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GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ ATX Motherboard Review

James White
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There are a lot things to take into consideration when you are ready to build your own custom PC. I personally find the best strategy is to start with PC features you need and want. Then, starting with your motherboard, build your system around those features. GIGABYTE makes this especially easy as their naming scheme can tell you right off the bat, what you should expect from their motherboard offerings. Today we will look at a motherboard that sits on the line between the high end and regular performance in the AMD platform: The GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3.


Features and Specifications

Even though the GA-990FXA-UD3 is the cheapest and what one could consider the entry level board for the GIGABYTE AMD performance tier, it is still an “FX” branded board. For GIGABYTE this means it will come with a very long list of features. This includes SATA 3.0 (6 Gbps), USB 3.0 support, On/Off Charge Technology, support for all of GIGABYTE’s software, DualBIOS protection, Dolby Digital Home Theater, and features’s the company’s Ultra Durable 3 technology. Even this is just the tip of the iceberg as the board also has two way SLI and two way CrossfireX support. If that isn’t enough, it even Firewire has support, plus an extensive array of other connectivity options.

The back I/O panel is identical to the I/O panel found on the 990FXA-UD5. It includes two USB 3.0 ports (powered by an Etron EJ168 chip), eight USB 2.0 ports, two eSATA (one powered and one not), hybrid PS2 keyboard/mouse port, Gigabit Ethernet, 6 audio I/O ports, one Firewire (IEEE 1394a) port, and one SPDIF audio output. There is far more connectivity than any average user will need, but this robust selection will ensure no one will need any USB hubs to connect their favourite peripherals.

The internal connectivity is just as impressive with six SATA 6 Gbps ports, a USB 3.0 header, three USB 2.0 headers (6 additional ports), one 1394a header (VIA VT6308 chip), two PCIe x16 slots running at full x16 2.0 speed, 2 PCIe x16 slots running at x4 speed, 1 PCI slot, and 2 PCIe x1 slots. The four memory slots support up to 32 GB of RAM at 1866 MHz (up to 2000 MHz OC), a Realtek RTL8111E chip for gigabit Ethernet and a Realtek ALC889 audio chip round out the features.

As you can clearly read, this motherboard cuts no corners when it comes to offering options and features. The best part is that you get all of this for around $155US at most major retailers.

What’s in the Box?

The items in the box are nothing new and everything you could need for your build. The GA-990FXA-UD3 comes with the user manual, quick start guide, driver DVD (with Norton Security 30 day trial), I/O shield, two metal case badges, one flexible SLI bridge, and 4 black SATA 3.0 cables. The cables come in two packs with one straight connection cable and one with a 90º connector end. Nothing extra, but nothing left out either.

I do like the solid black SLI/CrossFire connectors as they go well with the mostly black motherboard and would match any case you buy. For more on some of the other things that come in the box, you can check out our recent article on all the GIGABYTE branded software and utilitites including the other extras packed with their boards. If you’ve never owned a GIGABYTE motherboard before, it’s a MUST read.

Test System Setup

The test system recently got an update to improve overall test results. A new Patriot Pyro 60 GB solid state drive was added and will now be the primary system drive to minimize HDD limitations affecting results, both internally and externally. The Patriot Pyro should give me the chance to really push the SATA Version 3.0 (6 Gb/s) to its maximum potential. In the future I hope to update my thumb drive as well to better test the USB 3.0 I/O functionality.

Moving on, let’s establish what we’ll be using to test our system today, touch on overclocking, then right on to benchmarks!



Test Software Selections

For this review, here are the applications we’ve selected for testing.

  • PCMark07
  • 3DMark11
  • Alien Vs. Predator DX11 benchmark
  • Resident Evil 5 DX10/DX9 benchmark
  • FRAPS
  • Metro 2033
  • CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1
  • OCCT
  • ATTO Disk Benchmark
  • FurMark Burn-in
  • RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.2.3

This is pretty much the same software I have used in all my reviews thus far. I did have to add a new piece to the collection in the form of ATTO Disk Benchmark for testing the true performance of the Patriot Pyro SSD. I will go into further details in the I/O testing section to come.

BIOS and Overclocking Notes

As we have seen before, the standard BIOS you will find on the GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 is the tried and true BIOS we have all come to know and love. There is nothing new here as the boot sequence, response, layout, and design are the exact same as the GA-990FXA-UD5 and GA-A75M-UD2H. I would like to point out that the GIGABYTE TouchBIOS can be installed from their site for any supported Intel Z68/P67/H67/H61 and AMD A75/A55/900 series motherboards if you’d like a GUI.

Please note that I like to do my testing in a manner that will reflect the majority of users. The TouchBIOS install is an optional update and something only those who wish to use it will experience. Everyone else to start with the standard BIOS. As such this is the BIOS I used. I think the anecdote that would apply best is “don’t fix it, if it ain’t broken”.

I did have some trouble with overclocking the GA-990FXA-UD3. It is built as the entry level board for the 990FX lineup and thus lacks the more robust power system and heatsinks that you find on the UD5 and UD7. The UD3 and UD5 both have 8+2 power phasing, but the 990FXA-UD5 has a beefier heat sink and Driver MOSFETs for better power management. This is to improve power efficiency, but also helps improve overclocking results.

The GA-990FXA-UD3 falls just short of the performance we saw with the 990FXA-UD5 in the Bulldozer release review coming in at 4.63 GHz maximum. Even at the speed of 4.63 GHz, the UD3 was not 100% stable. It passes PCMark07 testing and runs Battlefield 3 on High graphic detail with no issues. Once put under a heavy CPU strain such as Folding@Home, Crunching, or most standard stability tests, it results in peak voltage instability and a system crash.

I attempted again several times, but could only maintain stability by pushing some of the voltage values in the RED. This is not something I expect users to run on a daily basis. If you are using an FX-8100 series CPU like myself, I recommend keeping the CPU voltage below 1.45V and clocked around 4.2 GHz to 4.4 GHz with turbo disabled. This should yield decent performance improvement while keeping the system 100% stable. Going beyond 1.45V is when the GA-990FXA-UD3 seems to struggle with peak voltage regulation.

Total System Performance (PCMark07)

As with past motherboard reviews, I like to start with PCMark07 and a total system performance break down. PCMark07 provides a very comprehensive set of real world simulations to gauge performance. Results show a variety of categories and can often comparatively show weaknesses in a system. Keep in mind these results will favor the GA-990FXA-UD3 as its primary system drive is the Patriot Pyro 60 GB SSD.

As I stated there is an obvious advantage with the 990FXA-UD3 because of the SSD being used for testing. I will be using this SSD for all forthcoming tests, so the GA-990FXA-UD3 will be my baseline for upcoming reviews. You should note the computational score of the UD5 is 558 points higher. I cannot say for certain, but I believe this is because the UD5’s better power management allows it to keep the AMD FX-8150 at max turbo for longer periods of time. It is also important to note the computational test is the one test where the SSD has the least impact on performance.

Synthetic Graphical Performance (3DMark11)

In this benchmark we will test how well we should expect the GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 to perform when it comes to gaming in general. This test also allows me to look at performance when gaming at a low and medium graphical level to give everyone a better idea of what their system should be capable of when using a different GPU than the HD 6850.

As you can see there is nearly no difference in actual performance. There is a slight advantage for the 990FXA-UD5, but nothing of importance. There is a difference in the Physics score for the 990FXA-UD3 because I used the recently released Windows 7 Bulldozer Optimization patches, which strengthens the CPU performance.

Let’s continue on with some real world gaming tests.



Real World Graphical Performance (Metro 2033, Alien Vs. Predator, and Resident Evil 5)

The selection of games I use are not a comprehensive test as it is only 3 games. I use these games to test the widest range of game variables with the least number of tests. This set covers DX9, DX10, and DX11. It shows performance on a game with a lot of graphical features in Metro 2033 and a game with relatively few graphic features in RE5. In the near future I will be replacing Metro 2033 with Battlefield 3.

As you can see, the difference in gaming is non-existent. There is a maximum advantage of 1.4 FPS for the GA-990FXA-UD3, but this could be due to the number of factors including the Bulldozer Optimization patches for Windows 7. Either way the difference is less than 2% and cannot be felt in day to day use.

SATA 3.0 I/O Performance (CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 & ATTO Disk Benchmark)

During testing I found that CrystalDiskMark had a small issue with how it does its testing. As it was geared to test mechanical HDDs using a single data set (in my case 1 GB in size) and outputs the average performance. This seemed a little misleading as the SSD being tested is often able to max out its performance. I switched to ATTO Disk Benchmark for sequential read/write tests and used the best numbers for the various file sizes to give a better representation of performance.

The GA-990FXA-UD3 comes out ahead of the UD5 in every test by a small margin except for sequential read/write testing for mechanical HDDs. Please note the hard drive test for the 990FXA-UD5 were done on the drive being used as the primary system drive, which could have changed the results. It is also very clear why comparing an SSD to a mechanical HDD is not fair as the random 512K write speed aren’t even in the same ballpark. The SSD used is rated to have a 520 MB/s read and 490 MB/s write speed. The GA-990FX-UD3 pushes past the read speed by 3.7 MB/s but falls just over 70 MB/s slower than the best case performance.

USB 2.0 I/O Performance (CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1)

This I/O test will be centered on the performance of the USB 2.0 using a thumb drive. It gives us the opportunity to see if the trend set up by the SATA 3.0 (6 Gbps) performance continues with all other I/O tests.

This time the performance is nearly identical. In every single test the two motherboards are within 1 MB/s of each other. Unlike the previous test, there is no distinct advantage for either motherboard.

USB 3.0 I/O Performance (CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1)

The final I/O test will be with the external HDD connected via USB 3.0. For this test I load the 1 TB drive with around 550 GB of data to simulate expected performance of the drive after use. This is the same data I used when I first tested the 990FXA-UD5 some time ago. It is actually some personal data that I had moved off that drive, but decided to move back for these tests.

This time we get the same performance as we did in the SATA testing. The GA-990FXA-UD3 has better performance in every test, some by a significant margin, except for the sequential read and sequential write tests. Both motherboards are using the same native SATA controller and the same Etron EJ168 chip for USB 3.0, so I am not sure why the same trend is occurring. There may be some difference in how each is attached to the south bridge.

Audio Performance (RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.2.3)

I do not expect much difference in these results as both use the Realtek HD ALC889 codec for the Realtek proved audio chip by default. Both have 6 caps for audio processing as well.

There only difference is in the Dynamic Range and Noise Level in which the 990FXA-UD5 is one tier above our 990FXA-UD3. While this does mean the UD5 should have better audio, real world testing does not reflect this. The same issues I have with the UD5 built-in audio still exist. It produces good sound quality at lower bit rate songs with full body with little distortion or noise; however, there is some slight audio bleed to the front channels during 5.1 playback.

Its not enough to affect enjoyment of a movie or music, but it can create issues with identifying where a sound came from in gaming. It was never a hindrance when playing my usual titles, but I did notice the difference as I was use to using my Xonar DG which does a better job of cross talk control. I could not hear any crosstalk between the left and right channels.

Finally, I would like to point out all GIGABYTE motherboards I have tested so far also support the use of Dolby Digital Home Theater codecs. Using this should create a much better listening experience, but I am not sure how it would affect the performance of the audio system under RMAA. When I test the final board in this line the GA-990FXA-UD7, I will be sure to test both codec packs to see if the quality difference can be measured digitally as well as perceived.



Power Consumption

This test should be very straight forward. As we have seen in previous reviews, less complex boards tend to use less power. As the GA-990FXA-UD3 has fewer PCIe slots and some differences in is power design. I expect it to come in just behind the more complex 990FXA-UD5.

As expected, the GA-990FXA-UD3 uses less power than its bigger brother the GA-990FXA-UD5. At idle I see a difference of about 6 watts with power use being 93.6 and 99.6 watts respectively. At my tested maximum load for the system I saw a difference of 22.6 watts with the power us being 312.6 and 335 respectively.

Final Thoughts

The GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 is the line between high performance and your average motherboard. Many boards I have owned or tested with a price tag below the $154.99 price of the UD3 just fall short in some way. It is often due to lack of feature, lack of support for certain technologies such as CrossfireX and SLI, and some just struggle with usability. I didn’t really have any issues using the UD3 and getting in and out of the traditional BIOS was a breeze. Its POST failure recovery and dual BIOS helped me to avoid a few bad boots during the BIOS update and during overclocking.

While the board was doing its job well, keeping itself from sitting at a black screen and preventing user error, thanks to the excellent Dual BIOS, it was not being very friendly about overclocking. It seemed like it was fighting me on it at every turn. There were differences in both the BIOS and in Windows voltages registering huge fluctuations in peak voltage for the CPU. The further up I pushed the CPU voltage, the more unstable it seemed to be. But until this instability limit was reached, it would run like a dream. There is definitely a strong line between stable and not stable here.

While I do believe the GA-990FXA-UD3 is about $10 too expensive compared to competing boards, and I felt overclocking was a bit limited, there is nothing else I can complain about with this motherboard. It supports every feature GIGABYTE offers short of the unique features on the G1.Killer series. It has a beautiful all black color scheme with white and gun metal grey trim. I use the 990FXA-UD5 as my personal system’s motherboard and I didn’t have to give up one single feature or connectivity option when switching to this board for testing.

If you do plan on doing more serious overclocking and/or use three GPUs, you will want to spend the extra $25 on a UD5. If you never plan to use more than two graphics cards and/or don’t overclock your CPU very far, then you can use that $25 on a dedicated audio card or try upgrading another part of your system. If you are after CrossfireX or SLI support then the GA-990FXA-UD3 $154.99 price tag is within your budget, then there is no reason to try to save any more on lesser 990X series boards. The extra features should ensure you get your money’s worth.

Pros

  • Strong SATA I/O Performance
  • Great Color Scheme
  • All of GIGABYTE’s Premium Features in a lower price point
  • Plenty of Expansion Slots and Connectivity

Cons

  • SATA I/O Sequential Read/Write performance a little low
  • Overclocking Limited by Voltage Regulation
  • Priced a little higher than competitors

Overall Score: 8.75 / 10.0


 
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