Gigabyte Z68 G1.Sniper 2 Review

Connections

Published: 17th August 2011 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £320 | Author: Bryan Waters

Connectivity

Away from the aesthetic and into the practical. There are plenty of connections all across the Sniper 2, from 5 fan headers, through USB3.0 headers and the always excellent Gigabyte Front Panel. The OC_Button is where you plug the front panel into to allow a one-touch OC.

The main PCIe slot is labelled as supporting the PCIe 3.0 standard. As far as we understand this is purely a BIOS upgrade, but it's great to see the Sniper 2 supports it out the box, even if PCIe 3.0 GPUs aren't yet available.

Round the back we have all the standard connections one would expect to see, from a combined PS/2 port through USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports. ESATA, the RJ45 GigaLAN and an HDMI for the Lucid VIRTU or, if you've gone mad, integrated output.

SATA is provided by two chipset SATA 6Gbp/s, two Marvel 6Gbp/s and two 3Gbp/s SATAIIs. Intel Rapid Storage Technology is supported too if you really feel the need for speed.

One surprise about the Sniper 2 is the lack of on-board on and off buttons. These have become such a part of modern mobos that it was quite a shock to see the Sniper 2 without them. Not a massive thing of course, but there is so little to complain about with the design that it's worth noting.

Most Recent Comments

17-08-2011, 07:26:37

tinytomlogan

Today we're taking a look at the follow-up to the very popular X58 Assassin Motherboard, the Z68 G1.Sniper 2.

17-08-2011, 08:05:28

dugdiamond

ouch - expensive!!! £250-£270 and i would have been impressed

17-08-2011, 08:29:09

SieB

I really hope that the price of this board will come down and that it is priced so high because it is being marketed as being PCI-E 3 and Ivy Bridge native and that retailers are just charging extra to cash in on it.

The thing is now that we know that all Gigabyte boards are PCI-E 3 compatible with just a simple BIOS update, then that makes the UD7 the better and cheaper board. Ok, so it may not have the sound card and the NIC chip but these have been proven to be not that much of a improvement over standard ones at a lower price anyway, so is it really worth paying the extra for them? No, in my opinion anyway.

It is a good board and it does look good and perform very well but the price is just to high

17-08-2011, 08:42:00

| raVen |

Good motherboard but TOOOO expensive!

17-08-2011, 10:44:16

badtaylorx

awwww....no shots of the "this is not a real gun" sticker??? Tell me yer gonna use it as a case vadge!!!

17-08-2011, 10:49:19

CrissTM

As usual v nice review.

Nice looking Board, me like so much

OOPS ... about the price

19-08-2011, 07:26:39

StreekG

Quote:

Originally Posted by badtaylorx

awwww....no shots of the "this is not a real gun" sticker??? Tell me yer gonna use it as a case vadge!!!

You don't stick it on yourself. Its on there from the beginning.

19-08-2011, 18:40:25

sday03

I like the LEDs in the heatsink! I think more boards should incorporate that.

20-08-2011, 22:59:50

Cold

If only tech wasn't outdated so fast. It sucks spending a load on building a top of the range rig, making it look all smart then 3-6 months later its outdated.

Love the board, the price, not so much.

22-08-2011, 10:28:20

Montysaurus

Good review but Ouch on the price! Why are they still sticking old technology on the board with a price like this there should be no USB 2 and Sata 2! I definitely wont be buying any new M/Board until the legacy kit is replaced with up-to-date gear its not like it isnt backwards compatible!

28-08-2011, 10:16:10

Stl Drifter

Newegg.com has it in stock right now for $319.99 U.S. dollars!

01-09-2011, 06:54:15

yassarikhan786

Nice review. The price has come way down from before, which makes it all the more impressive now.

04-10-2011, 20:42:50

CocaCola

Really nice board. Kind of reminds me of the DFI look, without the weapons theme.

Gigabyte should make a Z68 or P67 board with the orange layout like the X58A OC board.

Gigabyte Z68 G1.Sniper 2 Review

Connections

Published: 17th August 2011 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £320 | Author: Bryan Waters

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