14 DAY TRIAL // Although USB 3.0 will only be truly launched in 2011, by Intel at least, Gigabyte, a first-tier Taiwan-based manufacturer, decided to put together its own 3.0-supporting motherboards. Three in number, the products are part of the 333 series and are compatible with the central processing units belonging to the lines of Athlon II and Phenom II processors.
The three motherboards are the GA-790FXTA-UD5 (based on the 790FX chipset), GA-790XTA-UD4 (using the 790X) and GA-770TA-UD3 (770 chipset). Neatly put together, these boards were conceived as capable of offering support for future technologies, not the least of them being USB 3.0 flash drives and gadgets. Since the boards already used this still-underrepresented feature, the company seems to have chosen to put into this motherboard at least a decent amount of extra features.
Considering the fact that these boards are based on previous motherboard models, namely the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P, GA-MA790XT-UD4P and GA-MA770T-UD3, respectively, the more common/legacy features should coincide. Nevertheless, the newcomers still have their own extra perks.
For instance, the 'usual' USB 2.0 and SATA 3.0 Gbps connectors are supplemented by a variety of superior I/O connectivity options, including the mentioned USB 3.0 ports and two SATA 6.0 Gbps ports (provide the latest Marvell SE1928 high-speed SATA3 storage interface). In addition, the aforementioned perks take the form of support for dual-channel setups of DDR3 memory modules, each of which will be able to operate at as much as 1866MHz. In addition, the boards are equipped with 8+2 CPU VRM power phases and the Easy Energy Saver power-management technology.
As a more detailed description, the boards feature ten SATA ports with RAID (eight on-board and two rear, without the need for driver installation) and the unique hardware controller know as the Precision OV ensures precise voltage control and fine stepping for the CPU, memory and chipset.
The motherboards are created using an Ultra Durable 3 Design and will make fine combinations with AMD/ATI's product lines.