Gigabyte X79 UD3 Motherboard Review

At around the launch of P67 and the Sandy Bridge there was much speculation surrounding the next generation of high-end processors destined to replace X58 and LGA1366.  What enthusiasts didn't expect was to see P67 systems actually outperform X58 in all areas except one.  Sandy Bridge came with a limited number of PCI Express lanes leaving X58 as the only system capable of running multi GPU configurations without a bridge chip.  

In this review we will be looking at the Gigabyte X79 UD3 motherboard based on the Intel X79 chipset and supporting the new LGA2011 Sandy Bridge E processor.  Gigabyte is offering three X79 motherboards in the Ultra Durable lineup starting with the UD3.  The UD3 is the main level consumer motherboard designed to be a low cost entry level board with some teeth.  UD5 is an enhanced level motherboard with similar specs but supporting twice as many memory slots and fancy blue heatsinks.  UD7 is no longer the top level consumer motherboard but rather a board designed for the enthusiast overclocker and hardware zealot.  All of these motherboards feature the core Gigabyte technologies including the 2oz copper PCB.

Support for Intel Core i7 processors in the LGA2011 package
Intel X79 Express Chipset
4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
Support for DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
Realtek ALC898 codec / Dolby Home Theater S/PDIF Out
1 x Intel GbE LAN (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Expansion Slots  4x16/2x1/1xPCI
Support for 4-Way/3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI technology.
2 x SATA @ 6Gb/s  4 x SATA @ 3Gb/s
3 x Marvell 88SE9172 chips: - 4 x SATA  / 2 x eSATA  @ 6Gb/s
14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports - 8 External / 6 Internal
2 x Fresco FL1009 chips: - 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports 2 External / 2 Internal

Please consult the Gigabyte website for a complete list of specifications, drivers, and latest BIOS files.