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Overclocking the board proved to be a painless experience and there are many options in the bios to help increase stability of the system. We slowly increased the system speeds, to 4.4ghz then onwards checking for stability with every multiplier increase.
Settling on a final figure just above 5ghz, we managed to get 100% stability by changing the load line calibration to Level 2, which is classed as a moderate VDroop adjustment. Voltage needed to be cranked to 1.5volts which is a borderline figure for long term use. Core temperatures only rose to 73c under extended load, so we feel it would be safe enough. QPT/VTT Voltage was increased to 1.215volts and the CPU PLL was also increased to 1.860 volts.
System validation is available over here
We did manage to the get the system booting at up to 5.3ghz, but we weren't willing to push the core voltage any higher without something more exotic to cool the processor. Still we achieved our own goals set out before the system build, which was to reach a stable clock speed of 5.0ghz from a mainstream cooler. This is certainly a testament to the new Antec Kuhler H20 620 cooler, and our full review of the product will be published in the coming weeks.
The overclock to 5ghz reaps massive rewards when it comes to multithreaded rendering – as shown by the Cinema 4D engine tests above. The score rises from 9.21 to 12.13, which is an incredible increase.
Dear god, I need a cold shower, shall read it more in depth later today! awesome
That motherboard is just insanely well designed. the heatsinks are incredible. the bullet showing through etc? wow asus might need to be worried!
I have been thinking of upgrading to this board now for a week, I have a 980x and want to ditch my current intel board as I can’t get past 4.2, even with a D14. its a lot of money, but hey we all need perks, right? 🙂
that is a crazy board design. crazy good, not crazy bad.
The cost is incredible however. I can under maybe £350, but £450? that would get a nice SLI setup.
Gigabyte just shot up in my books due to this. the other products in the range look slightly better value for money however :p
5ghz, thats a mega achievement for a standard cheap watercooler. look forward to the kuhler review zardon
good read, and what a great design from gigabyte. I wonder how much of hte heatsink design is just for show however.
990x is great, but not that exciting, just a clock bumped 980x. still nice oc too.
The audio side looks stunningly well done for a reference onboard option. did it sound good?
The last gigabyte board I had was alright, the bios was dodgy, but it might just have been an early revision. I sold it after a few weeks as I couldnt return it and I wanted something more stable.
Between asus, msi and gigabyte, they produce mega motherboards.
This product is really a showcase of their engineering skill, its hardly practical for 99% of the enthusiast market. Still I wouldnt mind it, if you are giving it away.
crank the nuts off it ! 5ghz is good, it should go higher but you are right, over 1.5volts is risky business.
Additional power connectors on the motherboard are of no importance if you are going with classic cooling (air or water) – excluding here some extreme experiments. Additional power is primarily designed to ensure stability with LN2 (just like with Asus R3E).
There is plenty of things which I like, but it is more interesting what I don’t like.
Price utterly prohibitive. With LGA 2011 around the corner, I simply don’t get it. Also they stuck with heat-pipe between NB and SB. It’s bloody mad to transport heat from red-hot north-bridge to south-bridge (OC!). For that kind of money I would expect at least 2 NICs, at least 10 SATA ports, 4 electrically x16 slots and some form of active cooling on north-bridge. Passive cooling of X58 that is pure madness. With big coolers you can run into problems because of that massive heatsink.
Hi Hakuren. some interesting points, but im not sure I agree with them all. Why would you need a dual Killer Nic configuration. Is this for a specific demand you need? Gamers will never need a dual setup. Also I dont follow your cooling theories on the NB and SB heatpipes. they shouldnt be transferring heat between components, more ‘evenly’ removing them across the whole area.
Absolutely brilliant, what a setup. I can only dream…
If anyone wants to donate this to someone, I can send my address? 🙂
450 quid for a motherboard. I thought they were taking the piss until I saw what it can do. Im sold, now I just need a new job!
My friend bought this and it’s brilliant. He is loaded, and now i guess he will be selling his 980x for an ‘upgrade’ 🙂
I have that set up now, I bought it a week ago. I am waiting on the watercooling get to arrive before I OC the board.
BUT as of fight now I am in shock at how good this computer set up is and works out of the box.
G1. Assassin
990X
12 GB 1600 DDR3
2 P128 Corsair SSD
Coolermaster HAF X
Was thinking of buying this board myself, and once I get the funds sorted im ordering one for my 980x. not sure what case to get. the HAF x looks good. might opt for a lian li.
Excellent review, loads of info. the ocing is great. im sick of crap x58 boards so i might bite the bullet and order this.
I dont know what some dude was saying earlier in this discussion, this gigabyte board is one of the best on the market, bar none. its an overclocking force.
Got no idea why you recommend this board over eg an UD5/7…
Are those gimmicks really worth the extra cash ?
Would loved to have seen the Killer NIC test and sound test. That’ is what makes this board special … Or a Bclock test… as 143 Bclock my grandma can do that…
There is a Killer nic test in the review Alby. Sound testing can be rather subjective. I think the board looks great. people who dont want the extras will buy a cheaper board, thats pretty obvious, right? Some people love all the high end capacitors and extras. I know I do, but not sure id pay for it.
My bad , overlooked that part :p