Have to say I seem to have been quite lucky with my Gigabyte purchases. About the only complaint I have about this board is that its 16x/4x PCI-E 2.0 and E-tron USB3.0; they did release a revision 2.0 though, no idea what the changes were. Kinda makes me glad I got a rev 1.0!

Just like buying boxed foods (ice cream is an big example of this) or detergents from the supermarkets, same price and less of the product.

Yeah they take the chocolate out of my chocolate ice cream I would have only vanilla. if they even try to take my pistachio all I would get is dyed green vanilla that would get me going off to the moon you would have to call the freaking marines

It's like they're trying to deceive people. swapping parts or improving the product are what revisions are for. Sabertooth 990FX -> Rev2 added Win 8 quick boot feature (Doubled the BIOS flash size) -> Rev 3 added PCIe 16x 3.0 Revisions aren't for cheaping out a product by removing features like power phases. Gigabyte is completely off my buying list

Reminds me of the Kingston V300 SSD "new revision" bait and switch. If you're making significant changes that can affect performance it should be put under a new SKU.

this is actually really fascinating - and should warrant a further, more in depth investigation. as an example, i bought a Gigabyte 990FX-UD3 revision 3 motherboard, the revision wasn't listed anywhere, as a result i assumed there was only one version of the board. It was within my budget and had the features i needed: 32gb RAM capacity, DDR3-1866 support, AM3+ CPU support, etc. - the usage requirements for this board was to be the platform for my virtual server lab to help me with my IT studies - with some light gaming on the side. Upon receiving the board i found that the system wouldn't even pass POST with the RAM set to 1866Mhz, i had paid a little extra for the tiny bump over 1600mhz and can't even use it! this was actually quite infuriating but after countless hours trying to get it to run i gave up and just accepted that I had to run at 1600Mhz. i also noticed the mosfets on the system burn my finger to the touch - they run uncomfortably warm, but so far the system is stable - albeit running a slower RAM speed than expected. after several BIOS updates and voltage / timing tweaks i just assumed it was a AMD Chipset problem (as multiple users reported the exact same problem with this motherboard) but now i'm wondering if i was just another victim of this crapitilization approach they are using. if someone was willing to conduct a full comparision with other revision boards i'd be eager to see the results. Of course I dont expect that to happen. really disappointed by this news, would not buy a gigabyte board ever again!

This is infuriating right? Gigabyte has so many revisions with both mobos and graphic cards, its ridiculous. At least they are transparent enough to list them on their website. Reviewers rarely if ever bother to mention the difference between the revisions. Props to Guru3d for bringing this

the x79-ud3 was basically gash. It's sat in a junk box after the 4.5ghz multi stopped working and the vrms were playing up. X79 sabertooth is a revelation of an improvement I tell thee!

Still,their hardware sells and for sure they will get along with this. But good to know, it will be a pity to buy hardware just to find out that they screwed you over with a lousy revision.

after several BIOS updates and voltage / timing tweaks i just assumed it was a AMD Chipset problem

The 990FX chipset is perfectly capable of running RAM at 2133+ Mhz, im doing it without a problem, many users are running even higher frequencies on 990FX chips. It all deppends on your CPU and if its capable of running memory at such frequencies, any FX cpu will be able to run 1866 at a minimum, since thats what their memory controller are rated to run at. Its gigabytes fault that you cant run anything higher than 1600.

I'm confused, when was it ever stated no matter what product it is no matter where it's from etc. that a new revision should be the same product functionally? I've never ever gone and looked at a product and seen that it has a revision and thought "Oh, i don't have to worry they are the same product"...as that thought never crossed my mind, it's a new revision, it's a new product, etc. So i'm just trying to figure out why it seems this article is stating it hasn't been that way....when it has...?

It's like that in theory, let me ask you this though, how many retailers that you know _change_ the picture for the new revision when they barely know what revision they get anyway? Because that would of been a give-away from the start, they are clearly different hence you know what you get, at this moment you look at a review and maybe your are lucky. Anyway, plenty of retailers have good policies so you can return it and get something better. I got the original MSI K9A2 CF ( http://www.msi.com/product/mb/K9A2_CF.html#hero-overview ) that would burn over 95W ( read the red text ), the revision fixed that, yes THAT is a revision. I did not get a chance to get V2 as it was named, but had a lot of trouble with my Rev. 1.0, stuck on black screen on start after 3 months, RMA it and got another Rev. 1.0 board in return, another black screen after the service period and a final black screen in 2012.

I never knew mb manufacturers chaged the hardware with revision. I always thouht the new revisions jus came with updated firmware by default. I will be ver careful in future to see what revision I am buying.

Wonder if this happens with their video cards as well. I noticed that within a few weeks, they had a revision on their GTX970. To this day I don't know what changed, but I guess now I don't have to feel as if there's a better, improved version of my card.

TBH you should all know perfectly well all about REVS. if you build PCs for long enough. I'm totally shocked at the lack of knowledge showed on this subject here @ Guru3D by some of it's members. In fact it's almost laughable when some say things like "never buying Gigabyte again". If your in the market for new components then it's always important to check what the latest Rev is and even why it is upgraded/changed. I even found out why my G1 is Rev 1.1. It's not down to Gigabyte people, it's down to you to do your research. If i am buying a mobo in the UK on-line, first i check to see if there is more than one Rev. If i find out there is then i'll phone the retailer and ask which Rev they have in stock. This way there can be no confusion. Plus Gigabyte has EXTENSIVE info on their site about Revs. as some boards have 5-6 Revs and the mobo drivers might be slightly different so all Revs are listed and EXPLAINED. Or maybe i just know all this stuff because i'm a bit loyal to Gigabyte and have used their products ever since an Asus mobo went bang 8 odd years ago.

As for Gigabyte's "accuracy" in naming their products: recently, a guy from my neighborhood purchased an Intel based GA mobo. The model was advertised as "twin BIOS" or "double BIOS", and it's FIRST edition indeed was equipped with TWO BIOS chips. Now, the distributer started advertising and selling mobos, but, apparently it turned out that it was a revision 2 or 3 of the mobo with the SAME name/designation... Allegedly the distributer did not know that this revision LACKED that other BIOS (thus making it a single BIOS mobo). Do I have to tell you how furious my neighbor was when he realized this?

recently, a guy from my neighborhood purchased an Intel based GA mobo. The model was advertised as "twin BIOS" or "double BIOS", and it's FIRST edition indeed was equipped with TWO BIOS chips. Now, the distributer started advertising and selling mobos, but, apparently it turned out that it was a revision 2 or 3 of the mobo with the SAME name/designation... Allegedly the distributer did not know that this revision LACKED that other BIOS (thus making it a single BIOS mobo). Do I have to tell you how furious my neighbor was when he realized this?

Well he can force a refund, he stated the mobo had something it did not have. Thats fraud here in Netherlands.

TBH you should all know perfectly well all about REVS. if you build PCs for long enough.

So its ok for somebody new too PC building to be ripped off, don't be an elitist bell end. The advertising needs to be clear as to feature and performance changes with any revision.

Releasing a product based on 1 specification/feature set, then releasing a revision without said specifications/feature is considered a form of "bait and switch"... Continuing to advertise the revised product as having those missing features is false advertising, misrepresentation and consumer fraud. Problem is, nobody ever seems to be willing to do what's necessary to stop companies from doing such things. Gigabyte also isn't the only company that does this. MSI, Asus, ECS, PCChips, etc. It's actually quite common when dealing with entry-level boards, unfortunately. My first (and last) PCChips board had 4 different revisions....that were really 4 different motherboards. They changed everything from the PCB color to the chipsets used. Even had bios chips from all 3 vendors.

Wonder if this happens with their video cards as well. I noticed that within a few weeks, they had a revision on their GTX970. To this day I don't know what changed, but I guess now I don't have to feel as if there's a better, improved version of my card.

Yes, Gigabyte does this with their graphics cards as well. Just because there's a revision, doesn't necessarily mean that the overall product has been degraded though.

Plus Gigabyte has EXTENSIVE info on their site about Revs. as some boards have 5-6 Revs and the mobo drivers might be slightly different so all Revs are listed and EXPLAINED.

The board in question, B85M-HD3: Rev 1.0 spec page: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4568#sp Rev 2.0 spec page: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5007#sp Please show us from above (or anywhere on Gigabytes site) where the differences mentioned in HH's article can be found - specifically - the PWM controller phases, mosfet types and their ampere ratings and the other spec changes mentioned in the article. These details apparently were only discovered upon close inspection and testing of the board by a user from a Dutch tech forum.

The board in question, B85M-HD3: Rev 1.0 spec page: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4568#sp Rev 2.0 spec page: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5007#sp Please show us from above (or anywhere on Gigabytes site) where the differences mentioned in HH's article can be found - specifically - the PWM controller phases, mosfet types and their ampere ratings and the other spec changes mentioned in the article. These details apparently were only discovered upon close inspection and testing of the board by a user from a Dutch tech forum.

This. I totally agree, in the in depth review of two revisions of the GA mobos in question it clearly correlates reduced number of mosfets per phase (and lower rated mosfets) to CPU throttling because the power delivery heats up. That's unacceptable, not to mention absence of second BIOS that was clearly advertised, and removal of a power phase... Outrageous

This. I totally agree, in the in depth review of two revisions of the GA mobos in question it clearly correlates reduced number of mosfets per phase (and lower rated mosfets) to CPU throttling because the power delivery heats up. That's unacceptable, not to mention absence of second BIOS that was clearly advertised, and removal of a power phase... Outrageous

On an entry-level board, you should be running a Celeron or Pentium....not an i5 or i7. If you're running an appropriate processor, there should be no issue.