Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 X58 Motherboard Review

Included Software

In this section, we will take a closer look at EasyTune6 and D.E.S Advanced, which are the two main software utilities that Gigabyte have packaged with the EX58-UD5.


EasyTune6

EasyTune6 is a system management utility that displays system clock speeds, voltages, temperatures, and fan rotation…but more importantly it allows users to overclock from within Windows. Now anyone familiar with past EasyTune iterations knows that although this utility has always contained a fair bit of functionality, its ease of use left a little to be desired. Well thankfully Gigabyte went back to the drawing board, and created a brand new EasyTune version from scratch. Let's check it out.


The CPU and Memory tabs provide basic component information and are somewhat reminiscent of the immensely popular CPU-Z utility. On a side note, those looking for the best CPU-Z copycat application should take a look at the E-LEET utility bundled with the EVGA X58 SLI.


For those who desire a more manual approach to overclocking, the Tuner tab has an Easy mode which allows control over the base clock (BCLK). However, it is when users click on Advance that EasyTune 6 reveals its true inner beauty…unprecedented Windows-based overclocking options. Not only can you adjust the BLCK, the memory multiplier, and the PCI-E frequency, but they have also provided overclockers with every voltage option that is found in the BIOS. Another impressive addition is the option to manually adjust the multiplier on every individual CPU core, even the 'virtual' logical cores (which is unnecessary to be honest).


The Graphics tab can be used to manipulate your graphics card’s core/memory/shader clock speeds. As you can see, it had a slight problem interacting with our Radeon HD 4870 X2 (Catalyst 9.1), so in the mean time we still recommend GPU-Z or RivaTuner for VGA tweaking/monitoring. The Smart tab gives you access to the CPU Intelligent Accelerator (C.I.A) 2 and Smart Fan functions. The CPU Intelligent Accelerator was designed to automatically overclock the CPU according to system load and user-selected level. In our experiences, C.I.A.2 has never really worked as well as it should and it has now been effectively replaced by Quick Boost, so we wouldn't be surprised to see it disappear shortly. As the name suggests, Smart Fan feature gives users finely-tuned control over the CPU fan speed.


Lastly, we have HW Monitor which is the only part of EasyTune6 that disappoints us. Despite providing us with over a dozen voltage tweaking options in the Tuner tab, the HW Monitor only displays three voltage readings. This is a high-end motherboard, and surely comprehensive voltage monitoring shouldn't be viewed as an extravagant luxury. Failing to provide us with the trio of important system voltages (3.3V / 5.0V / 12V), we would have settled for the +12V rail since it is considerably more important than the +5V in modern systems.

Overall though, we do sincerely enjoy using EasyTune6. It was consistently one of the first pieces of software we installed after a fresh Windows installation, and it was definitely a huge help in finding this motherboard's overclocking limits. EasyTune 6 was arguably the first of the next-generation manufacturer-specific tweaking utilities, and with little tweaks here and there it remains a worthwhile application.


DES Advanced

Now let's have a look at the DES Advanced energy saving solution, which is one of Gigabyte’s most highly-publicized features.


After first installing the Dynamic Energy Saver (DES) software, we are greeted with a powered down control panel. This means all DES functions are turned off and disabled. Only when we click on the large DES logo to the right does the panel come to life and power savings begin.


The software is pretty straightforward; we have our power savings meter in the top portion providing us with information about how much power was saved. There is the meter total that can easily be reset and the total amount saved since DES was first installed and enabled. Right below the meter is the animation that shows us how many phases of the PWM are actually running. Because the system was in a high load state all twelve phases were in use.


In this image the system is in an idle state, and DES Advanced has throttled down the CPU and only 4 power phases are being utilized. Below we see the on-board LEDs that also show how many phases are in use. These LEDs can be turned on and off through the control panel with the little green light to the right under the main DES on/off switch.


Now that we have gone through all the trouble of explaining how it works, the big question is does it work? In order to test this out we enabled all the Intel energy saving features in the BIOS, then let the system idle for 1 hour and measured the KW/h power consumption through our UPM EM100 power meter. We repeated the same procedure for 1 hour of Prime 95 Blend load. We then installed the DES software, set it to maximum energy saving, turned the Dynamic Frequency on, and repeated the tests. Here are the results:


While the power savings at idle were unmeasurable during our brief one hour test, these results prove that DES works quite well in high load scenarios. While running Prime 95 Blend, the power consumption of the DES-enabled system reached a maximum of 246W, whereas the default system peaked at 250W. This might seem like an insignificant decrease, but over the span of several months the energy and monetary savings would begin to add up, especially for those who constantly run intensive programs like Folding @ Home. When we enabled CPU Throttling, which is disabled by default, the peak power consumption remarkably dropped down to 219W. However, these energy savings come at the cost of performance since the CPU clock fell to and remained at 1.66Ghz despite the heavy CPU load.

Last, but of particular importance to the enthusiast crowd, is the fact that Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced can be used with an overclocked system, which is something that most competing energy saving technologies do not support.