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Gigabyte X58A-UD9 Extreme Motherboard Review @ [H]
- Thread starter FrgMstr
- Start date
Well there you go. I was certain their specifications on their website didn't say that as I carefully checked when I wrote that article. Still, it doesn't change the conclusion. The SR-2 is a better value as it costs less than the X58A-UD9. The Gigabyte X58A-UD9 vs. the EVGA X58 4X SLI Classified is more of an "Apples to Apples" comparison, but again the latter costs significantly less and I'm not convinced the Gigabyte board is $200 "better" than the EVGA offering.
This just looks awful. Why woud anyone, top 1% enthusiast market included, pay $700 for this monstrosity when the 4x Classified can be had for under $300 with a good deal? Add a SATA-6 card to the board and you'll still have paid about half the price. If it OC'd like no other, then perhaps its worth something, but I remember how quickly the fun went out of deciphering the MSI 780i's BIOS--another board where getting a half decent OC was a big, head banging adventure. Boourns to Gigabyte, who usually turns out such winners.
SolidBladez
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The thing is, the board has some of the highest scores to date. Check out HWBot and you'll see that it pretty much dominates the overclocking/benching realm.
Nothing against Kyle or Dan, but the board is really aimed to those who use extreme cooling - DICE / LN2.
Again I mentioned that it was reported to be great on LN2. However, none of the configurations I found had BCLKs over the 200MHz mark. And again unless you are among the even smaller percentage of enthusiasts who like to benchmark all the time and use LN2 the X58A-UD9 probably isn't for you.
I'd love to. However that's up to Kyle, not me.
I think about stuff like that all the time. Unfortunately even I can't justify the cost of such gear.
lol, I'm still flipfloping on buying a 980x...looks like mb not
Anywayz..thnx for the [h] review of a definite [h] mobo...
Gotta disagree with some of the points you made about the ps2 keyboard port.
OK sure the bios should support usb keyboards out of the box and the motherboard should never need a ps2 keyboard to do anything.
But ps2 keyboards do have some advantages. They get their own interupt so they could get faster response than a usb keyboard. Plus while it is possible to have nkey-rollover in usb (limited I think to 6 keys) you can have unlimited n-key rollover with a ps2 keyboard.
Some enthusiast keyboard makers like Deck and Filco still offer ps2 options for these reasons.
OK sure the bios should support usb keyboards out of the box and the motherboard should never need a ps2 keyboard to do anything.
But ps2 keyboards do have some advantages. They get their own interupt so they could get faster response than a usb keyboard. Plus while it is possible to have nkey-rollover in usb (limited I think to 6 keys) you can have unlimited n-key rollover with a ps2 keyboard.
Some enthusiast keyboard makers like Deck and Filco still offer ps2 options for these reasons.
I realize that some people still prefer PS/2 keyboards. Their actual technical advantages however are debatable. While technically true, you could argue their actual merits all day. I don't think anyone can really tell the difference between PS/2 and USB keyboards with regard to responsiveness and input speeds and I don't think anyone's ever pressed more than six keys on a USB keyboard simultaneously. For testing perhaps, but in an actual game? I doubt it. Again my main gripe with Gigabyte is that they can't seem to understand that the bulk of the keyboards out there are going to be USB and not PS/2. Many people do not own PS/2 keyboards and as a result the any motherboard needs to work flawlessly with USB keyboards. Every BIOS screen needs to be accessible via USB keyboard input. Having to connect a PS/2 keyboard to adjust settings so that the USB keyboard will work right is ludicrous on any board made today regardless of price.
SolidBladez
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You'll eventually find out that with Gigabyte BIOSes that PS/2 keyboards are much more favored. Even with the USB Keyboard option in the BIOS, they still have issues going into safe mode for example. If you press the F8 key repeatedly, the safe mode screen will appear to 'freeze' when keying on the up or down keys.
Gigabyte always releases a new BIOS to fix this issues. And then the next BIOS will screw it up.
I don't think you understand how very few people even have an i7 at 4.2GHz, let alone the actual # of people benchmarking under LN2.
Does this board have a niche market? Yes. But it's very, very small, and there are a lot of competitors in that space who have cheaper solutions.
I already know this. Its inexcusable in this day and age for a motherboard to virtually require the use of PS/2 keyboards because the company can't get it's crap together concerning BIOS updates. These boards shouldn't be released with this problem. It should be corrected long before the board hits retail.
Agreed.
No.