Gigabyte Intros The 970A-DS3 Ultra Durable 4 Classic Motherboard

[btarunr]

Gigabyte introduced a new value socket AM3+ motherboard designed for AMD FX processors, the 970A-DS3. Based on the AMD 970 + SB950 chipset, this board is a product of some clever cost-balancing by its designers, which will spice-up both its specs-sheet, and price-tag, compared to the 970A-UD3. To begin with, the 970A-DS3 uses a much lighter component loadout compared to the UD3. The 970A-UD3's Ultra Durable 3 Classic component loadout makes way for Ultra Durable 4 Classic on the 970A-DS3, which includes a better weaved fiberglass PCB that's better resistant to humidity; features high ESD-resistance ICs located in key circuits; anti-surge ICs that prevent installed processors and memory from getting fried if something goes terribly wrong with the VRM; and of course low-RDS (on) MOSFETs and 100% solid-state capacitor design.

The CPU is powered by a simple 5-phase VRM. It is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866+ MHz memory. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (wired to the 970), one PCIe 2.0 x16 (electrical 2.0 x4, wired to the SB950), three PCIe x1, and two legacy PCI. Gigabyte didn't cheap-out on the southbridge (by opting for SB710), and so we have a full-fledged SB950, complete with six SATA 6 Gb/s ports supporting RAID5. There are two USB 3.0 ports on the rear-panel, driven by an Etron EJ168 controller. The audio is driven by Realtek ALC887, wired to just a 5.1-channel analog output cluster, apart from the front-panel header. Gigabit Ethernet driven by Realtek 8111E tops it up. Gigabyte included its DualBIOS (AwardBIOS) with the board. Expect this one to be priced around US $100 (or below), making it a nice buy for single-GPU budget gaming-PC builds.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[m1dg3t]

Nice layout! Angled SATA port's would be nice

 

[reverze]

so its marked as DS but has the ultra durable layers like the UD marked mobos got?

 

[btarunr]

so its marked as DS but has the ultra durable layers like the UD marked mobos got?

UD4 Classic is different from UD3 Classic, in that it lacks a double-thick copper layer (normal thickness), but has a more rigid fiberglass weave. Then there are active anti-surge and anti-ESD components.

 

[Batou1986]

I got me a 970a-ud3 great board bios can be a little tweaky tho.
The ud3 is ~100$ i guess this will just fill its spot.

Just noticed no vrm heatsink and a 4pin cpu well there go's any oc potential glad i got my ud3

 

[nonkX3]

no VRM heatsink??? Again?? i can smell something's burning...

 

[m1dg3t]

Didn't realize VRM cooling was so important on newer board's, this is a budget board so they gotta save somewhere right? You can spend ~ $30 and sink the whole MOBO with Enzotech/Swiftech sink's if you wanted to push for heavy OC's

 

[nonkX3]

On a budget board i think they better off ditching the second pcie slot...IMHO

 

[btarunr]

no VRM heatsink??? Again?? i can smell something's burning...

My $210 X58 motherboard lacks VRM heatsink, and runs fine.

 

[nonkX3]

My $210 X58 motherboard lacks VRM heatsink, and runs fine.

Just some of my bad experience bta...i just think thats a pretty risky for me...cuz some people still don't mind about temperatures at all, i'm just imagining...that board, and an Oc-ed 81xx series. God knows what would happenned

 

[btarunr]

Just some of my bad experience bta...i just think thats a pretty risky for me...cuz some people still don't mind about temperatures at all, i'm just imagining...that board, and an Oc-ed 81xx series. God knows what would happenned

I think it should be fine. Chokes don't produce as much heat, and there are two-each of up-dn FETs per phase on this board, so heat is spread between the two. My DX58OG has just 5 phases, and that too using DrMOS (nucleation of heat), it handles 130W CPUs with mild OC just fine. Besides if you want to do extreme OC, you would spend more than $100 on a motherboard. Gigabyte has a 990FX-based motherboard with VRM heatsinks under $140 (990FXA-UD3).

 

[kid41212003]

i see a retarded face with uneven eyes on the socket.

 

[nonkX3]

I think it should be fine. Chokes don't produce as much heat, and there are two-each of up-dn FETs per phase on this board, so heat is spread between the two. My DX58OG has just 5 phases, and that too using DrMOS (nucleation of heat), it handles 130W CPUs with mild OC just fine. Besides if you want to do extreme OC, you would spend more than $100 on a motherboard. Gigabyte has a 990FX-based motherboard with VRM heatsinks under $140 (990FXA-UD3).

i thought so...and i'm not saying it as generally, just happens to me for a few times, again it's just an opinion based on self experiences, i also notice a $80 can stand years of usage, anyway

 

[THE_EGG]

I would only buy this because I have a Citroen DS3 car.