantly cheaper price. I still miss mine. Quite possibly the best of all boards I've ever owned.



i have to say the same, i have not have any problems with the board  i have had it over a year


----------



## Lubna (Sep 6, 2010)

I have one I7-980x and this memory http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=293

The PC is turned off and on in cold and hot but when I turn on Windows 7 is stable.
My Power Supply is one Corsair HX1000 and my graphic card is RADEON HD 5970 4Gb
Anybody Can I Help me?

This is my hardware

Hardware
Corsair Obsidian 800D
Intel Core i7-980X Extrem HexaCore 3.33Ghz 12MB-L3 Nehalem-Gulftown 32nM.
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Intel X58+ICH10R ATX LGA1366 Triple-DDR3 Rev.:1.0 BIOS F7
12 Gb. G.Skill 3x4GB DDR3-2000 F3-16000CL9T-12GBTDD +Fan Trident 9-9-9-24-2N 1.65V 
SAPPHIRE HD5970 4GB GDDR5 PCIE
WD2001FASS
WD Velociraptor 300GB WD3000HLFS MASTER SATA 3Gb/s 16MB-cache
G.Skill FM-25S2S-100GBP1 MLC Sandforce MASTER 100G SATA 3Gb/s PHOENIX 2.5´´
Corsair HX 1000 W.
LG DVDRAM GH20NS10
LG BD GGW-H20L
Hp laserjet CM1312 MFP nfi
3 * BenQ G2222HDL
Logitech Wireless Desktop MK300
HD Pro Webcam C910

Software:
Windows 7 Ultimate OEM
Kaspersky internet security Version 2011 (11.0.1.400a)
Microsoft office 2010 Bussines
Alcohol 120%
Catalyst 10.8
Winrar v3.93 x64

Receive my best regards


----------



## timta2 (Sep 7, 2010)

> The PC is turned off and on in cold and hot but when I turn on Windows 7 is stable.
> My Power Supply is one Corsair HX1000 and my graphic card is RADEON HD 5970 4Gb
> Anybody Can I Help me?



You are going to have to be a little more clear as to what the problem is.


----------



## Lubna (Sep 7, 2010)

When the PC is cold at 28 º C ambient the power supply is turned off and on two or three times and then the PC boots and is stable.
When the PC is hot at 50 ° C ambient and pulse off in Windows 7, the PC is shut down properly, but when you turn the power supply is turned off and on five or six times until Windows 7 boots normally.

Gigabyte answered me this



> Dear Sir,
> 
> Thank you for your kindly mail and inquiry. About the issue you mentioned, please update your motherboard BIOS to the latest F7 version and test again.
> 
> ...




Windows 7 with the memory at 1333 is unstable.
I Don´t know to do.
Now I have the PC on your technical


----------



## Lubna (Sep 11, 2010)

Now; With bios F7 It´s works six modules of ram 

I will change my Gigabyte F7 by one MSI Bing Bang Power becouse i have problems with bios f7


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Oct 4, 2010)

well mine makes a funny sound when you first apply power from the socket and when you switch of the power (kind of a rustling sound) 

anyone else get this phenomena?


----------



## ZenZimZaliben (Oct 4, 2010)

My main rig runs this mobo and it is awesome. I also built a buddy a hackintosh and it worked perfectly with this motherboard.


----------



## Lubna (Oct 5, 2010)

My motherboard is damaged.
So I will change to a motherboard with AMI BIOS like MSI BIG BANG XPOWER becouse is better by my SSD

Thank You very much *ZenZimZaliben*


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Oct 30, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> well mine makes a funny sound when you first apply power from the socket and when you switch of the power (kind of a rustling sound)
> 
> anyone else get this phenomena?



anyone else ? i would record the sound, but obviously i'd need my webcam plugged into another machine
(which i haven't got available because my corsair psu went pop )

oh and to anyone buying this motherboard, you will need windows xp with a service pack built in of at least sp2 
 or if you have xp64 bit sp1 

and yes guys i have to admit this board works better with a 64 bit operating system


----------



## btarunr (Oct 30, 2010)

I don't get such a sound, it's a rev 2.0, if it makes any difference.


----------



## dr emulator (madmax) (Nov 1, 2010)

it might be this rev 1.0 board that's making it hiss, i really don't know 

if anyone else wants to talk about this motherboard (who isn't already a member) 

just click "here" to join up (it's free and will only take a few minutes to do so) then you can enjoy being part of this tech community 

please take a moment to read the Forum guidelines before posting 

​


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 5, 2010)

I am using a rev 1.0 of the UD7 motherboard and I don't get such sounds at all, and in by opinion it would most likely be something else such as the computer monitor and gaming keyboard (with custom keys and LED lighting) which is what I get odd sounds from when I turn on the power from the sockets.

If it makes any difference my motherboard is using the F7 BIOS.


----------



## TeXBill (Nov 5, 2010)

I also have rev 1.0 and have never had any problems I've had it for at least the last 6 to 8 months great overclocking board. Bios is F7 also.


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 5, 2010)

I understand that many of the people's recommendation for this motherboard is the fact that it has SATA III and USB 3 ports as well as 3-way SLI support, but there is better and in my opinion you should really pay attention to this motherboards build design, quality and specifications rather than it's brand name. The motherboard I am speaking of is the Asrock X58 Extreme6 and seeing how better this motherboard is I wished I brought it instead of the UD7 which was the top motherboard to buy at the time (this was quite a while before the Asus Rampage III Extreme X58 for Socket 1366 came out), but unfortunately this motherboard wasn't out at around the time I got the UD7.

The reason I like this motherboard over my own is because of how the main graphics cards slots are layed out, the fact it has 6 USB 3 ports (two at the front, four at the rear) as well as 6 SATA III ports which is truly better than that of the UD7. There is also the 'True 333' chip built into the motherboard which gives the SATA III and USB 3 ports their true power as well as giving Graphics Cards in 2 or 3 way SLI their true power too (this is something that Gigabyte along with others with their motherboards, including the UD7, has failed with which is why Asrock made a testing video with a Gigabyte 1366 Motherboard being outclassed by Asrock's motherboard in these performance areas).

Only problem for me is that it seems Asrock's Extreme6 motherboard isn't obtainable in the UK yet so I guess I would rather wait for an 1366 X68 motherboard replacement if it happens rather than getting this motherboard right away, but if you are upgrading from a lower socket to 1366 then I recommend getting this insstead of the UD7.

Here is a link:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=X58%20Extreme6

Here's another interesting motherboard which is by EVGA. This one has the same ideal main graphics card slot layout for 3 to 2 way SLI and some nice heat sinks to cool down the motherboard but the ports themselves would more or less be the same as the UD7 with the amount they have as well as how well they perform too:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-027-EA&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1692


----------



## TeXBill (Nov 5, 2010)

I had a ASROCK 1366 EXTREME before I got my UD7 GIGI board and the back usb ports went out within 2 weeks of owning it sent it back and got the UD7  board and have had no problems with it. I will take my UD7 board over any cheaply built ASROCK board. 
Sorry but that was my experiences with ASROCK.


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 5, 2010)

Here is the video I mentioned with the 'True 333' testing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld9UAIt7Oh8&feature=related

I was only able to find the testing for the P55 'True 333' motherboard series, but nevertheless the results were the same as the video I originally watched.


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 5, 2010)

TeXBill said:


> I had a ASROCK 1366 EXTREME before I got my UD7 GIGI board and the back usb ports went out within 2 weeks of owning it sent it back and got the UD7  board and have had no problems with it. I will take my UD7 board over any cheaply built ASROCK board.
> Sorry but that was my experiences with ASROCK.



Was it an Extreme6?


----------



## TeXBill (Nov 5, 2010)

> Was it an Extreme6?


Nope back then they had not come out yet with the Extreme6. Maybe they are better boards, I will never know I will stick to the ones that don't break down on me...


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 5, 2010)

TeXBill said:


> Nope back then they had not come out yet with the Extreme6. Maybe they are better boards, I will never know I will stick to the ones that don't break down on me...



I understand. I think it will be a lot better waiting for the new generation 1366 X68 motherboards (if it does happen) as it would be there where significant improvement would be seen (well there should be...) and besides my UD7 hasn't failed me yet. ^^


----------



## Wile E (Nov 5, 2010)

fusionblu said:


> I understand that many of the people's recommendation for this motherboard is the fact that it has SATA III and USB 3 ports as well as 3-way SLI support, but there is better and in my opinion you should really pay attention to this motherboards build design, quality and specifications rather than it's brand name. The motherboard I am speaking of is the Asrock X58 Extreme6 and seeing how better this motherboard is I wished I brought it instead of the UD7 which was the top motherboard to buy at the time (this was quite a while before the Asus Rampage III Extreme X58 for Socket 1366 came out), but unfortunately this motherboard wasn't out at around the time I got the UD7.
> 
> The reason I like this motherboard over my own is because of how the main graphics cards slots are layed out, the fact it has 6 USB 3 ports (two at the front, four at the rear) as well as 6 SATA III ports which is truly better than that of the UD7. There is also the 'True 333' chip built into the motherboard which gives the SATA III and USB 3 ports their true power as well as giving Graphics Cards in 2 or 3 way SLI their true power too (this is something that Gigabyte along with others with their motherboards, including the UD7, has failed with which is why Asrock made a testing video with a Gigabyte 1366 Motherboard being outclassed by Asrock's motherboard in these performance areas).
> 
> ...


The ASRock isn't built as well, and won't OC as far as the UD7. They are a budget/bang-for-buck manufacturer for a reason. Not that it's a bad trait, but they just aren't going to compete with the higher end boards in terms of those 2 areas.

And only the top of the line eVGA boards are worth buying. The support on the less than top models isn't usually as good.


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 5, 2010)

@Wile E

Look at this (Overclocking):
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1041/pg17/asrock-x58-extreme6-and-intel-core-i7-970-review-overclocking-thermal.html

And this (Overall Conclusion):
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1041/pg18/asrock-x58-extreme6-and-intel-core-i7-970-review-conclusion.html

Here is the beginning if you want to see the whole thing, but be warned there is 18 pages to get through:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1041/pg1/asrock-x58-extreme6-and-intel-core-i7-970-review-introduction.html

My only reply to your comment is LOL!!!

To others wondering about what my links are they would be a review of the Gigabyte UD9 vs the Asrock Extreme6 motherboards with test results included and in the review the Asrock motherboard is the one that rules which is a good reason to why not rely on brand names. ^^

As we know Gigabyte's UD9 is the superior motherboard so if it lost to the Asrock Extreme6 it's clear that the UD7 would too, but the truth is though that both the UD9 and Extreme6 runned roughly the same with the exception that the Extreme6 slightly out performed the UD9 in many of the tests.

Just one more point to add. The Asrock X58 Extreme6 1366 motherboard is a lot cheaper at around £181/$240 (as mentioned in the conclusion) where other high end motherboards are around £272 (like I paid for my UD7) or a lot more so not only does this motherboard out perform the UD9, but it is value for money too making this a much ideal motherboard to buy for those who are upgrading to 1366 from a lower socket. ^^


----------



## ZenZimZaliben (Nov 5, 2010)

I love my ud7. The water cooling block on the chipset is excellent. Something you would have to pay an extra $40 to do on the asrock.


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 6, 2010)

ZenZimZaliben said:


> I love my ud7. The water cooling block on the chipset is excellent. Something you would have to pay an extra $40 to do on the asrock.



While I would agree on your point I would also agree that if you buy the Asrock motherboard (£181) plus the $40 water block (roughly £25) it would still be cheaper than the UD7 which would be the difference in the UK of £206 (Extreme6 + water block) and £272 (Standard UD7).


----------



## Wile E (Nov 6, 2010)

fusionblu said:


> @Wile E
> 
> Look at this (Overclocking):
> http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1041/pg17/asrock-x58-extreme6-and-intel-core-i7-970-review-overclocking-thermal.html
> ...



You can lol all you want, the Gigabytes are better built boards, and can support extreme voltages a lot better than ASRock boards can. UD7 and UD9 are both intended for people who push high voltages and max OCs, and hold up under those conditions. Start trying to run 1.7+Vcore on a Gulftown for long periods of time on the ASRock board, and see how well it holds up.

Do this with your ASRock board: http://i4memory.com/f90/gigabyte-ud7-i7-980x-gigabyte-gtx480-benching-24184/

And that review is shit, considering I can get 190 BClock on my X58-UD5 with my 980X, which is using the older, less clockable version of the X58 chipset, not the better silicon of the X58A gigabyte boards. UD7 and UD9 both outclock my board. 

That review site is crap. They just don't know how to clock for shit at that site. I browsed their other reviews, and all of their OCing results on everything they test is absolutely horrible. They only managed 151 BClock on a Rampage 3, ffs. They just suck at OCing. Don't know what else to tell you, tbh.

So, in closing, the ASRock is a spectacular, bang-for-buck deal, that can do some moderate overclocking. If you want a ton of features, good performance and plan to only air/mild water cool, by all means, grab the ASRock.

But it is in no way a better OCer's board than a UD7 or UD9, and isn't even really targeted at that market anyway, so the point is moot. I honestly don't know why they chose to compare it to the top tier overclock-oriented boards.


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 6, 2010)

@Wile E

Okay I didn't realise they weren't the best reviewers from my links, but one thing I will have to say is the overclocking from the link you provided is way over the top with the liquid nitrogen cooling for world record overclocking; for example the CPU reading temperatures of 193.1 degrees is so over the top that it isn't physically standing over the top, it's flying several hundred metres above the top.  

While it is one thing to break world records one would also want a regular PC which doesn't need to be maintained a lot (unless there are problems) and can run most applications they need to use.

As for the part where you said "ton of features, good performance and plan to only air/mild water cool" that would probably fit me the best as I prefer stable PC with enough power to run any game or program I want to use.

P.S: I only lol at you because it seemed to me to be better than what you said and when you mentioned overclocking I didn't realise the level of overclocking you had in mind. v_v


----------



## Wile E (Nov 7, 2010)

No hard feelings man.

But yeah, that ASRock is a really nice board. Just look at all those SATA and USB 3.0 ports. That kicks ass. It's just targeted at a different market than your UD7 or UD9's.


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 7, 2010)

Wile E said:


> No hard feelings man.
> 
> But yeah, that ASRock is a really nice board. Just look at all those SATA and USB 3.0 ports. That kicks ass. It's just targeted at a different market than your UD7 or UD9's.



Even though it is a good motherboard the ones worth waiting for, if you already have a decent x58 motherboard, is the next generation X68 chipset when they come out and hopefully there might be 1366 models of the motherboard made along side with the new 2011 socket models (which are intended for the X68 chipset).

Since I don't want to go on further with this I guess I will conclude things from my side here.


----------



## CDdude55 (Nov 7, 2010)

fusionblu said:


> Even though it is a good motherboard the ones worth waiting for, if you already have a decent x58 motherboard, is the next generation X68 chipset when they come out and hopefully there might be 1366 models of the motherboard made along side with the new 2011 socket models (which are intended for the X68 chipset).
> 
> Since I don't want to go on further with this I guess I will conclude things from my side here.



Socket 2011 will be phasing out 1366 afaik, doubt they would continue manufacturing 1366 boards for very long after 2011 is out.


----------



## fusionblu (Nov 8, 2010)

I would like to doubt that as Socket 1366 isn't really that old, but my idea on that issue would be that they would at the beginning they may make some X68 Socket 1366 Motherboards along with X68 Socket 2011 Motherboards and then stop production of the X68 Socket 1366 later on when more people buy into the Socket 2011 systems.

To be honest though I think these change in sockets is a bit silly since the current sockets don't really need to be changed, especially 1156 since it is only 1 pin more than the new socket 1155 replacement. My only curiousity in these socket changes would be the socket 2011 as usually increased pins on a socket would mean greater power for the CPUs, Motherboards and systems in that socket series.


----------



## CDdude55 (Nov 8, 2010)

fusionblu said:


> I would like to doubt that as Socket 1366 isn't really that old, but my idea on that issue would be that they would at the beginning they may make some X68 Socket 1366 Motherboards along with X68 Socket 2011 Motherboards and then stop production of the X68 Socket 1366 later on when more people buy into the Socket 2011 systems.
> 
> To be honest though I think these change in sockets is a bit silly since the current sockets don't really need to be changed, especially 1156 since it is only 1 pin more than the new socket 1155 replacement. My only curiousity in these socket changes would be the socket 2011 as usually increased pins on a socket would mean greater power for the CPUs, Motherboards and systems in that socket series.



Technology changes fast, there's no doubt in my mind 1366 will be EOL fairly soon. I agree that the constant socket changes can be very annoying, and Intel is the main culprit in those changes. I agree that new CPU sockets aren't really needed at this point for regular general purpose computing. We are at a point where new and more powerful CPU's aren't needed for the majority, even some of the most taxing software can easily be dealt with using any of the higher end CPU out on the market at the moment.

I personally don't have much of an interest in Sandy Bridge on the desktop side of things, as of course as a gamer i like having discrete GPU's in my system. So unless Sandy Bridge is offering faster processing on the CPU side of things, i have no interest in ever going to it. For the Laptop market it's great just like AMD's Fusion.


----------

