i7-3960X and X79 Announcer: GIGABYTE X79-UD5 and X79-UD3 Lightning Test

Work on the Bulldozer and Sandy Bridge-E articles is already in full swing in the background, but unfortunately, giant tests like this always take a lot of time. We thought we wouldn’t leave you without results until then, so we recommend this short article to a little connoisseur, with a pinch of tutorials and a few results.

As we know, supporting Sandy Bridge-E processors requires LGA-2011 socket and X79 PCH. One of the biggest innovations of the X79 platform is the management of memories in four channels, for which a significant number of manufacturers have never seen on "average" desktops, installing eight DDR3 rails (cheaper models come with four DIMM slots). As we know, its predecessor - X58 - offered a three-channel option with six sockets, Intel has now added one more blade to this, so you should not be surprised that the X79-based boards will not be small in size.

Two i7-3960X at the top, an i7-980X EE and an i7-2600k at the bottom

Due to the four-channel controller, no less than eight-layer PCBs have to be used during production, which is certainly not favorable for production costs. Due to the controller, the CPU socket is also huge, so the Sandy Bridge-E CPUs themselves are not small, they are the largest CPUs in recent years.

GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD3

GIGABYTE sent us the two cheapest X79 models together with a Core i7-3960X. The word cheap is deceiving, since the X79 is more expensive and expensive, but this is not entirely the "fault" of the manufacturers, as we have already mentioned, the eight-layer PCB is whipping up the total, even if the X79 PCH is actually just a renamed P67. GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD3 and GA-X79-UD5 will probably be able to satisfy the vast majority of needs, we would describe them in a few words:

GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD3

While the GA-X79-UD3 will be the manufacturer’s cheapest LGA2011 socket motherboard with the right price, the GA-X79-UD5 offers quite a few premium-grade interfaces and memory expansion options. The GA-X79-UD3 uses a simple 8 + 1 phase VRM to power the LGA2011 CPU. The memories are powered through 4 phases. There are only four DDR3 DIMM slots on this model, so one module per channel can be used. The UD3 offers four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 busses, the first two of which can operate in × 16, while the four can operate simultaneously in × 8 mode.

GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD3

These are complemented by two short, × 1 PCI Express busses, and not surprisingly, a traditional PCI has been added to the PCB. We get six SATA ports, two of which are 6 Gb / s and four are 3 Gb / s. Thanks to the Marvell chip, two more SATA 3.0 buckles are also available, and two eSATA on the back, also at this speed. The board monitors 8 + 2 channel audio and one gigabit Ethernet, as well as four USB 3.0 and significantly more USB 2.0 work.

GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD5

The GA-X79-UD5 is based on a completely different printed circuit board that provides enough space for eight DDR3 DIMM slots (two per channel). As this is a higher category product, the CPU power supply is also more serious, the VRM counts a total of 14 phases that work with POSCAP capacitors. Here, too, the energization of the RAMs works through 4 phases. Unlike the UD3, the GA-X79-UD5 is forced to compromise on expansion rails. The UD3 offered something for all seven ATX slots, but the UD5 only uses six.

GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD5

This was not suffered by the traditional PCI (which was mounted on the PCB), but was damaged by the fourth full-width PCI Express 3.0 slot, which thus lagged behind this motherboard. The offer is therefore limited to three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, the first two of which can work in × 16 and the third in × 8 mode. The storage pool includes two SATA 6 Gb / s (white) and four SATA 3 Gb / s (black) ports from the X79 PCH, four additional SATA 6 Gb / s ports (gray), and two eSATA 6 Gb / s and from a Marvell controller. The number of USB 3.0 interfaces is the same as seen on the UD3: two are on the back and two are in the form of a pin terminal. The other interfaces are the same, with the addition of FireWire on the UD5.

GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD5

One of GIGABYTE's major innovations, the so-called 79D BIOS, makes its debut in the X3 series. The 3D BIOS is based on GIGABYTE's new UEFI DualBIOS. The BIOS is housed in 8 MB ROM, has a 32-bit color depth graphical interface, image display and mouse support, and natively supports high-capacity hard disks with 64-bit operating systems. This solution provides the user with two types of user interfaces, the common point of which is that both are graphical in nature, but one is based on a form breaker and the other is based on the classic structure.

"3D mode" is aimed at average users who are less professionally competent. In this mode, we can see the image of the motherboard in our possession on the screen, with various information. If we move the mouse over one of the main areas of the motherboard (for example, CPU socket and its surroundings; expansion rails), we can see that the given section is selected, and after one click, all related functions and settings become available. The end result is a truly extremely clean and simple, almost game-like interface for the BIOS. Of course, this does not mean that we should not be careful with the settings, we only fiddle with what we know that controls what!

The other mode is the so-called Advanced mode, which follows the classic structure, cast in an age-appropriate graphic form, with mouse control. This is for routine foxes and tuners, as here you will find every single detailed parameter and information, if you know where to look. However, only those who know should get lost here! We get almost unenumerable options and opportunities, which is also true for tuning. We obviously used this mode during testing, and overall we have a positive opinion about the new BIOS. GIGABYTE was still "in debt" with this function in the previous generations, now it has made up for the shortfall, it manages to put together something that is not a copy of the competition, but also has something unique in it.

Let's get to the results after the presentation!

Test configuration:

• Core i7-3960X ES
• Intel factory water cooling
• GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD5 and GA-X79-UD3 (latest BIOS)
• 4 × 2 GB Kingston HyperX T1 2133 MHz (1600 MHz 9-9-9-24)
• MSI GTX 560 Ti Hawk Twin Frozr 1024 MB GDDR5
• Xigmatek NRP-HC1501 PSU

Test results:

* Battlefield 3: 1024 × 768 - low, 1280 × 1024 - medium, 1680 × 1050 - high, 1920 × 1080 - ultra
* Crysis 2: 1024 × 768 - high - DX9, 1280 × 1024 - very high - DX9, 1680 × 1050 - extreme - DX11, 1920 × 1080 - ultra + 4 × AA - DX11

From the numbers, you can already feel the brutal power of Sandy Bridge-E and i7-3960X, especially in applications where all 6 physical cores can be used, or 12 threads with HT. Of course, in the "big article" we are preparing even more test programs and games, graphs, and various opponents, as other manufacturers' X79 models will also be presented:

• MSI X79A-GD65 8D
• ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
• ASUS Sabertooth X79
• ASUS P9X79 Pro

Unfortunately, we cannot yet give an exact date for the arrival of the "big article", but there is no reason to be sad, as this will be preceded by our article on AMD Bulldozer next week! How do they say it? – "Stylish stunner!"

Expected price of GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD3: ~ gross HUF 68

Expected price of GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD5: ~ gross HUF 85

Gábor Pintér (gabi123)