![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , February 01, 2010
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 Motherboard Review
The X58A-UD7 is GIGABYTE\'s newest entry into the fiercely competitive LGA1366 board arena. The board packs a lot of promise, built on GIGABYTE\'s tried and true X58 based design with some nice bells and whistles added for that extra bit of appeal including USB 3.0 and SATA III features.
BIOS
The X58A-UD7 was paired up with a Phoenix AWARD style BIOS. The BIOS shown below and used in testing was version F3g. Note that pressing the Ctrl-F1 key combination from the top level menu enables expert mode settings in the listed submenus.
The MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.) menu is the centralized location housing various options and submenus for controlling board memory, speed, and voltage related settings. Note that all settings listed in the top level menu are mirrored in the various submenus.
The Advanced CPU Features submenu contains settings for internal CPU related operation. The CPU Clock Ratio options configures the base multiplier ratio setting for the CPU in use, with the actual values available dictated by the CPU itself. The read-only CPU Frequency option shows the current CPU speed, which is determined by multiplying the Base Clock value by the CPU Clock Ratio value. The Intel(R) Turbo Boost Tech. option controls an internal CPU based overclocking mechanism, automatically setting the CPU ratio to a max+1 multiplier setting regardless of the CPU Clock Ratio setting. The CPU Core Enabled option allows to you disable 1 or more of the processor cores, while the CPU Multi-Threading option controls the state of the individual processor HyperThreading mechanism (with HyperThreading active for all active processors with this option enabled). The configurable CPU specific settings include the following: C1E support, C3/C6/C7 halt state support, CPU thermal monitor support, Intel SpeedStep support (EIST) , Intel virtualization technology, and thermal control circuit support (PROCHOT).
The UnCore & QPI Features submenu contains options controlling the system QuickPath Interconnect and Uncore bus speed settings. The QPI Link Speed option displays the current QuickPath Interconnect Link speed, which is the speed for the data lanes connecting the CPU and Northbridge chipsets. The QPI Link Speed is set via a multiplier setting, which can be set to a maximum of a 48X multiplier. The actual link speed is listed under the setting, with the value shown as the Base Clock value multiplied by the QPI Link ratio. Similarly, the Uncore Frequency option controls the link speed between the internal CPU memory controller and the system memory, again with a 48X maximum multiplier setting available. The Uncore bus speed shown is equal to the Base Clock value multiplied by the Uncore Frequency value. The Isochronous Support option controls the lane settings between the board’s Northbridge and Southbridge controllers. Enabling this option allows for multiple data streams of equal size between the two controllers.
The Advanced Clock Control submenu contains configuration options for bus speeds. The BCLK Frequency(MHz) option becomes user accessible with the Base Clock(BCLK) Control option enabled. This setting controls the system Base Clock, from which most board bus speeds are derived. The system Base Clock can be set to a maximum value of 600MHz. The PCI Express Frequency(MHz) option controls the PCI bus speed, with a 150MHz maximum settable. The CPU Clock Drive setting controls the CPU to Northbridge base clock driving control voltage, with a 1000mV maximum allowed. The PCI Express Clock Drive controls the Southbridge to Northbridge base clock driving control voltage, again with a maximum 1000mV allowed. The CPU Clock Skew option sets the CPU base clock delay, with a maximum of 750ps available delay, while the IOH Clock Skew sets the Northbridge clock delay, also settable to a 750ps maximum.
The Advanced Dram Features submenu contains all system memory related timing and speed settings. The Performance Enhance setting controls internal chipset related performance settings, with the Extreme option giving the best overall performance gains. The Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P) option allows for the BIOS to use the manufacturer profile data present on XMP type memory modules for greater overall system memory performance. The System Memory Multiplier (SPD) options controls the physical memory speed thru the use of multipliers, with the highest multiplier available being 18X. The actual memory speed is shown in the Memory Frequency(MHz) option, with the value shown equal to the Base Clock value multiplied by the Memory multiplier value. The memory timing options for Channel and Rank Interleaving are settable from this submenu as well.
The memory timing settings are shown on a per channel basis via the Channel A Timing Settings, Channel B Timing Settings, and Channel C Timing Settings submenus, with all submenus showing channel specific cloned settings. The memory timing settings available include the following: CAS latency; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD); RAS precharge delay (tRP); active to precharge delay (tRAS); row cycle time (tRC); RAS to RAS delay (tRRD); write to read delay (tWTR); write recovery time (tWR); write to precharge delay (tWTP); write latency (tWL); row refresh cycle delay (tRFC); read to precharge delay (tRTP); four active window delay (tFAW); command rate; B2B CAS delay; and asynchronous latency (Round Trip Latency).
The channel turnaround settings, which control read and write delay settings across DIMMs, are also broken down on a per channel basis via the Channel A Turnaround Settings, Channel B Turnaround Settings, and Channel C Turnaround Settings submenus. As with the channel specific timings menus, all channel specific turnaround settings submenus contain cloned settings. The following timing settings are configurable: read to read delay; and write to write delay. Note that all timing settings are broken down in to three categories: different DIMM modules (Different DIMMs); same memory chip placement between modules (On The Same Rank); and different memory chip placement between modules (Different Ranks).
The Advanced Voltage Control submenu houses the board voltage configuration settings. The Load-Line Calibration setting configures the CPU vDROOP value, with the vDROOP voltage BIOS handling configurable via a Level 1 and Level 2 setting. The Level 2 setting offers the tightest voltage control. The CPU Vcore option configures the CPU voltage, with a 1.90V maximum. The QPI/Vtt Voltage option controls the QuickPath Link and Uncore clock voltage, with a 2.000V maximum available. The CPU PLL Voltage setting controls the voltage for the CPU power regulation circuitry, with an upper limit available of 2.52V. The PCI-Express bus voltage is configured using the PCIE option, with a 2.14V ceiling. The QPI DLL option regulates the voltage for the power regulator tied to the QuickPath Interconnect bus, with a 1.60V maximum allowed. The chipset voltage is determined via 3 voltage settings, IOH Core with a 2.00V maximum, ICH I/0 with a 2.30V ceiling, and ICH Core with a 2.38V allowable setting. The DRAM voltage for the DDR3 modules can be set to a maximum of 2.60V. The DRAM Termination option controls the memory termination voltage with a 1.705V maximum settable. The DRAM Data VRef. and DRAM Address VRef. options control the DRAM reference voltage settings for the board on a per channel basis, all settings having a 1.45V maximum.
The Hard Disk Boot Priority submenu, located as a link from the Advanced BIOS Features menu, displays all hard drive devices connected to the system at system boot time including detected USB 2.0 type devices.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains various settings and submenus for configuring the board’s various integrated devices including the Intel ICH10R RAID controller, the GIGABYTE RAID controller, the JMicron RAID controller, the Marvell SATA 3 RAID controller, the Realtek GigE LAN controllers, the IEEE 1394 ports, the USB 2.0 ports, the USB 3.0 ports, and the Realtek HD audio subsystem. The ICH SATA Control Mode and SATA Port0-3 Native Mode options configure the ICH10R’s SATA port operation mode, with the Intel boot BIOS showing with the ICH SATA Control Mode option set to RAID and an active SATA device connected to one of the onboard ports. The eSATA Controller and eSATA Ctrl Mode options configure the e-SATA ports tied to the JMicron controller. The GSATA 6_7/IDE Controller and GSATA 6_7/IDE Ctrl Mode settings configure the Marvell controlled SATA 3 ports, with the RAID settings configured through the GSATA RAID Configuration link. The GSATA 8_9/IDE Controller and GSATA 8_9/IDE Ctrl Mode settings configure the GIGABYTE controlled ATA-133 IDE and SATA 2 ports. The GIGABYTE RAID boot BIOS displays with the GSATA 8_9/IDE Ctrl Mode option set to RAID/IDE.
The PC Health Status submenu displays real-time status on all BIOS monitored voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds. There are also rudimentary options for configuring device warnings based on temperature and fan speed, as well as a temperature based CPU fan controller.
The BIOS contains an built in flash applet named Q-Flash, which can be accessed from the main menu by pressing the F8 key. The Q-Flash utility allows you to load and save BIOS images from or to a local hard drive, USB, or floppy device. We tested this feature using two different USB flash drives. One worked fine, the other would not be recognized by the Q-Flash utility although the flash drive worked fine for booting off of an loading Windows from it.Q-Flash has been a little picky in the past and it looks to be sticking with that trend.
The BIOS also has profile saving and load capabilities. The BIOS profile save menu is accessed by pressing the F11 key from the main menu, with the option of creating up to 8 profiles as well as the capability to save to an attached drive device. This way you can share your BIOS settings with the community as well. The BIOS profile load menu is accessed by pressing the F12 key from the main menu. The load menu allows for loading of any previously saved BIOS profiles, as well as loading a profile from an attached drive device including attached USB type devices.