Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 Motherboard Feature Preview

Sandy Bridge systems have been "the thing" to talk about since the processor was released early this year. The events since then have been interesting to say the least, with amazing performance that bests some of the top 1366 Core i7 processors to the B2 revision chipset recall that basically stopped Sandy Bridge in its tracks.

The good news is that thanks to the Intel recall, and the efforts from the top motherboard makers in the business, the existing B2 motherboards have all been replaced by B3 revision parts giving the end users exactly what they need to get the most from their systems.

But what, there's more!

Yes as the title indicates current H67 and P67 motherboards are getting a little competition, please welcome the Intel Z68 chipset for LGA 1155 processors!

The Intel Z68 is a very strange chipset in that it combines the overclocking features of the P67 and graphical features of the H67 into a single chipset. They have also added some key technologies that help differentiate it from the versions and make it better at the same time.

In this preview we'll be looking at the Gigabyte offering and what makes the GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 different from the P67 version.


Gigabyte Touch BIOS - Touch BIOS is a Windows application that allows you to change things in the system BIOS without actually accessing the BIOS during boot. As enthusiasts we are a little skeptical with the control Touch BIOS gives you so be sure to check out our opinions of this during the review.

Intel Smart Response - Smart Response is a data caching option that works on the hardware level to speed up traditional hard drives by adding a small SSD to your storage subsystem. So far the benchmarks claim a 4x performance gain over a single HDD system.

Lucid Virtu - Virtu is a software extension that should allow you to use the onboard graphics capability of Sandy Bridge in conjunction with a discrete graphics card on select Z68 motherboards. The idea here is that you use your discrete graphics card when you're gaming but then switch that device off when operating in 2D mode or when the system goes to sleep. The main goal here is to save power and reduce heat output.

Driver MOSFETs - Seems hard to believe but not all Gigabyte motherboards come with, or use, Driver MOSFETs in their PWM designs. That is changing with Z68 as all of the boards in the lineup will have Driver MOSFETs onboard.

Visually the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 is identical to the GA-P67A-UD7-B3 and features many of the same technologies including the nVidia NF200 chip for 3-way video card support and the famed 24phase Digital PWM! This monster uses the same power distribution technology found on the UD9 and does wonders for high frequency overclocking stability.




Unlike with the initial P67 and H67 rollout only a few motherboard makers will be releasing Z68 designs and right now Gigabyte has one of the few that will have 80% of their motherboard stock available to buy at launch time.

Here is a breakdown of the current Z68 Gigabyte motherboard offerings.

Discrete Graphics Option
Z68X-UD7-B3
Z68X-UD5-B3
Z68X-UD4-B3
Z68X-UD3P-B3
Z68X-UD3-B3
Z68A-D3-B3

Integrated Graphics Options
Z68X-UD3H-B3
Z68X-D3H-B3
Z68X-UD2H-B3
Z68X-D2H-B3

For more information on the various motherboards and their specific features please check the Gigabyte website.
http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/279/i ... odels.html

We will be doing a full review of the new Z68A-UD7 in the coming weeks so stay tuned.