Gigabyte P67 UD3 vs UD5

ensignlee

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So...with the recall of the P67 chipsets, I get to decide if I want to upgrade my mobo as long as I'm sending the original one back (since newegg is allowing us a generous 120 day return policy)

What are the benefits of going with the UD5 vs the UD3. Newegg no longer has the specs pages anymore for these two mobos since they're not in stock, so I can't compare the two using their tool anymore. Going to tigerdirect's site basically leads me to believe that they're the same except the UD3 is blue and the UD5 is black (and the UD5 has better mobo cooling?), but that seems to be it. Surely I'm missing something?

What are the main benefits of paying the extra $$ for a P67 UD5 vs a UD3?
 

ensignlee

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http://www.gigabyte.com/products/com...pids=3765,3762

Let me rephrase my question. For a user who plans only on using on GPU, is the UD5 going to be better at overclocking than the UD3?

Will it have better/smoother power transfer to the CPU or better cooling?

Maybe I'm dumb, but just looking at that link, seems like UD5 has dolby home theater on it...and an extra PCI Express x16 slot...and...that's it? And it's black instead of blue?
 

ortoklaz

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why not UD4?
UD3 only supports CrossFire 2 @16x4
UD4 SLI/CF 2@8x8 ,12 Phase..hands down better choice ,etc
as for overclocking ..the right batch # will make the biggest difference
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1548/1/
 

ensignlee

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K, well I guess then, to rephrase my question better,

what features on the UD4 make it better for overclocking? I don't plan on ever using more than 1 GPU (seems easier to me to just simply upgrade my existing GPU and sell the old one?), so another PCI slot/crossfire, etc doesn't add much marginal value to me.

But I do have what I consider a relatively aggressive overclock (4.5 Ghz at 1.284V) on my current UD3 and i5-2500k.

Is the UD4 any better at overclocking? For instance, does it have smoother power delivery to the CPU, better cooling on the mobo, or any other features that would either
A) make overclocking safer (as in mobo or CPU won't die earlier)
B) lower the required voltage (to maybe get more aggressive / stable overclocks?)
 

ortoklaz

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4.5Ghz is not aggressive on new Sandy Bridge (anything over 5.0 is),if you looking to get 4.5 out of it any MB will do
UD4 is 12 Phase (clean power delivery)
to rephrase my answer better ..with new Sandy Bridge it's all about the chip you get,the right batch# can increase you overclocking ability by 400~600 Mhz or more
so in your case replacing mobo wont make a difference ,i'm sure you can get more than 4.5 out of it on the UD3