Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 R5 mini review:

[ATMINSIDE]

Thanks for the writeup BF!
Definitely want to see what it'll do with some proper cooling (and some winter cooling!).

 

[Bluefalcon13]

updated the OP with both images of the BIOS and also with system specs as suggested

 

[Mandrake4565]

BF in the core control does it allow you to shut down individual core/modules or just each bank. For example if one wanted to can you shut down all the cores except #1 and #3 or is it set up, if you want to shut down say core #4 you have to shut down 3 as well?

 

[Bluefalcon13]

BF in the core control does it allow you to shut down individual core/modules or just each bank. For example if one wanted to can you shut down all the cores except #1 and #3 or is it set up, if you want to shut down say core #4 you have to shut down 3 as well?

-auto mode
-one core per CU
-two cores per processor
-four cores per processor
-six cores per processor

 

[Synn21588]

I picked up one of these and combo'd it with an 8320e as well, very happy with the results. Found myself stable at 4.6ghz. 3.3 to 4.6 is pretty darn nice if you ask me!

My only gripe with this board is mine doesn't seem to like overclocking with the FSB very much at all, and the voltage increase on vcore is limited to 0.025 increases only. Would have liked to have seen more minute adjustments in voltage.

 

[Sologuy]

I was thinking of getting UD3 (R5) version of this board as that's the model available from my fav online retailer in OZ, This place I order from also has the Asrock 990FX killer and Asus's 990FX sabertooth all these boards including the Gigabyte are within AUD$200-270 range.

After reading over this mini review.. I'm not sure of the diff between UD3 (R5) and UD5 (R5) as mentioned in this thread. Both have 8+2 vrm's and decent looking heatsinks.. that's all that really matters to me with being a 1 gpu gamer.

Last Giga board I had was on Intel's P55 chipset paired with i7 (Lynnfield) It was a UD6 version.. solid overclocker board but as the years went by it got a bit 'flaky'... if you know what I mean. I'm not complaining, just sayin... Hope that tradition of building solid overclocking boards continues in this AMD series...

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The 990FX Killer is garbage for overclocking, FYI.

 

[Bluefalcon13]

I was thinking of getting UD3 (R5) version of this board as that's the model available from my fav online retailer in OZ, This place I order from also has the Asrock 990FX killer and Asus's 990FX sabertooth all these boards including the Gigabyte are within AUD$200-270 range.

After reading over this mini review.. I'm not sure of the diff between UD3 (R5) and UD5 (R5) as mentioned in this thread. Both have 8+2 vrm's and decent looking heatsinks.. that's all that really matters to me with being a 1 gpu gamer.

Last Giga board I had was on Intel's P55 chipset paired with i7 (Lynnfield) It was a UD6 version.. solid overclocker board but as the years went by it got a bit 'flaky'... if you know what I mean. I'm not complaining, just sayin... Hope that tradition of building solid overclocking boards continues in this AMD series...

IIRC the heatsink is more robust on the UD5. Other than that it is 990x vs 990fx.

The sabertooth is the best option, followed by the UD5, then the UD3. Last would be the asrock. It's just lackluster without LLC controls. If you can afford it, the saber kitty is your best option. If not, buy what you want/can afford, but the rest mean sacrificing overclocking capabilities as far as I am concerned. The UD5 is decent, but here and there are features I find lacking, such as fan control. By nature the UD3 should have exactly the same issues.

Mind you I am still looking at setting up my custom loop for the FX, then I can get a better idea how robust this board truly is. This is why I have issue recommending it over the saberkitty as good board for overclocking.

Bottom line: at 4.5ghz, I have been limited by my cooling, and not the board.

 

[Sologuy]

IIRC the heatsink is more robust on the UD5. Other than that it is 990x vs 990fx.

The sabertooth is the best option, followed by the UD5, then the UD3. Last would be the asrock. It's just lackluster without LLC controls. If you can afford it, the saber kitty is your best option. If not, buy what you want/can afford, but the rest mean sacrificing overclocking capabilities as far as I am concerned. The UD5 is decent, but here and there are features I find lacking, such as fan control. By nature the UD3 should have exactly the same issues.

Mind you I am still looking at setting up my custom loop for the FX, then I can get a better idea how robust this board truly is. This is why I have issue recommending it over the saberkitty as good board for overclocking.

Bottom line: at 4.5ghz, I have been limited by my cooling, and not the board.

Thanks Bluefalcon13, yeah the more I read up on the Sabertooth, especially later revisions, the more tempted I am to part with my $'s & take the plunge to 83xx OC'ed goodness.. All in all, this AM3+ platform is ageing but the upside is maturity of bioses & board revisions.. always the case with PC tech in each 'generation'..

The 990FX Killer is garbage for overclocking, FYI.

Thanks, good to know, I'm still gambling if I should spend $'s on another AM3+ platform at this stage, but be nice to have 83xx OC'ed & I dont' think my 6+2 vrm's on this current board will be good enough for daily usage...

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The EVO R2.0 in your sig is good enough for a mild OC, 4.5GHz or less should be stable.

 

[madman7]

IIRC the heatsink is more robust on the UD5. Other than that it is 990x vs 990fx.

The sabertooth is the best option, followed by the UD5, then the UD3. Last would be the asrock. It's just lackluster without LLC controls. If you can afford it, the saber kitty is your best option. If not, buy what you want/can afford, but the rest mean sacrificing overclocking capabilities as far as I am concerned. The UD5 is decent, but here and there are features I find lacking, such as fan control. By nature the UD3 should have exactly the same issues.

Mind you I am still looking at setting up my custom loop for the FX, then I can get a better idea how robust this board truly is. This is why I have issue recommending it over the saberkitty as good board for overclocking.

Bottom line: at 4.5ghz, I have been limited by my cooling, and not the board.

I have looked at the UD3 R5 and it looks like it's a 990FX board like the UD5 R5. The big difference seems to be the number of PCI express slots. If I see things correctly the UD3 R5 is a slightly stripped down UD5 R5. I'm real tempted to get the UD3 R5.

 

[Sologuy]

The EVO R2.0 in your sig is good enough for a mild OC, 4.5GHz or less should be stable.

Thanks & I hope so, although I'll upgrade the cooler and push for 4.6-4.7GHz, depends on the silicon lottery I know.

 

[MaddMutt]

From what I have found out between the UD5 Rev 1 and the UD5 R5:

1) They changed the arrangement of the 5 PCIe slots and the PCI slot. With the Rev 1 you had 4 PCIe slots, PCI slot, and then the last PCIe slot. With the R5 they have put all 5 PCIe slots first and the PCI slot last.

Now my complaints:

1) They upgraded the UD5 R5 with a better audio chip but still left only 4 USB 3.0 connections that where also on the Rev 1 board.
2) When they changed the PCIe layout it also limited the board to 4 video cards total. The Rev 1 board allowed 5 video cards to be used.

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

From what I have found out between the UD5 Rev 1 and the UD5 R5:

1) They changed the arrangement of the 5 PCIe slots and the PCI slot. With the Rev 1 you had 4 PCIe slots, PCI slot, and then the last PCIe slot. With the R5 they have put all 5 PCIe slots first and the PCI slot last.

Now my complaints:

1) They upgraded the UD5 R5 with a better audio chip but still left only 4 USB 3.0 connections that where also on the Rev 1 board.
2) When they changed the PCIe layout it also limited the board to 4 video cards total. The Rev 1 board allowed 5 video cards to be used.

3) And removed the Firewire ports. But if you don't use Firewire then it's a mute point.

The UD5 rev 3.0 has the same PCIe and PCI layout as the R5 and has Firewire.

I have 1 UD5 Rev 1.0, 2 UD5 Rev 3.0 and 1 UD5 R5 Rev 1.0

 

[Mandrake4565]

3) And removed the Firewire ports. But if you don't use Firewire then it's a mute point moot point.

The UD5 rev 3.0 has the same PCIe and PCI layout as the R5 and has Firewire.

I have 1 UD5 Rev 1.0, 2 UD5 Rev 3.0 and 1 UD5 R5 Rev 1.0

Fixed that for ya WH

 

[Bluefalcon13]

Updated the main post with a little blurb about the updated mobo software under windows 10. If there is interest, I'll post some screenies. Just let me know.

 

[Bluefalcon13]

Just added a few screen shots of the newer app center software. That eliminates one of my big complaints about this mobo.... ntune isn't quite the wet-turd it was!

 

[kwikgta]

I've been using the UD5 r1 since 2012 and it's a sweet board!

 

[Bluefalcon13]

Another little minor update: something broke in the app center, either Windows updates caused or updates to the package itself. I didn't use it a whole lot, and just tweaked my BIOS fan%/CPU temp (degrees) to obtain a decent fan noise vs temp

Side note, back to water cooling, the board doesn't mind 4.5ghz at all.

 

[Alaric]

The App center update from Giga breaks the program. I'm not sure when it was issued, but it hasn't been too awful long Kill auto update after reinstalling and when it asks to update tell it "no".