Gigabyte Z68X UD5 B3 Review
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Published: 12th May 2011 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £227.99 |
Introduction
The LGA1155 socket has had a difficult birth since its first appearance on the scene a few short months ago.
Firstly we had the problem with the early P67 chipsets and their SATA ports causing data loss on certain channels. Intel went away into their R&D department and came back with the B3 Revision of the P67 chipset and all seemed right in the world. We saw a rapid influx of motherboards all bearing the B3 branding and it seemed that finally the LGA1155 had settled into the slot vacated by the short-lived LGA1156.
Apparently solving the P67 problems weren't the only thing Intel were beavering away at, as following the B3 Revisions out the door, so close it must have been bumping into it, is the Z68 Chipset.
So what does this bring us that the P67 doesn't? Surprisingly little to be honest. The major difference is the inclusion of Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST for brevity), which we'll discuss in a few pages time, and the inclusion of a version of the Lucid chip on those motherboards that have integrated graphics. Otherwise the differences are largely manufacturer specific.
Today we're following up our preview from earlier in the week to bring you the full review of our first motherboard with this chipset, the Gigabyte Z68X-UD5 B3. Quite why it needs the B3 revision designation from the P67 series when it's a new chipset we're not certain, but it speaks volumes about how little difference there is.
Technical Specifications
So what has the UD5 got in store for us?
Firstly it isn't one of the models that has an integrated graphics card, so we have no Lucid nor any integration to test. Secondly it has got the IRST which can speed up a HDD by using a SSD as a cache drive. Finally it has a version of the excellent EFI BIOS, but I'd hold onto your bunting for just a moment.
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| Chipset |
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| Memory |
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| Audio |
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| LAN |
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| Expansion Slots |
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| Multi-Graphics Technology |
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| Storage Interface | Chipset:
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| USB | Chipset:
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| IEEE 1394 | T.I. TSB43AB23 chip:
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| Internal I/O Connectors |
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| Back Panel Connectors |
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| I/O Controller |
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| H/W Monitoring |
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| BIOS |
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Time to take a look at what we have.
Most Recent Comments
Looks ok, but a bit expensive, nice review though. 
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Quotenice mobo - but for the price i would rather have a sabertoothQuote
Not as impressive as I thought it was going to be but as said it's not a bad motherboard. Z68, apart from the addition of SSD caching doesn't really seem worth it tbh, I know some of the boards offer the use of the IGP but if you are spending over £150+ on a motherboard it seems a waste to use the IGP and not a proper GPU.
With the IGP you also get the Lucid chip (on some boards) and the ability to overclock the CPU where as on H67 you only get use of the IGP which can be overclocked but no CPU overclocking and P67 no use of the IGP and only CPU overclocking.
Combining the use of the IGP and being able to overclock both IGP and CPU is good, but again if you are spending money on a decent motherboard i'd say it's best to go with P67 with a proper GPU or a high end Z68 motherboard with a proper GPU. The SSD caching is good but i would like to see the tech mature a bit to see what it is fully capable of on future motherboards.
Good review anyway Bryan
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With the IGP you also get the Lucid chip (on some boards) and the ability to overclock the CPU where as on H67 you only get use of the IGP which can be overclocked but no CPU overclocking and P67 no use of the IGP and only CPU overclocking.
Combining the use of the IGP and being able to overclock both IGP and CPU is good, but again if you are spending money on a decent motherboard i'd say it's best to go with P67 with a proper GPU or a high end Z68 motherboard with a proper GPU. The SSD caching is good but i would like to see the tech mature a bit to see what it is fully capable of on future motherboards.
Good review anyway Bryan
Quotethe igp can also be used for encoding
ive seen mediashow espresso 6 benchmarks that show it encoding twice as fast then a gtx 560 tiQuote
ive seen mediashow espresso 6 benchmarks that show it encoding twice as fast then a gtx 560 tiQuote
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Originally Posted by Luger718
the igp can also be used for encoding ive seen mediashow espresso 6 benchmarks that show it encoding twice as fast then a gtx 560 ti |
Also in Intels key notes at CES they showed the Quick Sync encoding being faster than a 580
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Originally Posted by SieB
I read about that in this months Custom PC, not about the 560s but the igp. You can only use it on boards with the Lucid chip though but still it's a good feature to have. You can also switch between using you GPU to using the IGP or you can use it to boost the performance of the GPU, on the Asus boards with the Lucid chip anyway. Also in Intels key notes at CES they showed the Quick Sync encoding being faster than a 580 . |
damn the quick sync must be really optimized for encoding
considering a gtx560ti or anything higher completely destroys it in gamingQuote
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Originally Posted by Luger718
i thought all the z68 boards have that lucid virtu stuff on them damn the quick sync must be really optimized for encoding considering a gtx560ti or anything higher completely destroys it in gaming |
I haven't seen Quick Sync in action apart from the Intel keynotes at CES where it encoded a vid faster than a 580, by a fair bit as well.Quote
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Originally Posted by SieB
Not all of them have it, the higher end Gigabyte ones don't anyway. The Asus P8Z68 VPRO does, not sure about the MSI ones, the lower end ones do but I haven't looked at them all so I don't know whether they all do. I haven't seen Quick Sync in action apart from the Intel keynotes at CES where it encoded a vid faster than a 580, by a fair bit as well. |
iGPU is when you plug into the motherboard and it allows it to idle on intels video instead of graphics card for more power savingQuote
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Originally Posted by Luger718
oh you mean the video outputs on the mobo? yea higher ends dont but cant they still do the dGPU thing where they plug monitor into graphics card but still use quicksync features iGPU is when you plug into the motherboard and it allows it to idle on intels video instead of graphics card for more power saving |
I think the boards with the video outs have the Lucid chip but the ones without don't, so on the ones with out I don't think you can use it because you would need the Lucid chip to be able to use the IGP and Quick Sync.Quote
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Originally Posted by SieB
I thought only the ones with the video output had the Lucid chip. The Gigabyte Z68 UD5 and Z68 UD7 don't have video outs or the Lucid chip and you can't use IGP on those so you wouldn't be able to use quick Sync. I think the boards with the video outs have the Lucid chip but the ones without don't, so on the ones with out I don't think you can use it because you would need the Lucid chip to be able to use the IGP and Quick Sync. |
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