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Gigabyte X58A-UD3R Ultra Durable Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Conclusion
The Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R is clearly a different kind of motherboard. On one hand you have this low-end mainstream motherboard that comes equipped with a wide assortment of overclocking controls and high capacity motherboard coolers. While these things do complement the overall package extremely well the motherboard is not quite of enthusiast caliber, but hides this fact extremely well.
During our tests we found the motherboard to be extremely easy to use and very forgiving. Installation went well and nothing prevented us from replacing memory modules with the system fully assembled. The expansion slot configuration supports mulitGPU layouts up to 3 video cards. You won't be able to run dual slot coolers in a standard chassis; however that is only a minor inconvenience.
Overclocking did have its ups and downs. At first our overclocking experience was met with disappointment and rather low clockspeeds. It was not until we started looking around the advanced menus did we find the necessary settings needed to stabilize the system. There are plenty of settings available and yet no apparent way to save your profile information for future use.
Now for the ever popular list of Good things and Bad things.
During our tests we found the motherboard to be extremely easy to use and very forgiving. Installation went well and nothing prevented us from replacing memory modules with the system fully assembled. The expansion slot configuration supports mulitGPU layouts up to 3 video cards. You won't be able to run dual slot coolers in a standard chassis; however that is only a minor inconvenience.
Overclocking did have its ups and downs. At first our overclocking experience was met with disappointment and rather low clockspeeds. It was not until we started looking around the advanced menus did we find the necessary settings needed to stabilize the system. There are plenty of settings available and yet no apparent way to save your profile information for future use.
Now for the ever popular list of Good things and Bad things.
Good Things
2oz Copper for a Solid Feel
Onboard Indicator LEDs
Extensive Overclocking
Excellent Motherboard Cooling
Triple GPU support
USB / SATA 3 Support
Conservative Styling
Onboard Indicator LEDs
Extensive Overclocking
Excellent Motherboard Cooling
Triple GPU support
USB / SATA 3 Support
Conservative Styling
Bad Things
No onboard power/reset buttons
No debug LED
Included cables very minimal
BIOS layout was confusing at first
No debug LED
Included cables very minimal
BIOS layout was confusing at first
Ninjalane Rating
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R Ultra Durable Motherboard Review
Furious 5 of 5
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We would like to thank Gigabyte for helping to make this review possible.
