Today we are going to take a look at the Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2 motherboard, aimed at those looking to build an AMD APU based system with a limited budget.  This particular motherboard is a bit of a departure from the usual high end product we are used to receiving from Gigabyte and we are interested to see how it overclocks, especially when factoring in the companies excellent reputation.

The F2A88XM-DS2 is a £47 budget board and Gigabyte have clearly stripped down on features heavily to keep the price down to a minimum.  However, for those users who would miss these features, there are plenty of other models in Gigabyte’s range that would be suitable.

Key Features

• Socket FM2+ supports AMD FM2+/FM2 A-series APU
• GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 4 Plus Technology
• GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS
• GIGABYTE On/Off Charge for USB devices
• 4 USB 3.0 ports with GIGABYTE 3x USB power
• Features Dual-link DVI for high resolution displays of up to 2560 x 1600 pixels
• High ESD Protection on GbE LAN and USB ports
• All solid capacitors design

Specifications

• CPU Support for AMD FM2+ A Series and Athlon Series Processors
• AMD A88X Chipset
• 2 x 1.5V Dual Channel DDR3 2400/2133/1866/1600/1333 MHz with support for AMP/XMP modules
• Support for AMD APU with Integrated Radeon HD 7000/8000 Series Graphics
• 1x D-Sub (VGA) Port
• 1x DVI-D Port supporting a maximum resolution of 2560×1600
• 7.1 Realtek HD Audio with S/PDIF Output
• Realtek Gigabit LAN
• 1x PCI-Express X16 Slot
• 1x PCI-Express x1 Slot
• 1x PCI Slot
• Support for AMD Dual Graphics- only with A Series APU
• 4x SATA 6Gb/s Ports with support for RAID 0,1,5,10 and JBOD
• 4x USB 3.0 ports (2 rear, 2 internal)
• 8x USB 2.0 Ports (4 rear, 4 internal)

Gamers may look back on their favourite titles of yesteryear with fondness, but overclockers have a particular affinity for the old benchmarks. Remember the first time you watched your 6800GT breeze through 3Dmark 01 only to watch it stutter in 05? Well Gigabyte does too, which is why it recently held a retro overclocking competition, that pitted some of the world’s best benchmarkers against one another to see who could score the highest in 3Dmark 01, right through to 06.

8Pack’s award winning set up

The results are now in and as you might expect with the heavy handed hardware available today, some new records were broken in the process. Thanks to the efforts of top overclockers Vivi and 8 Pack, we now have a new record for 3Dmark06 (56429) and in 3Dmark03 (293261).

For a full rundown of the competition, click the above image

Of course Gigabyte is pleased as punch that the two records were broken using Gigabyte hardware, but that was bound to happen, since one of the competition’s rules was Gigabyte motherboards only. Ultimately though it was the same Z87X-OC mobo that helped both champions smash through to new world bests.

The full list of winners and their prizes is as follows:

• 1st Place – $500 – 8 Pack
• 2nd Place – $400 – Vivi
• 3rd Place – $300 – Xtreme Addict
• 4th Place – $200 – littleboy
• 5th Place – $100 – laoshu1919

KitGuru Says: Congrats to the winners. This will certainly further cement 8Pack as one of the world’s top overclockers, which is all the more impressive since he’s a name that’s still relatively fresh on the scene – at least compared to long standing competitors like k|ngp|n.

Gigabyte Technology has introduced its first ultra-small form-factor personal computer designed specifically for gaming. The novelty boasts with a quad-core accelerated processing unit (APU), discrete graphics processing unit, optional solid-state drive and a hard disk drive as well as other necessary hardware.

Gigabyte Brix Gaming ultra-small form-factor PC is powered by quad-core AMD A8-5557M (four Piledriver cores with 2.1GHz/3.1GHz clock-rate, 4MB L2 cache, Radeon HD 8550G graphics with 256 stream processors with 554MHz/720MHz, dual-channel DDR3 memory controller) accelerated processing unit as well as AMD Radeon R9 275X discrete graphics processor with 2GB GDDR5 memory (1280 stream processors, 80 texture units, 32 raster operating units). The kit comes with a pre-installed miniPCIe module featuring 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and the latest Bluetooth 4.0, providing connectivity for low power Bluetooth devices and peripherals.

End-users can install up to 16GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, a solid-state drive in mSATA form-factor as well as a 2.5” hard disk drive with Serial ATA-6Gb/s interface. The Brix Gaming box, which is only 59.6*128*115.4mm large, sports Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8111G), stereo audio (Realtek ALC269), four USB 3.0 ports as well as miniDP and HDMI display outputs.

For such a small gaming PC, the Brix Gaming offers quite a lot, including decent discrete graphics as well as high-performance/high-capacity storage. Unfortunately, quad-core AMD APU hardly offers truly high performance in modern games. A good thing is that such chips are relatively inexpensive and hence the Brix Gaming promises to be more affordable than some of its rivals.

Exact pricing of Gigabyte Brix Gaming is unknown.

KitGuru Says: Ultra-small form-factor gaming systems are on the rise today: everyone wants a small PC that can render video games at high-speed with all the eye candy enabled. Problem is, high performance required for demanding games is not exactly compatible with ultra-small sizes wanted by many. Therefore, there will always be a compromise between performance and form-factor. 

As the countdown clock for the end Windows XP’s life ticks ever onwards, users who still have old technology have been given encouragement from companies like Gigabyte to re-evaluate their position, but what would it really be like living with an unsupported OS?

For over a year, the internet has been rife with rumours of a growing arsenal of XP-attacks that are being hoarded by criminal organisations across the globe. There are those for whom cybercrime is a way of life, where ‘attack code’ is constantly being bought/traded. As each exploit is picked up by companies like Microsoft, they consider how best to counter the threat – closing doors wherever possible.

In April, that ‘shutting of the doors’ stops.

The fear is that, starting 9th April 2014, business and personal users who are still on Windows XP will be subject to a massive attack from hoarded exploits. Here’s Microsoft’s official position on the subject, “If you continue to use Windows XP after support ends, your computer will still work but it might become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses. Also, as more software & hardware manufacturers continue to optimize for more recent versions of Windows, you can expect to encounter greater numbers of apps and devices that do not work with Windows XP”.

Serious stuff.

In the countdown to the 9th, KitGuru is going to be looking into the risks involved with not upgrading, including speaking to one of the UK’s top security experts Dave Shearmon, CEO of security software company Cryptic, about how this will affect business users. But for now, we’re more concerned with consumers.

Speaking with Andrew Ditchburn, technical marketing guru for Gigabyte, we quizzed him on how the change will affect average end users. He told us, “Microsoft has provided support for Windows XP for the past 12 years but that comes to an end on 8th April, 2014. Technical assistance for Windows XP will no longer be available and that includes the automatic updates that help protect your PC. Microsoft will also stop providing Microsoft Security Essentials for download on Windows XP too”.

“This means that Gigabyte, as a hardware manufacturer, can no longer develop new drivers or hardware to support Windows XP users,” he continued. “Our focus will be to work closely with Microsoft to deliver the latest technologies in support of its latest Windows operating systems.”

As far as he’s concerned, the message is simple: “The features and benefits of a modern operating system are clear, so why not take this opportunity to upgrade both your operating system and hardware?”

“If you bought a PC with XP, just as Vista was being launched, then a typical enthusiast system might include a CPU like the classic Q6600“, Andrew explained. “It was a great chip, but when you compare that with a modern CPU like the 4670K, it will struggle. Why not upgrade your life with new hardware and a modern operating system?”.

Of course Gigabyte and many other hardware manufacturers are looking to take advantage of the changing of the OS guard and now has a full set of offers for XP owner/operators available here.

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KitGuru says: Whether your preference is Gigabyte or one of the other top hardware vendors out there, it’s got to be a good idea to put XP behind us and move to Windows 7.

Go back just a single decade and you would find many high end gaming PC’s with 80GB boot drives or some with even smaller 36GB Raptor drives – for added performance. Today multi-terrabyte drives aren’t something we bat an eyelid at and most modern smartphones ship with tens of gigabytes of storage space. But what if you need a bit more than that? You can always upgrade the internal micro-SD card, but that’s a bit of a hassle and can get expensive, especially if you don’t need that storage permanently attached. That’s where the Voyager Go from Corsair comes in.

It’s a 64GB, micro-USB (B) flash drive, that also has a full 3.0 connector on the other end, so you can easily transfer files from a PC/laptop to your phone and vice versa. Corsair say it is designed to be convenient, portable and affordable, but whether it ticks those boxes while offering decent performance still remains to be seen.

Available in three different sizes: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, the Voyager Go we’re looking at today is the biggest and baddest of the lot. Priced at £39 it’s also the most expensive too, but it comes with a five year warranty so it should last long enough that by the time you upgrade it, 64GB will be considered tiny.

Features

• Designed for Android with USB On-The-Go
• Dramatically boosts your mobile device’s storage capacity
• USB 3.0 speed with USB 2.0 compatibility
• Plug and Play, with no driver or app necessary
• Includes extra caps and a lanyard for a personalised look and handy access
• Five year warranty

Phone Support

• HTC Butterfly
• HTC Butterfly S
• HTC New One
• HTC One X
• Samsung GALAXY NOTE (GT-N7000)
• Samsung GALAXY NOTE II (GT-N7100)
• Samsung GALAXY NOTE III (GT-N900)
• Samsung GALAXY R (GT-I9103)
• Samsung GALAXY S2
• Samsung GALAXY S3
• Samsung GALAXY S4
• Samsung MAGA 6″3
• SONY SONY XPERIA S (LT26i)
• SONY SONY XPERIA Z (C6602)
• SONY Xperia TX LT29i
• Xiaomi 2S

Tablet Support

• Tablet PC Acer ICONIA A1-810
• Acer ICONIA_Tab A700
• ASUS MeMO Pad ME302
• ASUS MeMO Pad 10 ME102
• ASUS Transformer Pad TF-100
• Fujitsu LTE F-01D Y Android 3.2
• Huawei MediaPad S7-301u(P)
• Lenovo A3000
• Samsung Note 8
• SONY SGPT111JP/S
• SONY SGPT112TW/S
• SONY SGPT211JP/S
• Toshiba AT700/35D

It’s approaching that time of the year; the launch of Intel’s ‘future chipset’ is just around the corner and board partners are busy preparing their products for the retail channels. Full reviews of motherboards based on the ‘future Intel chipset’ still cannot be published for another few weeks (as we always adhere to Intel’s NDA), but in the mean time let’s look at some highlights of the upcoming products.

Without further ado, let’s delve into a preview of Gigabyte’s upcoming Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition motherboard. 

As the name would suggest, Gigabyte’s Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition motherboard uses a dark colour scheme with gold and grey hints offering small variances from the all-black appearance.

It is clear that Gigabyte’s upper-mid range motherboard is accompanied by a host of user-orientated features, but two further foundations for the Black Edition part are: stability and reliability. Gigabyte outlines the motherboard’s durability by operating a continuous, week-long, server-level stress test which includes Litecoin mining as a task.

Up to 32GB of DDR3 memory can be installed in the Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK motherboard. In the vicinity of the DIMM slots are onboard buttons and voltage checkpoints to assist with users’ overclocking efforts.

Durability is another key philosophy to the twelve phase power delivery system and electrical arrangement; Gigabyte’s Z97X-UD5H-BK utilises a 2 oz copper PCB design, 10K black solid capacitors rated for 10,000 operating hours at 105°C, and a 15-micron gold-plated CPU socket.

A pair of eye-catching heatsinks, sporting gold-coloured Gigabyte branding, are connected via a heatpipe and tasked with cooling the motherboard’s MOSFETs. The heatsinks are sufficiently low-profile to make interference with large CPU coolers an unlikely issue.

Six chipset-fed SATA 6Gbps connectors are used on the Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK motherboard, with a further two ports being provided by an add-on Marvell controller. SATA-Express support is present; two of the chipset-fed SATA 6Gbps connectors can be used alongside the additional bandwidth-provided port to produce a 10Gbps SATA-Express connection. Gigabyte includes an auxiliary SATA power connector to provide extra juice to multi-VGA configurations.

The highlight of the rear IO is the pair of LAN ports. Aiming to cater for all consumer-level audiences, Gigabyte uses a Killer E2200 series NIC to provide gamers with smooth online performance, while Intel’s tried-and-tested I217V chipset provides accompaniment and potential low CPU overhead benefits.

Support for 3-way CrossFire and 2-way SLI is present on the Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK. All PCIe x16-length slots are fed by the CPU’s sixteen PCIe 3.0 lanes. 3-way CrossFire is supported in an x8/x4/x4 manner, while SLI is limited to a 2-way setup due to the technology’s insistence on PCIe x8 connections.

Gigabyte offers support for legacy devices by outfitting the Z97X-UD5H-BK with a pair of PCI slots. Layout of the expansion area is very good; triple-slot graphics cards can be used in a multi-GPU configuration at x8/x8 bandwidth, or a dual two-slot card setup can be given a breathing gap between the partnering boards.

Positioned between the CPU socket and upper PCIe expansion slot is the motherboard’s M.2 connector. Based on previous news articles and leaked information, the M.2 connection seems to derive from the ‘future Intel chipset’, although we are not allowed to validate this suggestion. However, we can say that no add-on controllers are present in the vicinity of the M.2 slot. Gigabyte’s M.2 implementation provides support for 42, 60, and 80mm drives.

Based around the Realtek ALC1150 codec, Gigabyte uses an additional amplifier for rear audio purposes and filters signals through a series of capacitors and a discrete PCB layer.

Teaming Gigabyte’s smart-looking Z97X-UD5H-BK motherboard with black-coloured hardware can result in an attractive system foundation. A black CPU cooler, such as the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3, can blend in with the Black Edition board’s dark colour scheme.

Despite being limited by the information that we are allowed to disclose, while sticking to Intel’s NDA, we hope that our preview of Gigabyte’s Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition motherboard has helped get you fired up for the board’s impending launch.

In the mean time, we would like to invite your early views on the motherboard and suggestions for the features to test in our full, in-depth review.

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

KitGuru Says: Check back in a few weeks to read our full, in-depth review of the Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition motherboard.

Release date for the Z97 and H97 chipsets is rapidly approaching and motherboard makers are frantically preparing for the upcoming launch. We have a gallery of pictures for the upcoming Gigabyte motherboards based on the Intel 9-series chipset. No further explanation is required; simply sit back and feast your eyes on Gigabyte’s comprehensive range of 9-series motherboards.

You can discuss these boards on our Facebook page, over HERE.

Z97 Gaming motherboards

Gigabyte will release a host of Gaming series motherboards. Highlights of the Gaming motherboards include a Killer E2200 series NIC, Realtek ALC1150- or Creative Sound Core 3D-based audio system and a red and black colour scheme.

The Z97X-Gaming 3 (the motherboard in the picture is incorrect – it is actually the H97-Gaming 3), Z97X-Gaming 5 and Z97X-Gaming 7 will be offered in the ATX form factor. SATA Express and m.2 support is consistent across these three boards.

Increased capabilities with multi-VGA configurations is offered by the Z97X-Gaming G1, Z97X-Gaming G1 WiFi-BK and the Z97X-Gaming GT. Both of the G1 boards utilise a Creative Sound Core 3D audio system.

Two smaller form factor boards are present in the Gaming series – the mini-ITX Z97N-Gaming 5 and the mATX Z97MX-Gaming 5. Both boards utilise a Realtek ALC1150-based audio solution and a Killer E2200 series NIC.

Also predominantly centred around gaming is the G1.Sniper Z97 motherboard. Last year Gigabyte introduced their G1.Sniper Z87 motherboard which offered many gaming features at a very aggressive price point.

Z97 Series motherboards

The Gigabyte Z97 series motherboard will span a variety of price points and offering differing features based on the target markets. A black and yellow colour scheme is new for Gigabyte on many of their Z97 series motherboards.

Gigabyte are also going to introduce two black edition motherboards that will feature additional stability and reliability certification. We previewed the Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition motherboard over HERE.

Three smaller form factor motherboard will be in Gigabyte’s Z97 series; two mATX and one mini-ITX.

The Gigabyte Z97X-SLI sits in the Z97 series of motherboard but targets users who want a relatively low-cost route to SLI compatibility.

Z97 Overclocking motherboards

Two overclocking motherboards released by Gigabyte will specifically target overclocking enthusiasts.

The Z97X-SOC and Z97X-SOC Force both use bright orange and black colour schemes. We previewed the Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force motherboard HERE.

H97 motherboards

Gigabyte is also releasing a range of motherboards based on the lower-cost H97 chipset.

Three H97 series boards will target all-round users.

Gigabyte has the H97-Gaming 3 for gamers.

Three H97-based micro-ATX and a mini-ITX motherboard cater for smaller form factor users.

High Resolution Gallery

KitGuru Says: An extensive range of Z97 and H97 motherboards from Gigabyte. Check back soon for full reviews. 

Intel’s Z97 chipset has arrived, bringing with it a handful of new features, including native support for PCIe-based storage. Motherboard manufacturers have been busy working on their boards based on the 9-series chipset. As of May 11th, the LGA 1150 socket motherboards with Z97 and H97 chipsets are available to purchase.

We analyse Gigabyte’s upper-mid range Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition motherboard to see what features it and the Z97 chipset bring to the table.

With its Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition motherboard, Gigabyte is aiming to provide the upper-mid range market with features that will satisfy gamers and conventional users alike. Hitting an important target zone that Asus exploited with its TUF series motherboards, Gigabyte is building the Black Edition version of its UD5H board around durability and reliability.

The value associated with certified reliability is something that I can understand. Many users are happy to pay-up for the additional peace of mind that their component has already survived high-stress loading, effectively accelerating its electronic components further away from their infancy region in the bathtub curve.

Many people may suggest that such reliability dictates the requirement for workstation-level hardware, although that’s not always feasible. For example, I use my personal system on a daily basis for a variety of tasks, from gaming and general web-browsing, to CAD, computational simulation, and programming.

Workstation-level hardware may only suffice for the engineering-tasks that make up less than 50% of my usage. Not necessarily to me personally, but gaming hardware may not appeal to users with a similarly varied workload. This is where Gigabyte’s ‘hybrid’ Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition motherboard has an opportunity to prove its worth.

Key features for the Z97X-UD5H-BK include SATA Express and M.2 connections, support for multi-VGA configurations, a Killer E2200 series NIC partnered with Intel’s I217-V, and a Realtek ALC1150-based audio system. Reliability aspects include 10K black capacitors, International Rectifiers power controllers, a 2 Oz copper PCB, onboard voltage reading points, and Gigabyte’s patented Dual BIOS.

Certified for reliability by undergoing a 168-hour stress test and backed up by a 5-year warranty, can Gigabyte’s £174.95 Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition motherboard prove its worth through our critical analysis?

The Z97 Chipset

To consumer audiences, the most important new feature that Z97 brings with it is native support for PCIe 2.0 x2 M.2 storage devices with speeds of up to 1GBps. Other features include enhanced security and updated storage support (based around PCIe SSDs).

Motherboard Features:

• Durable components.
• Safe design.
• 10Gbps M.2 connector.
• 10Gbps SATA Express connector.
• Killer E2200 series NIC.
• Intel LAN.
• Realtek ALC1150.

Everyone is talking about the next generation systems that are being constructed on Intel’s latest Z97 platform with a 5th Generation Core processor. This is the stuff that dreams are made of, but – for one lucky KitGuru reader – that dream is about to become reality!  Enter this simple competition for a chance to WIN AN AMAZING CYBERPOWER Z97 SYSTEM – powered by the very latest Gigabyte components and delivered in a stunning InWin 904 chassis.

The FULL specification is really impressive, including:-

• 5th Generation Intel Core i5 4690 Processor
• Gigabyte Z97 Gaming 3 Mainboard
• 3GB Gigabyte GTX780 Graphics
• InWin 904 Chassis
• 8GB Kingston DDR3 Memory
• 256GB Plextor PCI-E SSD
• Coolermaster Seidon Watercooling
• Corsair 750w Modular PSU
• Windows 8.1
• £1,399 inc vat value

To mark the launch of Intel’s 5th Generation Core Processor range, Cyberpower, Gigabyte, InWin and KitGuru have joined forces to offer you this AMAZING OPPORTUNITY TO OWN A KILLER SYSTEM on the latest platform.

• FIRST PRIZE: CYBERPOWER GAMING PC
• RUNNER-UP: GIGABYTE AIVIA OSMIUM BROWN KEYBOARD
• 3rd PLACE: GIGABYTE KRYPTON MOUSE + KRYPTON MOUSE MAT

Enter by simply following this link to the Facebook entry method!

Comments are closed – enter only via the Facebook link above.

Continuing our recent focus on gaming motherboards, we have the Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 in for review. Hitting retail with an aggressive sub-£140 price tag, Gigabyte is aiming to lure in potential buyers with the Gaming 7 motherboard’s gaming-orientated features, striking colour scheme, and four-year warranty. 

Fusing together the company’s high-performance G1 Audio with a Killer E2200 series NIC, Gigabyte is targeting gamers who value crisp sounds and lag-free gameplay. 10Gbps SATA Express and M.2 connectors allow gamers to optimise their loading times, while support for multi-VGA configurations permit the Z97X-Gaming 7′s users to utilise CrossFire and SLI.

With its Z97 series motherboards, Gigabyte has put a large emphasis on stability and durability. The Z97X-Gaming 7 uses durable power delivery components and offers a warranty period of up to four years.

Can Gigabyte’s Z97X-Gaming 7 prove that it is able to offer the performance that gamers looking for a sub-£140 motherboard desire?

Features:

• Gigabyte G1 Audio solution
• Killer E2200 gaming networking platform
• Multi graphics support
• SATA Express support for 10 Gb/s data transfer
• M.2 for SSDs drives with up to 10 Gb/s data transfer
• Long lifespan Durable Black Solid caps
• APP Center including EasyTune and Cloud Station utilities
• GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS

The DDR4 memory era is set to begin in several months from now. It is expected that the DDR4 standard will bring the world new performance heights thanks to increased memory frequencies and chip densities. But who said that the DDR3 cannot run faster? Hicookie, a well-known overclocker, this week managed to overclock a Kingston HyperX DDR3 memory module to whopping 4.50GHz, a frequency that will not be officially achieved by the DDR4 for a couple of years from now.

In a bid to overclock the memory module, Hicookie used a custom mainboard designed especially for record-breaking extreme overclocking by Gigabyte Technology, a Kingston HyperX memory module officially rated to run at 2933MHz, an engineering sample of Intel Core i7-4770K “Haswell” processor as well as a liquid nitrogen cooling system. The mainboard he used was a specially built version of the GA-Z97X-SOC Force with only two memory slots moved towards the CPU socket (in order to ensure clean electrical signals were as clear as possible), lack of any standard holes/mounts for a CPU cooler and possibly some other enhancements.

Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force LN2 mainboard. Image by Lab501.ro

Thanks to the fact that the GA-Z97X-SOC Force LN2 was designed to be a DDR3 overclocking record breaker, Hicookie managed to run one Kingston HyperX DDR3 memory module at 4500MHz. Stability of the overclocked PC was high enough to boot the Microsoft Windows XP operating system and run the CPU-Z software.

The testbed with installed cooling devices. Image by Lab501.ro

Maximum bandwidth provided by a DDR3 memory module clocked at 4.50GHz is 36GB/s, which seems to be a lot. However, since all modern mainstream PCs use dual-channel memory sub-systems, 36GB/s can be achieved by running two DDR3 modules at 2250MHz, which is hardly a truly high-speed for modern DDR3 memory sticks as well as the latest microprocessors from Intel. It is impossible to overclock a couple of memory modules to extreme rates like 4.50GHz.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While it is definitely remarkable that the DDR4 clock-rates can be achieved with high-speed DDR3 modules, such overclocking lacks any practical sense from the end-user point of view. Still, thanks to the experiment the world knows that the Kingston HyperX memory modules can work at extreme frequencies with the help of the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force LN2 mainboards.

Founded in 1986, Gigabyte is one of the Taiwan Top 20 Global Brands, with a company motto that suggests you ‘Upgrade your life’. With four new ranges of boards coming into the market, we wanted to make sure we got a complete tour. Enter Nigel Sutch, regional sales and marketing guru for the technology giant. 

Even from the 36th floor of Taipei’s famous 101 story building (of the same name), cars and people look like minute toys below.
Perfect environment to show off a ton of new products if you’re hoping they will be head and shoulders above the competition.

Nigel spent time going through the Ultra Durable, Black Edition and peak performance products. We’ll start with the most reliable.

So which CPU markets do they cover?  Nigel explained, “As you would expect, the Ultra Durable range of Z97 chipset boards will support both 4th and 5th generation Intel Core processors. There’s plenty of connectivity on offer as well, with 10Gb/sec data transfer and Thunderbolt 2″.

So what makes then ‘Ultra Durable’?

“As well as the 2x copper PCB board design, we also use Nippon Chemi-Con and Nichicon capacitors that are rated for 10,000 hours use”, Nigel told us. “We’re also using 5 times more gold on the CPU contacts, to minimise bad contacts and corrosion – which is important for long life and reliable use”.

It’s one thing to include a load of features, but how can you be certain you’re getting the right result.

“Testing is everything with our Black Edition mainboards”, Nigel told us. “Each one is tested for 168 hours to the same performance and reliability levels we demand from our mission critical server products”.

“Naturally, you’ll also get support for Gigabyte’s exciting new Cloud innovations”, he added. Good to know.

Finally, for this part of our coverage on Gigabyte, here’s a shot of Nigel holding a board designed for setting records (more on that soon), surrounded by Taiwanese CosPlay beauties.

KitGuru says: Gigabyte motherboards are in a strong position this year – we just need the new Intel processors now for those upcoming system builds!

Let us know what you think about Gigabyte mainboards, Devils Canyon processors or Nigel’s CosPlay beauties over on Facebook.

Boards designed for extreme overclockers have been constants for all of Intel’s most recent platforms. Gigabyte hit success with the Z87X-OC motherboard by driving the overclocking-geared part to an aggressive mid-range price point. Many of the key overclocking-orientated features were still present, but the bank-busting price tag was not.

Gigabyte is attempting to repeat its success with its Z97X-SOC Force motherboard.

From a vast array of on-board overclocking buttons and voltage check points, to a unique ‘OC Brace’ that supports graphics cards in a table-top layout, Gigabyte packs the Z97X-SOC Force motherboard with a host of features that will appeal to overclocking users.

And for those who are more interested in solid overclocking potential than day-to-day usage, Gigabyte also equips the Z97X-SOC Force with a Killer E2200 series NIC and Realtek ALC1150 audio codec. If it’s a good-looking system you desire, the attractive orange and black colour scheme should come in handy too.

Operated by an International Rectifiers controller, can Gigabyte’s Z97X-SOC Force prove that its overclocking potential and UEFI implementation are as good as its eye-catching appearance?

Features:

• Premium 4-way CrossFire™ support with OC Brace
• Precise digital CPU power design
• SATA Express support for 10 Gb/s data transfer
• Exclusive GIGABYTE OC Features
• Killer™ E2200 gaming networking
• 2x copper PCB design
• Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD Audio with Built-in rear audio amplifier
• New Heatsink design with 8 onboard fan connectors
• Long lifespan Durable Black Solid caps
• APP Center including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ utilities
• GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™

The world and his dog might be getting ready of the impending availability of DDR4 memory, but Gigabyte is still pushing the boundaries of what you can do with the hardware that’s available right now. Making use of its much touted Z97-SOC Force LN2 motherboard, Gigabyte is now proud to let the world know it’s captured the world record DDR3 frequency once again, pushing a Kingston HyperX Predator kit all the way up to 4.62GHz.

While Gigabyte has been on a bit of a tear with its memory records recently, smashing through it on 2nd June and again on 5th June with its team of high profile overclockers, the record was again broken on the last day of the month by Sofos1990, at the Gigabyte testing labs.

If you’re going all Billy Mitchell and suggesting that live competition is the only way to prove its legitimate, don’t fret, this record has been fully validated by HWBot on its main site and Gigabyte even had a representative present at the record attempt to confirm it all live.

KitGuru Says: Congratulations to the guys at Gigabyte. And Kingston I suppose, though Gigabyte didn’t give the other company much props in its press release. Congrats to Sophos1990 too. I wonder how long that record will stand?

Traditionally companies like Asustek Computer and MicroStar International were focused on designing competitive mainboards, graphics cards and other computer components. However, in the recent years the DIY market began to stagnate, which is why the manufacturers started to look at alternative revenue sources. Recently Asus and MSI began to concentrate on own-brand desktop systems.

Asustek started to aggressively pursue branded desktop sales in the second half of 2013, looking to acquire some orders from the enterprise market, which is enjoying a strong replacement trend, reports DigiTimes web-site. In addition, Asus has entered the market of gaming desktops, which may have an impact on its components businesses. The company shipped two million desktops in 2013 and intends to ship 20 million PCs in 2014. The company’s long-term plans include shipment of 50 million PCs five years from now.

MSI has also entered the markets of gaming desktop PCs, gaming notebooks, gaming all-in-one PCs and even small form-factor barebones. Asrock and Gigabyte have also increased focus on SFF systems after Intel introduced its NUC concept several years ago.

In early-2000s – mid-2000s many PC component makers offered SFF PC barebones, systems with pre-installed mainboard, PSU and some other components that lacked microprocessor, memory, storage, operating system and so on. Shuttle was among a few companies, which were successful with such personal computers, many others just had to leave the market.

Nowadays the situation is significantly different. Asus and MSI offer fully-fledged systems with pre-installed Windows operating system, which increases their risks, but allows to sell their PCs in mainstream stores, thus targeting a broad audience of potential customers. Essentially, companies like Asus, MSI, Gigabyte and other want to become real competitors for companies like Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and others. Moreover, by selling their own-brand PCs Asus and MSI essentially compete against their own customers, who buy their components,

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and other aforementioned companies did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It is an open question whether Asus, Gigabyte and MSI will truly be able to become significant players in the markets of gaming desktops. Companies like HP or Lenovo know how to address the volume markets, something that many other companies are not ready to do. Meanwhile, local PC makers know exact demands of their customers and can offer things like personalized services as well.

A representative for Gigabyte Technology has confirmed that the company plans to introduce its next-generation Nvdia GeForce GTX 880-based graphics cards this fall. The company even said that the boards will use custom coolers, which may mean that they will also be factory overclocked.

In an interview with a Chinese web-site a graphics marketing director at Gigabyte Technology said that the GeForce GTX 880 G1 Gaming graphics card would be released in late September, or early October, 2014. The timeframe was confirmed earlier by unofficial sources, hence, it is likely that it is correct.

Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 880 graphics card is projected to feature improved design (it is unclear whether the card will rely on Gigabyte’s own printed-circuit board, or will feature a reference PCB along with some improvements) with a proprietary cooling system, LED lights, metal back-plate and so on. It is highly-likely that the graphics board will be factory overclocked and will be faster than competitors.

The fact that Nvidia will allow Gigabyte and other makers to pre-overclock the GeForce GTX 800-series graphics card means that the solutions will be positioned exactly as expected: as high-end gaming-class graphics boards. It looks like the GeForce GTX Titan-series products will remain Nvidia’s highest-performing graphics boards this year.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 800-series graphics cards will be based on the GM204 graphics processing unit, which belongs to the second-generation Maxwell family of GPUs. The GM204 is projected to be made using 28nm process technology.

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KitGuru Says: Since there are way too many confirmations about Nvidia’s plan to release three new GeForce GTX 800-series graphics cards this fall, it is highly probable that this will indeed happen. What we are not sure about is performance of the GeForce GTX 880 and how it compares to that of the GeForce GTX 780 and 780 Ti.

Intel’s latest revision to its High-End Desktop (HEDT) platform is upon us and that means one thing is for sure – new processors and motherboards. Bringing the HEDT platform to the feature-rich realms of 2014, new motherboards based around the LGA 2011-v3 socket will use an X99 chipset that possesses many of the goodies found on the mainstream 9-series core logic, as well as more.

The hectic and somewhat problematic nature of these launches means that our processor article will be published over the coming weekend – we didn’t want to rush and compromise on the quality of the content. In the mean time, we take a brief look at Gigabyte’s X99 SOC Force motherboard to show early adopters the features they can expect. Our full, in-depth review will be published in the coming week.

Launched for the company’s X58-OC motherboard, Gigabyte is still using the unique orange and black colour scheme for its OC series parts. The ostentatious orange adds an effective touch to the black. The OC boards’ unique colour scheme is rapidly gaining iconic status thanks to Gigabyte’s continued utilisation of the style.

Designed for taking overclocking world records, Gigabyte extends the X99 SOC Force to an E-ATX form factor to create PCB space for additional on-board components.

The LGA 2011-v3 CPU socket is nestled between eight alternating orange and black DDR4 DIMM slots. IOR controllers operate the power delivery system while Cooper Bussman chokes and Tantalum-core POSCAP capacitors process the current.

To provide extra cooling capacity for the power delivery system, which could be particularly relevant when an 8-core CPU is over-volted and demanding high currents, Gigabyte uses a multiple heatsink approach. Two individual heatsinks cool the power delivery system and are connected to each other, as well as the chipset heatsink, via a single heatpipe. This design decision increases the cooling capacity for the MOSFETs.

On the motherboard’s right side are the overclocker-orientated buttons, switches, and reading points.

With the chase for benchmarking world records in mind, Gigabyte designs the X99 SOC Force to provide capacity for 4-way SLI/CrossFire graphics configurations. 40 lanes from a relevant Haswell-E CPU will be split between the four full-length PCIe slots.

Situated beneath the second x16-length PCIe slot is the motherboard’s M.2 connector. Gigabyte routes four PCIe 2.0 lanes through the port to provide up to 20Gbps of bandwidth. Converted into real-world terms, that’s up to a theoretical 2GBps through an appropriately-fast M.2 SSD.

Gigabyte also outfits the X99 SOC Force with its Amp-up audio solution. Based on the Realtek ALC1150 codec and supported by Nichicon capacitors, the beefed-up audio solution is present for those times when extreme benchmarking is not taking place.

A hefty set of rear IO ports stills shows reference to the underlying overclocking design of Gigabyte’s board with its OC button and DualBios switch.

A plentiful supply of USB 2.0/3.0 ports is also present, as is an Intel-based GbE port.

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

While it may have plenty of features to make a user’s overclocking experience more enjoyable, numbers are also key to judging the X99 SOC Force. Check back soon for overclocking and benchmarking results with our i7 5960X CPU.

Gigabyte has just launched its new motherboard lineup, based on the X99 chipset for Intel’s new Core i7 Extreme Edition CPUs. The new range comes in three categories, G.1 Gaming, SOC overclocking and the company’s signature “Ultra Durable” model.

“Given this incredibly powerful platform from Intel, GIGABYTE wanted to make sure each one of our X99 series motherboards delivered that ‘WOW’ factor for our enthusiast customers,” commented Henry Kao, Vice President of Gigabyte’s Motherboard Business Unit.

These new motherboards will feature 25 per cent more bandwidth in the PCI Express lanes thanks to the onboard external clock generator combined with the direct connection of one of the x16 lanes to the CPU.

These motherboards will also feature M.2 technology to provide up to 20 Gb/s of bandwidth to an SSD and 4 channel DDR4 RAM support.

Pricing and availability information will be made available soon.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE. Read our Gigabyte SOC Force preview, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Lots of motherboard announcements today. We already have several X99 reviews in the works so be on the look out for those. Are any of you guys interested in Intel’s new Extreme Edition CPUs?

As a mountain of X99 news, reports and previews go live around the world, KitGuru unveils an exclusive interview that we shot a long time before the launch. Jonathan Geoff is one of Gigabyte’s technical marketing gurus from HQ over in Taiwan and he brought something very special with him.

Gigabyte claims that this board’s all digital CPU power design is the right choice for setting records with Intel’s new CPUs.

Intrigued by the concept, we invited Gigabyte down to our studio and they were happy to send Jonathan Geoff along with an early sample of the X99 Super OC Force mainboard.

Gigabyte X99 Launch – Exclusive interview with Jonathan Geoff from Kitguru on Vimeo.

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KitGuru says: The recession flattened the market, but an economic recovery is not enough to re-energise the technology market. We also need the biggest and best companies to make our socks roll up and down in the realms of R&D. The X99 launch certainly seems to be doing its part and we look forward to the next offers from nVidia and AMD.

While the tide may not have turned 100%, the days when computer chassis simply grew and grew are certainly behind us. There will always be a market for massive cases, but small is not only sexy, it is also cost effective and neat. KitGuru fires up the trusty camcorder.

At the MacWorld Expo in 2005, the late Steve Jobs bounced around, announcing “Starting at just $499, Mac mini is the most affordable way to enjoy Mac OS X and iLife. Just plug in your display, keyboard and mouse and you’ve got an incredibly compact Mac for a price that almost anyone can afford”.

Just 8 short years later, someone at Intel dusted off that sentiment and announced NUC (Next Unit of Computing) which  was a 4″ x 4″ system. Essentially, it performed a similar function to the Mac Mini, but was much cheaper.

So what if you took this concept of smaller systems – but added in serious processing and graphics?

KitGuru says: There will always be questions about heat etc when you move to a much smaller form factor, but this is certainly interesting approach. More interesting will be what happens over the next 5 years with these concepts.

Let us know what you think over on Facebook here.

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