GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM3 Motherboard Review

Conclusion

Affordable, budget, low-end...these are words that invoke unavoidable thoughts of poor performance, sparse features and uninspired design. While that might have been true in the days of yore, this motherboard puts all those worries to rest. This is mainly true because the GA-MA770-UD3 is not in fact a low-end motherboard; it is simply a mainstream model with a budget price. Despite being one of the least expensive AMD motherboards that you can buy, the specifications list reads like any mainstream motherboard. Granted, it doesn't have any eSATA ports but that is a moot point since eSATA adoption has been slow among consumers. We also can't begrudge this motherboard's lack of CrossFire support since the AMD 770 chipset was designed to only support one graphics card.


It most certainly is not perfect though. There are layout issues in the form of the poorly placed CPU power connector and USB headers. There are design issues in the form of a PCI-E x16 slot latch that is nearly impossible to reach, the presence of the antiquated 4-pin CPU connector and a wobbly northbridge heatsink. Last but not least, the BIOS has a mysteriously low 2.175V memory voltage limit and there is no support for Advanced Clock Control (ACC), which means that you can't try to unlock the extra cores and cache on AM3 processors. Are these deal breakers? Not when you look at the price tag and especially not when you consider the following: The GA-MA770-UD3 that we have reviewed is the rev 1.0, and Gigabyte have already released rev 2.0.. What's the difference? Well not only does this new version feature a proper 8-pin CPU connector and DDR2-1333 support, but most importantly it uses a brand new southbridge; the SB710. Why is this important? Well the SB710 brings with it one big party trick: Advanced Clock Control (ACC). Everyone agrees that ACC is one of the factors that makes AM3 processors exciting and it is a huge boon that this newer version supports this worthwhile feature.

Overall, the MA770-UD3 provides great Bang for the Buck in our opinion and as long as buyers are aware of its few quirks, it is easy to recommend to just about anyone planning to build a new AM2+/AM3 system...just make sure that you buy the rev 2.0 if you can.


Pros

- Undeniable value.
- Great performance.
- Solid overclocking capabilities.
- User-friendly BIOS.
- Very good connectivity.
- Decent software suite.
- Lots of fan headers.
- Newer version is out (rev 2.0) that fixes most of the cons listed below.


Cons

- PCI-E x16 slot clip/latch is very hard to reach when a dual-slot graphics card is installed.
- Wobbly northbridge heatsink.
- 2.175V memory limit in the BIOS.
- No support for Advanced Clock Control (ACC) (rev 1.0 only).
- Mediocre 4-pin CPU power connector & USB header placement.
- 4-pin CPU power connector instead of 8-pin (rev 1.0 only).
- Not enough voltage and temperature readouts (as always).
- Only 2 SATA cables provided.

Our thanks to GIGABYTE for making this review possible!