Power Consumption and Conclusions
Power consumption
The X58A-UD3R’s power results are pretty consistent with the other LGA 1366 boards in our lineup today. It actually scored four watts less than Gigabyte’s first UD3R board based on the X58 chipset. We didn’t notice any special variations in power during testing and the board was very stable during idle, load, and overclocking.
Performance and Features
After reviewing the benchmark results and overclocking score we were feeling pretty good about the X58A-UD3R. Since we weren’t able to fully test the board’s SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0 capabilities we can’t give our readers a comprehensive assessment of everything it can do. But, from what we were able to evaluate, we saw many good features that should entice DIY builders to upgrade their mobos to this $200 board.
Some of the key selling points for this board include the two-way and three-way SLI and CrossfireX graphics configurations, triple channel DDR3 2200 support, and of course the SATA/USB 3.0 upgrades. The BIOS is also very focused on giving overclockers every options to customize their voltages, timings, and CPU speeds to pull every ounce of performance from their LGA 1366 processors.
Prospective buyers of the X58A-UD3R should also take into account all of Gigabyte’s unique additions to this board like the two USB 3.0 ports on the back IO, multiple RAID options through the chipset and Gigabyte’s own SATA2 controller, and a plethora of applications and utilities like @BIOS, Q-Flash, XPress BIOS Rescue, Xpress Install, Xpress Recovery2, EasyTune for overclocking, Dynamic Energy Saver 2, Smart6 PC Management, Auto Green, eXtreme Hard Drive, and Q-Share. These applications are specifically optimized for this series of boards and just expands on initial feature set provides by the X58A chipset and other controllers.
Pricing and Availability
As of June 12, the X58A-UD3R was available at Newegg for $209.99 with free shipping. Amazon.com also has this board for $209.99 and Buy.com has it for $218.99.
Final Thoughts
We’d like to thank our friends at Gigabyte for providing the X58A-UD3R for our review today. Gigabyte packed tons of great features, bundled accessories, as well as applications and utilities into their lowest end X58A board. While the board is priced at around $210 with shipping, this is on par with the current market climate, but that doesn’t mean consumers might be a little apprehensive at purchasing these fairly expensive parts in the current economic environment.
The popularity and competitive price point of the P55-based motherboards are also making it difficult for enthusiasts and gamers to drop the cash on X58A-based boards. The addition of SATA/USB 3.0 are welcome features, but the availability of devices that include this technology are still pretty scarce. We still need to give Gigabyte props for being forward-thinking and including these components before they are widely available to consumers.
Overall, the X58A-UD3R is modest overclocker with high-end features for a low-end cost (comparable to current market prices). At $210, the board really targeted at overclockers and enthusiasts looking to move up to six-core Gultowns and SATA/USB 3.0 devices. This board should work very well with those high-end components and give users the highest performance speeds modern CPUs and storage devices can offer.