Gigabyte's Thunderbolt Motherboards Live - Available Soon

[thelostswede]

It turned out to be a lot cheaper than I expected, especially considering I was given early pricing... makes the boards a pretty decent bargain compared to anything else with Thunderbolt on them...

 

[gunt]

The problem with the UP4 is the VIA USB 3.0 controller which we've already discussed in this thread, so please check a couple of pages or so back, as I'm not going to explain it all again.

Yes i read but the problem for VIA 810 HUB USB 3.0 is for UP4, UP5 and UD5H, only network controller change for this model.

I read another problem with firewire VIA VT6308 chip on UP5.

Thanks for your answer thelostswede

Ok thanks again sorry for my mistake

 

[Einsteiniac]

My UP5 should be here tomorrow! Can't wait to play!

 

[lolorm]

We're all expected about this mobos. Hope works flawesly with osx.

 

[Alfa147x]

My UP5 should be here tomorrow! Can't wait to play!

Same here! Tomorrow OR Saturday

 

[forkenbrock]

I'm planning to go with a UP4, but I just want to confirm that I understand prior posts in the thread, before pulling the trigger.

If I am correct both the UP4 and UP5 work well when it comes to networking, audio, SATA and Thunderbolt is TBD. The UP4 does not presently have a controller that will work for USB3 with Mountain Lion and it remains to be seen whether this will be resolved with the upcoming version of ML.

In summary, the UP5 will work great for a build and the UP4 will work the same, with the one exception of USB3.

Someone please correct me if I missed something.


Thank you

 

[thelostswede]

Not quite, the UP4 has two rear USB 3.0 ports and a pin-header for two front USB 3.0 ports that are connected to the Intel chipset, these will work. The other four rear USB 3.0 ports are connected to a VLI VL800 controller, they won't work, possibly ever.
There are three pin-headers for a total of six USB 2.0 ports on the board though, but you'd either need a case with extra USB 2.0 ports, or rear brackets with USB 2.0 ports to make them available.

The UP4 has Realtek Ethernet, whereas the UP5 has Intel. They also have slightly different audio chips, but here the UP4 might end up being the slightly better choice until we can figure out all the ins and outs of the ALC898 on the UP5 (audio works, it's just not perfected yet), as the ALC892 has been around a bit longer and seems to have slightly better support in OS X.

Some other minor difference include manually switchable BIOS chip for the UP5, onboard power, reset and clear CMOS buttons, Voltage measure points, a POST80 debug LED and extra power for high-end graphics cards and of course one additional SATA and eSATA port, as well as VIA FireWire, but once again you have to provide your own physical port, as it's only a pin-header. The UP5 also comes with a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth 4.0 combo card that we haven't had much luck with so far, but you could swap the actual card for something else.

These are the major differences between the two boards outside of things like power regulation phase count, cooling and some other minor things.

 

[forkenbrock]

Thank you for your detailed and quick reply Swede. You didn't mention any issues with Realtek Ethernet in the UP4; will it work as well as the Intel for Hackintosh?

Also, a couple quick random questions. You mentioned power regulation (I assume the UD5 is better and more flexible). Can you point me to what search terms or locations I might find more info about this? This is not a major consideration for my Hackintosh, but I'll be building a new music server as soon as these boards come out in mATX (hopefully within a few months) and there it is a concern, so I'd like to get a better understanding of the details.


Thanks

 

[Alfa147x]

I'm hoping the 898 audio chip is as easy as it was on the MSI.

 

[thelostswede]

Well, it's Realtek, it works the way it works. Some people claim it's crap and others have no significant issues, go figure.

As for the power regulation, have a look here http://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/312/i ... stage.html
The UP - unlike the UD - boards have a new feature called PowIRstage's which is a highly integrated MOSFET/driver solution, so instead of using multiple chips, only a single chip is used per VRM phase. These PowIRstage's run cooler, by as much as 60 degrees compared to traditional MOSFET phase designs and 20-30 degrees cooler than "DrMOS" like solutions. They're also a lot more efficient due to the integrated design, so technically fewer phases are need, Gigabyte claims that four PowIRstages equals 16 MOSFET's in terms of power delivery. The downside is that the PowIRstage's are more expensive.
As to how many phases your board has, it really doesn't matter much unless you overclock and both boards have plenty of headroom. I can't remember off the top of my head how many phases each board has, but unless you're a professional overclocker, I doubt you'll notice any difference.