Gigabyte G1. Sniper2 Z68 MOBO

[Pudgie]

 

Man I WANT 1!!!!!!

 

[SilverZ06]

too pricey. i'd buy a p67 board since I have a videocard and wouldn't use the on board video. then buy a high end audio card if it means that much to you and you would still be under the cost of that board.

[guncrasher]

I got this one 200 bucks less, awesome sound.  has served me well.

semp

[SilverZ06]

I got this one 200 bucks less, awesome sound.  has served me well.

semp

for $200 less I'd definitely buy it.

[guncrasher]

ha didnt post the link

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130574

semp

[SilverZ06]

ha didnt post the link

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130574

semp

lol i thought you meant the one the Pudgie is talking about here (i assume since he didnt post a link either) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128525

[guncrasher]

lol i thought you meant the one the Pudgie is talking about here (i assume since he didnt post a link either) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128525

other than having cool names, most expensive mobo's dont really give you more.  that's imho.


semp

[Getback]

ha didnt post the link

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130574

semp

I like those MSI boards! My game machine has an abit MB and it has been terrific. Of course they don't make those anymore.

[Pudgie]

lol i thought you meant the one the Pudgie is talking about here (i assume since he didnt post a link either) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128525

Thx SilverZ06.  Was overwhelmed w/ drool & forgot to post it.
 

I can dream, can't I?

The mobo's color layout is a perfect match to my CM 690 Nvidia case (black w/ green). I like this!
I like the onboard full featured, fully discrete Creative X-Fi Fatality sound application along w/ the onboard full featured, supposedly lag-bustin Bigfoot NIC along w/ the overly cool heatpipe cooling solution for the power/chipset & the 5 controllable fan headers &............................. ..................
And yes, I'm over 13 & under 60....

Ok, maybe dreaming about this mobo isn't appropriate for my age bracket (or my wallet for that matter)............................. ........................

But I can't help it!!!!!!!!!!!

   

[Chalenge]

It has the XFi Fatality processor but not the Xram so its not quite the same thing. You actually shop MBs for their color? 

This will be a more stable board than the next step down and it will have more overclock features in the BIOS but you still have to choose the rest of your hardware carefully to make use of what you are spending the extra money for or its wasted.

[Pudgie]

It has the XFi Fatality processor but not the Xram so its not quite the same thing. You actually shop MBs for their color? 

This will be a more stable board than the next step down and it will have more overclock features in the BIOS but you still have to choose the rest of your hardware carefully to make use of what you are spending the extra money for or its wasted.

Hi Chalenge,

On the color fetish........at least I admit it. But substance over style DOES get top billing w/ me.

My current box is 3 yrs old & still going strong (Intel E8600 C2D OC'd to 4.0 GHz on an EVGA 780i FTW mobo using OCZ Reaper HTC PC8500 4.0 Gb DDR2 mem w/ 2 WD Raptor 74Gb HDD's all powered by a PC P & C Silencer 750W PSU...........added an Asus DS 7.1 sound card & EVGA GTX 560Ti SC vid card later) but is getting long in the tooth & is EOL so I am looking at a full platform upgrade & since this is reality the Z68 platform makes the most sense to upgrade to (yes I'm staying w/ Intel here) at this time to me--along w/ an OS upgrade since Win7 HP SP1 (from MS Vista HP SP2).

The CPU will most definately be an Intel I7 2600K processor (getting it over with up front & will be OC'd at some point--have learnt this from the past).
I like the Gigabyte G1. Sniper2 Z68 mobo cause it gives me more of the things I want & will make use of w/ less of the things that I don't want & won't make use of (which IMHO is the real wasted money--outside of affordability). I am going to use 2 WD 500Gb Black HDD's that will make use of the 6Gb/sec SATA on the mobo (they're too cheap to not do this) & I'm not gonna use a SSD at this time (but can in future). Since I own a EVGA GTX 560Ti SC vid card already I am thinking 'bout getting a 2nd 1 & going SLI in the future (these cards can only do 2 in SLI--I have never had SLI'd vid cards & never wanted to until now). That's when I may consider getting a larger PSU just to be safe (but won't likely need to).

Now due to what you said concerning the Creative X-Fi onboard sound I'm thinking 'bout upping the mem from 8 Gb to 16Gb to cover that (the 8Gb would have already covered this but DDR3 mem is also real cheap to not do this as well). Currently looking to use Corsair Vengence series mem (yes I like the cooling scheme) but this is still open.  The placement of a PCI-E 1x slot above the upper vid card slot is paramount (which this mobo has)--I have an Asus Xonar DX 7.1 sound card to put in if I don't like the Creative X-Fi onboard solution (which I don't see happening at the moment).

Since the Gigabyte Z68 UD5 mobo (which was the board I was originally looking at) has gone deactivated on Newegg & I am an enthusiast user (but NOT a radical 1--I am not a mainstream dual purpose computer user) this Gigabyte G1. Sniper2 Z68 mobo fits my requirements almost to a "T". Gigabyte is 1 of the top tier quality mobo makers out there & EVGA has gone too radical w/ their mobos for my tastes (far more wasted stuff for the money for what I want---along w/ Asus) so dropping $300.00+ on a mobo is IMHO no different as getting a quality PSU or quality GPU as all are the bedrock of a good solid gaming computer.

I put all this in this post to show that I am looking to maximize the stuff that this mobo has to offer. All of this is overkill to play AH right now but I got a hunch that HTC is got some covert plans for this game that they ain't telling noone about since more & more players have upgraded to better platforms that can handle the new stuff that they're planning....I intend to be ready for them (and others) this time!

The color & layout scheme of this mobo is icing on the cake.
This year so far has been a good one for me so affordability isn't a showstopper at this time......which makes this the time for me to do the upgrade.

So I still want 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If only I could find some mem w/ black & green cooling scheme....................... ................

   

[Chalenge]

Pudgie you will likely find that the performance difference in your current machine and your target system are not that great. I dont know what you need a new system for or what you use your current system for other than AH but if it were me I would probably put money in a Q9650 (or QX9650 if you OC) and then pump up the video above a 560 (the next gen is due out in 2-4 months). The sound system on your target system is a step down to what you are using but you can always move your Xonar card over.

SLI is something that comes in handy only when a single card is on the edge of not having quite enough to get the job done or if you are two gens behind and want a stop gap measure in place and can get a card cheap. Having said that if you want to use 3 monitors a second card is not a bad way to get there but you will probably be taking in and out of SLI mode (with the setup utility) as well as going from 3 monitors to 1 (desktop versus gaming) in sync with the SLI switching.

On the HD front I have two 1.5GB SATA3 HDs that dont perform as well as as the 2GB Dual Processor SATA2 drives in the same system. Both have dedicated controllers and its possible the 1.5s are a one-off glitch so check the reviews on anything you buy.

Say what you will about the three MB brands but I believe they all come from the same source manufacturer (ie FOXCONN).

[Pudgie]

Hi Chalenge,

I hear what you're saying but I gotta ask:

Do you really think that the 3 1/2 yr old Nvidia 780i FTW chipset compares that well against Sandy Bridge performance-wise?
 
I would think that, even in AH alone, you would see a very noticeable (meaning smoother & consistent here) performance difference due to the superior Sandy Bridge design (wider & much faster pipe between CPU, mem, vid card & PCI devices), especially if you fully max out everything in AH (which I do). This part means more to me than actual CPU clock speed as if I were basing all this on CPU clock speed alone this C2D E8600 would suffice. You think Intel forced Nvidia out of the chipset business because Nvidia was that good of competition for Intel?
 
As for SLI, you're right...............thinking of doing it more for the experience than feasibility so I could say that I actually have set up & ran a SLI'd video routine..........definately ain't getting no 3 monitor setup so that takes care of that. 

Will do on the HDD front......but I've been running WD HDD's since I started building boxes w/o a single failure to date. Have had to replace a Seagate drive in the wife's box in the past....had a Maxtor HDD which did pretty good (in the wife's box as well) but had 2 WD 80Gb SATA Caviar Blacks handy when I did the last upgrade for the wife (I used to run them in my box in RAID 0 back in the Northwood/Athlon X2 days w/o issue). I currently have 3 WD 74Gb Raptor SATA1 HDD's (bought all 3 used off Ebay & currently using 2 of them in current box) w/ 1 as spare (used to run 2 of these in RAID 0 as well, also back in the Northwood/Athlon X2 days). So the WD Caviar SATA3 Blacks are feeling pretty good to me........................... .......just saying.

On the MB manufacturing, you may be right again but right now Gigabyte is winning the marketing battle within me.....................

Seriously I appreciate your posts concerning this "issue" of mine.

 

[Chalenge]

I have a Sandy Bridge and 780i both with AH on them and you cant tell them apart. What slows either system down is net related. With the fastest HD and Audio card available the only thing faster is RAM and CPU and that isnt enough to make a difference since AH is designed to run on less capable systems it does just fine.

I suggest saving your money until you are forced to upgrade.

[guncrasher]

ah can run on lesser system, but you have to give up some eye candy for it and some performance.  it's just like watching cable/satellite tv, you can do it on any tv from b/w to color to HD.  but how you want to watch it it depends on you and your budget.

it's not really any different than how you play the game.  there's some people that play pretty good with a keyboard and mouse on a 15in monitor, others prefer to convert their garage into a sim pit .


semp