GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 2 Z68 Gaming Motherboard Review

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GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 2 Z68 Gaming Motherboard Review by VR-Zone.com

Today we take a look at one of the most feature filled Z68 Sandy Bridge motherboard from GIGABYTE's G1 series of gamer oriented motherboards, the GIGABYTE G1 Sniper 2. Follow us as we put the Sniper 2 under the microscope and examine its every aspect.



Before we start looking at the G1 Sniper 2, let's take a look at the platform and its benefits to gamers over the P67 platform. To begin, it seems that GIGABYTE waited for Z68 before launching a LGA1155 based G1 series motherboard, and on top of that they gave the G1 Sniper 2 an HDMI output, something that sine of the top-end GIGABYTE boards (like the Z68X-UD7) lacks.

So why does that matter for gamers? Well a gamer can use the Lucid Virtu switching to help lower energy costs when not gaming, and any user can use D-Mode without having to use the HDMI output in the back which can limit resolution to 1920x1600. Another thing to realize is that most games do not take advantage of SSDs, so most gamers don't want to buy the expensive 128GB or 256GB SSDs, they would rather save the money and put it towards a sound card or even a few games. SSD Caching (Intel Smart Response) can let that gamer slowly upgrade to a faster storage system, while keeping their large HDD they can add a smaller and much cheaper SSD to help speed up things. They don't even have to reformat to do so. A game can easily fit into the 18-64GB cache that SSD Caching provides. Z68 is a better chipset for gamers than P67 would be, and generally better for users as a whole.



Intel probably should have skipped P67 and just come out with the Z68 PCH. This motherboard fully supports Lucid Virtu GPU switching which allows for switchable graphics, but only an HDMI port is used, so maximum resolution will be 1920x1080 for those of you who want to use i-Mode Virtu to save power. Of course D-Mode can be used on this board without plugging into the HDMI output, so gamers can still take advance of the faster transcoding that the Sandy Bridge iGPU provides. GIGABYTE also has an Easy Smart Responce program which can set up the SSD Caching with the press of a button, which might be to a gamer's benefit if they aren't a hardware enthusiast as well.



The Intel Z68 PCH is the main chipset on the motherboard, and there is no longer a North Bridge (IOH) and South Bridge (ICH) like we still see on most AMD boards.

Specifications:

Read more: GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 2 Z68 Gaming Motherboard Review by VR-Zone.com

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What we have seen from GIGABYTE is a move to fully differentiate their G1 series boards from the box to the acessories. You end up finding a uniqueness that isn't present on other GIGABYTE boards, but would be found with lets say a ASUS ROG board.



It was a bit hard to capture the true colors of the box, but in a nutshell it's made to look like an ammo box. There is also a handle to carry your $360 USD motherboard out of the store with, and plenty of informative labeling on the front. What immediately caught our eye is the PCI-E 3.0 insignia and the Ivy Bridge CPU support. This is the first GIGABYTE board to sport full PCI-E 3.0 capability.



Everything one needs is included, from 4 SATA 6GB/s cables to the fancy front panel that support USB 3.0 and an OC button.

G1 Killer I/O Shield
4 x Black SATA 6GB/s Cables (2 have angled heads on one end)
Black SLI cable
Driver DVD
Manual and Smart Responce Setup Manual
USB 3.0 Front Panel Bay w/OC button and eSATA/USB 2.0



As if that wasn't enough we also find a full set of case stickers and a G1 Killer poster. These accessories were also included with the X58 G1 series.



Finally we have our board, full size ATX with 5 individually controllable SMART Fan PWM 4-Pin fan headers. We also find some pretty unique heatsinks, made to look like gun parts they are a bit on the extreme side. Interestingly we find that there is what seems to be a Northbridge heatsink; we will see what that cools (if anything at all) when we take off the heatsinks. The board sports triple slot spacing for two 16x slots, and we can even see that there is a top PCI-E 1x slot which isn't blocked by the heatsinks.



PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse
7 x USB 2.0 Ports
2 x USB 3.0 Ports
eSATA 3GB/s + USB 2.0 port
HDMI Out
OC Button w/ Cover
RJ-45 1GBit
TOSLINK 7.1 Audio w/ S/PDIF Optical
The I/O panel is pretty busy, which can be a good thing. If you are confused as to what each port actually is, the I/O shield provided is labeled.

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First off let's take a look at the upper half of this motherboard.



We see 12 phases, most likely (8+2+2), with all the MOSFETs being cooled. What is interesting to note is that there is extra room between the CPU socket and the DIMMs, something we haven't see on another GIGABYTE LGA1155 board as of yet. This helps with large air-coolers that gamers might use, and can facilitate some of those tall heatsinks we see on most memory kits. We can see that there are also two fan headers next to the CPU socket; they are in the upper left-hand corner, almost side by side. This is important for us because users who want to use a push/pull fan configuration won’t have trouble plugging in.



With the lower half of the board we see that our PCI-E layout is arranged well. This being Sandy Bridge we only have 16x available PCI-E lanes from the CPU's PCI-E controller. It doesn't seem like this board uses an NF200 bridge chip, as there are only 2 PCI-E 16x slots. If this board used and NF200 you wouldn't have full PCI-E 3.0 capability, and on Sandy Bridge it seems that 2-way SLI at 8X/8X without NF200 is faster than with NF 200 and 16X/16X. If you want to run 3-way you will need another board like the Z68X-UD7 or Maximus 4 Extreme-Z. Slot arrangement is as follows from top to bottom:

1. PCI-E 1x

2. PCI-E 16x

3. PCI-E 1x

4. PCI

5. PCi-E 16x (Electrical 8x)

6. PCI

With this configuration, if a user has two triple slotted GPUs in place, they can pop their PCI-E 1x expansion card into the upper most spot and not interfere with the GPUs. It is also important to note that the 16X slots will both run at 8X if there are two GPUs. If there is only one then the first slot will run at 16X. You cannot run the second slot at 16X as it only is electrically 8X. It seems that GIGABYTE chose to add two PCI slots through an iTE PCI-E to PCI bridge chip as well.



Taking a closer look at the memory area we can notice two things. First the memory slots are far enough north that the memory modules can be changed out even with an extra-long GPU in the first 16x slot. The alternation of the green and black color scheme is something you can only find on the G1 series motherboards, before that only DFI would try something so neon.



To begin our more in-depth analysis of the component on this board, first we take a look at the Audio and NIC which make this board cost as much as it does. We see an actual Creative Audio processor, the Creative 20K2, along with all the components needed to support a standalone audio card built onto the motherboard. The Bigfoot NIC is the same story, everything it needs is right there. Now what is important to note is that the Audio and NIC on this board do not tap into the 16x of PCI-E that is built into the CPU. Still each of these devices needs a PCI-E 1x connection and they use those from the Z68 PCH. The Z68 PCH has 8 PCI-E 1x connections for different devices.

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Do you guys see that empty space right under the CPU socket area? That is where that middle Northridge heatsinks sits, it sits over nothing! It is almost devious, but it can serve a purpose, that is to remove heat from one of the MOSFET heatsinks that it is connected too.



So let's talk about the voltage regulator on this motherboard. It is in fact a 12 phase VR, 8 phases for CPU Cores+ 2 Phase for iGPU+ 2 phases for the Uncore (System Agent and VTT). GIGABYTE is using a 4+1 phase analog Intersil VRD12 certified ISL6364 PWM. The 4+1 phases/channels are doubled through 5 x ISL6617, which are phase doublers. So in the end the PWM can push 8+2 PWM channels, but the switching frequency of the PWM is cut in half. We see this same switching frequency splitting on all boards with more phases than the actual number of phases the PWM outputs, or we see doubled up MOSFETs. The ASUS Maximus 4 Gene-Z uses the same phase doubling technique just with different parts and schemes. Now on this board each phase has a Vishay SiCD769CD 35A DrMOS. Driver MOSFETs integrate a high-side, low-side, and driver into a single chip. It’s a one phase per chip type deal. The DrMOS output the most current at around a 300khz to 400khz switching frequency, at stock they run a bit under 300khz, but that can be increased through BIOS setting (PWM Frequency) up to 500khz. We see a lot of solid Japanese output capacitors, more than on the Z68X-UD7 for instance, we might see better ripple suppression with this board compared to the UD7.

The Uncore doesn't use DrMOS, it instead uses Low RDS(ON) MOSFETs from uPI Semiconductor. Two pairs of high-side and low-side FETs are driven by integrated drivers inside an Intersil ISL6322G PWM. We get both the QPI/VTT and System Agent voltages from this single 2 phase VR.

The PCI-E 3.0 Debacle Explained.

Moving on, let's talk about PCI-E 3.0 and how manufacturers can claim as such. On a typical Sandy Bridge motherboard the 16 PCI-E lanes from the CPU are routed to 2 slots for multi-GPU capability. The first 16x slot on most boards (the one that can actually run at 16x with only a single card) has the first 8x of the slot directly wired to the CPU's PCI-E controller. The second set of 8x pins in that first slot can be switched between the second half of the first slot or the first half of the second slot. The catch is that the second 8X from the PCI-E controller has to go through PCI-E switches to change between the slots. Now the issue lies within those switches, as those switches are built for a certain amount of bandwidth, typically on Sandy Bridge boards they are built to handle PCI-E 2.0. Now if you see 4 PCI-E switches like above, each of these can handle a total of 2 X PCI-E lanes (2 lanes x 4 switches=8 switchable lanes). In the case of this board, the PCI-E 2.0 switches are swapped out for ones with PCI-E 3.0 specs. Here is how you tell if it’s a PCI-E 3.0 or PCI-E 2.0 switch when dealing with Pericom PCI-E switches like the ones above:

PCI-E 2.0: PI3PCIE2

PCI-E 3.0: PI3PCIE3

The last digit above is the first digit on the second line of those switches. The number 3 denotes PCI-E 3.0. Simple stuff right? Well not so much it seems, as there is a lot of controversy over whether or not existing boards with PCI-E 2.0 switches can support PCI-E 3.0 at all, and well while ASUS and GIGABYTE claim they can have some sort of PCI-E 3.0 capability (the first 8x that is directly wired to the first slot), companies like MSI and ASRock are putting out materials to disprove them. There is no doubt that if the lanes are directly wired (not through switches) to the slot then they can support PCI-E 3.0. The issue comes when half the first slot runs at different speed than the other half. There is also some consideration that the PCI-E 3.0 spec asks for different resistors and capacitors, but to the lowest tolerances required, which both ASUS and GIGABYTE most likely use. We can only wait and see whether or not those boards will support PCI-E 3.0, but we have to wait for Ivy Bridge, and that is even if Ivy Bridge has PCI-E 3.0, as the plans still aren't finalized for that CPU. We do however believe that you, the reader, should be able to make an educated decision on the topic and that is why we are giving you this little briefing on the argument. Consider that after GIGABYTE made its claim, MSI and ASRock came out with counter-claims, then GIGABYTE came out with a counter-counter-claim, and then ASUS came out claiming what GIGABYTE had originally claimed. It might not be over, so grab some popcorn.

GIGABYTE made a move that we also see on the ASUS Maximus 4 Gene-Z, they moved their USB 3.0 internal header to the right edge of the board under the 24-pin connector. This makes it easier for a user to connect their USB 3.0 front panel to the board's internal USB 3.0 header. We also find 7 internal SATA ports. The 3 black (2 angled and 1 straight) are Intel SATA3GB/s, white are Intel SATA6GB/s, and grey are Marvell SE9172 SATA6GB/s. The last black SATA3GB/s port is re-routed to the back panel for eSATA. Our front panel headers are color coded, and right outside the small box we have a two pin Clear CMOS jumper. We also have a particular white 5-pin connector and that is for hookup to the front panel bay included for the OC button.

What is interesting to note is that this board has an auto-OC feature which no other LGA1155 GIGABYTE board has. This board also has much more fan support than any other GIGABYTE LGA1155 board. Those two things are provided by two Super I/Os, the typical iTE8720F and a Winbond W83L786NG.



Now a lot of you are wondering about the audio capabilities of this board, as that and the Bigfoot NIC are what you are paying $360 USD for. The Creative audio on this board is truly a Creative 20K2 XF-I. It isn't a sticker on top of the ALC889 Realtek codec with some X-FI software. Everything you will find on a high end sound card you will find here; from S&T AMPs for all the outputs including one Japanese Radio AMP for the front panel header, to high quality Nichicon audio capacitors, the GIGABYTE G1 Sniper 2 really has a fantastic audio system. GIGABYTE also added some EMI shielding that you will also find on those sound cards. High quality DACs and ADCs are used for the Creative chip, as well as 1GB DDR memory that the 20K2 processor uses. That makes this audio system totally standalone, meaning that this will alleviate some resources from the main CPU and memory.



Here we have the BigFoot Killer e2100 NPU(Network Processing Unit). The Bigfoot NPU uses a Marvell PHY and Spansion flash memory for its BIOS, along with 2 GB of DDR2 memory. Again we have a stand-alone system, which can also help free-up some resources during online gaming. Now while this NPU can help facilitate faster speeds on your side of the router, it has no control over the Internet, so don't expect to speed up things on the other side of your router. There is a lot of controversy about testing this unit and about how well it preforms. We think that its main benefit comes in LAN parties. What is evident is that the software package with this NPU is a big part of its benefit. It can bypass the Windows network stack and supposedly funnel your game's data around it for better performance. We are neither network experts nor sound experts, so we won’t get too much into this, but the hardware you pay for is definitely there.



We find a great deal of unique attributes with this board and to this date there is not one LGA1155 board with as many gaming features, with Z77 we expect that to change.

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One thing missing from this being an almost perfect board is the lack of UEFI which most of GIGABYTE's competitors have. While it might not be a big deal for overclockers, the finesse and attractiveness of UEFI are missing. While it might not be UEFI we didn't encounter the typical bugs that we have with almost all of GIGABYTE LGA1155 boards. There were some issues other reviewers had found dealing with DDR3 2133 MHz memory kits, but we had no trouble with our Dominator DDR3 2133mhz kit nor out G.Skill DDR3 2200mhz kit, and GIGABYTE supposedly has issued a fix in the form of an updated BIOS. One thing is certain, if you are going to market to a group of gamers, your product better be bug-free.



First off Overclocking Settings:











Memory Voltage is 5mV increments:



10 Levels of LLC:



Switching Frequency Control:



Advanced BIOS Features:



Integrated Peripherals:



Fan, Voltage, and Temperature Monitoring:

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This section is actually pretty busy with this board. First off EasyTune6, GIGABYTE's total control utility.



You can do all the overclocking, monitoring, and fan control from this software.



Individual SMART fan tab per port, each fan port corresponds to a different temp sensor located nearby.



Here is the Lucid Control Panel, this is configured in D-Mode.



XF-I software bundle is extensive; here is one of three audio control panels. This one is the Gamer Mode, there is also Entertainment and Creation mode. Creative Alchemy is also part of the bundle.



Bigfoot Networks also has an extensive piece of software. Above are the network settings, the application control is pretty impressive as well.

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Test Setup:


For every motherboard we first update their BIOS to the most recent version available on the manufacturer websites, we went from F4C to F4E, which is is available on the support website. Next we did a fresh install of Windows, along with all drivers and included software. We do NOT update Windows 7 from the state in which it is installed. We also do NOT update the programs. This ensures a consistent test environment no matter when the benchmarks are done, but your results might vary.

Overclocking:

The Sniper 2 wasn't hard to overclock, in fact it was very simple, of course our experience plays a role. A novice can easily just use the OC button which adds an extra 7 Multipliers to the stock CPU multiplier. If you are more seasoned the Sniper 2 is actually simple and straight forward. To begin with all power saving features are already disabled to facilitate the auto-OC. For benchmarks we turned them back on to match the Maximus 4 Gene-Z. On both boards we hit 5.2 GHz on the CPU, which we know is our 2600K's max overclock under air/water. We had to use 1.52v with LLC Level 7, but stability wasn't what we would have liked, but it isn't on any board with this particular CPU. We will list some tips for overclocking this board, as we do for every board we review, so that users are easily able to get up to speed.

Disable all power saving features (most are disabled by default)
Increase PWM frequency to +15-20% anywhere in between that should be optimal
Increase OCP to +60%, the maximum
Enable Ratio Change in OS(it is enabled by default) this will disable turbo mode and the corresponding TDP and TDC values which aren't needed
Enable BLCK control, as the board will overclock this by default when left on auto, and even 0.2mhz can cause instability.
Remember that 100.0mhz blck=99.8Mhz in Widnows for GIGABYTE LGA1155 boards so you can increase this to 100.2 in BIOS.
To overclock BLCK through EasyTune6, you need to install Intel management software included on the disk
If Dual BIOS kicks in, don't mess with it, it might kick in on higher OCs.


You can load (F12) and save (F11) profiles with the function keys, up to 20



So here is what we were able to conjure up pretty easily:

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Here we have the G1 Sniper 2 up against the Maximus 4 Gene-Z.



+ Maximus



+Sniper



+Sniper



+Sniper



+Maximus



+Sniper



+Maximus



+Maximus




Score Tally

Sniper= +4

Maximus= +4

Winner = Tie

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It is pretty evident at this point that the GIGABYTE G1 Sniper 2 really is one of the most loaded LGA1155 boards we have reviewed to date. It not only has a full accessory kit, but it also has some really great on-board features. The addition of so much fan control and temperature monitoring really adds something that a lot of other GIGABYTE boards miss. While having less control over so many fan ports might be considered easier for some, a lot of people are able to figure out how to use SMART fan, and if you do you will really enjoy the control this board provides. The on-board audio is nothing short of impressive, if you have a really nice set of speakers or headphones you can hear your opponents before you see them. The NIC is pretty controversial, but in our case we felt like it provided a lag-free environment and we expect nothing less. The board has been purposely spaced out to allow for ease of use rather than pure performance. Having the DIMMs further from the CPU socket might introduce some performance issues because of the increased trace length, but many would give up a few MB/s in AIDA64 for better component cooling. We don't really know what the purpose of the extra part of the heatsink is, we are guessing its meant to make the board look more complete, yet with Intel not moving back to the two-piece chipset anytime soon it will be interesting to see how GIGABYTE deals with it on future platforms.



What we do like about this board is that it can directly compete with the ASUS ROG series, really its only competition.When you add the audio and NIC it gives you a lot more gaming features than the current ROG series offers. When it comes to overclocking you wont notice the difference until getting into more extreme situations, but what you will notice is the lack of a Port 80H display and power and reset buttons. It might not be a big deal for gamers, and we think that GIGABYTE purposely doesn't include those features as they want a more distinctive product lineup. This board is like mid-ranged GIGABYTE Z68 board with extra gaming features. While 8-Phases are enough for 99% of users and overclockers, that 1% of LN2 benchers will want a bit extra in terms of a voltage regulator. The G1 Sniper 2 also lacks the fancy UEFI we have been seeing, and we think it is about time that GIGABYTE gets that in place, but regardless it seems that GIGABYTE finally got it right with their traditional AWARD BIOS. We were pleased that we didn't have any major bugs to deal with. The board did overclock extremely well on a side note, easily taking us to our maximum 5.2GHz.



Performance is more surprising. We added a real-world game in there, and with it we can see that the G1 Sniper 2 beats the ROG board in gaming benchmarks. Our theory on this is that the on-board Creative Audio and Bigfoot NIC have their own resources, so they free up resources that would normally be allotted to the audio processor and NIC. With the Batllefield game we recorded during on-line game play. We do see on the other hand that the ROG board is ahead in benchmarks that heavily rely on memory, such as AIDA64, SuperPI, and wPrime. While the results were close for a few benchmarks, the difference between motherboards is usually miniscule at best. To add a cherry on top, this board will fully support Ivy Bridge processors and PCI-E 3.0 along with it. All in all we really enjoyed working with this board, it really is built aimed at gamers.

Price: $360 USD / 15,490.80 PHP

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