GIGABYTE 870A-UD3 AM3 Motherboard Review Comment Thread

[SKYMTL]

AMD processors have come a long way in the last year and have been making some serious inroads in the price / performance market. The motherboards have been following along with the newly-released 800-series chipsets competing directly with the best Intel has to offer. In this review we will be looking a fully featured, sub-$110 board: the Gigabyte 870A-UD3.

Also, please welcome our new reviewer: raxen!

[ Read full article ]

[_dangtx_]

bravo. love the general layout on giga boards. let me go to the oc page...hmmm




"8+2 power phase design "

even 80 dollar mobos come well equipped power filtering wise, got to love giga for that


wow. thats quite the overclock. any idea what those chippies are made to take? 120c? more?
in a well ventilated case(i.e top fan sucking air from around that area on the mobo) even 1.5 24/7 will be fine


more edits

happy to see you guys use everest more. just a benchie, but still :) thumbs up here as well

was looking for the power concumption page but its not there. i think the board supports the power saving e6 energy saver or whatever its called


bravo!!!

[Oversized Rooster]

Yep these new Gigabyte 800-series boards are great. I just built a customer's rig around the $90 880GM-UD2H.

Now I have precisely this 870A-UD3 mobo on order for another build. Honestly, I've achieved OC results that are quite close to what reviewers achieve with these budget boards. I love how you don't need to spend past $100 to get a full-featured board with AMD setups!

[_dangtx_]

hmmm


was pondering between this board and the 10 dollar more expensive but with igp GA-880GA-UD3H

and then i noticed something :









power thingies around the cpu area are quite more abundant on the 'lower end' 870 than the igp 880 unit, which makesn o sense atr all

ok,it does, they threw an igp in,took something else out

[raxen]

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

bravo. love the general layout on giga boards. let me go to the oc page...hmmm




"8+2 power phase design "

even 80 dollar mobos come well equipped power filtering wise, got to love giga for that


wow. thats quite the overclock. any idea what those chippies are made to take? 120c? more?
in a well ventilated case(i.e top fan sucking air from around that area on the mobo) even 1.5 24/7 will be fine


more edits

happy to see you guys use everest more. just a benchie, but still :) thumbs up here as well

was looking for the power concumption page but its not there. i think the board supports the power saving e6 energy saver or whatever its called


bravo!!!

I actually did a bit of digging to find out how much heat those MOSFETs can take while writing the review. IIRC, they can go up to 150C. Unfortunately, as you approaching that limit, the current leakage across the source and drain increases logarithmically, resulting in instable voltage and current delivery. If you push 1.5V for 24/7 under 100% load, be sure to aim a 80mm fan on the area. Alternately, invest in one of the Thermalright HR-09 heatsinks. They work really well and give you a peace of mind.

Power consumption testing will be reflected in my next review. I need to get a "kill-a-watt" from Canadian Tire.

[_dangtx_]

thanks for the follow up maite. good to have concrete numbers. i think its totally worth it to throw a few more bucks, this kind of mobo with a heatsink here and there couldve sold for 200+ if it were from another manufacturer(hint asus)


ps do get that killawatt. facepalm if you dont lol. give yourself a good 2-5% error margin

[kirk_d]

I am seriously considering this board for a budget gaming build. I found this sink at ncix.
NCIX.com - Buy Enzotech MST-66 Copper Mosfet Cooler for Select Gigabyte Motherboards - MST-66 In Canada.
I think the Hr 09 looks pretty good too!
I hate to ask Raxen, but could you provide the dimensions needed for that board?
Maybe a nice little schematic?
Thanx in advance!

[driftstang]

late to the game, i know. just wanted to say great review. i ordered this mobo based on this one review

[Fengatsu]

Hi guys, im new in the forum but i always read the reviews from here, they are nice

I ordered this mobo based on this review, but i wanna know if i should order heatsink for the mosfet, im planning to overclock my 1055t to 3.8 or 4ghz, maybe ill hit 1.5v and using that config 24/7, most of time for gaming.

But in my older rig, games never take the system to 100% under load and i doubt the new one will reach 100% unless i use torture test, its really necessary to get a hetsink or new fan??

i have a thermaltake armor jr. case with two 120mm fans so the airflow its good.

Sry for my bad english is not my native language :P i hope anyone can help me to decide :D

[sswilson]

I haven't used this particular motherboard, but folks have had a fair bit of luck with Giga boards and as such I'd be inclined to try it as-is first and then get a mosfet sink if you find you need it.