Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 X58 Motherboard Review

BIOS Rundown

When we reviewed the Gigabyte EP45 series motherboards we noted that we were pleasantly surprised by the marked improvements in the BIOS department, both in terms of layout and functionality. Well, we are pleased to report that these improvements have made their way on to this EX58 series model and then some.

Let's take a closer look:


The initial selection screen should be broadly familiar to anyone who has used an Award-based motherboard in the past, and it conveniently lists the GIGABYTE-specific MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) section as the first menu.


When you open the M.I.T. section you are greeted with all the essential system clock control options that a serious overclocker needs: CPU & memory multiplier, BLCK, UCLK, QPI Link, PCI-E, etc. Most notably we have access to numerous multipliers for both the QPI Link and system memory, but no such multiplier for the Uncore...that is until we access the appropriate sub-menu, as denoted by the little white arrows.


The Advanced CPU Features sub-menu allows us to enable/disable Intel’s various CPU-specific technologies. The C1E, EIST, Virtualization, and Thermal Monitor technologies are carryovers from the Core 2 days, while the Turbo Boost, Multi-threading, and Cx State Supports are new additions to the Core i7 series. The Uncore & QPI Features sub-menu allows another means of adjusting the QPI Link speed and Uncore frequency.


The Advanced Clock Control sub-menu permits adjustment of the BLCK and PCI-E frequencies, as as well controlling the C.I.A 2 (CPU Intelligent Accelerator) automatic overclocking function. The clock drive and clock skews settings are also present, but thus far we haven't had a use for them during our Core i7 overclocking endeavours.


As you scroll down, the motherboard voltage and DRAM options are revealed. Every voltage setting that a serious overclocker could ever want is present and accounted for. There are drop-down lists for the voltage options, but you can can also manually insert the voltage settings which is our favourite method. The more perceptive among you will have noticed in the above screenshots that this model also features Load-Line Calibration (LLC), which is a terrific feature that eliminates droopage on the CPU Vcore, and which we will examine closer in our Voltage Regulation section.

For a complete list of voltage ranges, see the chart below:

	Minimum	Maximum	Increment	Notes
CPU Vcore	0.50000v	1.90000v	0.00625v	Normal sets the VID for the CPU
CPU PLL	1.800v	2.520v	0.020v	Standard 1.80v
QPI/VTT	1.075v	2.015v	0.020v	Standard 1.10v
IOH Core	1.000v	2.000v	0.020v	Standard 1.10v
PCIE	1.000v	2.140v	0.020v	Standard 1.50v
ICH Core	1.000v	2.000v	0.020v	Standard 1.10v
ICH I/O	1.050v	2.500v	0.020v	Standard 1.50v
DRAM	1.300v	2.600v	0.020v	Standard 1.50v
DRAM Termination	0.500v	1.205v	0.020v	Standard 0.75v
Ch-A Data VRef.	0.680v	0.950v	0.010v	Standard 0.75v
Ch-B Data VRef.	0.680v	0.950v	0.010v	Standard 0.75v
Ch-C Data VRef.	0.680v	0.950v	0.010v	Standard 0.75v
Ch-A Address VRef.	0.690v	0.950v	0.010v	Standard 0.75v
Ch-B Address VRef.	0.690v	0.950v	0.010v	Standard 0.75v
Ch-C Address VRef.	0.690v	0.950v	0.010v	Standard 0.75v

As you can see, Gigabyte have been quite loose with the available voltage options, and they have provided high enough maximums to satisfy all but the most ambitious (ie: crazy) overclockers.


The Standard CMOS Features menu is pretty standard, it lists the connected storage devices and allows you to set the date/time in the BIOS. The Advanced BIOS Features section is where you can set boot device priority, disable the boot-delaying logo, as well as choose which graphics card in which expansion slot to utilize during system boot.


The Integrated Peripherals section allows you to enable/disable all of the various onboard devices (RAID, audio, USB, FireWire, LAN, etc), while the Power Management Setup is fairly self-descriptive. As on most motherboards, the PC Health Status section is a slight disappointment since there is insufficient voltages and temperatures readouts. On a motherboard of this caliber there is no reason not to have all vital voltages available for scrutiny in the bios.


This last screenshot is of the Q-Flash utility which is accessed via the F8 key. Since Q-Flash is built right into the BIOS and it can read files directly from a USB flash drive, BIOS flashing is now a simple and quick procedure. We have never experienced an issue with this well implemented tool, and it has certainly made our lives a little less stressful.

Overall, Gigabyte have done a great job with this BIOS. Our usual disappointment with the lack of voltage readouts is more than overshadowed by the excellent MB Intelligent Tweaker section, which has every feature that we would expect in a high-end X58 motherboard. On a side note, we are pleased to report that the scrolling and general feel of this BIOS (version F5c) was much snappier than the occasionally sluggish BIOS in the EP45 series.