Gigabyte's GA-990FXA-UD7 gets previewed, in Japan

[siopao1984]

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Judging by the already large amount of high-end AMD 900-series chipset motherboards that have made an appearance on the internet, it's pretty clear that we're very close to the launch and that AMD must've managed to impress the motherboard makers with its upcoming CPUs. Gigabyte's GA-990FXA-UD7 is one of the more impressive boards we've seen so far, but it's not very likely to be the last new AMD motherboard to show up before Computex which is now barely a week away.

It's very clear that this is a UD7 board as the chipset and PWM heatsinks are all carrying the “gold” trim that we first saw on Gigabyte's P67A-UD7. The 990FX chipset itself is located in-between the PWM and the top PCI Express slot, but even so there are no comprises being made in terms of slot count, unlike Asus' TUF Sabertooth 990FX. The board sports an 8+2 PWM design us driver MOSFETs.



The slot layout is very unusual to say the least as the board has six 16 PCI Express slots and a single PCI slot. The x16 slots are configured in an unusual way as well, as the first slot is a x16 that should be shared with the third slot which is a x8, but the second slot is x4. The fourth slot is also a x4 slot with the fifth being a x16, then the PCI slot and finally another x8 slot. We're not exactly sure how the slots are wired and we'd need a manual to figure it out properly.



Beyond the slots we're looking at a front USB 3.0 header for two ports (via an Etron controller), three front USB 2.0 headers for six ports, a FireWire header, six native SATA 6Gbps ports and two additional SATA 6Gbps port via a third party controller and interestingly a 90-degree angled SATA power connector as per the X58-OC for extra power to the PCI Express slots. Gigabyte has also fitted a POST80 debug LED and a power, reset and clear CMOS button to the board.

Around the back we're looking at a PS/2 port, seven USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports (via a second Etron controller), an eSATA port, an eSATAp port (powered eSATA/USB combo), a FireWire port, a Gigabit Ethernet port and finally 7.1-channel audio with optical and coaxial S/PDIF out. We're missing a second Gigabit Ethernet port as this is usually the norm on Gigabyte's high-end motherboards.



In related news, we managed to dig up some pricing thanks to a Swedish online retailer that's already listing the 990FXA-UD7, as well as the 990FXA-UD5 and 990FXA-UD3, although sadly not specs so far. The 990FXA-UD7 is priced at 1990 SEK (S$390) which co-incidentally is what MSI's 990FXA-GD80 is listed for in the same shop. Do keep in mind that this includes 25 percent VAT, as the sales tax in Sweden is quite high. The 990FXA-UD5 is listed at 1590 SEK (S$312) and finally the 990FXA-UD3 comes in at 1190 SEK (S$234).

source: Gigabyte's GA-990FXA-UD7 gets previewed, in Japan

more pix here: Google Translate

[EarlZ]

Gigabyte sure knows how to make a visually impressive board!

[blizzaga4]

Why is it that AMD boards have low PWM while intel boards will reach like 24PWM?

[EarlZ]

Why is it that AMD boards have low PWM while intel boards will reach like 24PWM?

I've actually been wondering about that very same thing and I've come to a personal conclusion that if they added more stuff to an AMD board the cost would just add up and not really help performance or overclocking potential.. On Intel's side a lot of enthusiasts are willing to pay for the extra..

On both AMD and Intel's specification 4 Phase is more than enough as you can see on the lowest end motherboards but that does not give much room for overclocking and not even sufficient for a 2600K.

[stagnantwater]

Wow nice update, I have read somewhere release of BD to be June 20, 2011, is this correct?

[zoters]

kalamay kalami....i love you gigabyte...hehehe

[siopao1984]

update update lang

Gigabyte launches its 990FX boards

Gigabyte launches its 990FX boards

Wow, that was quick, the GA-990FXA-UD7 only leaked a few days ago and now Gigabyte appears to have launched its 990FX series of motherboards as the product pages for the GA-990FXA-UD7 and GA-990FXA-UD5 have gone live. This is a little bit surprising, but then again, AMD isn't quite as strict when it comes to chipset NDA's as Intel is and considering that the AM3+ motherboards are backwards compatible, you could use one with your current AM3 processor.

We've already covered the 990FXA-UD7 in quite some detail, so let's focus on the 990FXA-UD5. For a board that's meant to be a “lesser” model we can't see all that much missing. The board layout is slightly different with the top slot being a PCI Express x1 slot which sadly is blocked by the chipset heatsink, although smaller cards should work just fine. The we have a x16 PCI Express, a x4 another x16, another x4 a x8 slot which should share its bandwidth with the secondary x16 slot and finally a PCI slot. This means that you're "limited" to using three graphics cards with the 990FXA-UD5, a limit most of us won't find very troubling.



Beyond the six native SATA 6Gbps ports, Gigabyte has added two more SATA 6Gbps ports for a total of eight. There are pin headers for two front USB 3.0 ports (using an Etron controller), six USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port and a serial port just because. The PWM is an 8+2 design and a heatpipe connects the PWM heatsink to the one on the 990FX chipset.

Around the back we have no less than eight USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port, two eSATA 6Gbps ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a FireWire port, a Gigabit Ethernet port and 7.1-channel audio with optical S/PDIF out. We can't say that we're really missing anything in terms of connectivity on this board. The only real complaint would be the lack of fan headers with only three available beyond the one for the CPU and none is suitably located if you're using a sealed unit watercooling solution.



Gigabyte's new AMD motherboards are looking very promising and we're really holding our fingers crossed that AMD will deliver a range of CPUs that will live up to the expectations that all of the 900-series chipset motherboards we've seen so far are suggesting that we should hope for.

product page: GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM3+

[thads_vii]

ahhh grabeha najud ani.. syaro kag dili mobarato ang previous nga mga boards. huwat lang ko mag-upgrade mo mga sir... hahahaha

[mr.nicejohn]

payter!

[dootmars]

All blacked-out..kalams bah ani oii!