14 DAY TRIAL // Gigabyte hasn't paid so much attention to its AMD motherboard lineup these last couple of years, but all that is set to change with the launch of Bulldozer, as the recently leaked 990FXA-UD7 AM3+ seems to be on par with the company's Intel-based boards.
Just as its name implies, the 990FXA-UD7 is built around AMD's flagship chipset, the 990FX and will become Gigabyte's premier AM3+ motherboard once it will be officially launched during the Computex 2011 fair.
Taking a look at the board, it becomes apparent where Gigabyte took its inspiration from when it designed the 990FXA-UD7 as this uses the same black and gold colorway as the P67A-UD7.
However, the layout has been changed (as the two platforms are extremely different) and the motherboard now features six PCI Express x16 slots, which are compatible with 4-way AMD CrossFireX setups and 3-way Nvidia SLI setups, as well as a single legacy PCI slot.
Storage is provided by eight SATA 6Gbps ports, six driven by the AMD SB950 chipset and two by a third-party controller, and the 990FXA-UD7 also features two additional eSATA connectors in the back.
Right near the SATA ports, Gigabyte has installed a 90-degree angled SATA power plug, similar to the one found on the X58A-OC, for providing extra power to multi-GPU setups.
Other overclocking-oriented features include on-board power, reset and clear CMOS buttons as well as a POST80 debug LED.
Moving to the back of the 990FXA-UD7, we find that Gigabyte has paired the board with a PS/2 port, seven USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports (two more available via an on-board header), a FireWire port, a Gigabit Ethernet port and 8+2-channel audio (Realtek ALC889) with optical and coaxial S/PDIF out.
The Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7 is expected to launch during Computex 2011, but its price hasn't been released yet. However, a Swedish retailer listed the board at 1990 SEK which translates to about $250 US, excluding VAT. (via VR-Zone)
