GIGABYTE G1.Sniper Z87 Review
by Ian Cutress on February 24, 2014 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Gigabyte
Scientific and Synthetic Benchmarks
2D to 3D Rendering – Agisoft PhotoScan v1.0: link
Agisoft Photoscan creates 3D models from 2D images, a process which is very computationally expensive. The algorithm is split into four distinct phases, and different phases of the model reconstruction require either fast memory, fast IPC, more cores, or even OpenCL compute devices to hand. Agisoft supplied us with a special version of the software to script the process, where we take 50 images of a stately home and convert it into a medium quality model. This benchmark typically takes around 15-20 minutes on a high end PC on the CPU alone, with GPUs reducing the time.
Console Emulation – Dolphin Benchmark: link
At the start of 2014 I was emailed with a link to a new emulation benchmark based on the Dolphin Emulator. The issue with emulators tends to be two-fold: game licensing and raw CPU power required for the emulation. As a result, many emulators are often bound by single thread CPU performance, and general reports tended to suggest that Haswell provided a significant post to emulator performance. This benchmark runs a Wii program that raytraces a complex 3D scene inside the Dolphin Wii emulator. Performance on this benchmark is a good proxy of the speed of Dolphin CPU emulation, which is an intensive single core task using most aspects of a CPU. Results are given in minutes, where the Wii itself scores 17.53; meaning that anything above this is faster than an actual Wii for processing Wii code, albeit emulated.
Haswell has been quoted as improving console emulation elsewhere on the web, and the results here give that quote substance.
Point Calculations – 3D Movement Algorithm Test: link
3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, taking basic 3D movement algorithms used in Brownian Motion simulations and testing them for speed. High floating point performance, MHz and IPC wins in the single thread version, whereas the multithread version has to handle the threads and loves more cores.
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Encryption – TrueCrypt v0.7.1a: link
TrueCrypt is an off the shelf open source encoding tool for files and folders. For our test we run the benchmark mode using a 1GB buffer and take the mean result from AES encryption.
Synthetic – 7-Zip 9.2: link
As an open source compression tool, 7-Zip is a popular tool for making sets of files easier to handle and transfer. The software offers up its own benchmark, to which we report the result.
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nos024 - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Wow, PCI slots on a high-end Z87? Where was this when I wanted PCI slots?Jay77 - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Have I mentioned how much I hate PCI slots? They were a waste of space and resources 5 years ago and they are an insult now. A PCIe 2.0 x2 or x4 slot is going to be real handy in the next couple of years (3-way crossfire, not so much). Pissing away lanes on PCI is just stupid at this point.Frolictoo - Sunday, March 2, 2014 - link
Overall, this is a good motherboard. However, I wish they would include a second LAN port, one based the various Intel options. I have always built multi-boot systems and the ports do not behave the same under different OSs while the gaming must go on.RAYBOYD44 - Monday, March 3, 2014 - link
my Aunty Violet got a new Volvo XC60 SUV by work part-time using a laptop.Antronman - Saturday, March 29, 2014 - link
I thought PCI slots were extinct?trebor darnoc - Monday, April 28, 2014 - link
I have such a stupid question. . . I love this review and ended up buying the board. But now I have a question about the F_PANEL (Front Panel Header) connections. On page 27 in the manual, there is a diagram for the F_PANEL. But it shows 2 different 'Power LED' locations! There is a 2 pin Power LED possibility at one corner and a 3 pin option at the opposite corner (of the F Panel) . The Power LED wires from my case (Corsair 450D) are 2 individual little connectors marked Power LED (one + and one -). All the other wires from the case are little 'doubles' with 2 wires each, clearly marked. If you look at that page in the G1.Sniper Z87 manual you will see one is labeled 'PWR_LED' and the other 'PLED', but each one of those has a little box describing that connection as 'Power LED' just like the cables say. Can I use either one? I thought the case wires might be split for a reason, which led me to considering the 3 pin grouping (connecting the outer pins and leaving the middle one bare)? ? ? ? ?