Gigabyte X58A-OC Motherboard

[Bustah]

The World’s First Overclocking Motherboard
Designed by Overclockers, for Overclockers

You can check out the specs and technical details at the microsite dedicated to this board here http://uk.gigabyte.com/microsite/265/x58a-oc.html


Unique GIGABYTE OC Features
The GIGABYTE X58A-OC features several new unique overclocking technologies including PWM frequency switcher, hardware OC buttons, onboard SATA power connectors to give more stable PCIe power, and DualBIOS™ switcher, as well as adopting the very latest high quality components including POS caps and MPFC (Max Power Ferrite Core) Chokes that allow users to bench faster, more reliably and with more power so they are able to smash more world records.





















This thing is an absolutely gorgeous looking Motherboard, Gigabyte have outdone themselves in the style stakes in the Design of this Motherboard. I love the way this looks! I have always been more interested in the performance of motherboards and not so worried about how they look, but this is stunning I take my hat off to the designer of this board, not only does it look great great it reeks of quality.
Understated and functional a perfected combination.
Lets see what it can do!

I will be reviewing this board over the next week or so, I will run some 2d and 3d tests on air cooling, then get it under the cascade. I can tell you already that with everything in bios set to auto it runs my i7 980x at 4ghz and at just 32-40c across all cores.

Bios untouched.
No tweaks on this OS/Win 7 ultimate
Gigabyte X58A-OC
I7 980X
3X2GB Dominator gt 2000mhz 7-8-7-20
Gskill phoenix pro ssd
Ati 5870
T.R.U.E 120 Air cooler.



Pifast


Superpi 1m


Superpi 32m


Wprime 32m


Much more to come.

Meanwhile here's an interactive Bios template http://www.jzelectronic.de/bios/x58a.php#w5 you can navigate through that template using the + - esc and enter buttons on your keyboard. [thanks to TopDog for the link]

Many thanks to Gigabyte UK for sending the sample board.

[Bustah]

I have spent a couple of days feeling my way around the board and its a lot of fun to use I wanted to run some further tests on air with my 980x. I know this cpu well, it was never great on air cooling before and needed quite high volts to reach 4.5ghz. not on this board though it gets there with relative ease and at very reasonable voltages runs through the benchmarks.

I tested the overclock buttons on the board for functionality and usability and can report that they work perfectly. we have frequency up =+ and freq down =- also ratio up and ratio down. these really make overclocking a breeze. once you have found your optimised voltages in the bios and set your base clock to boot windows your away!

Gigabyte X58A-OC
I7 980X
DOMINATORS 7-8-7-20
GSKILL phoenix pro ssd
T.R.U.E Cooler
HX1000

2D

SPI 1m 4.4GHZ


SPI 1M 4.5GHZ


Spi 1m4.6


SPI 32M 4.4GHZ


PIFAST 4.4GHZ


PIFAST 4.5GHZ


PIFAST 4.6GHZ


PCMARK 7 4.5GHZ


3D

3D05 4.4GHZ [Gpu clocks are same as 06 and Vantage below]


3D05 4.5GHZ


3d06 4.4GHZ

3d06 4.5GHZ


3DM VantageGHZ


3d11 4.4GHZ


3d11 4.5GHZ


Some very decent numbers for air cooling with a 980x with this board considering the voltages used also keeping the multi low and bclk around the 200 mark, Cpu max obviously would increase with more voltage lower bclk and higher multi but that's for the sub zero tests to come.
As you can see from the results the board scales nicely, the actual scores are not important its the way the board behaves with scaling voltages etc up to now its looking favourable. of course the real acid test is what it does when its cold. I will be using a cascade at approx -90c loaded.
This board is very user friendly, i'm enjoying working with it.

[Bustah]

reserved 2

[Bustah]

Reserved 3

[bazx]

been looking forward to this m/b results/testing

[HiVizMan]

Subscribed

[Nathanial]

Subscribed

+1

[maverik-sg1]

+1 and available from our Facebook page BenchTec.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=...4677904&ref=ts

[ScunnyUK]

Gorgeous board , Im looking forward to cold oc results

[bazx]

+1 and available from our Facebook page BenchTec.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=...4677904&ref=ts

mav the link to face book only brings up a login screen as does the tab top right of forum

i do not have a facebook account do i have to join to see our page?

[vento1]

i do not have a facebook account do i have to join to see our page?

If you do join will you tell my wife to get off there and make us a cup of tea. Cheers!


Lovely looking board though.

[maverik-sg1]

Yeah you can Join - if u do Baz I will add you to the admin team

I am assuming you meant you can't see the facebook homepage? You have to join facebook to see facebook, it's not something you browse without registering.

Once all this has been identified and resolved, we will clean this thread up to ensure the focus remains on what looks like a fantastic X58 board from Gigabyte - something this good deserves it

[topdog]

Here's the BIOS settings for the board, it's interactive by using the Enter, +, - and Esc buttons

http://www.jzelectronic.de/bios/x58a.php#w5

[topdog]

Very nice results on air, it does look like this board needs less voltage than other X58 boards, looking forward to your sub zero results

[Bustah]

Yes the 980x I have has not got even close to this on those voltages on other x58 boards [and its been tested on a lot]. I'm eager to see what it can do cold now.