Gigabyte intros next-gen USB and SATA-equipped motherboards

User Comments: 36

1. October 28, 2009 1:23 PM
   Deso said:

   I thought usb 3 was postponed until 2011

   Reply
2. October 28, 2009 1:27 PM
   Staff
   

   Matthew, TechSpot Staff, said:

   See this news post for more information, Deso: [link]

   Reply
3. October 28, 2009 1:30 PM
   Jibberish18 said:

   I must say, I'm REALLY digging the new colors Gigabyte has chosen to use in some of it's motherboards. I'm not sure if these White/BabyBlue/Blue colors represent their HTPC type of motherboards and the usual colors represent overclocking? I'm more of an AMD fan so I lose track of all the Intel boards that come out.

   I also forgot about USB 3.0 powering capabilities. At first I thought it would be pointless to have them on your new motherboard if nothing works with it but being able to power up all of your USB products would be awesome. What I'm wondering though, is if USB 2.0 compliant cables would deliver enough power? I just tossed out a handful of USB cables I had laying around because many of them would not power my 2.5" External Enclosure properly.

   Reply
4. October 28, 2009 1:34 PM
   Cueto_99 said:

   Just to clarify, that probably isn't a picture of the boards mentioned above... since it has 6 RAM Slots, it's obviously an X58 board... anyways I hope Sata 6Gp/s will make normal drives as fast as WD Velociraptors, that'll be sweet, and will be a good selling point for these new boards also.

   Reply
5. October 28, 2009 1:39 PM
   

   nathanskywalker said:

   Sweet, I was beginning to wonder when someone would start using 3.0. I was actually waiting to upgrade my desktop until there were some real choices with 3.0. However, now I don't have any money to spend on such (heh). Oh well. I guess there will be far more variety out there by the time I have money again.

   Reply
6. October 28, 2009 1:40 PM
   pravusnex said:

   What is your definition of a normal drive? Increasing the Gbps won't do anything for a standard hard drive that isn't capable of even 3Gbps. The 6Gbps provides the necessary bandwidth for drives in a RAID configuration and perhaps future SSD drives.

   Reply
7. October 28, 2009 1:57 PM
   Staff
   

   Matthew, TechSpot Staff, said:

   Just to clarify, that probably isn't a picture of the boards mentioned above... since it has 6 RAM Slots, it's obviously an X58 board...

   The image I used in the article is of the GA-P55A-UD6, which has six DIMM slots according to the official spec page: " [link] "

   Reply
8. October 28, 2009 2:18 PM
   tonylukac said:

   I guess this is in direct competition to Intel's new fiber optic technology. Maybe that's why it was delayed.

   Reply
9. October 28, 2009 2:47 PM
   Deso said:

   Matthew said:

   See this news post for more information, Deso: [link]

   so gigabyte is using third party suppliers for usb 3.0 instead of intel?

   Reply
10. October 28, 2009 3:05 PM
    Staff
    

    Matthew, TechSpot Staff, said:

    @Deso: The last sentence of TechSpot's article: "The motherboards rely on NEC's uPD720200 chip for USB 3.0, and Marvell's 88SE9128 controller for 6Gbps SATA, and bring the expected features and in-house technologies."

    Reply
11. October 28, 2009 4:10 PM
    Deso said:

    @Matthew, ahh I missed that, thanks for pointing it out

    Reply
12. October 28, 2009 4:19 PM
    Staff
    

    Matthew, TechSpot Staff, said:

    No problem, Deso.

    Reply
13. October 28, 2009 4:38 PM
    ken777 said:

    Thinking about building a new computer pretty soon. When are these boards actually going to be available at retail?

    Reply
14. October 28, 2009 5:17 PM
    

    mailpup said:

    I would also be interested in AMD versions of these motherboards. I suppose Gigabyte will be producing them eventually.

    Reply
15. October 28, 2009 5:37 PM
    

    Timonius said:

    When will these boards be available to the public?

    Reply
16. October 28, 2009 5:59 PM
    Guest said:

    I just have a feeling the reason why Intel is postponing USB3.0 could be because Apple and their new optic light peak....

    Reply
17. October 29, 2009 12:35 AM
    

    Whiffen said:

    mailpup said:

    I would also be interested in AMD versions of these motherboards. I suppose Gigabyte will be producing them eventually.

    Seconded. Looking to upgrade to a phenom X4 and HD 5870 or 59XX soon and I think I might get rid of this M4N-E Pro. What was I thinking getting an Nvidia chipset @_@

    I will wait and see what ASUS has to offer also but I know almost certainly I will get a newer board with USB 3.0.

    Reply
18. October 29, 2009 1:03 AM
    ET3D, TechSpot Paladin, said:

    It's nice to see that Gigabyte is introducing this to mid-range models and not just high end. This means more people will buy them, and more add-ons will have a reason to implement USB 3 features (even just using it for power will be good). IMO it also means that AMD support is more likely (since AMD is definitely a mid-range solution).

    Reply
19. October 29, 2009 3:13 AM
    Razerblade said:

    I must say that board looks pretty cool! I cannot wait until USB 3.0 is released as the speeds you can get are a huge difference compared to USB 2.0!

    Reply
20. October 29, 2009 3:42 AM
    freedomthinker said:

    Sweet , finally someone is starting the process of rolling the USB 3.0 into action and normal use Thumbs up for Gigabyte

    Reply
21. October 29, 2009 4:34 AM
    

    limpangel said:

    @ET3D: Gigabyte always puts some new features here and there in mid-range models. Can't say the same fos Asus.

    Too bad they did not introduce any AMD cards.

    Anyway, I see no point in upgrading now as there are no SATA3 HDDs and no usb3 periferals on the market yet.

    Reply
22. October 29, 2009 6:54 AM
    Rig said:

    I don't think I will be upgrading any time soon. I think there's going to be a 'war' with USB 3.0 vs. light peak.

    Reply
23. October 29, 2009 7:12 AM
    

    JMMD, TechSpot Chancellor, said:

    My last two motherboards have been Gigabyte boards and they've worked great. When I finally build my i5 system, one of these boards will be the foundation. I use eSATA right now for external hard drives but I am looking forward to USB 3.0

    Reply
24. October 29, 2009 7:42 AM
    ET3D, TechSpot Paladin, said:

    My board is Gigabyte, too. @limpangel, I see no reason to upgrade now, but buying new, I think it's worth going for the USB3 version, even if there's almost nothing now.

    Reply
25. October 29, 2009 7:50 AM
    fref said:

    If Intel is indeed trying to push forward its own light peak technology by ignoring USB 3.0 until 2011, I have a feeling it won't work. Manufacturers will just use another chip to support USB 3.0 on their boards. Even if it adds 15-20$ to the boards' price, I'm sure lots of people will be willing to buy them anyway for the added performance.

    Reply

Recently commented stories