Gigabyte's X79-UD3 With New F7 BIOS Sets X79 Records

News
By Marcus Yam
published

An expert overclocker pushes Intel's Core i7 3930K to over 5.6 GHz.

Earlier on, reports surfaced around the Web that certain Gigabyte X79-based motherboards were having hardware issues that, in some cases, could lead to failure. Gigabyte reached out to us to refute that claim, clarifying that the issue was limited to its firmware, which could be easily fixed via a BIOS update.

To further prove its claims that all is well across its X79 line, consisting of the G1.Assassin 2, GA-X79-UD7, GA-X79-UD5 and GA-X79-UD3, Gigabyte passed along results demonstrating an Intel Core i7-3930K overclocked with a 57x multiplier running on a GA-X79-UD3 with Kingston HyperX Genesis PC3-19200 2 GB x 4 (@ 2376 MT/s) and a Corsair AX1200 PSU.

Overclocker "Hicookie", equipped with the recently-issued F7 BIOS and liquid nitrogen cooling, was able to push to a frequency of 5643.3 MHz, producing record scores for the Super Pi 1M and 32M and PiFast benchmarks. Check out Hicookie's most recent records on HWBot for the numbers and the video below of the overclock in action.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
29 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dgingeri
    lol, a SB-E at 5.6GHz can beat out a Bulldozer at 8GHz. That speaks very poorly for AMD's design.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    I checked on XtremeSystems and yeah dgingeri your right. Looks like at 8Ghz Bulldozer does 1M Super Pi in 10.8 seconds where this guys 5.6 Ghz overclock did it in 6.1 seconds(rounded up).

    Don't knock Bulldozer to hard AMD has been way behind Intel on Super Pi for a long time and even more so with Bulldozer since Super Pi is single threaded. To be honest Super Pi is a relatively meaningless benchmark other than when comparing the same CPU to the same overclocked CPU.
    Reply
  • ThisIsMe
    Well, I guess this proves it was only a BIOS issue afterall. That is an awesome overclock!
    Reply
  • nebun
    do you see the smoke?....wait....yes i see it
    Reply
  • nebun
    jamessneedI checked on XtremeSystems and yeah dgingeri your right. Looks like at 8Ghz Bulldozer does 1M Super Pi in 10.8 seconds where this guys 5.6 Ghz overclock did it in 6.1 seconds(rounded up). Don't knock Bulldozer to hard AMD has been way behind Intel on Super Pi for a long time and even more so with Bulldozer since Super Pi is single threaded. To be honest Super Pi is a relatively meaningless benchmark other than when comparing the same CPU to the same overclocked CPU.AMD is for little girls....if you want a real CPU get an INTEL
    Reply
  • wingartz
    dude hicookie made it, my overclocker hero :P i've got a pic with him lol
    Reply
  • king_maliken
    Why is there so many ppl who pick companies over product?
    nebunAMD is for little girls....if you want a real CPU get an INTELReally? really?
    No if you buy something it's about the product I will always the product best suited for my needs, no matter the brand, performance and quality speaks loudest to me.
    So I say to all the people screaming for one company or another, stfu and look at what the product really is this is your hard earned money, don't fall for marketing.
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    Six cores at 5.6GHz is indeed impressive.
    Reply
  • pat
    No.. 2 cores, 2 threads. Look at the CPUZ image.
    Reply
  • iLLz
    king_malikenWhy is there so many ppl who pick companies over product?Really? really?No if you buy something it's about the product I will always the product best suited for my needs, no matter the brand, performance and quality speaks loudest to me.So I say to all the people screaming for one company or another, stfu and look at what the product really is this is your hard earned money, don't fall for marketing.
    In the case for CPUs, I am pretty sure we are picking the product. And in that case, the product is the Intel CPUs. They are clearly superior in every way and only getting better with every new release. IVB is going to be even better @ 77W.

    Can AMD say they are getting better with every new release. BD is worse at single threaded benchmarks than the previous cpus they put out.

    So the product of choice is Intel for serious PC builders. And before anyone talks about budget, I look at the PC i'm building as an investment. Id rather pay 1 or 2, maybe 3 hundred more and get a lot more future proofing for my money. But as it is, Bulldozer is actually a bit more platform wise than Intel SB at the moment.
    Reply