Gigabyte Z68X UD5 B3 Review
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Published: 12th May 2011 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £227.99 |
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The Z68X UD5 B3 definitely isn't short of technologies to highlight on the packaging. Not only is there the multitude of features that we all expect as standard these days such as SATA3, USB3.0, SLI/Crossfire support and the like, there is also the many Ultra Durable features that Gigabyte implement to ensure that your purchase stays working long-past the expected lifespan of LGA1155 product line.
The UD5 has all the hallmarks we've come to expect from Gigabyte boards. Excellent cooling courtesy of some gorgeous heat-sinks, a lovely subdued colour palette (in sharp contrast to the earlier Gigabyte days) and plentiful ports on the back for all your connectivity needs.
The Z68X UD5 has six SATA ports, four 3Gbp/s SATA2 and 2 6Gbp/s SATA3.
Down the PCI-E end of the board there are 3 PCI-E graphics sized ports, the topmost one is x16 when solo and x8 if the others are populated. Over by the DIMM sockets there is a power button, a Reset switch and a CMOS clear button.
Just to demonstrate our earlier feeling that this such an incremental update, here is the official press photos of the P67A UD5 next to the Z68X UD5. If they didn't have the model number painted on the board you wouldn't have a hope of telling them apart.
Most Recent Comments
Looks ok, but a bit expensive, nice review though. 
nice mobo - but for the price i would rather have a sabertooth
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
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
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
ive seen mediashow espresso 6 benchmarks that show it encoding twice as fast then a gtx 560 ti
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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 gaming
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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.
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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 saving
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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.
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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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