Sandy Bridge is very near right now, and as Intel is getting ready to roll out their new Socket-1155 processors, ODM partners are getting ready to play along the game, as most manufacturers have their motherboards ready by now. Here we have a look at Gigabyte’s ‘mid range’ motherboard, the P67A-UD3P for Socket-1155 processors. Do remember, that this Socket-1155 is considered a mainstream product, therefore pricing wise it’ll be more affordable than those X58 motherboards.

P67A-UD3P Technical Specifications:

• LGA 1155 2nd generation Intel® i3/i5/i7 processors
• Intel® 67 series Chipset
• 4 DIMMs Dual Channel DDR3 1333 / 1066 / 800
• 1 x PCI-e x16, 1 x PCI-e x4, 3 x PCI-e x1, 2 x PCI, 4 x SATA 3Gbps , 4 x SATA 6Gbps, 4 x USB 3.0, 14 x USB 2.0, 8-Channel Audio
• 1x PCI-e GbE network
• ATX Form Factor
• Gigabyte Features: DualBIOS™, Ultra Durable™ 3, On/Off Charge, 3x USB Power

Notice the warning. A very nice move from Gigabyte to notify users. Finally, there’s also inclusion of 2 90⁰ SATA cables. That’ll come very handy for cable management.

The I/O panel. Looks very typical. There’s less ports here because this is a mainstream normal motherboard.

Ultra Durable 3 heatsink for MOSFET. Seemed quite sturdy and solid.

Black PCB even in mainstream motherboard. No more gayish Blue and White color from Gigabyte.

The top PCI-Express 2.0 is an x16, while the bottom piece is an x4. Capable of Crossfire or SLI in x16/x4 mode. Not the best setting around actually. Also, notice the missing of the North Bridge.

Phase LED notification in a normal mid-range motherboard. They seemed keen to bring overclocking into mainstream.

USB 3.0 for front panel. With this, more case manufacturers will include USB 3.0 in their casings’ front IO ports.

SOURCE: Lowyat.net (Lacus)