Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7

Gigabyte 990FXA UD&Introduction

Welcome to the world of motherboards! This is a place where cheap alternatives often beat the most expensive flagships. Creating a competitively priced but well performing product is the goal. With that in mind, here’s Gigabyte’s new AMD AM3+ socket motherboard, the GA-990FXA-UD7, based on the AMD 990FX chipset. The AM3+ socket is backwards compatible but is introduced rather early this year to be the base platform for the upcoming Zambezi CPU’s, based on the Bulldozer architecture.

Today we will be looking at the UD7 as a sneak-peak of the greatness this motherboard holds for the Zambezi CPU’s, as to date AMD has yet to release these puppies in the wild.

What does Gigabyte tell us about the GA-990FXA-UD7?

“The 990FXA-UD7 motherboard is designed to offer a stable, high-speed platform for delivering amazingly fast data transfer via the GIGABYTE 333 onboard acceleration technologies. Featuring the USB3.0 controller, AMD 900 series motherboards allow users to take advantage of super fast USB transfer rates of up to 5Gbps, delivering 10x faster data transfer compared to USB 2.0. Utilizing the industry’s first Serial ATA Revision 3.0 solution via AMD SB950 chipset, GIGABYTE AMD 900 series motherboards offer native 6 ports of next generation high speed data storage devices support with data transfer speeds of up to 6 Gbps with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10. The AMD 900 series motherboards introduce a unique hardware design with lower resistance fuses for ensuring lower voltage drops and providing more stable and plentiful power delivery. All USB ports also benefit from a 3x power boost for better power delivery to power hungry USB devices.”

Specifications

  • CPU: AM3+ Socket
  • Support for AMD AM3+ FX processors
  • Support for AMD AM3 Phenom™ II processors / AMD Athlon™ II processors
  • Chipset: North Bridge: AMD 990FX
  • South Bridge: AMD SB950
  • Memory: 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB Support for DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
  • Audio: Realtek ALC889 codec, High Definition Audio 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel, Support for Dolby Home Theater, Support for S/PDIF Out
  • LAN: 1 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
  • Expansion Slots: 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16, 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x8 ,2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x4, 1 x PCI slot
  • Storage Interface: 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3_0~SATA3_5) supporting up to 6 SATA 6Gb/s devices, Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID5, RAID 10 and JBOD, 2 x Marvell 88SE9172 chips, 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors, 2 x eSATA 6Gb/s connectors (including 1 eSATA/USB Combo connector) on the back panel, Support for RAID 0 and RAID 1
  • South Bridge: Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 ports on the back panel, including 1 eSATA/USB Combo connector, 6 ports available through the internal USB headers)
  • 2 x Etron EJ168 chips: Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)
  • IEEE 1394VIA VT6308 chip: Up to 2 IEEE 1394a ports (1 port on the back panel, 1 port available through the internal IEEE 1394a header)
  • Internal I/O Connectors: 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector, 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector, 1 x PCIe power connector, 8 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors, 1 x CPU fan header, 2 x system fan headers, 1 x power fan header, 1 x front panel header, 1 x front panel audio header, 1 x S/PDIF Out header, 3 x USB, 2.0/1.1 headers, 1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header, 1 x IEEE 1394a header, 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header, 1 x clearing CMOS jumper, 1 x clearing CMOS button, 1 x power button, 1 x reset button
  • Back Panel Connectors: 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector, 1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector, 1 x IEEE 1394a port, 7 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports, 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports, 1 x eSATA/USB Combo connector, 1 x eSATA 6Gb/s connector, 1 x RJ-45 port, 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)
  • BIOS: 2 x 32 Mbit flash, Use of licensed AWARD BIOS, Support for DualBIOS™, PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b, Support for @BIOS, Support for Q-Flash, Support for Xpress BIOS Rescue, Support for Download Center, Support for Xpress Install, Support for Xpress Recovery2, Support for EasyTune, Support for Easy Energy Saver, Support for Smart Recovery, Support for Auto Green, Support for ON/OFF Charge, Support for Cloud OC, Support for 3TB+ Unlock, Support for Q-Share, Bundle Software, Norton Internet Security (OEM version), Form Factor, ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 26.3cm.

4 responses to “Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7”

  1. […]  – Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 @ XSReviews […]

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  4. i would give it 4/10.

    too many usb 2.0 and not enough usb 3.0

    1. You use USB 3 for what exactly?

  5. 7/10 you must be joking.
    Voltage droop issue, Core unlocking issue and expensive.

    on top of that one miserable usb 3.0 controller for the front, same for the back.
    is this a mb for the future?
    well, not for me.

    1. Hi Zeepkist,

      I’m not joking at all. In my eyes 7/10 for a flagship motherboard is a bad score. These top-of-the-line motherboards are supposed to take the crown, regardless of their price. In this case the price barely justifies the quality of the motherboard.

      If the motherboard didn’t have the Vdroop and core unlocking issue it would have had a much better score. It’s up to Gigabyte to fix these problems, or at least show that the Vdroop is essential for the upcoming Zambezi.

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