Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P - Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P

The array of ports on the I/O panel is comprehensive but despite that there seems to be quite a lot of unused space. There are two PS/2 ports next to the digital audio connections, then the single Firewire sits in glorious isolation and next to that we have the illuminated Clear CMOS button. Four USB ports are in a stack next to the switch followed by four more USB and the Gigabit Ethernet with six analogue mini jacks to finish. We'd be happier if the Clear CMOS button had more room around it and would have liked to see at least one eSATA port but broadly speaking we were happy with the layout of the UD4P and also with the list of features.

We hit a minor snag when we tried to get the Gigabyte running as we initially used memory slots one, three and five instead of two, four and six. As a result the system appeared to be dead until we did some detective work. The manual put us straight however we would have hoped for some sort of POST debug display as the UD4P is covered with LEDs. These show details such as the power phases when they are in operation which makes them essentially cosmetic. We fixed the memory problem in a matter of moments but even so we would trade all of the flashing lights for a spot of timely help.

Our initial efforts with the UD4P were uninspiring and we found it tricky to overclock our Core i7 965 Extreme beyond 3.7GHz until Gigabyte rode to the rescue with its 142.0.html overclocking guide for the EX58 Extreme. This guide also applies to the other X58 models in Gigabyte's product range and made it clear that we had missed a trick. You need to disable Intel Turbo Boost when you overclock Core i7 and this feature is tucked away in the depths of the BIOS. Once that was sorted our processor zipped along at 3.9GHz without a hitch.

We were able to raise the memory speed from 1,066MHz on a base clock speed of 133MHz to 1,200MHz on a base clock of 150MHz. With Turbo Boost running we had been forced to reduce the memory speed to 900MHz to avoid blue screens.

Raising voltages in the BIOS is a simple task that is helped by a system of colour coding. Safe voltage figures appear in yellow with higher settings in purple. If you try to save a purple setting the BIOS gives a warning that ‘the following settings will reduce the life of the components'. Take it a step further and the voltage settings turn red and the warning changes to tell you that the ‘critical voltage setting may damage the component'.

One of the voltage settings that is employed by the Gigabyte overclocking guide took us into purple territory and we're none too sure that we would have clicked ‘OK' to the warning that the life of the motherboard would be reduced if we didn't have the official say-so from Gigabyte.

Once you've set the voltages and adjusted the base clock speed and clock multiplier you can also employ Gigabyte's dynamic Performance Enhance overclocking settings. The options consist of Disabled, Standard and Extreme however it didn't seem to us that these settings made a great deal of difference to performance.

It took a couple of days to investigate all of these settings and the upshot is that we were impressed by the quality of the UD4P and consider it to be very fair value for money.

Verdict

Gigabyte has put a great deal of effort into the BIOS of the EX58-UD4P and the result is a stable Core i7 motherboard that offers a very long list of options.