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Obviously the key feature of the Gigabyte X79S-UP5-WiFi is the Intel C606 chipset, which gives this motherboard the ability to support the full range of Xeon processors along with ECC memory as well as those extra eight SAS (SATA) ports. Before we delve into the ins and outs of the SAS support let’s look at what else the X79S-UP5-WiFi has to offer.
The X79S-UP5-WiFi has extensive multi-GPU support, including 3-way SLI and 3-way CrossfireX. There are four PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, though only three of them are really usable. The second and third slots are placed adjacent to each other, making the third slot too cramped for dual-slot cards. With three cards, the board provides full x16 bandwidth to the primary and secondary GPUs, while the third is limited to x8. The board packs eight DIMM slots for a max memory configuration of 64GB. The board supports memory frequencies of 1866, 1600, 1333 and 1066MHz, while 2133MHz is possible via overclocking.
Gigabyte has network connectivity well covered with dual Gigabit Ethernet ports as well as a wireless solution. The wired jacks are powered by Realtek 8111F and Intel W82579LM controllers, both of which are 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) rated. Also included is a Bluetooth 4.0/WiFi expansion card that is designed to slot into a PCI Express x1 slot. Known as the GC-WB300D this dual band WiFi expansion card sells for $30 on its own and supports useful features such as Smart Ready technology. The expansion card features a Mini PCIe port which is loaded with an Atheros AR5B22 card, which is essentially the heart and soul of this product.
Like almost every X79 based motherboard we've seen to date the X79S-UP5-WiFi also gets its audio support from the 8-channel Realtek ALC898 codec which touts jack detection, multi-streaming, front panel jack-retasking, absolute pitch 192kHz/ 24-bit true BD lossless sound, Blu-ray audio layer content protection, DTS Ultra PC II and DTS Connect.
As noted, the C606 chipset just like the X79 doesn't carry USB 3.0 support, but Gigabyte has rectified the situation providing the X79S-UP5-WiFi with half a dozen USB 3.0 ports. There are four USB 3.0 ports on the motherboards I/O panel which are provided by the VIA VL800 controller while another two can be installed via an onboard header which is powered by the Fresco FL1009 chip.
Along with the VL800 another VIA chip has been included on the X79S-UP5-WiFi. The VIA VT6308 chip has been used to provide a pair of IEEE1394a ports (One port on the back panel and one port available through the internal IEEE 1394a header). Of course the key strength of the X79S-UP5-WiFi is its storage capabilities which unlike most X79 motherboards rely almost entirely on the chipset, which in this case is the C606. There are the standard two SATA 6Gb/s ports along with the four SATA 3Gb/s ports.
However there are also eight more SAS 3Gb/s ports which support RAID0, RAID1 and RAID10. It should be pointed out that the SAS SATA ports do not support optical devices. So in total there are fourteen onboard SATA ports, the same number as the mighty Asrock X79 Extreme11. Like the Asrock X79 Extreme11 there are also two eSATA ports on the boards I/O panel and these are powered by the Marvell 88SE9172 chip. The great thing about these ports is that they support SATA 6Gb/s, making them ideal for high-speed external storage devices. |
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ProX |
Posted on: 09/18/2012 11:01 PM
Looks to be a nice board for the money. I don't really see much room for improvement. |
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UDlover |
Posted on: 09/19/2012 11:07 AM
Gigabyte always seems to deliver! Thanks for the excellent review. |