– GIGABYTE Unveils Next Gen Motherboard Digital Power Engine at CES 2012 –

– Demonstrates New GIGABYTE 3D Power Design, 3D BIOS, and Other Exclusive Future Motherboard Technologies –

Las Vegas, USA, January, 10th 2012 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced its participation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas where it is debuting a number of new and exciting motherboard technologies that will be central to it’s motherboard design in 2012 and beyond. International media and customers will get a sneak peak ofGIGABYTE’s new technologies at their suite in The Venetian Hotel,Las Vegas, from January 10-13.

3D Power: Frequency, Voltage and Phase Control

GIGABYTE is showing forthcoming 7 series motherboards featuring the very latest in CPU power delivery with GIGABYTE’s unique Digital Power Engine called 3D Power. Offering digital control over all the main onboard power zones, this new digital PWM design allows users to manipulate and monitor the power provided to 2nd Gen Intel® Core™ and Next Gen processors for the LGA 1155 socket.

“We are very excited about the new technologies that will feature on our 7 series motherboards, and are confident that our customers will find them, together with the performance and feature improvements on Intel’s future platform, extremely appealing,” commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. “Product development and debugging for the new features is progressing really well, and we expect to have a full range of products available globally by launch day.”

GIGABYTE 3D BIOS (Dual UEFI)

Visitors to CES 2012 will be able to see the 2nd iteration of GIGABYTE’s revolutionary 3D BIOS that is based on GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™

technology. 3D BIOS offers two distinct modes of interaction in a BIOS environment, 3D Mode and Advanced Mode, that re-draw the traditional

BIOS user experience with a far more intuitive and graphical interface.

G1.Sniper 3 Debuts with Dual LAN

The G1.Killer gaming motherboard series continues to evolve with two new GIGABYTE 7 series models planned for launch later this year. The

G1.Sniper 3 motherboard features onboard Creative gaming audio together with a dual LAN configuration of Intel®Gigabit and Killer™ Game

Networking controllers. Visitors toLas Vegas will also be among the first to see the G1.Sniper M3, a gaming motherboard with signature G1.Killer

DNA in a compact Micro-ATX form factor.

GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 3 (ATX) and G1.Sniper M3 (Micro ATX) Gaming Motherboards

Powering the Personal Cloud: Bluetooth 4.0/Wi-Fi PCIe Card

Selected GIGABYTE motherboards will come with an exclusive PCIe expansion card that offers support for the latest Bluetooth 4.0 (Smart Ready) and Wi-Fi connectivity standards. With the growing availability of affordable or free remote PC operation software, such asSplashtop and VLC Remote, GIGABYTE believes that now is the time to explore and enjoy the home cloud: a personal cloud within the secure environment of a home network where the performance and functionality of desktop PCs can be utilized and controlled by portable cloud devices. With this in mind GIGABYTE has introduced their CloudStation utility that will help future GIGABYTE Apps to communicate, share resources and control desktop PC systems.

Onboard mSATA Support

Most ATX form factor GIGABYTE 7 series motherboards will enjoy an onboard mSATA connector that, together with GIGABYTE’s EZ Smart Response technology, will allow users to simply and cost effectively enjoy better responsiveness from their PCs. mSATA solid state drives have been made popular by the rapid growth of tablet PCs, and provide a cheaper solution for smart chaching because they are available in smaller capacities than traditional SSDs.

Small Business Solutions

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H Motherboard with Onboard mSATA Connector

Setting its sights on the small business market, GIGABYTE will demonstrate the B75M-D3H motherboard that represents a new product range featuring the ability to monitor and manage PC health, installed software, data

backup, energy saving and connectivity. This allows system integrators to add value to their products by

offering these services to small businesses. Key features and selling points for these models will be

manageability, affordability and GIGABYTE’s Ultra Durable design quality.

A few weeks ago, we attended an event by Promise technology, showing off it’s Thunderbolt NAS devices. As Apple is the only company that builds Thunderbolt capable notebooks, PC which is based on Intel processors and chipsets do not have motherboards which cater to this new transmission standard. According to Digitimes, Intel has recently notified its partners that the company will fully release its Thunderbolt technology in April of 2012 with several first-tier PC players already preparing to launch Thunderbolt-supported motherboards, notebooks and desktop PCs, according to sources from PC players.

Most board makers are still using third party USB 3.0 solutions while the Apple has it adopted into its products such as monitor, MacBook Pro, iMac, MacBook Air and MacBook Mini, it has strongly boosted demand. With the price of Thunderbolt technology dropping in 2H 2012, it is expected that board makers and notebook makers will adopt this technology onto to PC platform.

Currently Sony is expected to adopt Thunderbolt technology into its product lines with players such as Asustek Computer also expected to adopt the technology into their high-end notebook products. Gigabyte Technology, which has been aggressively adopting new transmission technology into its product line, is also expected to launch Thunderbolt-featured motherboard by April 2012 to compete against other brands.

Here is a link to the Promise SmartStor products which feature the Thunderbolt technology.

Introduction to Gigabyte X79-UD7
Bluetooth 22 Nov 2011

Last week, Intel launches it’s new series of processors based on the LGA 2011 Socket type. WE have already previewed the performance on launch date last week. Today, we will take at the the Gigabyte X79-UD7 motherboard. This new board features some interesting features that were never seen before on previous generation boards.

The X79-UD7 is based on Intel X79 Express chipset. It supports the Intel® Core™ i7 processors in the LGA2011 package. It has 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory. It employs a 4 channel memory architecture that supports DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules (DDR3-2400 is possible with OC). It supports non-ECC and XMP memory modules.

The board consists of 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2); 2 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1, PCIEX8_2)
* The PCIEX8_2 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16_2 slot. When the PCIEX8_2 slot is populated, the PCIEX16_2 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.
(All PCI Express x16 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.). There are 3 x PCI Express x1 slots (All PCI Express x1 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)

The board support 4-Way/3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI technology and the PCIEX16 slots operate at up to x8 mode when 4-Way/3-Way AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI is enabled.

In terms of expandability, the board has 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0/1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices; 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2 2/3/4/5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices which support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10. In addition, there are 2 x Marvell 88SE9172 chips that supports 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3 6/7/8/9) supporting up to 4 SATA 6Gb/s devices.

The Intel X79 Express chipset also support Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 ports on the back panel, 6 ports available through the internal USB headers). There are 2 x Fresco FL1009 chips which supports Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header).

The audio on board is based on the Realtek ALC898 codec HDA and supports 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel, Dolby® Home Theater, S/PDIF Out. There is also a Intel GbE LAN (10/100/1000 Mbit) network port on board.

In addition, this new board features GIGABYTE 3D Power (patent pending)

GIGABYTE X79 series motherboards are the first to take advantage of the exclusive GIGABYTE 3D Power, an all new hardware and software-based Digital Power Engine for both the PWM and Memory that delivers unprecedented power delivery control.

All New Digital Power Control for the CPU and Memory
Utilizing a brand new Digital PWM controller, GIGABYTE’s 3D Power features precise Auto Voltage Compensation to deliver a steady flow of power to the CPU and memory no matter the loading. This all new, all digital power system provides enthusiast users with exceptional control over the overclocking potential of their GIGABYTE X79 motherboard.
GIGABYTE is the first in the industry to utilize digital memory controllers for not only the Memory, but VTT and VSA, for real-time monitoring and adjusting. Digital memory control allows users to monitor and record DDR power and current in real-time while gaming, overclocking or at idle. Users can also set OVP (Over Voltage Protection) to safeguard your memory, adjust memory Load-line Calibration to fix memory vdrooping for a quicker response time and adjust memory PWM frequency on-the-fly.

GIGABYTE 3D Power(patent pending) Utility

	Users can now enjoy a fully interactive 3D utility that facilitates adjustment of the 3 dimensions that control the power delivery to your CPU and Memory: Voltage, Phase and Frequency. These parameters are crucial to how the digital PWM supplies power to critical areas of the motherboard and can help users quickly obtain the highest, most stable overclock.
	3D Power: Voltage Control Voltage parameters can be modified within 3D Power, including load line calibration the of CPU. By adjusting load line calibration, Vdrooping can be avoided, maintaining optimal voltages levels despite increasing current levels. OVP (over voltage protection) can also be adjusted to change default protection range of the CPU, memory controller, VTT and system memory.
	3D Power: Phase Control Users can calibrate OCP (Over Current Protection) for the CPU, integrated memory controller and system memory power levels. This allows the Phase control to deliver even more power to the system when needed.
	3D Power: Frequency Control GIGABYTE’s digital PWM allows for adjustable frequency control via the International Rectifier (IR3567) PWM controller. 3D Power frequency control allows users to change the PWM controller frequency so that the CPU VRM can adjust power delivery speeds more quickly. Users can also adjust the PWM spectrum or maximum and minimum overall frequencies.

It also comes bundled with GIGABYTE Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi Card

With 2 kinds data transfer mode, GIGABYTE Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi Card providing spec 300 Mbps transfer rates, 802.11n supports the latest WiFi specifications for better signal coverage, and featuring the newest Bluetooth 4.0, you will not suffer from signal loss like before.

Extreme cooling is something that we don’t usually do. Sometimes it is good to know how far one can push the processor. We had the opportunity to witness the latest LGA2011 processor on LN2.

The test was conducted at the Plug Fest event held at ParkRoyal Hotel in KL. The Indo team tested the ES processor from and was able to achieve 5.4GHz using LN2. The CPU vcore voltage was raised to 1.62v for the test. Cinbench 11.5 CPU result 15pts
More details can be seen at the link below :

Link

Gigabyte Plug Fest 2011 (ASEAN)
bluetooth 23 Nov 2011

Last Thursday, 17 Nov 2011, our Singapore overclockers were invited to the first Plug Fest event held in ASEAN. Despite the bad weather, representatives from ASEAN media and overclockers reached Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 17th on time.

The Plug Fest event in ASEAN is first of it’s kind. In the past, Gigabyte has held that in Taipei. Gigabyte invited two separate large groups of media and overclockers from around the world. They test out the boards and give feedback on issues faced during testing and overclocking using extreme methods such as LN2 cooling.

Upon arrival at the hotel, we took a rest before we proceed to a nearby local restaurant for our dinner together with representatives from Gigabyte, media and overclockers from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand.

Registration starts in the morning of 18th November. We were brought to a small ballroom where benches of equipment are laid out for our test. As there are 4 of us, 2 get to share a bench. I am delighted to be in the same “team” as SpyBoy.

Before testing and benchmarking takes place, we were given a presentation of the new X79 series of boards.

Gigabyte will soon release 3 new iOS apps for their motherboards.

THe first is a Picture Viewer. The 2nd is Cloud OC where you can now
access commonly used OC functions eg. Tuner, System INfo, Hardware Monitor etc.

Cloud BIOS is the third application and you can overclock, select boot disk, check PC status.

These few applications will be available once App Store approve it.

Android versions are on it’s way.

Gigabyte 3D UEFI BIOS on Gigabyte X79 boards

Taipei, Taiwan, Sep 27th 2011 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd.. a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the launch of LAN Optimizer, a free software application that offers user-friendly, intelligent network management. Prioritizing network-sensitive applications such as streaming media content, communications and online gaming, LAN Optimizer intelligently manages your network to deliver an optimized online experience. “LAN Optimizer is a unique and exclusive GIGABYTE application that allows our customers to get the very best online experience by taking charge of their internet bandwidth in a way that was only available to very high-end solutions in the past,” commented Henry Kao, Vice President of Motherboard Business Unit at GIGABYTE. “GIGABYTE motherboard users can now intelligently manage different types of network traffic at the touch of a button, dynamically optimizing their home network according to their needs.”

 GIGABYTE LAN Optimizer
LAN Optimizer offers intelligent and adaptive network analysis and management for all network traffic types. Automatic prioritization of data streams from online games, streaming media content and web browsing helps to prevent your network from being strangled by network-intensive traffic such as large data downloads. This means users can now enjoy optimized gaming, communications and entertainment connectivity, while performing multiple online tasks. In cases where an internet connection is shared, LAN Optimizer ensures that the whole family will enjoy sufficient network bandwidth, on all connected devices. Key FeaturesLAN Optimizer is a free software application that works in conjunction with the Realtek 8111E Network LAN Controller to monitor and manage your PC’s network behavior. It’s simple user interface allows you to select the types of network traffic you want to prioritize, including gaming, media streaming, communications or web browsing data traffic. You can also target specific applications, choosing to prioritize or block accordingly. LAN Optimizer also features automatic management options that use adaptive networking intelligence to ensure that you are getting the best online experience possible. See the GIGABYTE LAN Optimizer in action on GIGABYTE’s MoboTV Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjX3fr3LMlU LAN Optimizer is freely available to GIGABYTE motherboard customers and will work on applicable motherboard models. Get the latest version here: http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/Utility.aspx. GIGABYTE LAN

Optimizer: Applicable Models*ChipsetModelRev.ChipsetModelRev.
Z68GA-Z68X-UD3H-B31.0Z68GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B31.3
GA-Z68X-UD3H-B31.3GA-Z68MA-D2H-B31.0
GA-Z68A-D3H-B31.0GA-Z68MA-D2H-B31.3
GA-Z68A-D3H-B31.3GA-Z68M-D2H1.0
GA-Z68XP-UD41.0P67GA-P67A-D3-B31.x
GA-Z68XP-UD41.3GA-P67-DS3-B31.x
GA-Z68XP-UD3P1.0H67GA-PH67-DS3-B31.0
GA-Z68XP-UD3R1.0GA-H67MA-USB3-B31.0
GA-Z68XP-UD3R1.3GA-H67M-D2-B31.0/1.1
GA-Z68XP-UD31.0H61GA-P61-USB3-B31.0/1.1
GA-Z68XP-UD31.3GA-P61-DS3-B31.1
GA-Z68AP-D31.0GA-H61M-S2V-B31.0/1.1
GA-Z68P-DS31.0GA-H61N-USB31.0
GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B31.0

*1.This list is subject to change without notice。 2.Product features may vary by model, if your motherboard is not on the list, please refer to the GIGABYTE website for more support information. To learn more about the GIGABYTE LAN Optimizer, please visit: http://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/300/lan-optimizer.html

Gigabyte introduces Ultra Durable 4 boards with Glass Fabric PCB technology that repels moisture caused by humid and damp conditions

Taipei, Taiwan, August 30, 2011 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today launched its latest Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic motherboard technology. Debuting on the Intel® H61 Express Chipset, GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic is a range of exciting technologies that safe-guard PCs from common everyday threats, including humidity and moisture, electro-static discharge, sudden power loss and high operating temperatures.

“GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic builds on the success of previous GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ brands, adding new protective technologies that are crucial to DIY PC builders everywhere,” commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. “The Ultra Durable 4 Classic logo makes a pledge that our customers will respect and appreciate: lasting stability and peace of mind.”

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic
GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic motherboards embrace a range of exclusive technologies that guarantee our customers the absolute best protection for their PC, with built-in features that prevent common malfunction threats users encounter on a day-to-day basis.

Humidity Protection
There is nothing more harmful to the longevity of your PC than moisture, and most parts of the world experience moisture in the air as humidity at some point during the year. GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic motherboards have been designed to make sure that humidity is never an issue, incorporating a new Glass Fabric PCB technology that repels moisture caused by humid and damp conditions. Using a new kind of PCB material which reduces the amount of space between the fiber weave, Glass Fiber PCB technology makes it more difficult for moisture to penetrate compared to traditional motherboard PCBs. This offers much better protection from short circuit and system malfunction caused by humid and damp conditions.

Electrostatic Protection
All GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic motherboards use high quality IC microchips that are rated with higher electro-static discharge (ESD) resistance than traditional IC implementations. GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic motherboards use ICs with up to 3 times the ESD resistance levels compared to traditional ICs. This helps to better protect the motherboard, its components and the PC in general against potential damage caused by static electricity, a common threat to today’s PCs.

Power Failure Protection
If your home experiences a sudden power outage for any reason, GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic motherboards are equipped to ensure that you won’t be dealing with a fatal malfunction. All GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic motherboards use patented DualBIOS™ technology to provide fail safe protection for the BIOS on your motherboard, automatically refreshing your BIOS from a back up version in the case of a critical power outage. GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic motherboards also feature special anti-surge ICs that protect your motherboard, and your PC, from any surge in power delivery that may occur, helping to ensure that your PC is equipped to deal with any kind of irregular and inconsistent power delivery.

High Temperature Protection
GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic motherboards feature specially selected components that make your PC capable of higher temperatures in more extreme conditions, while at the same time preventing your PC from overheating. Using all solid capacitors for the GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic range both reduces overall board temperatures while, making the motherboard more robust at higher temperatures. The choice of Lower RDS(on) MOSFETs also helps to reduce operating temperatures significantly compared to traditional MOSFET solutions. These component technologies combine to guarantee enhanced longevity and stability for your PC.

GIGABYTE H61 Platforms
GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 motherboards are currently available for GIGABYTE H61 platform motherboards. The Intel® H61 Express Chipset supports 2nd generation ‘Sandy Bridge’ Intel® Core™ CPUs, and deliver Intel’s industry-leading performance and advanced integrated graphics capabilities. Motherboards based on the Intel® H61 Express Chipset also offer a comprehensive range of unique GIGABYTE features that give mainstream PC users the most compelling platform on the market today.

We have heard from Gigabyte HQ about this board. Pictures have also been leaked and we have reported on it before. Sometimes it is better to see it by oneself than press pictures. Below are some pictures we took at a trader event held yesterday in Singapore.

Formerly known as GA-Z68-Gaming and display at Computex Taipei 2011, this board inherits the tradition of G1 Sniper. Although there are no specifications, we believe that it is similar to the G1 Sniper. The board uses Bigfoot Killer E2100 Game Networking Platform. This network has a dedicated 1GB of DDR2 memory directly onboard G1. Sniper for up to 10X faster networking performance; allowing gamer to move faster and shoot quicker. For better sound quality, Gigabyte puts aside the conventional 7.1ch audio and replaced it with Creative’s SoundBlaster X-Fi Digital audio processor (20K2) with X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity and EAX AHD 5.0 technologies. There is also a built in 15 ohm load amplifier for front audio headphone. It also uses high quality Nichicon MUSE ES and MW series Bi Polarised audio capacitors at each channel for high quality sound. On top of that it supports Dolby Digital Live and DTS.

For quick access to files, the board is equipped with 2 USB 3.0 ports for quick connectivity. The backplane also comes with power eSATA ports. There is also a quick boost button allowing gamers to instantaneously overclock their system with the click of a button.

For those who need to use the integrated graphics, there is HDMI port for output. It is unsure if the board supports Lucid Hydra to tap the transcoding power of the processor. One thing for sure, Intel Smart Response Technology with SSD caching will be there to speed up the disk access. For serious gamers, there are also 2 full length PCIe slots supporting CrossFire X.

The board can support up to 4 USB 3.0 ports (2 front, 2 back), SATA6 Gbps by Marvell and 3X power boost on all USB ports for power hungry USB devices (for charging).

The back plane consists of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, eSATA, PS/2 Keyboard Mouse and a one touch OC button, audio ports+SPDIF out.

Reference :
1. http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/gigabyte-next-generation-g1-sniper-2-based-on-intel-z68-appears-on-net/
2. http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/computex-taipei-2011-coverage-gigabyte-makes-z68-gaming-board-ga-z68-gaming/

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 mainboard Review Intro
Bluetooth 28 Jun 2011

If you have been longing to buy the top notch Intel P67 board, you should hold your horses and check out the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 mainboard.

Gigabyte seems to have chosen the Z68 chipset for it’s high end board, enhancing the feature set on P67 with a subset of the Z68 feature. The Intel Smart Response Technology that caches and speed up your disk access.

With GIGABYTE EZ Smart Response it does all of this automatically, without users having to perform a complicated install process. This allows them to quickly and effortlessly enjoy a significant boost in system performance. This is not the case for other vendor’s boards.

Gigabyte incorporated TOUCH BIOS, a new way to change settings in your BIOS just like an iPhone from within Windows with a click or finger (with touch screen panels).

Although it supports this good feature of the Z68, this board does not come with any video output port. Basically you cannot use it as a standalone board with graphics unlike other Z68 boards. Lucid Virtu is also not supported to tap the video transcoding power of the Core i5 processor.

The mainboard supports 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory of DDR3-2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules with XMP. For multimedia, it is equipped with Realtek ALC889 audio codec for 7.1 with Dolby Home Theater. There is also dual GbE with Teaming.

On board, there are 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2). Another 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1, PCIEX8_2).  The PCIEX8_1 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16_1 slot and the PCIEX8_2 slot with PCIEX16_2. The PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2 slot will operate at up to x8 mode when the PCIEX8_1/PCIEX8_2 is populated. There is  x PCI Express x1 slot and 2 x PCI slots. The PCIe 2.0 supports 2-Way/3-Way ATI CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI technology.

The Intel Z68 chipset supports

Chipset:

1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3_0, SATA3_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
2. 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_2~SATA2_5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices
3. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

In addition, the two Marvell chips suppot

1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
2. 2 x eSATA 6Gb/s connectors (eSATA/USB Combo) on the back panel supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
3. Support for SATA RAID 0 and RAID 1

The board has plenty of USB 2.0/3.0 ports.

Chipset:

1. Up to 8 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 on the back panel, including 2 eSATA/USB Combo, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

2 x Renesas D720200 chips and 2 x VLI VL810 hubs:

1. Up to 10 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (6 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
   * The USB 2.0 signals of the 6 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel are from the Chipset.

As for 1394, the T.I. TSB43AB23 chip:

1. Up to 3 IEEE 1394a ports (2 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header)

Other features include a 24 phase power design, dual CPU Power technology (workstation class redundant power design), 100% hardware VRD 12 compliant CPU power design, Driver MOSFETS.

Othe features include 108dB S/N ratio playback, DualBIOS 3TB+ HDD, Ultra durable 3, ON/Off charge technology, SuperSpeed USB 3.0, Turbo XHD, DES2, 10 USB 3.0 / 6SATA3, Cloud OC, Auto Green etc.

You probably have been following the gaming series from Gigabyte, the first being the G1 Sniper based on Intel X58 chipset for LGA1366 socket processors.

Gigabyte has now made the series available on the dual channel chipset Intel Z68. The model name is G1 Sniper 2 for Intel Sandy Bridge processors.

Although product information has not been updated on Gigabyte website, the pictures are already available. As for the specifications, we would see some similarities between this and the G1 Sniper other than the chipset and cpu socket difference.

Although there are no specifications, we believe that it is similar to the G1 Sniper. The board uses Bigfoot Killer E2100 Game Networking Platform. This network has a dedicated 1GB of DDR2 memory directly onboard G1. Sniper for up to 10X faster networking performance; allowing gamer to move faster and shoot quicker. For better sound quality, Gigabyte puts aside the conventional 7.1ch audio and replaced it with Creative’s SoundBlaster X-Fi Digital audio processor (20K2) with X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity and EAX AHD 5.0 technologies. There is also a built in 15 ohm load amplifier for front audio headphone. It also uses high quality Nichicon MUSE ES and MW series Bi Polarised audio capacitors at each channel for high quality sound. On top of that it supports Dolby Digital Live and DTS.

For quick access to files, the board is equipped with 2 USB 3.0 ports for quick connectivity. The backplane also comes with power eSATA ports. There is also a quick boost button allowing gamers to instantaneously overclock their system with the click of a button.

For those who need to use the integrated graphics, there is HDMI port for output. It is unsure if the board supports Lucid Hydra to tap the transcoding power of the processor. One thing for sure, Intel Smart Response Technology with SSD caching will be there to speed up the disk access. For serious gamers, there are also 2 full length PCIe slots supporting CrossFire X.

The board can support up to 4 USB 3.0 ports (2 front, 2 back), SATA6 Gbps by Marvell and 3X power boost on all USB ports for power hungry USB devices (for charging).

The back plane consists of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, eSATA, PS/2 Keyboard Mouse and a one touch OC button, audio ports+SPDIF out.

Last week, early pictures of this board was leaked on the net. Today, the actual specifications of the board is out from Gigabyte themselves.

The GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD and GA-Z68XP-UD3 are boards based on the INTEL Z68 chipset. They both support the LGA1155 socket 2nd generation Core processors.

Something unique about it’s design is the connector at the centre of the board. That is where the Intel mSATA 20GB SLC SSD 311 will fit in. With that SSD in there, the system can be configure to run in Intel smart response technology to boost up the system speed. The other model with iSSD does not come with the Intel SSD 331.

Both boards supports Lucid Virtu, 3X USB, SATA3, USB3.0, Dolby, Easytune etc.

The GA-X79A-UD3 is the upcoming board that supports the next generation Intel processor on Socket 2011 also known as Sandy Bridge-E.

It has a 6 phase power VRM and supports Touch BIOS. Apart from early generation designs, the X79A board features PCI express Generation 3 slot.

There are also 4 DDR3 memory slots on board. SATA3 and USB3 are supported. In addition, the board supports both SLI and CrossFireX with it’s 4 full length PCIe slots.

The GA-A75-UD4H is the AMD A75 chipset mainboard. It supports the AMD APU using the Socket FM1 for 32nm AMD A series processors.

With the integrated graphics of Radeon class HD65xx/64xx (DX11), the APU is capable to deliver better quality 3D graphics than before.

Although it has integrated graphics, it also support AMD Dual Graphics technology with the 2 PCIe 2.0 interface on board.

For graphics, the board supports output port DisplayPort, HDMI, Duallink DVI of up to 2560×1600 FULL HD playback. The board also supports 3x USB power On/Off charge USB ports, 8 USB 3.0, 6 SATA3 (6Gbps) ports. Other features include Dual BIOS, 3TB+ HDD boot up, 108db S/N audio playback, auto green etc.

First it was on the X58 platform for gamers. Gigabyte now introduce it on their Z68 platform. Gamers who wants fast LAN action, the Z68 Gaming board GA-Z68-Gaming is your ultimate choice. This board comes with BigFoot GbE LAN and Creative audio.

The GA-Z68-Gaming also features a 8 phase power VRM with DUal POwer Switching Technology. As it is based on Z68 chipset, it supports Intel Smart Response Technology. It also features SLI and CrossFireX support.

Most importantly is the BigFoot Networks Killer E2100 LAN onboard and Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Digital audio processor supporting EAX AHD 5.0.

Other features include Touch BIOS, QUick Boost button, Lucid Virtu, UD3, Driver Mosfet, USB 3.0 etc.

INTEL Shows X79 mainboards ASUS CIX79 Deluxe, ASROCK X79 Extreme4, Gigabyte GD X79A-UD3 and the MSI X79A-GD65

Intel has a LOT of motherboards on display, the more prominent onces however are based on the X79 chipset, Intels next gen enthusiast platform with 2011-pin LGA socket, the Sandy Bridge-E (enthusiast) processor that features a massive quad-channel DDR3 memory controller and 32+ lane PCI-Express 2.0 hub, and the X79 chipset. Intel might actually skip the 6-series chipset family with its next high-end platform chipset as the platform is slated for Q4 2011 already, though Z68 will still be launched, but as a Premium chipset.

Source

The Gigabyte A75-UD4H is powered by AMD hudson D3 chipset and support the latest AMD A series APU on socket FM-1.

This board features on board video from the APU with output ports HDMI,DVI and Display Port. On board is two full length PCIe slots which supports AMD crossFire.

A change from the previous generation of boards, the Gigabyte A75-UD4H now adopts the Etrontech USB 3.0 controllers which has just passed the USB-IF test recently. 1394 is also supported by VIA controller chip on board.

For audio, it uses the Realtek codec and supports Dolby Home Theatre. Other features include On/Off, EasyTune, Smart 6 etc, Dual BIOS etc.
The board will go on sale some time in July 2011 in time for the launch of the A series processors.

Unboxing video of the Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3

Watch out for our review of this board at OCWORKBENCH and news on our Facebook page and Twitter feed.