GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD5H vs UD3H

[Shadow Knight]

Big difference?
Also, what improvements does the ''Black'' (BK) edition offer?

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... typically in the past a 5 vs 3 model would have like firewire on it or some other special communication device, on the MB.

 

[junkeymonkey]

ud5 is more feature rich and better vrm's , sata ports, ect.... over the ud3

just do a side by side and see for yourself

 

[chenw]

As far as I could tell, Black edition is just simply a different paint job on the mobo (not everyone is a fan of the Yellow/Black color scheme of UD5H/UD3H, and not many hardware actually have a matching color scheme either).

Comparing the specs, the main highlights between the different models are:

UD3H is narrower than UD5H, hence UD3 only has 6 mounting screw holes where as UD5 has all 9 for a standard ATX board.

Number of system fan headers, number of back IO USB3.0 ports, Physical BIOS switch, PCI layout, LAN sockets, supported RAM Speed, Marvell SATA Ports and onboard debugging code display are the main things that stand out to me as different between UD3H and UD5H.

I went with UD5H because I like having mounting the motherboard with 9 screws rather than 6.

 

[junkeymonkey]

you anit look at them too hard then ud3 has a 8 phase vrm ud5 is a 12 - and so on the ud 5 is a higher end board all around

and I also feel the black is a gimmick thing

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.gigabyte.us/products/comparison/list.aspx?ck=2&pids=4960,4950
GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD5H vs UD3H

 

[OldGroo]

The "Black" edition items have been hooked up and stressed...so if capacitor or something is bad it hopefully will burn out and they junk the board before you buy it.

http://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/367/images/overview.html

has a brief tour to watch about it...

Extended server level 168 hour Durability Test
GIGABYTE Black Edition motherboards undergo an extra 168 hours (7 days) of stress testing before shipment to ensure premium quality for our customers.
During the 168 hour test, each motherboard needs to pass rigorous, full system validation testing for 1 full week. GIGABYTE has built a custom testing facility at our Taiwan (Nanping) factory.
A Certificate of Validation is included with every board, issued by the GIGABYTE factory and signed by the manufacturing VP & GM to indicate that each board has passed our highest test standards.

 

[junkeymonkey]

so your saying if I don't buy the black it will be a substandard board that's got failing parts??? has it a better warrantee ??? what just tested a bit longer ?? and I guess you were there to see it better tested over the rest ??? face it gimmick

 

[OldGroo]

Overall I agree, gimmick...should be exactly same parts.
I just completed my first build using one, and being paranoid, a mobo that has already been stress checked for a week was a comfort to me personally.
A comfort because if I didn't get to bios, and it was because mobo was bad, i'd have gone absolutely nuts trying to figure out what was wrong.

OP asked what improvements the black edition had, and that is all my post was for

 

[Digitrax]

Overall I agree, gimmick...should be exactly same parts...

Yes and no. The MoBo itself has the same parts complement, but are (presumably) "lot-binned" for low failure rate. Also, but Black Editions come with higher quality accessories — (e.g., the SATA cables that come with the GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK are braided sleeve) — and, of course, are burned in under stress for 168 hours straight; (the testing facility in Taipei can do >1K boards at a time). It's hard to say how stringent the testing is — (e.g. Do they fail a board that operates 100% correctly but is a little slower than the one next to it? Do they fail a board that exhibited only one sporadic problem which never re-occurred in 168 hours? etc.) — but having a board that's pre-tested (and I know to at least be working) I feel is worth the small (5-10%) difference in price. Just my 2¢.

 

[junkeymonkey]

, of course, are burned in under stress for 168 hours straight

and I guess you were there to see then do that right ??

and they went wit a 5 cent cable and not the 2 cent one -- big wow I got sata cables in boxes around here to the point I donrt need them to put any in

 

[Bryan G]

, of course, are burned in under stress for 168 hours straight

and I guess you were there to see then do that right ??

and they went wit a 5 cent cable and not the 2 cent one -- big wow I got sata cables in boxes around here to the point I donrt need them to put any in

You weren't there either. Why are you so against this board?

 

[Shadow Knight]

Whoa, back when I posted this ques, the black edition was cheaper for some reason :3

 

[Bryan G]

so your saying if I don't buy the black it will be a substandard board that's got failing parts??? has it a better warrantee ??? what just tested a bit longer ?? and I guess you were there to see it better tested over the rest ??? face it gimmick

Where do you get this? No one said that other boards have substandard parts. It was just said that this was tested, if there were a bad cap it would most likely be found. This also helps eliminate DOA's.

And the warranty, 5 years, that's more than any of the boards I've purchased before. It means they stand behind it, they're confident it's a good board.

If you don't like it, don't buy it, but quit bitch'n about it unless you have proof of it's downside compared to equivalent boards.

 

[junkeymonkey]

I'm not buying it I know better and look past the hype -- lol and that's what I questioned about the quality hype smart guy..