GIGABYTE G1.Sniper Z87 Review
by Ian Cutress on February 24, 2014 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Gigabyte
F1 2013
First up is F1 2013 by Codemasters. I am a big Formula 1 fan in my spare time, and nothing makes me happier than carving up the field in a Caterham, waving to the Red Bulls as I drive by (because I play on easy and take shortcuts). F1 2013 uses the EGO Engine, and like other Codemasters games ends up being very playable on old hardware quite easily. In order to beef up the benchmark a bit, we devised the following scenario for the benchmark mode: one lap of Spa-Francorchamps in the heavy wet, the benchmark follows Jenson Button in the McLaren who starts on the grid in 22nd place, with the field made up of 11 Williams cars, 5 Marussia and 5 Caterham in that order. This puts emphasis on the CPU to handle the AI in the wet, and allows for a good amount of overtaking during the automated benchmark. We test at 1920x1080 on Ultra graphical settings for a single GPU, as using multiple GPUs seems to have no scaling effect.
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Bioshock Infinite
Bioshock Infinite was Zero Punctuation’s Game of the Year for 2013, uses the Unreal Engine 3, and is designed to scale with both cores and graphical prowess. We test the benchmark using the Adrenaline benchmark tool and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
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Tomb Raider
The next benchmark in our test is Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider is an AMD optimized game, lauded for its use of TressFX creating dynamic hair to increase the immersion in game. Tomb Raider uses a modified version of the Crystal Engine, and enjoys raw horsepower. We test the benchmark using the Adrenaline benchmark tool and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
| Tomb Raider, 1080p Max | ||
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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)? ? ? ? ?