Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 Review
by Brendan van Varik on July 11, 2011 7:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Gigabyte
- Motherboards
- Sandy Bridge
- Z68
Board Features
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 | |
| Market Segment | Performance |
| CPU Interface | LGA 1155 |
| CPU Support | Sandy Bridge i3/i5/i7 |
| Chipset | Z68 |
| Base Clock Frequency | 38.0 MHz to 400.0 MHz in 0.1 MHz intervals |
| DDR3 Memory Speed | 1333 MHz by default, 800-2133 MHz supported |
| Core Voltage | Auto, offset or fixed modes, 0.800 V to 1.800 V in 0.015 V intervals |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Dependant on CPU |
| DRAM Voltage | Auto, 1.108 V to 2.464 V in 0.007V intervals |
| DRAM Command Rate | Auto, 1T-3T |
| Memory Slots |
Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM slots in dual-channel Regular unbuffered DDR3 memory Up to 32GB total supported |
| Onboard Graphics |
1x D-Sub port 1x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200 *The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter. 1x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200 1x DisplayPort, supporting a maximum resolution of 2560x1600p |
| Expansion Slots |
2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (x16/x0 or x8/x8) 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot 2 x PCI slots Supports ATI Crossfire Supports NVIDIA SLI |
| Onboard SATA/RAID |
2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports supporting RAID 0/1/5/10 3 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports (blue) supporting RAID 0/1/5/10 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports (white) from Marvell 88SE9172 supporting RAID 0/1 1 x eSATA 3.0 Gb/s port |
| Onboard |
4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors 4 x Fan Headers (1x4-pin, 3x3-pin) 4 x USB 2.0 headers support additional 8 USB 2.0 Ports 1 x Front panel switch/LED header 1 x TPM module connector 1 x USB3.0/2.0 header 1 x IEEE 1394a header 1x SPDIF Out header 1x Serial port header 1 x Firewire/IEEE 1394 header 1 x Front panel audio header 1x Clearing CMOS jumer |
| Onboard LAN | 1 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC889 Codec, 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel, Dolby Home Theater, S/PDIF Out |
| Power Connectors |
24-pin EATX Power connector 8-pin EATX 12V Power connector |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU Fan (4-pin) 3 x SYS Fan (3-pin) |
| IO Panel |
1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port 1 x D-Sub port 1 x DVI-D port 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector 1 x HDMI port 1 x DisplayPort 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 1 x IEEE 1394a port 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s connector 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports 1 x RJ-45 port 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone) |
| BIOS |
2 x 32 Mbit flash Use of licensed AWARD BIOS Support for DualBIOS™ PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b |
| Warranty Period | 3 Years |
Software
EasyTune6 is Gigabyte's take on the monitoring and overclocking software within Windows. When you open the software, the Tuner tab opens by default. It offers three different “Quick Boost” options which are described in greater detail within the overclocking section of this review.
EasyTune6 does pretty much what you’d expect from this kind of software. It tells you everything about your CPU, memory, graphics card(s) as well as providing a hardware monitor and the ability to change your fan profiles.
EasyTune6 allows you to manually set fan profiles within Windows. The default is set at 27% when your CPU is at 20°c and 100% when it reaches 72°c. It increases as the temperature rises in order to try to keep the CPU temperature down. It’s simple really, if the CPU is still getting warmer with increased fan speeds, then the fan isn’t moving enough air so it speeds up more to bring the temperatures down. If all else fails and the CPU reaches 72°c or above, the fan will run at 100%.
When you select the advanced option, you can manually adjust the settings of the two fans that are controlled by the CPU temperature. Unfortunately, you cannot change the speed of the CPU fan and SYS_FAN2 individually - both are controlled by the CPU temperature. SYS_FAN1 and PWR both run at 100%, no matter what. There is no control over those.
You can overclock your system from within Windows. EasyTune6 allows you to change most of the required settings. You can alter the BCLK, DRAM frequency, multiplier and the system voltages.
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Brutus1234 - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
I bought one of these from Newegg a couple weeks ago and I'm very happy with it.2600K with a 45x multiplier for 4.5GHz
GSKill RipSaw DDR3 ( 4 Gig ) - system recognizes memory as 2133 with enhanced profile
H70 Corsair Water Cooler
Runs great, Have not touched voltage - it's still all stock.
I've stressed tested it, running some h264 encodes, getting nearly 100% utilization on the CPU for 6hrs and never a hiccup. Temp rarely cracks 50C on the CPU. Very happy with this build
Only thing I have issues with is the Virtu Softare. It recognizes the board but I thought I was getting a licence to use it, and all I can get is a demo mode.
Patrick Wolf - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
So they implement TouchBIOS but not a GUI? That's just being lazy. FFS, even Biostar has a GUI. Then of course there's the boot loop issue that wasted a lot of my time.http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/103472...
789427 - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
GUI for bios is *really* a waste of time. Imagine having to connect a keyboard AND a mouse to fix the machine when it breaks...That's like finding a use for a mouse in DR Dos 6.0
Awesome motherboard... lack of fan control shouldn't be too problematic.
Just had a thought though.... if CPUs were delivered in larger packages with the connectors situated off-die, with a vertical arrangement it would be possible to cool both sides of the die at once in a sandwich style cooler.
Twice the surface area to cool means that we'd be in overclocking heaven!
Now we just need Intel to decide to change the sockets again!
86waterpumper - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
I agree with EnzoFX. If the bios does not cause a boot time slowdown that is pretty well a non issue. However, this day and age lack of fan control in the bios is more than stupid. More and more you are going to see a move to more efficient and power saving features. There is no point in a cpu clocking down and powergating and idling if the fan is going to blast on along like a jet. This is especially true for htpc use which alot are going to use the sandy bridge z68 for. Speaking of that, gigabyte is the one that actually has a z68 board out without a video out on the board at all right? What are they smoking these days :PThe0ne - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
"Based on the benchmarks and performance figures seen in this review, it shows that you do not have to spend big amounts of money on a motherboard to get on to the Z68 platform. A motherboard that could arguably be aimed at the budget end of the spectrum has performed well "This would fit my needs perfectly. Just wondering why with the comment above it's not a "pick" from you/Anandtech? What's lacking to make it so?
jigglywiggly - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
U GRAMMAR FARTSSTFU
READ THE ARTICLE FOR THE INFO
fb39ca4 - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
How is $170 a budget motherboard? This is mid range territory.ratbert1 - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
Enjoying your baptism by fire? I was going to post about the grammar, but it seems to have all be said.Mr Alpha - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link
Why not run CDM in 0xFF fill mode? Sure, the perfectly compressible data is unrealistic, but it would largely take the flash out of the equation making the benchmark purely about the interface. And when benchmarking a motherboard is it not the limits of the interfaces it provides that really matter?nemitech - Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - link
The test does;t say what version of Lucid was used on the Gigabyte MB vs the Asus one. a new version was released yesterday on the Gigabyte site:http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx...
I can't see any hardware reason that the Gigabyte should be slower than the Asus. Maybe there is a BIOS or Lucid driver update that brings the performance back in par. that is the probelm with reviews, issues are rarely revisited or updated leaving a bad opinion about a product.
This is defiantly a budget MB - I got mine for $105 (!) after $15 rebate, at microcenter this past weekend, with a 2500k for $180. What a bargain. :-)