Gigabyte’s First “Black” Motherboards

When strolling across the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2010 venue yesterday, we caught a glimpse of the Gigabyte P67A-UD5 and P67A-UD7. Gigabyte is the only consumer motherboard manufacturer who participates in IDF 2010.

Both products represent Gigabyte’s first attempt to produce LGA1155 motherboards.

With USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, and 3x USB Power, Gigabyte’s P67A-UD5 and P67A-UD7 are not so different in term of features compared to their P55 series of motherboards. There is one minor fix though: instead of using plastic pins to attach the heatsinks on top of the chipsets, Gigabyte now fastens them using a set of screws and bolts for a firmer contact.

P67A-UD7

This motherboard has four PCI-Ex16 slots. A PCI-E bridge chip (possibly the nForce 200 or a similar PLX product) is added to provide support for 2×16 or 4×8 SLI configurations, using two or four graphics cards simultaneously. Two PCI slots and one PCI-Ex1 slot are available to accommodate other peripherals. Also, there are six SATA 3Gb/s ports, two SATA 6Gb/s ports. On the back plate, we can find two Gigabit Ethernet ports, 8-Channel HD Audio connectors, four USB 3.0 connectors, one FireWire port, and one eSATA connector. To ensure constant flow of electricity into the processor, the UD7 comes equipped with a 24-phase VRM. The golden color of the heatsinks adds a nice touch to the overall looks.

P67A-UD5

The UD5 is a more economical version of the UD7. It uses a 20-phase VRM to keep the LGA1155 processor well fed. In total, there are three PCI-Express x16 slots, two SATA 6Gb/s ports, four SATA 3Gb/s ports, two eSATA ports, 8-channel HD Audio connectors, a gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 3.0 ports, and one FireWire port. Slightly different from its more expensive sibling, the base color of the heatsinks on this motherboard is blue.