Gigabyte P67A-UD7 Preview - Intel Sandy Bridge Motherboards Break Cover

Just when you think you have everything figured out, you come across something that turns your world upside down. Long known for their blue motherboards, Gigabyte has finally decided to enter the dark side and will release mainboards featuring black PCB. Up to this point, it was the only major motherboard company that did not offer models sporting a black paint job. We first saw the P67A-UD7 at IDF 2010 in San Francisco, but finally have a retail unit in our hands.  



The P67A-UD7 is an enthusiast class, LGA1155 based motherboard designed specifically for Intel's upcoming line of Sandy Bridge processors.  It features a 24 phase CPU power design, Ultra Durable 3 with two ounces of copper within the PCB, ten SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports, six SATA 6Gbps connectors, 3-way CrossFireX and SLI support, DualBios technology, and On/Off Charge support.



Expect to see a full product line of P67 motherboards from Gigabyte very soon. The UD7 will be the flagship model at launch, targeting the enthusiast and extreme overclocking market. All the P67 boards (UD7, UD5, UD4, UD3P) will come with the new black PCB, while the H67A-UD3H still offers the traditional blue color scheme.

Gigabyte P67A-UD7 Motherboard  Layout and Features

Processor Intel LGA1155 Processors Memory Four 1.5V DDR3 SDRAM DIMM sockets Supports up to DDR3 2133 MHz / 16GB max     Expansion Slots 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots 2 x PCIe 2.0 x8 slots 1 x PCIe x1 1 x PCI Chipset Intel P67 Chipset 2x Renesas D720200 USB 3.0 controllers 2x Marvell 88SE9128 SATA 3 controllers 2x Realtek RTL8111E LAN controllers T.I. TSB43AB23 1394 controller Realtek ALC889 8 channel audio controller iTE IT8728 I/O controller

Internal I/O Connectors 4x SATA 6Gb/s connectors 4x SATA 3Gb/s connectors 1x IEEE 1394a connector 2x USB 3.0/2.0 connectors (supports 4 ports) 2x USB 2.0/1.1 connectors (supports 4 ports) 1x S/PDIF Out header Rear I/O Connectors 2x eSATA/USB combo connector 6x USB 3.0/2.0 ports 2x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 2x LAN ports 1x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector 1x optical S/PDIF Out connector 2x IEEE 1394a connectors PS/2 keyboard/mouse connector 6x audio jacks Form Factor ATX 12 x 9.6 inches ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm ) Warranty 3 years

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Inside the box, Gigabyte provides an accessory bundle fitting for an enthusiast class product. The UD7 comes with a user manual, quick installation guide, driver disk, six SATA cables, I/O shield, dual eSATA bracket, 2-way SLI bridge, and a 3-way SLI bridge.

We'll be taking an in-depth look at the P67A-UD7 motherboard in the near future, so be sure to come back after the Sandy Bridge launch for the full scoop.