Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 Review
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Published: 18th June 2012 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £335 |
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As we'd expect from a high-end board the Sniper 3 is expecting you to use multiple GPUs, and has spaced the PCI Express slots accordingly. Although it's odd to see both PCIe x1 ports potentially covered up by your GPUs, so it's something to bear in mind if you want SLI/Crossfire as well as a soundcard for example.
The mSATA 1.8" SSD slots are becoming more common on the latest motherboards, and manufacturers are still trying to find the best place to put them. We think with the Sniper 3 Gigabyte have got it right, just behind the main SATA ports.
There is plenty of power available for overclocking, and it's also worth noting that the layout of the power phases allows for easy sub-zero cooling too. The top right corner has the standard high-end feature set of a CMOS clear, reset and power buttons as well as voltage monitoring points and a clear 7 segment display.
The Creative onboard sound has a small EMI shield, something many motherboards would do well to adopt. No matter where you look on the G1.Sniper 3 there are connection points, fan headers, and those wonderful design touches that really let you know you're holding a quality component.
Finally the connectors are six SATA 6Gb/s ports and four SATA 3Gb/s ones. Round the back we have the normal selection of multiple display outs, twin LAN, USB 3.0 ports, a combined PS2 and the audio connections.
Most Recent Comments
lovely upgrade to the sniper range
Love this board, just wish it wasn't so damn expensive. With boards like the GD65 you have to ask if paying over double the price is worth it.
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Originally Posted by SieB
Love this board, just wish it wasn't so damn expensive. With boards like the GD65 you have to ask if paying over double the price is worth it. |
someone has to pay for the nextgen research, that'll be available this xmas
I honestly can't believe how low your volts are for 4.8GHz...Jesus H Christ almighty.
Gigabyte have certainly done something right with this board.
A great review, Tom - looks as though I may have to devote more attention to the Sniper boards from now on.
Gigabyte have certainly done something right with this board.
A great review, Tom - looks as though I may have to devote more attention to the Sniper boards from now on.
I love this board so much, i'd love to have one. Performance wise this looks like the best Z77 board out there atm, and one of the best looking boards too
Looks like an amazing board but as the others have said, way out of my price range. I'm actually a fan of the fact they've not gone for gun shaped heatsinks etc. but that's prob just me
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Originally Posted by willsk
Looks like an amazing board but as the others have said, way out of my price range. I'm actually a fan of the fact they've not gone for gun shaped heatsinks etc. but that's prob just me |
Yep not many people on here were liking the gun shaped heatsinks.
Someone please tell me why such an expensive board should have VGA (or even DVI, for that matter)?
What a waste of I/O space. Gigabyte dun goofed.
What a waste of I/O space. Gigabyte dun goofed.
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Originally Posted by C C
Someone please tell me why such an expensive board should have VGA (or even DVI, for that matter)? What a waste of I/O space. Gigabyte dun goofed. |
Mhm... And you're going to buy a board like this, but not buy a graphics card?
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Originally Posted by C C
Mhm... And you're going to buy a board like this, but not buy a graphics card? |
but if said graphics card failed, not having on board video would really be annoying, as it would shut you down from your computer until you got a replacement.Image quality wise DVI is exactly the same as HDMI. The only difference i know of is that HDMI carries audio as well. Anyways sorry Tom I will get back on topic now.
As Josh said though the onboard video would come into play if your GPU failed.
Just a thought, imagine how sexy this board would look with dual 690s *drool
As Josh said though the onboard video would come into play if your GPU failed.
Just a thought, imagine how sexy this board would look with dual 690s *drool
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Originally Posted by Josh Weston
Ha, no but if said graphics card failed, not having on board video would really be annoying, as it would shut you down from your computer until you got a replacement. |
And even if your primary monitor and GPU BOTH failed at the SAME time, I'm sure you've got one of those DVI to VGA things you could use, I've got at least three of them around the place.
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Originally Posted by C C
The chances of your primary monitor and GPU both failing at the same time are pretty slim. Gigabyte (or anyone) should not be catering for scenarios like this if it means wasting I/O space with an archaic connection. And even if your primary monitor and GPU BOTH failed at the SAME time, I'm sure you've got one of those DVI to VGA things you could use, I've got at least three of them around the place. |
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Originally Posted by VengeanceUK
actually i have had this happen in the past, albeit part and parcel of a lightning strike, but nonetheless, the fact remains that BOTH my monitor AND GPU were trashed in an instant and i would have welcomed this feature back then so don't suggest "IT CAN'T HAPPEN" as it clearly can |
oh so ugly for so much money
I actually agree that DVI/VGA don't need to be on the board, but I think they should include a PCIe card that serves as an adapter. I had to use the Intel HD 4000 to get through a week of waiting for my 4 7970s (shame the 7970GE came out already).
This should've been different with the WiFi module though, as a built-in module shouldn't have made the board so cramped.
Very value board in my opinion. 300 bucks for a board with so many features. It's essentially a thunderbolt port away from the P8Z77-V Premium from ASUS for 120 bucks less. Very fast board, good for HPC as far as I've used it, the 2 Gigabit LAN ports are great, temps are fine and overclocks great. Dual BIOS is cool but doesn't match ASUS's, power cosumption is terribly inefficient, and is sort of bloated for a board. Works well with my Gentoo Linux and Windows 7 and pretty much all of its software works on at least one of those OSes. Wish it had FireWire and eSATA in the back. Shame it was E-ATX, I was going to get it crammed into the CoolerMaster 430.
Board looks rather silly, and the color scheme is weird.
This should've been different with the WiFi module though, as a built-in module shouldn't have made the board so cramped.
Very value board in my opinion. 300 bucks for a board with so many features. It's essentially a thunderbolt port away from the P8Z77-V Premium from ASUS for 120 bucks less. Very fast board, good for HPC as far as I've used it, the 2 Gigabit LAN ports are great, temps are fine and overclocks great. Dual BIOS is cool but doesn't match ASUS's, power cosumption is terribly inefficient, and is sort of bloated for a board. Works well with my Gentoo Linux and Windows 7 and pretty much all of its software works on at least one of those OSes. Wish it had FireWire and eSATA in the back. Shame it was E-ATX, I was going to get it crammed into the CoolerMaster 430.
Board looks rather silly, and the color scheme is weird.
Hey TTL what temps were you seeing @ the 1.092v, 4.8GHz OC on air?
and thanks... love the youtube vids, and hard work you put in to educate noobs like me!!!
and thanks... love the youtube vids, and hard work you put in to educate noobs like me!!!
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Originally Posted by Noobalert
Hey TTL what temps were you seeing @ the 1.092v, 4.8GHz OC on air?
and thanks... love the youtube vids, and hard work you put in to educate noobs like me!!! |
1.092v wasnt the vcore... And it wasnt me that wrote the review.
sorry for the mistake please
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With the latest Z77 chipset on board we take a look at the Gigabyte Sniper 3 and see if it matches its predecessors.
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