Gigabyte X58A-UD7/P55A-UD6 Motherboard Review

Promising transfer rates of up to 4.8 gigabits/second – ten times faster than USB 2.0’s 480 megabits/sec – USB 3.0 has the potential to transform the way we use our computers. Consumers could transfer music and movies to and from their iPods, Zunes, and other CE devices to their PC at speeds that were previously unheard of. The same applies to A/V enthusiasts, who wouldn’t appreciate the faster USB spec when transferring recordings from their HD camcorders?

But that’s not all. USB 3.0 could potentially be used for a wide variety of other applications. You could slap a graphics chip on it and have an easy upgrade solution for PC users stuck with antiquated graphics. A company called DisplayLink already makes such a device that utilizes USB 2.0, and plans to bring a USB 3.0-based solution in the second half of this year. And drive manufacturers like Buffalo have already announced USB 3.0-powered Blu-ray burners.

Also keep in mind that most of today’s newest SATA hard drives max out at 3.0 gigabits/second, so next-generation USB 3.0 devices have the potential to supplant current HDDs in many applications. USB 3.0 will charge your electronic devices like cell phones and MP3 players quicker too. Power output has also been increased from 100 milliamps to 900 milliamps, allowing you to charge up more powerful hardware.

The bottom line is that USB 3.0 has the potential to dramatically enhance the way we use our PCs today.

Unfortunately if the latest rumors are correct, USB 3.0 won’t find its way natively into AMD or Intel chipsets until sometime in 2011. It’s native chipset support that’s crucial for a new technology like USB 3.0 to reach critical mass. IDE RAID didn’t take off until it was integrated into NVIDIA, VIA, and later, Intel, chipsets. The same is true for wireless networking.

2011 is a long time to wait for such a promising technology.

USB 3.0 isn’t the only new tech on the horizon that we’re excited about though. SATA 6Gbit/sec offers twice the peak transfer rates as today’s 3Gbit/sec SATA drives.

While actual SATA hard drives will come nowhere near hitting their theoretical peak transfer rates (especially for mechanical hard drives), history has shown that over time drive manufacturers are able to tap into the capabilities of the new SATA specifications. Solid State drives should benefit the most from the new SATA specification though.

Like USB 3.0, 6Gbit/sec SATA is probably about a year away from hitting the system chipset natively.

But what if you can’t wait a year to upgrade? What if you want this tech in the PC you’re building tomorrow, or next month? Simple. Check out Gigabyte motherboards.

Gigabyte is offering a huge array of USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbit/sec certified motherboards. Whether you’re building an Athlon II or Phenom II system, or an Intel-based PC with Core i7-920, Core i5-750, or one of the new Core i3 CPUs, Gigabyte offers several motherboards at various price points for you. By our count, Gigabyte offers a dozen different USB 3.0/SATA 6G motherboards, and has at least 10 more boards coming soon with USB 3.0 support. All of the boards are a part of Gigabyte’s “333 Onboard Acceleration” series of boards.

Today we’re looking at two of Gigabyte’s first boards to offer integrated support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbit/sec, the GA-X58A-UD7 and the GA-P55A-UD6. First though let’s take a closer look at a couple of technologies that are unique to Gigabyte’s latest motherboards…