Guru 3D join GIGABYTE G1. Sniper 2 fanclub with ‘Top Pick’ award

The list of awards accrued by our G1.Sniper 2 motherboard continues to grow, with a ‘Top Pick’ award coming from Dutch reviewers Guru 3D just a few days ago. Hilbert Hagedoorn has spend plenty of time and energy testing every possible aspect of our new Z68 gaming platform. The G1.Sniper 2 comes out of the traps with flying colors, with a good healthy performance showing in the benchmarks and plenty of praise for overall design and features.

Nice, Gigabyte restyled their motherboard series towards something really impressive and added features like the KillerNIC, X-Fi DSP and more onto the Intel Z68 chipset platform. ……The end result is a very cool looking motherboard with a tremendous high-end feature-set.

The Gigabyte G1.Sniper 2 offers stunning looks, great performance and feature set that is extensive. There are minor points here and there that I think could have been better, but the end result remains simple, it is an astonishing motherboard. Very nice, and as such very much recommended if it suits your budget, a Guru3D top pick no doubt. The inclusion of high-end audio and the Killer NIC however make this motherboard expensive ... maybe even too expensive as you'll need to cough up a good 400 EUR. It does not make this motherboard less classy than it is though.

 

Check out the full review here on Guru 3D.

The G1.Sniper 2 webpage is here if you want check out detailed specs etc.

Apple consider USB 3.0?

Our pal on LG Nilsson on VR Zone has posted a story that apparently Apple are taking a look at integrating USB 3.0 technology on some of their products.  Apple has so far resisted USB 3.0 in favor its proprietary ThunderBolt connectivity, co-developed with Intel. The motive for this change if heart is apparently price, as USB 3.0 controller chips are now approaching very affordable levels; were ThunderBolt controllers cost 10 to 15 dollars, USB 3.0 equivalents arte a fraction of the price at around two to three dollars a piece.

In addition, USB 3.0 offers end users better compatibility than ThunderBolt, with the standard becoming more mature with more and more USB 3.0 compliant devices appearing on the market. If Apple drops its ThunderBolt-only policy, this will help to propel USB 3.0 further as the de-facto, and indeed ‘universal’ standard. Which is good news as far as we are concerned.

GIGABYTE was one of the first motherboard manufacturers to integrate USB 3.0 controllers on its motherboards, with most of today’s boards boasting several USB 3.0 ports on the back panel IO and pin headers for front panel chassis ports. Let’s hope that Apple soon sees the wisdom of having USB 3.0 connectivity on its products, so that the advantages of fast data transfers and charging can become even more universal.

For those of you who are interested, check out our USB 3.0 certification page. The list of certified USB 3.0 devices is now as long as your arm, and growing. Let’s hope we’ll one day see Apple devices listed there too.

Source: VR Zone

Z68XP-UD3P reaps Gold sealed approval from Vortez

David Mitchelson from UK-based tech site Vortez.net has just published his review of our mainstream Intel Z68 offering, the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3P motherboard. It’s certainly impressed taking not only an ‘Approved’ award but also a coveted ‘Vortez Gold’. I’ll take a back seat here and let Mr Mitchelson tell it how it is:

“Today we have taken a step back from top-end Intel Z68 performance to consider a mainstream offering from GIGABYTE. So how does the Z68XP-UD3P shape up?

Well in terms of price to performance ratio the UD3P is excellent. In a range of scenarios the UD3P delivers similar/better performance figures against some of the flagship motherboards from a series of top brands. So certainly in this aspect, if you are looking for a decent motherboard with the possibility of moving to a dual graphics card configuration in the future then the UD3P is bang on the money.

At one time I would have had no qualms in recommending the ASUS P8P67 to those who are seeking a mainstream motherboard that offers great performance at a nice price-point but the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3P now nudges this out of the way. It offers better performance, better overclocking potential, is capable of both SLI and CrossfireX and also has the added onboard VGA functionality thanks to the Z68 chipset should you need it.

Priced at approx. £135 inc. VAT (GBP) the UD3P is a very sensible investment. It is one of the best mainstream Intel Z68 motherboards that money can buy. Bottom line is:The Z68XP-UD3P looks great, offers consumers great performance and comes at an affordable price-point. One of the best mainstream motherboards using the Intel Z68 chipset we have tested.”

The Z68XP-UD3XP certainly seem to hit a sweet spot in terms of performance, features and price. If you want see specifications and more product detail, check the GIGABYTE website here.

Visit Vortez.net for the full review.