Question 1

The instructions seem to be fuzzy. If i am say populating all four of the pci-e 3.0 slots, will the top two still function at x16? It seems as though if all are populated, only one will function at x16, the rest at x8

Accepted Answer

Not entirely. There was definitely a compromise made in the manufacturer of this motherboard to keep cost down, but its not as you describe.

You have four PCI-E 3.0 slots:
16_1
08_1
16_2
08_2

Looking down on the motherboard from a bird's eye, thats also the other in which they appear from top to bottom.

16_1 runs at x16, 100% of the time
08_1 runs at x8, 100% of the time
08_2 runs at x8, 100% of the time
16_2 can only run at x8 when 08_2 is populated, otherwise it runs at x16, 100% of the time

So in theory, you can do this:

16_1, populated
08_1, populated
16_2, populated
08_2, empty

Which will give you speeds of x16, x8 and x16 for the last slot.

Makes sense?

Question 2

What BIOS version does this motherboard ship with?

Accepted Answer

My GA-X79-UD3 shipped with the F16 BIOS and I installed the Intel i7 4820 Ivy Bridge e and she started right up with no issues whatsoever.

After reading comments here I thought I had bought a board and a chip I wouldn't be able to use or return.  If the information I have given you above had been in the description it would have saved me a great deal of worry and concern.  Anyway, it's all good and it works just fine.  I really couldn't be happier.

Question 3

Can I set up multiple RAID arrays on this mobo? I want to use 4 drives in a raid 10 and 2 more in a raid 0. Is this possible? Or should I buy a cheap raid card?

Accepted Answer

I have not set up a RAID on this board.  However, I will tell you what I know from the manual.  There are two SATA controllers on this board.  The one in the Intel X79 chipset and another one on the PCIe bus that is the Marvell 88SE9172.  Both support building RAIDs.  It also seems like that the BIOS utilities for setting up the arrays on the X79 might support multiple arrays on that 1 controller.  But regardless of this it seems that since both controllerrs allow you to build at least 1 RAID volume that you should be able to do what you want with just the mobo.

Question 4

I currently am using this motherboard and was interested in upgrading memory. Would it be possible for me to use DDR4 memory with this motherboard?

Accepted Answer

No. DDR4 is not backward compatible with DDR3 slots. This motherboard has DDR3 slots.

Brand	GIGABYTE
Model	GA-X79-UD3

CPU Socket Type	LGA 2011
CPU Type	Core i7 (LGA2011) / Xeon (LGA2011)

Number of Memory Slots	4x240pin
Memory Standard	DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066
Maximum Memory Supported	32GB
Channel Supported	Quad Channel

PCI Express 3.0 x16	4 (x16, x16, x8, x8) For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot. The PCIEX8_2 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16_2 slot. When the PCIEX8_2 slot is populated, the PCIEX16_2 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.
PCI Express x1	2 x PCI Express x1
PCI Slots	1 x PCI Slot

Serial ATA (SATA)	6 x SATA 6Gb/s
SATA RAID	X79 chipset: 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0/1) and 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2 2/3/4/5) support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 * When a RAID set is built across the SATA 6Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s channels, the system performance of the RAID set may vary depending on the devices being connected. 3 x Marvell 88SE9172 chips: 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3 6/7/8/9) and 2 x eSATA 6Gb/s connectors support for RAID 0 and RAID 1

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GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD3 LGA 2011 Intel X79 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

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PS/2	1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
USB 3.0	2 x USB 3.0
USB 1.1/2.0	8 x USB 2.0
eSATA	2 x eSATA 6Gb/s
S/PDIF Out	1 x Optical, 1 x Coaxial
Audio Ports	6 Ports

Onboard USB	2 x USB 3.0 + 6 x USB 2.0
Other Connectors	1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector 1 x CPU fan header 4 x system fan headers 1 x front panel header 1 x front panel audio header 1 x S/PDIF Out header 1 x serial port header 1 x Clear CMOS jumper 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header

Onboard Audio
Audio Chipset	Realtek ALC898
Audio Channels	8 Channels

Physical Spec
Form Factor	ATX
Dimensions (W x L)	12.0" x 9.6"
Power Pin	24 Pin

Item#: 9SIC3VHKV52935