Gigabyte EX58-UD5 X58 Motherboard

Introduction

Published: 5th January 2009 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £218.49 | Author: Rich Weatherstone

Introduction

Intel's latest chipset is fast becoming very popular despite its cost and in our latest review we get to sample Gigabyte's mid range entry in the form of the EX58-UD5.

The UD5 is a little confusing as the PCB is actually part of the UD3 range having the same 2oz of copper integrated into the circuit board, just like its P45 counterpart. This, along with solid capacitors and Ferrite core chokes make up the 3rd incarnation of Gigabytes 'Ultra Durable' range. The double layered copper PCB claims to lower impedance as well as having the added benefit of dissipating heat which in turn, along with the lower impedance, could increase stability when overclocking.

Where the 5 bit comes in I am not sure but looking at the board's specification it becomes clear that the UD'5' is a higher specified board than both the UD3 and DS4 stable mates. In fact, it appears to be very much akin to the range topping Extreme model save for the extravagant cooling on the chipset, yet costs some £30 less than Gigabytes flagship model. This may well appeal to those who want the best possible performance yet don't wish to have excessive trimmings, least of all pay for them. That said though, as this is an i7compatible motherboard, it has a price tag to match, weighing in at a little under £220, it isn't the exactly the bargain basement we had hoped for but it is the cheapest of the trio we have on test today.

Specification

CPU
1. Support for an Intel® Core™ i7 series processor in the LGA 1366 package
(Go to CPU Support List for the latest CPU support )
2. L3 cache varies with CPU

QPI
1. 4.8GT/s / 6.4GT/s

Chipset
1. North Bridge: Intel® X58 Express Chipset
2. South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R

Memory
1. 6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 24 GB of system memory (Note 1)
2. Dual/3 channel memory architecture
3. Support for DDR3 2100+/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules

Audio
1. Realtek ALC889A codec
2. High Definition Audio
3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
4. Support for Dolby® Home Theater (Note 2)
5. Support for S/PDIF In/Out
6. Support for CD In

LAN
1. 2 x Realtek 8111D chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)
2. Support for Teaming

Expansion Slots
1. 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2) (Note 3)
2. 1 x PCI Express x8 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1) (Note 4)
(The PCIEX16_1, PCIE16_2 and PCIEX8_1 slots support 2-Way/3-Way NVIDIA SLI/ATI CrossFireXTM technology and conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
3. 1 x PCI Express x4 slot
4. 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
5. 2 x PCI slots

Storage Interface South Bridge:
1. 6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_0, SATA2_1, SATA2_2, SATA2_3, SATA2_4, SATA2_5) supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices
2. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

GIGABYTE SATA2 chip:
1. 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
2. 2 x JMB322 chips (Smart Backup):
* 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_0, GSATA2_1, GSATA2_2, GSATA2_3) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices (Note 5)
* Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD

iTE IT8720 chip:
1. 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive

IEEE 1394
1. T.I. TSB43AB23 chip
2. Up to 3 IEEE 1394a ports (1 on the back panel, 2 via the IEEE 1394a brackets connected to the internal IEEE 1394a headers)

USB
1. Integrated in the South Bridge
2. Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

Internal I/O Connectors
1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
2. 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
3. 1 x floppy disk drive connector
4. 1 x IDE connector
5. 10 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
6. 1 x CPU fan header
7. 3 x system fan headers
8. 1 x power fan header
9. 1 x North Bridge fan header
10. 1 x front panel header
11. 1 x front panel audio header
12. 1 x CD In connector
13. 1 x S/PDIF In header
14. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
15. 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
16. 2 x IEEE 1394a headers
17. 1 x power LED header
18. 1 x chassis intrusion header
19. 1 x power switch
20. 1 x reset switch

Back Panel Connectors
1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
2. 1 x PS/2 mouse port
3. 1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
4. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5. 1 x IEEE 1394a port
6. 1 x clearing CMOS switch
7. 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
8. 2 x RJ-45 ports
9. 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

I/O Controller
1. iTE IT8720 chip

Form Factor
1. ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm

Quite a specification which, on paper at least, has both the Asus P6T deluxe and the MSI Platinum beat. Sporting 40 PCIe lanes as well as supporting SLI and Crossfire this board is certainly touting itself as the gamers board but the 10, thats right TEN SATA ports, should satisfy even the most ardent storage freak. Up to 12 USB ports and 3 Firewire ports make up the excellent connectivity available on the EX-58 UD5. On board switches should please the enthusiast. Support for up to 24GB of DDR3 and Dual LAN teaming round of a very complete and feature packed specification.

Let's take a look at the package...

Most Recent Comments

05-01-2009, 09:03:29

"Intel's latest chipset is fast becoming very popular despite it's cost. In our latest review we get to sample Gigabyte's mid range contender in the form of the EX58-UD5." - by Webbo

http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/artic...192308275s.jpg

Gigabyte EX58-UD5 X58 MotherboardQuote

05-01-2009, 09:55:16

monkey7

Best in class, w00t w00t! That's my board

Personally the only bug I've found is the CPU multiplier in the F3 bios: I couldn't lower the CPU multiplier.

Oh and one question: how did you save the bios? I'm too lazy to actually read the manualQuote

05-01-2009, 10:06:04

Rastalovich

We got performance figures of these vS 775 setups ? I can'`t remember.

Either way, £218 is still taking the pish imo. These are the emerging mobos that will see revisions l8r in the year, and to charge over even £200 for them is beyond.

They figuring they can price match Foxconn or summit ?

Tis a shame, cos it does appear a great mobo from the review, but I have to be honest, being as i7 doesn`t do leaps and bounds over a 775, I for one aint gonna pay over the odds to get them.Quote

05-01-2009, 10:21:16

PV5150

Nice review webbo. I'm really liking the look of this board and the price/colour scheme may now see me acquire one in the future.Quote

05-01-2009, 10:23:16

�TheMadDutchDude�

Rasta, I totally agree with you and I refuse to pay that kind of money for a motherboard. Anyhoo, don't know how many of you know but there are some P55 motherboards coming out some time this year which hopefully will be around normal prices. I expect they will be similar like the P35 and the X38 for pricing strategies?Quote

05-01-2009, 10:59:47

Pyr0

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='monkey7'

Oh and one question: how did you save the bios? I'm too lazy to actually read the manual

F11 (save) and F12 (load) while in the main screen of the biosQuote

05-01-2009, 11:41:07

w3bbo

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='monkey7'

Best in class, w00t w00t! That's my board

Personally the only bug I've found is the CPU multiplier in the F3 bios: I couldn't lower the CPU multiplier.

Oh and one question: how did you save the bios? I'm too lazy to actually read the manual

As above, F11 and F12 respectively. RTFM

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Rastalovich'

I did a review of the P6T Deluxe and put it up against the best skt 775 had to offer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='PV5150'

Nice review webbo. I'm really liking the look of this board and the price/colour scheme may now see me acquire one in the future.

Yeah they really have improved the looks now and I'm sorely tempted with this board tbh, it really is that good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='°TheMadDutchDude°'

The price isn't that bad when you consider it's new technology, new socket etc. The Rampage Extreme II is overpriced (£300+) but £220 is not that much more than a decent skt 775 board which has been going for a few years now. I would expect to be paying £150+ for a P55 motherboard, which if rumours are true should surface around Q3.Quote

05-01-2009, 11:58:15

Rastalovich

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='webbo'

I did a review of the P6T Deluxe and put it up against the best skt 775 had to offer.

That the nVidia 790i w/qx9770 w/2g one ?

I would really like to see it take blows with the best x48 w/4g and even a q9450.Quote

05-01-2009, 11:58:55

noobieocer

umm i think i still take a pass on i7 till prices drop at least 25% of what it is now :P cant afford it

Quote

05-01-2009, 12:49:48

w3bbo

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Rastalovich'

That the nVidia 790i w/qx9770 w/2g one ?

I would really like to see it take blows with the best x48 w/4g and even a q9450.

It (s775) would get it's ass handed to it

. Whether that would translate to value for money would depend entirely on your personal circumstances.Quote

05-01-2009, 13:25:45

�TheMadDutchDude�

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='webbo'

Well it is a lot of money to me. I don't honestly have that kind of cash to throw around, espesh as I am only 15 and get £5 a week.. only one more month then the 16 will be here and I will start looking for some part time work!

£155 I can justify but £300 for the Rampage Extreme, it isn't really fair on us lot with a lesser income!

I hope that they don't drop out to many of the features though!Quote

05-01-2009, 13:33:37

zak4994

TheMadDutchDude knows how I live.

£5 a week.

And I'm only 14 D:Quote

05-01-2009, 13:49:16

w3bbo

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='°TheMadDutchDude°'

I hope that they don't drop out to many of the features though!

I too agree with the same sentiment. It's so unfair Mclaren F1's are so expensive... How on earth do they expect the average man to afford that

.

I do however sympathise with your plight, we've all been there m8.Quote

05-01-2009, 13:51:49

w3bbo

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='zak4994'

TheMadDutchDude knows how I live.

£5 a week.

And I'm only 14 D:

Wait until you are married. If you are lucky enough to find yourself with a whole £5 you are either having an affair or stealing from the kids.Quote

05-01-2009, 16:27:48

Pyr0

finally had a min to have a look thru

great review as always m8

was just wondering what bios you were using to test with (not sure if i missed it) and if you had had a chance to try any others?Quote

05-01-2009, 16:37:27

w3bbo

Latest official F4 BIOS as shown in the BIOS flash screeny

. I don't really try other BIOS's unless the latest is having problems. The first thing I do is flash it to the latest.

Cheers for the kind comments too m8.Quote

05-01-2009, 16:59:51

Nelly

Nice review, always read reviews here etc but never bothered to join the forums.

Would be interesting if you could get hold of a Biostar TPower-X58 to review, I've only seen one review which was from France.

Was going to go for the Gigabyte UD5 but going to take a gamble with the Biostar X58.Quote

05-01-2009, 17:33:59

w3bbo

I've heard the Biostar has a few issues. We'll see if we can get a sample though.Quote

06-01-2009, 06:06:43

monkey7

Hmm I've got a problem with my board:

When I try to update the BIOS using an USB stick (2GB, FAT, not formatted) and QFlash (it's what gigabyte recommends, so...) the updater gets stuck at the 'reading files' part. It's stuck at around 20% and really doesnt get any further, I let it do whatever it was doing for about an hour.

Redownloaded the file from another mirror but that didn't help. Any other ideas?Quote

06-01-2009, 06:15:18

w3bbo

Mine wizzed through m8. Took about 20 seconds if that.

Format the drive and unpack the BIOS files so you just have the two files on the stick, not the single zip file (can't rememeber the names off hand). Did mine with Q-Flash through the BIOS without issue.

Good luck.Quote

06-01-2009, 06:20:29

monkey7

Yeah did it too now, with my mother's usb stick

Turns out the drive needs to be formatted and really in FAT32, not the FAT vista displayed on my other usb stick.

EDIT: now that I'm on the F4 bios, my rig has started making periodic sounds which sond like soft beeps. It seems to be coming from the motherboard :/Quote

06-01-2009, 07:50:58

Rastalovich

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='webbo'

It (s775) would get it's ass handed to it

I`m not so sure it would, definately not enough to class the i7 in the same sense u might a maclaren f1.

I don`t know, I mean switch out a 9450 for any of those that will clock to 4ghz on air on a x48 and run it against an x58 setup at 4ghz and see what happens.Quote

06-01-2009, 08:52:39

w3bbo

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Rastalovich'

The Mclaren F1 quote should not be taken out of context m8 as I was referring to the cost not performance

.

As always the advantages will depends greatly on what you are actually using the PC for. For general browsing and emails then I doubt you would see a difference between a celeron and an i7. Programs that require lots of memory bandwidth will definately benefit from i7 thanks to the triple channel DDR3.

I just had a quick look at the CPU (Dhrystone/Whetstone benchmarks) and the i7920 betters a Q6600 by over a third albeit clock for clock the i7 does have a 266mhz advantage. Unfortunately we don't have a standard Yorkfield CPU to compare against, only the QX9770 as shown in the P6T review. I doubt we will be putting the i7 up against older hardware anymore as the 9770 was used to form a basis for comparison as there was simply nothing else to compare the P6T/i7 combo to.Quote

06-01-2009, 10:15:52

Rastalovich

I suppose the only question to ask here then is - is the x48 chipset better than the nVidia 790 ? and would 4g be better than the 2g ?

I know for a while we tested q6600 on the 4 series chipset, which I don`t think is a fair reflection on the 4 series, and a double jump in generations wouldn`t be fair, although embarassing if any real comparisons were indeed established.

Rightly or wrongly, maybe I`m questioning the comparisons down the line.Quote

06-01-2009, 10:53:36

tseax

Heads-up for those considering this mobo: the JMB322 SATA chipset is flaky as hell. In two separate Vista 32-bit installations it first caused intermittant system freezing during AVCHD media playback. Next time around drives on either RAID0 or straight Port Multiplication on the JMB322 drop out of the OS. Reboot is required to bring them back. Web searches reveal this to be a problem with JMicron (a relatively new player in the chip manufacturer line) from the start. I"m hoping to replace this with another manufacturer's board (ASUS maybe) - one which does NOT use JMicron jmb322 or jmb363 chips.

You've been warned.Quote

06-01-2009, 10:56:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='tseax'

Thanks for the headsup. As a general rule of thumb I always try to avoid using anything other than ICH8/9/10 etc controllers. They are just so well supported and have never given me any grief (Apart from on an ASUS P5K...which was ASUS fault anyway)

Quote

06-01-2009, 11:09:14

w3bbo

Ditto. With 6 SATA drives available on the Intel Chipset I doubt many would use the JMicron controllers anyway, especially for RAID as they are slower than the Intel iirc. Cheers for heads up though, valuable info.Quote

10-01-2009, 20:17:09

KOkun

looks like a solid motherboard, though i wish my p45 UD3P also had the same colorscheme for it's ram and sata slots..Quote

11-01-2009, 05:38:53

w3bbo

lol, yeah the Gigabytes previously really did have an 'interesting choice of colours'.Quote

11-01-2009, 06:04:59

niky_d

Great review mate, as always.

Gigabyte has really improved their color scheme, but nevertheless I have always liked their mb's. They were always great performer like theyve shown also with this newest edition. But for my taste the price's of the i7 platform are way too high for now.Quote

11-01-2009, 15:19:29

KOkun

yea, 'interesting' is one way to put it..

oh well, fruit loops and fruity pebbles taste great. /off topicQuote

11-01-2009, 16:18:49

stanton4958

nice review m8.i was looking at getting the EVGA Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard but after reading this it has changed my mind,what do you lot think EVGA Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard or EX58-UD5 X58.Maine use for this rig will be high end gaming and overclocking thanks for your timeQuote

11-01-2009, 18:29:54

w3bbo

I can't recommend the UD5 enough tbh. It's a great clocker and supports tri-SLI and crossfireX so is perfect for gaming.

I haven't tried the EVGA though and look forward to doing so.Quote

12-01-2009, 17:32:42

stanton4958

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Webb'

I can't recommend the UD5 enough tbh. It's a great clocker and supports tri-SLI and crossfireX so is perfect for gaming.

I haven't tried the EVGA though and look forward to doing so.

thanks allot,all the reviews on the EVGA have been very good and i do like the look of the mobo so i think i will get that any idea when you are going to do a review on the EVGA X 58 as this site dose do very good reviews thanks

quick question on the answer you gave me are you saying you do recommend the UD5 or you don't ?Quote

12-01-2009, 17:44:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='stanton4958'

quick question on the answer you gave me are you saying you do recommend the UD5 or you don't ?

He loves it mate

Quote

12-01-2009, 17:51:07

Bungral

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Jim'

He loves it mate

Yep... Jimbo told me earlier, but said not to say anything, that Rich liked it so much even made sweet sweet love to the UD5

.....Quote

13-01-2009, 01:25:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Bungral'

Yep... Jimbo told me earlier, but said not to say anything, that Rich liked it so much even made sweet sweet love to the UD5

.....

...unfortunately Gigabyte refused his RMA due to...well ye you know where this is goingQuote

13-01-2009, 09:03:55

w3bbo

Using the UD5 is like making love to a beautiful woman.

You have to caress her gently, ensuring you get to know every working detail before moving on to...bla bla bla

It even has an flesh coloured 'slot' - hmmmm

That clear enough?Quote

13-01-2009, 09:37:19

monkey7

Yeah and she also doesn't want to get up in the morning

= I have issues cold booting, board will power up for half a second and shut down before actually booting.

Apart from that, I'd really recommend this board

Quote

13-01-2009, 09:47:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='monkey7'

Yeah and she also doesn't want to get up in the morning

= I have issues cold booting, board will power up for half a second and shut down before actually booting.

Apart from that, I'd really recommend this board

You're not flicking the right switches mate

Quote

13-01-2009, 13:31:19

stanton4958

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='webbo'

Using the UD5 is like making love to a beautiful woman.

You have to caress her gently, ensuring you get to know every working detail before moving on to...bla bla bla

It even has an flesh coloured 'slot' - hmmmm

That clear enough?

lol thats clear thanksQuote

13-01-2009, 17:36:51

Bungral

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Jim'

...unfortunately Gigabyte refused his RMA due to...well ye you know where this is going

Aaahh yes, putting his own brand of thermal "goop" on there... Always a warranty killer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Jim'

You're not flicking the right switches mate

ha haQuote

14-01-2009, 11:25:31

midnightray

dam near perfect board, shame about the cold start issue. *wonders if its been fixed yet*Quote

14-01-2009, 13:14:52

monkey7

Well it hasn't been for me, even though I'm on the latest stable bios, F4.Quote

15-01-2009, 07:19:47

dowe

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='monkey7'

Well it hasn't been for me, even though I'm on the latest stable bios, F4.

Have you tried any of the beta bios', particularly F4n?Quote

15-01-2009, 10:45:15

monkey7

No I haven't, as GB doesn't really recommend it.

On the other side, what could go wrong. I have dual BIOS anyway :/ My secondary is an impossible to flash F3 to which I will revert if things go wrong.Quote

Gigabyte EX58-UD5 X58 Motherboard

Introduction

Published: 5th January 2009 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £218.49 | Author: Rich Weatherstone

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