Quote:
Originally Posted by GSte
Quite a first post mate, thanks for the pics. 
Which RAM are you getting?  |
Cheap ebay stuff
Just hope it works! Its rated 1333MHz CL8 1.5V so as long as its not actually faulty I'm sure it'll be fine.
Anyway, thoughts on the board (physical appearance only, obviously, no
RAM= No worky). IDE connector placing is terrible, but then I'm still in the dark ages with my IDE DVD-RW, really should get a
SATA 1 to avoid such issues. Floppy connector is even worse, but I dont have a FDD anymore.
On the good side its freed up space on the right hand side of the board for more
SATA ports. 4 of which are controlled by a Gigabyte SATA2 port thats lurking under the large
SB cooler. Next to the SAT ports theres a 2 digit
POST code display, and a full listign of codes in the manual, very handy.
Also in the I/O area theres 2 firewire headers. Its the first time I've seen a board come with blanking plugs for them too. And also 2 USB headers, giving a total of 12 ports when combined with the 8 on the back panel. 1 thing the ycould have come up with is something similar to Asus' Q-connector thing for the front panel connections, no such luck though, we're back to lots of fiddly connections.
The board also features onboard power and reset buttons (seems the norm for a high end board these days) and LEDs to display CPU,
NB and
RAM voltages, speeds, and workloads.
The last non-blindingly obvious thing I can think of to talk about is the cooler. While its held dow nby plastic pushpins contact with all chips on mine seems good with all the MOSFETs making a firm indent into the thermal pad. I wasnt impressed with the cooling for the X58 though. its cooled by a heap thermal pad, not a proper TIM, and the base of the cooler was far from smooth. I've no idea how much heat X58 puts out though so maybe Gigabyte's cost saving is justifiable.
Oh, and cheers for the welcome all!
Retail Gigabyte EX58-UD5 pics
Linear Mode
