Installation
Test Rig:
Intel Core i7 920 LGA 1366 processor
OCZ DDR3-1600 XMP Edition 6GB Triple Channel Memory Kit
Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 Video card
OCZ EliteXStream 850 Watt Power Supply
Zalman CNPS 10X Performa CPU Cooler
Ikonik Ra X10 Liquid Aluminum Full Tower (liquid cooling system not used)
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
WARNING – Use extreme caution when installing LGA 1366 CPUs. The pins in the CPU socket are very fragile and easily damaged. DO NOT TOUCH THE PINS WITH YOUR FINGERS!
CAREFULLY remove the protective cover from the CPU socket, using the ribs on the top of the cover and lift straight upwards. Observe the “keys” on the CPU and CPU socket to determine the proper orientation of the CPU. CAREFULLY place the CPU onto the socket. Close the retainer and gently lower and lock the locking lever.
Prep the CPU surface with isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth.
Prep the CPU cooler base with isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth. Apply thermal compound per the manufacturer’s instructions. Be aware if you are using a CPU cooler with heatpipes that directly touch the CPU surface you will need to manually spread the compound with a credit card or other thin flat item, the cooler base will not properly spread the compound itself.
Install the CPU cooler. Install the system memory. Unlike LGA 775 systems, do not install a memory module in the slot nearest the CPU socket, use the three slots starting with the second slot from the CPU and ending with the slot nearest the front edge of the motherboard. Gigabyte designates the proper slots with white hardware. Use the other three only if using six memory modules, and I highly recommend using only three when booting the system for the first time. Add the other three after the system is set up and running.
Install the motherboard’s I/O shield in the proper opening. Install the motherboard offsets, then install the motherboard into the case. Connect the power and drive cables to the motherboard.
Install the video card, double check your work, and you’re done.
How can the board be “laid out well” if the two x16 slots are side by side.
This effectively hamstrings any dual-GPU solution above a Radeon 4850. It's completely illogical.
???
Your overclocking results graphs should either go to zero on the dependent axis or include results from another setup for comparison. Without doing one of the two, the bar graph picture tells us nothing at best, and is misleading at worst.
Sorry to harp, but I just want to help. Your review is very useful and well done otherwise.
The article is incorrect. the 2 x16 slots are slots 3 & 5, for a 3 way SLI, add in slot #7 running at x8. Slot #4 is a spare x8 that generally gets covered by the primary video card.
Do you know if VT-d is working on this mobo? X58 chipset have this feature but sometimes it doesn't work. I'd like buy this mobo and install ESXi 4 (or XEN) with VT-d (VMDirectPath). Anybody test VT-d on this motherboard?
Sorry for my bad english
Do you know if VT-d is working on this mobo? X58 chipset have this feature but sometimes it doesn't work. I'd like buy this mobo and install ESXi 4 (or XEN) with VT-d (VMDirectPath). Anybody test VT-d on this motherboard?
Sorry for my bad english
Yes, I have ESXi 4.0 Update 1 installed on this motherboard. Can't get ESXi to recognize RAID — keeps seeing the individual disks, but ESXi is running great, including a 64-bit VM, so VT-d is working.
Was on-board LAN interface working with ESXi 4.0 ?
I Have this board know and i cant get windows 7 to install! really anoying. please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Windows 7 installer freezes with the hard disk and optical drive hooked up to the Southbridge-powered SATA ports. Workaround: install Windows 7 with the drives connected to the Gigabyte SATA2 controller. After the successful installation the Southbridge-powered ports work.
Windows 7 installer freezes with the hard disk and optical drive hooked up to the Southbridge-powered SATA ports. Workaround: install Windows 7 with the drives connected to the Gigabyte SATA2 controller. After the successful installation the Southbridge-powered ports work.
Thanks for the info. I was just about to buy one of these boards and I'm sure I would have came across this problem.
VT-d is for directed I/O, a feature of the chipset used to map hardware directly to virtual machine, it's not the same as VT, the CPU feature used to run 64 bit virtual machine.
So, your answers is not correct.
it seems that VT-d is not supported in this board.
See there: http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13…
Before you run out and buy one of these, google the MB and the terms “High pitched noise, or “whine”.
This board and it’s next two higher (UD5 & UD7) priced x58 cousins have been having problems with a VERY ANNOYING whine, sort of like a cat fight. Most folks think it’s the chokes. Gigabyte has been releasing bios updates to cure a hardware problem. To date, no cure despite revision 2 releases of the board. Google the board before you buy. There are videos on youtube of the problems.