Test: Gigabyte X79S-UP5 WIFI

Konklusion

Så fik vi gennemgået et lidt anderledes X79 bundkort. Det har generelt været lidt sjovt at se på noget andet end spil og desktop bundkort, selvom dette har lidt fra denne verden også. Dog synes jeg at Gigabyte har malplaceret bundkortet en smule. Der står på kassen at det er designet til vandkøling, men bundkortet selv kan ikke vandkøles uden at der skiftes køleprofil. Desuden skriver Gigabyte at kortet er designet til overclockede CPU'er. Jeg har set meget få overclocke en Xeon CPU, og da disse ikke er unlocked skal man på BCLK, hvilket er låst med Sandy Bridge-E, så langt kommer man ikke der. Tilbage står du med et bundkort du alligevel smider en i7'er i, og overclocket bliver moderat fordi kortet bare ikke vil over de 4.4GHz.

Innovation/Teknologi - 4
I serververdenen har soklen her været fremme et stykke tid, og de mange SATA/SAS porte er ikke noget nyt, dog er det lækkert at se hvad Gigabyte har gjort med deres Ultra Durable 5.

Bundle/Tilbehør - 5
Kassen er fyldt godt op, og jeg kan egentlig ikke komme på andre ting der kunne mangle end et par SAS kabler, dog synes jeg ikke at det skal trække ned.

Design/Layout - 5
Med alt det køling der skal være plads til, er det meget svært at have lavet kortet anderledes. De medfølgende multi GPU broer er lange nok til at kunne nå mellem begge PCIe x16 porte, så det vil ikke være noget problem.

Software/BIOS - 4
De medfølgende programmer trækker godt op her, for BIOS'en synes jeg stadig ikke helt om. Den nye 3D BIOS er langsom og hakkende. Det er blevet forbedret fra Z68 chipsettet til X79, men det er stadig ikke helt godt nok. Ofte kunne jeg trykke ned 2 gange, og så vente i et par sekunder før den faktisk gik ned 2 gange. Det gør det i længden rigtig træls at bruge BIOS, især når man vil overclocke og det driller så meget som kortet her har gjort.

Ydelse - 4
Chipsettet har fået lidt mere båndbredde på grund af C606 soklen. Dette har gjort at CPU ydelsen er røget lidt i vejret, præcis som man jo gerne vil have det i en server. Bundkortet her, som også er henvendt til folk med større grafikkort end dem vi ser i servere, døjer dog en smule med 3D, og er faktisk det kort der får de mindste scores.

Pris - 3
Soklen hedder C606, og prisen er også derefter. Har du ikke brug for de mange SATA/SAS porte og ECC RAM er det altså meget billigere at vælge Rampage IV Formula kortet der er sammenlignet med, det er 400kr. billigere end UP5 kortet her, og i 3D får man altså mere. Skal du dog bruge det ekstra som C606 har at tilbyde, så er kortet her en meget billig genvej da rigtig server bundkort gerne koster mere.

UK summary

Conclusion

This completed our test of an X79 motherboard. In general, it has been quite fun to work with something different from gaming desktop motherboards, even though this card has some elements from this world as well. In my opinion, however, Gigabyte has not positioned the board quite correctly. On the box it is stated that the board is designed for water cooling, but in reality the motherboard itself cannot be water cooled without exchanging the heat sink on the board.. In addition, Gigabyte writes that the board is designed for overclocking CPUs. I have only seen few people overclocking a Xeon CPU, and since these CPUs are not unlocked, you have to use BCLK, which is locked with Sandy Bridge-E, so this will not bring you far. You are left with a motherboard that you after all will use with an i7, so your overclocking will end up being modest, because the board will not exceed 4.4GHz.

Innovation/Technology - 4
The socket has been available to the server world for quite some time, and the many SATA/SAS ports are no news. It is great to see what Gigabyte has done to their Ultra Durable 5, however.

Bundle/Accessories - 5
The content of the box is excellent, and I cannot imagine anything missing, except for a few SAS cables. I do not find this sufficient to reduce the rating.

Design/Layout - 5
With all the room necessary for cooling, it is very difficult to lay out the board in a way differently from what has been done. The multi CPU bridges supplied with the board are long enough to connect both PCIe x16 bridges, so this should make no problem.

Software/BIOS - 4
The supplied programs add very positive to the rating, except for the BIOS which I still do not like. The new 3D BIOS is slow and choppy. It has been improved from the Z68 chipset to X79, but it is still not satisfactory. I often experienced that I when I pressed a button twice, I had to wait a couple of seconds to see the result. This makes it quite annoying to use the BIOS, especially when you want to overclock, and this is so tricky as it is the case with this board.

Performance - 4
The bandwidth of the chipset has been increased somewhat due to the C606 socket. This has increased the CPU performance slightly, exactly as you would like it for a server. The motherboard, which also is addressing the need of people with larger graphic cards than those used in servers, do have some troubles with 3D. It is actually the card with the lowest score.

Price - 3
The name of the socket is C606, and this is reflected in the price. If you do not need the many SATA/SAS ports and ECC RAM, it is much cheaper to choose the Rampage IV Formula board used in the comparisons. It is 400 DKK cheaper than this UP5 board and the 3D performance is better. But if you need the additional features that C606 has to offer, this board is a cheap alternative, since a real server motherboard is much more expensive.

Test: Gigabyte X79S-UP5 WIFI

Innovation / Teknologi	4
Bundle - Tilbehør	5
Design - Layout	5
Software - BIOS	4
Ydelse	4
Pris	3
Samlet	83%