Gigabyte X58A-UD9 review

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Meet the Gigabyte X58A UD9

Alright lads, meet the Gigabyte X58A UD9

The flagship of all Gigabyte motherboards is the GA-X58A-UD9, it accommodates no less than seven physical PCI-Express 2.0, x16 slots. Based on the Intel X58 chipset it includes support for LGA1366 Bloomfield and Gulftown processors. Obviously the motherboard is designed to completely exploit the performance of Intels latest 1366 socket CPUs until it squeezes out the last drop. The motherboard comes with DDR3 memory support and 4-way SLI PCI Express 2.0 graphics support.

On the topic of 4-WAY SLI, Gigabyte included two nF200 SLI switch ICs allowing quad SLI and obviously also ATI CrossFireX, but you'll spot seven PCIe 2.0 expansion slots. The board also includes the all new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and 6Gbps SATA 3.

And with such people in mind, Gigabyte offers features designed for and by world-class overclockers including GIGABYTE EasyTune 6, overvoltage controller ICs, real-time onboard debug and System Alert LEDs and enough overclocking BIOS settings to push your hardware as far as it physically can go.

Let's have a peek at the Gigabyte press-release:

Power is the key to unlocking True performance, and nowhere is this more evident than with the unique power delivery system specially designed and engineered for the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD9. Featuring the proprietary GIGABYTE Unlocked Power technology with all new 24 phase design, the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD9 provides maximum power delivery for Intels latest 1366 socket CPUs including the new Intel® Core i7-980X Extreme Edition (6 core) CPUs as well as upcoming extreme performance CPUs from Intel, ensuring utmost system stability and overclockability.
GIGABYTE Unlocked Power also delivers better durability and longer component lifespan due to the industrys first Dual Power Switching design. When Dual Power Switching is activated, 2 sets of 12 power phases operate in tandem, automatically turning on one set of 12 phases and powering down the other 12, allowing the non active set to rest. By sharing the power workload between 2 sets of power phases, GIGABYTE Dual Power Switching effectively doubles the lifespan of the power phases. Additionally, GIGABYTE Unlocked Power features built-in Auto Failure Protection, so if one power phase is damaged or fails, the motherboard will automatically disable its group of 12 phases, allowing it to still operate using the other set of twelve, unlike a traditional motherboard which would be unable to boot.

When CPU loading requires more than 12 phases to be active, GIGABYTE Dual Power Switching temporarily suspends, and the full 24 power phases are automatically unlocked, allowing for maximum power delivery. For overclockers and power users, this means the full 24 power phases can be activated to deliver the highest amount of CPU power currently available on any desktop motherboard.

Based on Intels highest end X58 chipset, the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD9 offers a wide range of premium features tailor-made for PC enthusiasts who believe more is never enough. For those wanting to build the ultimate graphics monster machine, the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD9 delivers with support for 4-way PCI Express 2.0 graphics (x16) for both ATI CrossFireX and NVIDIA® SLI technologies. The GA-X58A-UD9 also provides the latest in data transfer and storage capabilities with support for GIGABYTE 333 Onboard Acceleration technologies including SuperSpeed USB 3.0, SATA 6Gbps support, including RAID 0 support for up to 4 times faster data transfer than the previous generation SATA II and GIGABYTE 3X USB power.

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD9 motherboards also leverage the success of GIGABYTEs uniquely developed technologies including the GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 design, which features 2x the amount of copper of a traditional PCB design, as well as the innovative Smart6 PC management tools, On/Off Charge with 3x USB Power for quick anytime iPhone and iPad charging, Dynamic Energy Saver 2 power saving utilities, and DualBIOS technologies. Of course overclocking is where the GA-X58A-UD9 truly shines, with features designed for and by world-class overclockers including overvoltage controller ICs, real-time onboard Debug and System Alert LEDs and enough overclocking BIOS settings to push your hardware to its limits.

You've been able to grasp by now that this motherboard is based on the high-end X58 chipset model (supporting LGA 1366 Core i7 processors). There is so much to cover that, literally, it's just better to show you a spec sheet and then head onward into the photo-shoot, the sky is the limit with this motherboard.

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