Gigabyte EX58-UD5 X58 Motherboard
Packaging & Contents
Although not picked up in the photos very well, the white exterior sleeving features a sparkling prism effect, refracting light. Pleasing to the eye, much more than the flat packaging of previous generation boards, the package has that premium feel to it rather than the ‘stack it high, sell it cheap’ tactic some manufacturers seem to take.
The front of the box has the UD3 emblem in prime position explaining the details of this feature with the rear of the box goes into much more depth. The remaining hardware and software features of the EX58-UD5 are explained in full on the rear of the package with the specifications labelled on the side of the box.
Removing the outer sleeve we come to a plain inner box containing the both the accessories and motherboard itself. While not excessive the accessories are complete enough to get your rig up and running with the minimum of hassle. 4 SATA cables, an IDE and floppy cable as well as an eSATA cable and bracket make up the storage accessories.
The I/O shield should be familiar to anyone who has owned a Gigabyte board of recent generations, being well laid out and clearly labelled with both text and colour coding. Below we see the manual which is very well written and has clear yet concise diagrams which will help both novice and expert alike.
Gigabyte have very thoughtfully included both an SLI and TRI SLI bridge for the EX58-UD5 which is in contrast to the other boards we have tested recently. However, even though most ATI cards come with a Crossfire bridge, it would have been nice for Gigabyte to also include at least one for those who do not have a bridge for their cards. Not a criticism I can really aim at the Gigabyte as the other SLI board on test, the Asus P6T Deluxe comes with neither SLI or Crossfire bridge, but I feel that this is an opportunity missed nonetheless. A strange inclusion is an extra PCI bracket that doesn’t appear to have any use other than for extra ventilation.
Let’s move on and take a look at the motherboard itself…
