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Gigabyte have been producing some very fine products in 2011, and the Z68X-UD7-B3 is certainly going to help define their status as one of the leading manufacturers of enthusiast grade motherboards.
The bundle is comprehensive, offering cables, several drive bays and even multiple SLI adapters for hardcore system configurations. The 24 Phase PWM ensures that the motherboard is stable, even under heavily overclocked situations. At 4.8ghz-5.0ghz the only thing limiting the overclocking potential is the cooling. We also know for a fact that enthusiasts users don't care about onboard graphics capabilities on a board like this, and the Gigabyte Z68X board is a great pairing for a high end single or multi card configuration.
Our Core i7 2600k delivered great results with this motherboard and while we managed to achieve 5 ghz when overclocking, the temperatures were too high for 24/7 use, which is why we tested at 4.8ghz with more reasonable voltage settings. The overall stability and performance is without question and we didn't experience any hard locking, apart from when we tried to push the 2600k past safe limits to 5.1ghz.
We like the fact that Gigabyte have ditched the useless Lucid Hydra concept and opted for the Nvidia NF200 chip, as it brings 16x/16x bandwidth to both PCI E slots when using an SLI or Crossfire setup. We can't say this really gives any noticeable benefits in our dual card testing, but it is a good extra to have. Additionally, if you want to run 3 way SLI this board would bring gains to the table as it would run in 16x/8x/8x rather than a 8x/8x/4x configuration.
Pros:
- Great build quality including 2oz copper PCB
- Appearance is fantastic
- Dual Gigabit LAN
- great for multi card configurations
- 24 Phase PWM offers highest levels of stability when overclocking
Cons:
- It is an expensive motherboard
KitGuru says: If you have under £300 budgeted for a new Intel Sandybridge motherboard then this is a great choice.
I saw this last week online, its a rather hefty price. almost £300.
I always have bought GIgabyte mobos, never let me down.
I like it, very nice colour scheme and board layout. I think if I was spending £300 on a mobo, this would be it. I just bought a new laptop so any desktop system upgrades are for later in the year.
oohh pretty … GIGabyte mobo have left me down in the past, But I dont hold it against them. For £300 it wants to be real gold on there