Gigabyte EX58-UD5 X58 Motherboard
Test Setup, Power Consumption & Overclocking
Published: 5th January 2009 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £218.49 |
Test Setup
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 (2.66Ghz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Memory: Corsair Dominator @ 8-8-8-24 1600Mhz
Graphics Card: NVidia GTX280
Power Supply: Gigabyte Odin 1200W
CPU Cooling: Stock Intel Cooling
Hard Disk: Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 7200rpm 80GB
Graphics Drivers: Geforce 180.60 CUDA
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1
Motherboard: Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Memory: Corsair Dominator @ 8-8-8-24 1600Mhz
Graphics Card: NVidia GTX280
Power Supply: Gigabyte Odin 1200W
CPU Cooling: Stock Intel Cooling
Hard Disk: Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 7200rpm 80GB
Graphics Drivers: Geforce 180.60 CUDA
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1
To guarantee a broad range of results, the following benchmark utilities were used:
Synthetic CPU Test
• Sisoft Sandra 2009
• PassMark CPU test
• SuperPI 1m, 8m, 32m
Memory Test
• Sisoft Sandra 2009
• Everest 4.60
File Compression & Encoding
• Sisoft Sandra 2009
• 7-Zip File Compression
• River Past ViMark
Disk I/O Performance
• HDTach 3.0.4.0
• Sisoft Sandra 2009
3D / Rendering Benchmarks
• Cinebench 10
• 3DMark 05
• 3DMark 06
• 3DMark Vantage
3D Games
• Crysis
• Far Cry 2
• Company of Heroes
Overall System Performance
• PCMark Vantage
• Sisoft Sandra 2009
• PassMark CPU test
• SuperPI 1m, 8m, 32m
Memory Test
• Sisoft Sandra 2009
• Everest 4.60
File Compression & Encoding
• Sisoft Sandra 2009
• 7-Zip File Compression
• River Past ViMark
Disk I/O Performance
• HDTach 3.0.4.0
• Sisoft Sandra 2009
3D / Rendering Benchmarks
• Cinebench 10
• 3DMark 05
• 3DMark 06
• 3DMark Vantage
3D Games
• Crysis
• Far Cry 2
• Company of Heroes
Overall System Performance
• PCMark Vantage
Power Consumption
Power consumption is an aspect often forgotten when it comes to enthusiast motherboards but in todays climate, with rising utility bills special consideration needs to be taken when choosing you components as over a period of time, one components can prove to be much more expensive than another over its lifetime.
Power consumption was measured at the socket using a plug-in mains power and energy monitor. Idle readings were taken after 5 minutes in Windows. Load readings were taken during a run of 3DMark Vantage.
Here we see the Gigabyte splitting the two other boards on test in the idle consumption test which is a little disappointing given the noise Gigabyte are making about Ultra Durable 3, but it does use the least amount of power when under load. Consideration should also be given to the fact that no software based power saving utilities were used during the testing. Gigabyte's own '6 Gear' power phase switching utility, would no doubt decrease consumption even more which is quite an achievement and the figures above should certainly give the 1kW PSU buyers food for thought.
Overclocking
Using a respectable Vcore of 1.40v, the remainder of BIOS voltage settings were left in their stock state to ensure equality throughout the testing.
The maximum Base Clock I managed was a respectable 200 but, and it is a very big but, this setting was achieved with no further tweaks other than raising the Vcore to 1.4v. Raising the vcore any higher didn't have any affect and in a vain attempt to eek a little more performance out of the little 920 I raised the QPI voltage but sadly neither voltage increase would help stabilise the setup. Perhaps a little more tweaking with the multipliers would gain a higher Bclk speed but for now I was very impressed with a sub 10 second SuperPI run thanks to the Intel TurboTech setting. This increased the multi by one and resulted in a maximum clockspeed of 4200Mhz. All this was on the stock cooler too which couldn't handle the heat of a Prime95 run, reaching temperatures of 90c+ before I called it a day.
Impressive results indeed beating our previous top clocker, the Asus P6T by a solid 200Mhz. There is however a little stick in the mud and that is the failed overclock recovery. From time to time, the UD5 will refuse to power on after a failed overclock resulting in a need to unplug the power supply at the wall socket to get the board to boot up. This is despite there being an on board CMOS rest switch which does do its job, just not every time. I found this quite irritating and hopefully it will be ironed out in future BIOS releases.
Returning the settings back to their stock state and disabling the Turbotech setting we started our suite of benchmarks...
Most Recent Comments
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
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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Originally Posted by name='monkey7'
Oh and one question: how did you save the bios? |
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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? |
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Originally Posted by name='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. |
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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.
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Originally Posted by name='°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?
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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. |
I would really like to see it take blows with the best x48 w/4g and even a q9450.
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 
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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. |
. Whether that would translate to value for money would depend entirely on your personal circumstances.Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='webbo'
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.
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£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!
TheMadDutchDude knows how I live.
£5 a week.
And I'm only 14 D:
£5 a week.
And I'm only 14 D:
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Originally Posted by name='°TheMadDutchDude°'
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! |
.I do however sympathise with your plight, we've all been there m8.
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Originally Posted by name='zak4994'
TheMadDutchDude knows how I live.
£5 a week. And I'm only 14 D: |
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?
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?
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.
. 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.
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.
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.
I've heard the Biostar has a few issues. We'll see if we can get a sample though.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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 :/
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 :/
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Originally Posted by name='webbo'
It (s775) would get it's ass handed to it
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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.
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Originally Posted by name='Rastalovich'
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. |
.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.
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.
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.
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.
You've been warned.
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Originally Posted by name='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. |
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.
looks like a solid motherboard, though i wish my p45 UD3P also had the same colorscheme for it's ram and sata slots..
lol, yeah the Gigabytes previously really did have an 'interesting choice of colours'.
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 they’ve shown also with this newest edition. But for my taste the price's of the i7 platform are way too high for now.
Gigabyte has really improved their color scheme, but nevertheless I have always liked their mb's. They were always great performer like they’ve shown also with this newest edition. But for my taste the price's of the i7 platform are way too high for now.
yea, 'interesting' is one way to put it..
oh well, fruit loops and fruity pebbles taste great. /off topic
oh well, fruit loops and fruity pebbles taste great. /off topic
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 time
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.
I haven't tried the EVGA though and look forward to doing so.
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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. |
quick question on the answer you gave me are you saying you do recommend the UD5 or you don't ?
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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 ? |
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Originally Posted by name='Jim'
He loves it mate
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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
..... |
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?
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?
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
= 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
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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 |
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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? |
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Originally Posted by name='Jim'
...unfortunately Gigabyte refused his RMA due to...well ye you know where this is going
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Originally Posted by name='Jim'
You're not flicking the right switches mate
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ha hadam near perfect board, shame about the cold start issue. *wonders if its been fixed yet*
Well it hasn't been for me, even though I'm on the latest stable bios, F4.
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Originally Posted by name='monkey7'
Well it hasn't been for me, even though I'm on the latest stable bios, F4.
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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.
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.
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Gigabyte EX58-UD5 X58 Motherboard