GA-X58A-UD7 Rev 1.0 - Rev 2.0 comparison.

[etwolf]

Hi y'all,
            Just wondering if anybody out there can enlighten me as to the differences between the revision 1.0 and revision 2.0 boards.
I have noticed ;

1) The power phases have been reduced from 24 to 16 ( presumably in an effort to fix the noise issues I have seen posted).
2) On/off charge added as standard.
3) Exclusion of the the chipset watercooling block.

I own the revision 1.0 board that I have not  installed in a system yet (still buying components). I have downloaded the rev 2.0 manual and it appears to be identical to the rev 1.0 manual bar the Rev. 2001 12ME-X58AUD7-2001R labeling on the first  page.

Are there any other "Important" changes such as a fix to the sata III raid issues etc. ( sata III raid is the big one for me )
(if the sata III raid issues have been fixed in bios updates already I am unaware as I have not built the system yet, I will be flashing to beta f7t )
Furthermore does anybody know if the revision 2.0 Bios' will install on the revision 1.0 boards.
( and if not do Gigabyte intend to continue support for Rev. 1.0 )

In short the power phase differences do not bother me, noise is not an issue with my case and the exclusion of water cooling is not a problem as I will be using a pair of EK blocks.

So is it worth my while sending my rev 1.0 board back in exchange for a rev 2.0 board ?

      

[McGuinness]

Gigabyte did some downgrades on 2.0 UD7,From 24 phases to just 16? WTF? And they also got rid of watercooling support for the northbridge heatsink, thats less than impressive.
Plus have heard alot of good things for the rev.1.0
I have the ud5-rev 1.0 basically the same board as you and is rock soild!!!
Plus i have heard the new RTL8111E chip has been a problem in both ud5/7 rev.2.0
And after all it's just more marketing fluf

[Dark Mantis]

Firstly the difference on the nothbridge cooling system, you say they have removed the water block, this in fact is wrong. It comes with a heatsink as standard and a bundled waterblock. See List of "Contents" here: http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x58a-ud7_v.2.0_e.pdf

As you said the inclusion of the on/off charging feature( which could be downloaded as an extra for Rev1 boards)

The power phases have been reduced from 24 to 16. This has been proven to be inconsequential to the noise issue, which really affected UD3 boards anyway, as they did the same on them(reduced phases). I think it has more to do with the keeping the UD9 flagship board at a premium by maintaining a differential in power handling. The official line however is that they handle the new chips better if you can believe that. It was only a short time ago that we were being told "more is better" when it came to power phases.

No fix to the SATA3, Marvell 9128 controller or drivers as far as I am aware. WHAT PROBLEM? I think Gigabyte uses the same PR company as Apple with their I-Phone 4

I can't comment on the BIOS being interchangeable. I would have thought that apart from the power phases being altered there is no other physical differences so in theory it would be possiible but it is up to you if you want to try!

I am running a rev1  UD7 board myself with watercooling fitted and it is an excellent board. I don't know if your rev1 board would be accepted back in exchange for a rev2 anyway but as you say the expected upgrade life of the rev2 is probably longer.

Hope this helps.

[McGuinness]

Sorry might be wrong but read they got rid of watercooling support not the water block.
Anyway thanks for the save if I'm in the wrong , But still they are having problems with the new nic chip.

[Dark Mantis]

Sorry might be wrong but read they got rid of watercooling support not the water block.
Anyway thanks for the save if I'm in the wrong , But still they are having problems with the new nic chip.

You were wrong about the watercooling support but it is easy to see what you want to see sometimes, we all do it. The Realtek 8111 Lan chip has been updated from the D version to the E version on the Rev2  boards. I wasn't aware of any problems since this has been introduced but if you know of some then please post them here. It is always good to be kept up to date with the various problems.

[McGuinness]

You were wrong about the watercooling support but it is easy to see what you want to see sometimes, we all do it. The Realtek 8111 Lan chip has been updated from the D version to the E version on the Rev2  boards. I wasn't aware of any problems since this has been introduced but if you know of some then please post them here. It is always good to be kept up to date with the various problems.

Well i guess that goes to show that some of the foruns have misinformation...
I did read about the water support but can't find were and I think the lan issue was on a different site but as with all new rev's
they eventually get the bugs worked out

[Dark Mantis]

Well thanks for the update anyway. As you say hopefully the bugs get sorted along the way. I just wish that they would sort out the SATA3 problem.

[McGuinness]

Well thanks for the update anyway. As you say hopefully the bugs get sorted along the way. I just wish that they would sort out the SATA3 problem.

I agree and still think that as it is in the infancy stage we will see a whole bunch of attempts with drivers and such.
And we are getting by with our sata 2 so i think this too will come to pass.
 

[etwolf]

Well, I guess I'll be keeping my rev 1.0 then.
I do wish they'd fix the sata 3 raid issues though.
( if they even acknowledge that there is a problem, as they are still advertising sata 3 4x speed with raid 0 )

Thanks guys.
        

[Dark Mantis]

Yes it's the old Osterich Syndrome isn't it.