GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
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- CPU:Support for AMD AM3+ FX/AM3 Phenom II/Athlon II processors. Chipsets: AMD 990X/AMD SB950
- Memory: 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory.
- Audio: Realtek ALC889 codec , High Definition Audio, Dolby Home Theater, 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel, LAN: 1 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
- Expansion Slots: 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot.
- Storage Interface: 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors , Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5,RAID 10 and JBOD
- Back Panel Connectors: 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port/1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector/1 x IEEE 1394 port/8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports/2 x
- Back panel connectors: USB 3.0/2.0 ports/1 x RJ-45 port/6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer
- Back panel connectors:Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)
- Expansion slots: running at x4. 2 x PCI Express x1 slots. 2 x PCI slots. Support for AMD CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI technology
- Internal I/O Connectors: 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector/1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector/6 x SATA 6Gb/s
- Internal IO connectors:front panel audio header/1 x S/PDIF Out header/3 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers/1 x USB 3.0/2.0
- Internal IO connectors:header/1 x IEEE 1394a header/1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header/1 x serial port header/1 x clearing CMOS jumper
- Internal Io connectors/1 x CPU fan header/2 x system fan headers/1 x power fan header/1 x front panel header/1 x
- Memory: Support for DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules, Dual channel memory architecture.
- USB: Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports, Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports, Up to 2 IEEE 1394a ports
Supports newest AMD AM3+ FX/AM3 Phenom II series processors/Advanced 8+2 phase CPU VRM power design for AMD high-TDP CPU support/3 PCI-E 2.0 interfaces for 2way AMD CrossFireX and SLI multi-graphics support/AMD SB950 provides 6 native SATA3 ports with superfast 6Gbps link speed and RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support/Supports USB 3.0 with superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps/GIGABYTE 3x USB Power with On/Off Charge USB ports/Ultra Durable 3 Classic Technology with copper cooled quality for lower working temperature/Turbo XHD technology accelerating hard drive performance with ease/Revolution energy saving design with Easy Energy Saver technology/Hi-def 108dB Signal-to-noise ratio Blu-ray DVD audio playback/Patented Dual BIOS with Hybrid EFI technology for 3TB HDD support/Supports Dolby Home Theater audio
Gigabyte desktop motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
List Price: $ 134.99
Price:
Finally, AMD meets SLI…,
The is a nice motherboard for the price I got it ($139.99). Although it lacks some features that it’s ASUS counterpart has, this Gigabyte motherboard is $30 cheaper than the ASUS model. It has a nice 4 slots of DDR3 RAM; 2 of which I am currently using, and I can easily upgrade to more whenever I need to.
This motherboard supports the new AM3+ socket, which will be used on AMD’s 8-core Bulldozer processors when they are released. Of course, unlike Intel, AMD makes sure that AM3+ is backwards compatible with AM2, AM2+, and AM3, so you can still use your older processors without any problems.
There are 3 PCI Express slots, and since this mobo features the new 990x chipset, it supports both ATI Crossfire and Nvidia SLI. If you only use one graphics card, the first PCIe slot will run at full x16 PCIe 2.0 speeds. However, this model will bottleneck the band-with to x8 when you use 2 graphics cards. If you want to get x16 speeds on your SLI/Crossfire setup, get the 990FX mobo, which is the next step up, or if you want to use 3 graphics cards, get the Crosshair V Formula. However, the performance difference between x16 and x8 is only about 5%, so it’s not too bad.
For other expansion cards, there are two PCIe x1 slots and 2 legacy PCI slots. No AGP, but who uses that anyway.
The NB and SB have nice heatsinks on them, but mine still get a little warm, as I have no fan or water cooling directly on them.
As far as connectivity goes, you get quite a lot. There are 6 internal SATA ports which support SATA 3.0, so you will get 6GB/s (assuming a fast enough SDD), and the rear panel features lots of USB 2.0 ports, and even 2 USB 3.0 ports. Yes, it does have USB 3.0. You also get Gigabit ethernet, 6 audio connectors that are re-configurable in the Realtek control panel, 1 Firewire 1394, an optical S/PDIF out, and even one PS2 port for your legacy HIDs.
There are a lot of front panel connectors, so it supports the front panel ports of almost all cases. It has your audio, Firewire 1394, USB 2.0, USB 3.0 (awesome), your power, reset, and LEDS, and some other stuff I don’t recognize.
The power connectors are a standard 24 pin ATX and a 8-pin 12V.
I forgot to mention this earlier, but the hyprid EFI BIOS allows for hard drives of over 3TB. I don’t have anything like that, but some might. (Also makes it somewhat future-proof.)
The fan connectors are CPU, Power, SYS1 and SYS2. That should be enough for most people, or else just use Molex from your PSU.
Conclusion: It has a lot of 3s (as indicated on the box). USB 3.0, SATA 3.0, and support for 3TB drives. As part of the 900 series chipset, it finally allows SLI on an AMD mobo, but still supports Crossfire as well. The only con I can think of is the limited PCIe bandwith, but that isn’t too big of a deal, and the 990FX is only a little more expensive. This is a great budget motherboard, and is quite future-proof with all the connectivity and new IO it supports. So if you’re building and AMD system, might use SLI, and plan to upgrade your components in the future, this is a great option to consider!
My Build:
AMD 1100T 6-core processor at 3.3 GHZ
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance 1600MHZ DDR3 RAM
PNY Nvidia GTX 460
Seagate 1TB HDD
Corsair CX500 500W PSU
Some generic DVD/CD drive
Cooler Master Storm Enforcer Mid-tower Case
I hope this [very long] review was helpful to you!
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|Excellent Budget Gamer Motherboard,
This is my first personal PC build, I wanted to dabble into PC gaming but didn’t want to break the bank for an endeavor I may not heavily invest time on. At the same time, it is always smart to leave yourself with options and with an AM3+ socket to support the next generation of CPUs, a 900 series chipset to use these new processors to their fullest, and native SLI support this motherboard is perfect! I can find myself using this board comfortably for years to come.
Support for USB 3.0 ports along with two USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel, Dolby Digital Audio for home theaters, and plenty of expansion slots. As I said before, the 900 series chipset has support for SLI now and the 990x chipset can support up to two graphic cards for Crossfire or SLI, with the second PCI-E x16 slot running at x8 speed. Since the first PCI-E x16 slot and the second uses the same bandwidth using both slots lowers the speed of the first slot to x8 as well, but that is only like a 5% decrease in performance compared to the 990FX chipset which can support more slots and at x16 speeds.
I digress, if you’re an entry level or budget gamer this isn’t a concern, the point of SLI and Crossfire is to allow you to increase performance on the cheap, by purchasing one card and later on getting another when the price is even lower. Yes you could get by w/ a 970 chipset, but you might as well shell out the couple extra bucks to have the option to support SLI or Crossfire.
Another case for future proofing is that the 900 series chipset can use the upcoming Bulldozer CPUs to their fullest, you don’t want to get an 800 series mobo with an AM3+ socket because while Bulldozer will work, you just won’t be able to get all of its performance. Currently I’m using a Phenom II x4 955 BE, two years from now when I feel like my CPU is bottlenecking I can easily switch the CPU without also having to purchase a new motherboard. Once again, another way to save money for those on the budget AND keeping yourself open to options for the future.
Here is my build:
CPU – Phenom II x4 955 BE
Heatsink – Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Mobo – Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3
RAM – G. Skill Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600
HDD – WD Black 1TB 7200 SATA 3 & Samsung Eco 1TB 5400
Optical Drive – LG CD/DVD burner OEM
Case – Antec Three Hundred Illusion
PSU – Antec High Current Gamer 520
GPU – EVGA Nvidia GTS 450
At the time I purchased this motherboard for $139.99, better than all of the competitor prices!
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|GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3,
Have a few days on this board so far.
+ Three decent sized heatsinks which for the price is great. They do not, however, have heat pipes which are a step up from these.
+ Sata 6Gb/s when paired with a similar hard drive is a nice experience.
+ Usb 3.0 will provide nice speed increases.
+ TouchBios is very interesting as you can use the bios and make changes as well all within the Windows OS. No touchscreen required.
+ DualBios is another very interesting thing. Two bios chips are onboard. If one fails for whatever reason the other automatically takes over at the next cold boot. I wonder what are the chances of this happening vs. having to rma.
– Bios firmware updating could use a bit of improvement. Would be mighty nice if it could see NTFS formatted drives. Not just FATs.
– Windows HAS to reinstall device drivers after a firmware update… weird. My first Gigabyte board ever. Never seen that one before.
– Sata ports appear to be the new way of pointing them. They are pointed towards the hard drive bays. Possibly to make more room on the board. Plugging cables into the ports can especially be a challenge if using straight ended cables and in smaller cases.
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Additional: There are of course the sata cables that come with the board which, because of the bend, it makes the process a bit easier. In the pc case I own, getting the hand there properly is quite difficult. Some cases will be better for this and some worse.
The box supplies two L shaped sata cables. I would recommend using them, however, the L shaped ends may only be used with the top ports as the bottom ports probably do not have sufficient space to allow the L. Therefore it may only be possible to use three ports if using only the L shaped ends.
With that said, the use of more than three devices may cause complication and frustration. If the ports were facing towards us, the complication may still be there but the frustration would be lessened.
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– fan control aka noise control could be a bit more user friendly and offer more options.
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Additional: That said, it does do well on quieting the fans. Its just that there seems to be no “optimal” or medium fan speed mode.
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+ or – NO IDE ports. Shed the ancient IDE hardware or look somewhere else.
+ or – No cmos jumper cap. Removing the battery is how they want you to do it. Also stated in the manual is to use a screwdriver to short the cmos pins if that is how you want to do it. Works for me.
Overall a good board and by no means the best.
I would buy something else for my personal PC. My main goal with this board is reliability so if it lasts it will have been a good buy.
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