FRONTPAGE Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 Motherboard Review

[Overclockers.com]

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Tick...tock, tick...tock goes the Intel clock. With another 'tock' comes another CPU chipset that everyone wants to get their hands on. In that light, Gigabyte has provided us with their high-end motherboard for their enthusiast class chipset to put through its paces, the GA-X79-UD7. In past incarnations, this board had a good reputation for overclocking well. Let us take a look and see if this board can keep on pushing CPU's to their limits!

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[bmwbaxter]

Nice review and it looks like a great board.

You said you used the on board buttons to overclock, was it easier than software overclocking?

 

[Tspek]

The buttons are pretty neat if it works well.

 

[EarthDog]

As far as the buttons go, It was easier than software, yes....and they work quite well.

After going sort of cold (terrible SS that barely kept it sub zero at idle) I was able to push through that 5Ghz wall and sit at 5.2Ghz. It needs more cold!!

 

[hokiealumnus]

Excellent review ED!

 

[bmwbaxter]

I am glad to see that these chips do scale somewhat with cold.

 

[EarthDog]

Well... somewhat cold is more accurate . I will know what these do under DI 12/21.

 

[Tspek]

As far as the buttons go, It was easier than software, yes....and they work quite well.

After going sort of cold (terrible SS that barely kept it sub zero at idle) I was able to push through that 5Ghz wall and sit at 5.2Ghz. It needs more cold!!

I haven't had a chance to read the review fully but can you utilize those buttons with the OS booted?

 

[EarthDog]

Yep. That is the point of those buttons. They do not work in the bios I wouldnt imagine (havent tried).

 

[Tspek]

Yep. That is the point of those buttons. They do not work in the bios I wouldnt imagine (havent tried).

That is very cool indeed.

 

[mxthunder]

My favorite X79 mobo by far. Too bad they are all already sold. These were made in extremely limited numbers from what I understand.

The LLC / vdroop is perfect on this board from what I have found. setting 1.45 in bios nets a 1.45 v load under load and idle

 

[eduncan911]

Could someone confirm if this board does x16-x8-x16 in 3-way SLI? Their own manual has conflicting information about this:

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=695763

^- details of the conflicts.

 

[hokiealumnus]

It will definitely do 2 x 16x & 1 x 8x (that equals the available 40 lanes), but in what configuration I'm not sure.