Gigabyte X58A-UD9 SLI XL-ATX Gaming Motherboard Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips
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Description
This motherboard includes everything except the kitchen sink. I guess you could hook it up to your kitchen sink if you wanted to though with the included water cooling!
The video provides an in-depth unboxing and first look at the Gigabyte X58A-UD9 motherboard, focusing on its premium engineering and feature set. Linus walks through the box contents, highlighting a fully loaded accessory kit that includes three- and four-way SLI/Crossfire bridges, driver discs, manuals, and multiple power adapters designed to support the board’s expansive capabilities. He emphasizes the board’s power delivery with a 24-phase CPU power design and unique cooling considerations, noting the integrated hybrid silent pipe cooling option for the north bridge area and the implications for water cooling versus air cooling. The XL ATX form factor is demonstrated with a size comparison to a standard motherboard, illustrating seven PCIe slots and the board’s extensive I/O, including USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gbps, and dual gigabit LAN with smart dual LAN functionality. The narrator also discusses practical setup tips, such as the convenient right-edge placement of power and reset switches and the careful approach needed for cooling multiple chipsets and NF200 controllers, concluding with a sense of the board’s scale and enthusiast appeal. Overall, the video blends hardware details with hands-on demonstrations, helping viewers understand the platform's potential for high-end gaming builds and extreme overclocking while acknowledging the premium price and complexity. The closing moments reinforce the board’s impressive footprint by comparing its size to a smartphone, underscoring how massive the X58A-UD9 feels in a real-world setup. This unboxing also hints at the historical context of early 2010s enthusiast hardware, where multi-GPU configurations were a major selling point for high-end rigs.
Topics · hardware · unboxing · pc hardware · technology · gaming
Questions answered
- What makes the Gigabyte X58A-UD9 capable of handling extreme multi-GPU setups?
- The board supports up to four-way Crossfire X and four-way SLI, uses multiple NF200 PCIe controllers to manage PCIe lanes, and includes bridges for reliable multi-GPU configurations.
- What cooling considerations are highlighted for the X58A-UD9?
- The board uses a hybrid silent pipe cooling solution for the North Bridge area, and Linus notes the need to manage heat for the NF200 chips and other power components, potentially requiring water cooling for full CPU and chipset cooling in extreme setups.
- What are some key form-factor and layout features of the X58A-UD9?
- It is an XL ATX form factor with seven PCIe slots, not all electrically 16x, with RAM slots on the right edge and convenient power/reset button placement for bench testing.