GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD7 (rev. 1.0) Pro Reviews

During our review of Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 mainboard we uncovered a lot of advantages as well as a few issues. However, despite these issues the board left a very positive impression. We should keep in mind that the manufacturer was facing a very difficult task to perform smooth transition to UEFI BIOS and overall, which was an overall success. At least, we were expecting to reveal more serious issues than the ones we ended up finding. Of course, the new “3D BIOS” as well as the proprietary utilities suite still need some work done. It is a real pity that the new “3D Power” technology is not yet fully functional. At the same time we can’t help mentioning that the company is working very hard on resolving these issues in a timely manner. For example, Turbo technology didn’t work correctly and the counteracting processor’s voltage drop under heavy load didn’t work at all in the earlier BIOS versions. Now these issues have been successfully fixed. Two large heatsinks over the voltage regulator components on Asus P9X79 Deluxe remained very hot under heavy load despite an additional fan, while on Gigabyte mainboard one small almost decorative heatsink did its job perfectly even without additional airflow, which indicates that its voltage regulator circuitry is exceptionally efficient. In fact, even though the proprietary power-saving technologies didn’t work, the board still remains very energy-efficient, as you can see from our power consumption tests. At this point it is still too early to rate the new features and functionality of Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7, because they are still work in progress. However, we are very pleased to see them introduced, and on the technical side we have every reason to state that Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 mainboard is a very high-quality product, which will serve you long and well.

The GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD7 proved itself to be a very capable motherboard that handled everything we threw at it with ease. I would easily recommend the GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD7 to anyone looking to put together an Intel X79 LGA2011 system!

After looking at the Rampage we knew that any board that followed had a very daunting task ahead of it. The UD7 has many great features including a intuitive and easy to use UEFI BIOS that is not too far from the original so that anyone used to the old blue Award BIOS will feel very comfortable in the UD7's interface as well. All sections are laid out similarly and there is a plethora of options to tweak and tune the thing to the very limits. The overclocking does require a bit more tuning, but then again for Gigabyte boards we are used to tweaking our way to what we want. The included WiFi/Bluetooth 4.0 card is a great plus and frees the user from having to either run a very log network cable or limit system placement near a wall jack. This is a great added value option and something that is very useful unless there is a 4-Way graphics setup installed at which point the card would not have a place to fit. The overclocking section at the top of the board offers excellent on the fly adjustability and also the read point leads are great for a bench top setup or when running subzero. The performance as observed is just shy of the Rampage IV Extreme and could possibly do better with a BIOS update or even under extreme cold it could wake up and just walk away but for the regular user the CPU performance will be a little behind the Rampage clock for clock. However 3D performance seemed to be quite good on this board easily eclipsing the Rampage in some cases which is great and speaks well to the boards capability. At almost 100 dollars less than the Rampage it is hard to deny the boards value and should be considered for anyone looking to go LGA2011 and not planning on using some of the extra bencher friendly features that the Rampage offers.

The Gigabyte X79-UD7 is packed with attractive hardware and software features, but fails to max out the X79 Express chipset's capabilities.

Well what can I say? This review has been an absolute pleasure to do. I was looking forward to reviewing this board and I wasn’t let down at all. This board either met or exceeded my expectations in every conceivable way. It has killer looks, features and performance. There isn’t anything about this board I would change except that maybe Gigabyte could offer it in different colors to match different hardware configurations. Of course that’s just totally over the top.