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Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Review

Introduction and Technical Specifications

Published: 22nd July 2011 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £131.99 @ Aria | Author: Bryan Waters

Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Review

Introduction

The UD3 has always been the middle-child of the Gigabyte line of motherboards and so it's been fairly difficult to place.

If what you desire is the cheapest possible motherboard that bears Gigabyte branding, the UD2 is the chap. If however you want a plentiful supply of bells and as many whistles as it's possible to fit within a 12x8 block piece of hardware, then the UD5 and UD7 will be exactly the fellows for you.

So the UD3, which isn't so cheap that its quality is almost a secondary consideration, but neither is it so amazing that you're likely to use it as the basis for a Colossus, tends to fall into the middle. It's a jack of all trades and by being so difficult to pigeon-hole it truly is a test of going into a review free from the burden of expectation. We know it's not going to be so cheap that as long as it has room to put the hardware in we'll be happy, but we also know it's not going to blow us away by having 24 phase power and 12 PCIe sockets.

Therefore we have to have a clean mind and just see where exactly on the sliding scale it fits. So let's crack on.

Technical Specifications

The specs of the UD3P are as all-inclusive as we've come to expect from the Z68 chipset. We've got support for up to 32GB of DDR3, should 8GB density ever become commonplace, along with good quality audio via the Realtek ALC889. Storage is handled by 4 SATA II ports and 4 SATA III 6Gbp/s ones.

The main things that differentiate this from the higher equipped models is the limited fan headers (4 in total) and that the second PCIe socket is only x8 so if you run two cards then both will be at x8 instead of the full-fat x16.

CPU
  1. Support for Intel® Core™ i7 processors/Intel® Core™ i5 processors/ Intel® Core™ i3 processors/Intel® Pentium® processors/Intel® Celeron® processors in the LGA1155 package.
  2. L3 cache varies with CPU
 
Chipset
  1. Intel® Z68 Express Chipset
Memory
  1. 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
  2. Dual channel memory architecture
  3. Support for DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
  4. Support for non-ECC memory modules
  5. Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
Onboard GraphicsIntegrated in the Chipset:
  1. 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200
Audio
  1. Realtek ALC889 codec
  2. High Definition Audio
  3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
  4. Support for Dolby® Home Theater
  5. Support for S/PDIF Out
LAN
  1. 1 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Expansion Slots
  1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
  2. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
    * The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.
  3. 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
    (All PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
  4. 2 x PCI slots
Multi-Graphics Technology
  1. Support for AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI technology
Storage InterfaceChipset:
  1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3_0~SATA3_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
  2. 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_2~SATA2_5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices
  3. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
    * When a RAID set is built across the SATA 6Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s channels, the system performance of the RAID set may vary depending on the devices being connected.
Marvell 88SE9172 chip:
  1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
  2. Support for SATA RAID 0 and RAID 1
USBChipset:
  1. Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 on the back panel, 6 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
2 x Etron EJ168 chips:
  1. Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 on the back panel, 2 via the USB bracket connected to the internal USB header)
IEEE 1394VIA VT6308 chip:
  1. Up to 2 IEEE 1394a ports (1 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header)
Internal I/O Connectors
  1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
  2. 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
  3. 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
  4. 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
  5. 1 x CPU fan header
  6. 2 x system fan headers
  7. 1 x power fan header
  8. 1 x front panel header
  9. 1 x front panel audio header
  10. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
  11. 3 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
  12. 1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header
  13. 1 x IEEE 1394a header
  14. 1 x serial port header
  15. 1 x clearing CMOS jumper
  16. 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
Back Panel Connectors
  1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
  2. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
  3. 1 x IEEE 1394 port
  4. 1 x HDMI port
  5. 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
  6. 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
  7. 1 x RJ-45 port
  8. 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)
I/O Controller
  1. iTE IT8728 chip
H/W Monitoring
  1. System voltage detection
  2. CPU/System temperature detection
  3. CPU/System/Power fan speed detection
  4. CPU overheating warning
  5. CPU/System/Power fan fail warning
  6. CPU/System fan speed control
BIOS
  1. 2 x 32 Mbit flash
  2. Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
  3. Support for DualBIOS™
  4. PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b
Unique Features
  1. Support for @BIOS
  2. Support for Q-Flash
  3. Support for Xpress BIOS Rescue
  4. Support for Download Center
  5. Support for Xpress Install
  6. Support for Xpress Recovery2
  7. Support for EasyTune
  8. Support for Dynamic Energy Saver™ 2
  9. Support for Smart 6™
  10. Support for Auto Green
  11. Support for eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)
  12. Support for ON/OFF Charge
  13. Support for Cloud OC
  14. Support for 3TB+ Unlock
  15. Support for TouchBIOS
  16. Support for Q-Share
Bundle Software
  1. Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
  2. Intel® Smart Response Technology
  3. LucidLogix Virtu
    * Make sure the monitor cable has been connected to the integrated graphics port on the back panel.
Form Factor
  1. ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm
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Most Recent Comments

22-07-2011, 06:03:03

tinytomlogan
Today we take a look at the UD3 version of the Gigabyte Z68 line of motherboards. How does it stack up?



Continue ReadingQuote

22-07-2011, 06:14:56

CRAZYCAP
I want.....Quote

22-07-2011, 06:17:51

SieB
Good review, sums the board up nicely.Quote

22-07-2011, 08:40:36

marsey99
i still miss gb blue

great read that bry :thumb:

my question is mate, if it was your hard earned cash you was handing over would you be getting this or the tz68?Quote

22-07-2011, 08:59:07

VonBlade
If it was my hard-earned I'd get this over the Biostar. No matter how much of a bargain the Biostar is it's just so fugly.Quote

22-07-2011, 11:24:19

S_I_N
any plans on a review of the GA-Z68 UD4 seriously considering the UD4 for my 2600K which I should have next week (shipping from Canada ) so still looking at boardsQuote

22-07-2011, 11:29:19

murphy7801
Quote:
Originally Posted by VonBlade View Post

If it was my hard-earned I'd get this over the Biostar. No matter how much of a bargain the Biostar is it's just so fugly.
If you got a no window would matter that much. And Yes the biostar is very ugly.Quote

22-07-2011, 13:13:12

VonBlade
No window it wouldn't matter at all. Although I'd still personally prefer the Giga.

As for the UD4, we've reviewed the D2H, the UD3P and the UD5. So it's probably wise to read this review and our UD5 one and decide if you could manage with slightly less than the UD5, or need slightly more than the UD3. There is very little between them.Quote

22-07-2011, 16:55:14

S_I_N
Quote:
Originally Posted by VonBlade View Post
.

As for the UD4, we've reviewed the D2H, the UD3P and the UD5. So it's probably wise to read this review and our UD5 one and decide if you could manage with slightly less than the UD5, or need slightly more than the UD3. There is very little between them.
lol so this means no lol yeah I have compared between the DH4 and UD5 and for 50$ more the only difference I see is the UD5 has 2 more usb3.0's but at a sacrufice of 5 usb 2.0's not to mention the UD5 has 2 less sata 6 ports the UD5 has 2 esata/usb combo ports to the UD4's 1 but the UD4 has a sata6 esata port lol if you ask me the UD4 has more to give for less money But the UD5 does have one more pci-e slot but only at 4x so nothing really there for me plus it shares bandwidth with the pci-e x1 (which there is 2) slots so if anything is in them then its only 1x lmao why bother hahahahQuote

22-07-2011, 17:00:34

badtaylorx
well....on a site geared towards the overclocking community,,, i dont see a 4.6Ghz showing going over all to well....even amongst gigabite fans!!!Quote

03-10-2011, 18:05:22

v3rninater
Hey guys, saw the review on this board, I have it in my new system along with a 2600k Intel Proc. Was wondering what the bios settings are for the O/C, because anytime I try to overclock even to 3.5ghz, software doesn't run well at all in windows. It's like it's unstable, even if I go up to 1.39v to the CPU.

I have Corsair H100 on it, running super cool, @ stock 30c idle, 38c load. So temps are not a problem. It's at auto CPU voltage and @ stock speed now, running decently stable. I have a Corsair HX850 watt PSU running the system. I have the Gskill 17000 ram running at stock speeds 11-11-11-30 @ 2133mhz, so I'm trying to figure out what my O/C issue is.

At stock speeds the system is great, but any type of overclock warrants issues in windows 7.

I'm running a EVGA 580gtx as the Gpu as well...Quote

04-10-2011, 02:34:58

Zeals
Quote:
Originally Posted by v3rninater View Post

Hey guys, saw the review on this board, I have it in my new system along with a 2600k Intel Proc. Was wondering what the bios settings are for the O/C, because anytime I try to overclock even to 3.5ghz, software doesn't run well at all in windows. It's like it's unstable, even if I go up to 1.39v to the CPU.

I have Corsair H100 on it, running super cool, @ stock 30c idle, 38c load. So temps are not a problem. It's at auto CPU voltage and @ stock speed now, running decently stable. I have a Corsair HX850 watt PSU running the system. I have the Gskill 17000 ram running at stock speeds 11-11-11-30 @ 2133mhz, so I'm trying to figure out what my O/C issue is.

At stock speeds the system is great, but any type of overclock warrants issues in windows 7.

I'm running a EVGA 580gtx as the Gpu as well...
The overclock doesn't warrant any issues with Windows 7.

Try manually pumping the voltages up to 1.35v and then just increase the CPU multiplier to 4.2 or something. Don't bother tinkering with the Bus Speed for Sandy Bridge, you'll be lucky to get a 10MHz increase in that.Quote
Reply

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