A Sapphire and platinum motherboard; gaudy or a work of art?

Subject: Motherboards | August 31, 2011 - 12:06 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: x68, sandy bridge, sapphire pure platinum

Sapphire has been busy making a name for themselves as a high end motherboard maker in addition to their graphics card models.  The Sapphire Pure Platinum Z68 is their first foray into SandyBridge and comes with a long host of features common to the Z68 platform as well as features common to Sapphire's GPUs such as a dual BIOS.  Hi Tech Legion had a great time overclocking with this board both manually and with the help of Sapphire's TriXXX software, getting a i5-2500K all the way to 4.74GHz.  Read on to see this impressive board in action.

"The Pure Platinum Z68 is the Sapphire's first entry for the Z68 chipset of Intel, which is capable of technologies such as Smart Response and Virtu. The Sapphire Pure Platinum Z68 includes 4 DIMM slots with support of up to 16GB of RAM with speeds of up to 1600+MHz. For network connectivity, the Sapphire Pure Platinum Z68 has a Marvell chip controlled Gigabit LAN port and wireless capability via a Bluetooth 2.1 receiver. Storage options are many in the Pure Platinum Z68, with 8 total SATA ports; 4 SATA II with RAID 0,1,5,10 and AHCI controlled by the Z68 chipset, while there are 2 SATA III ports also controlled by the Z68 and the last 2 are controlled by Marvell's controller. Peripherals on the Z68 Pure Platinum are 2 USB 3.0 with up to 12 total USB 2.0 ports (including the USB headers), with 4 on the rear panel."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• Gigabyte G1.Sniper2 Z68 Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• GIGABYTE G1.Sniper2 @ Tweaktown
• MSI Z68A-GD65 (G3) Motherboard Review @ OCIA
• MSI Z68A-GD65 (G3) PCI-Express 3.0 @ techPowerUp
• Gigabyte Z68XP-UD5 Socket 1155 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
• BIOS Option Of The Week - S2K Bus Driving Strength @ TechARP

New Gigabyte Tool Switches SATA Mode In Windows

Subject: Motherboards | August 30, 2011 - 07:17 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: Utility, p67, motherboard, Intel, gigabyte, bios

According to Tech Power UP, Gigabyte recently released a Windows tool that allows users to change the SATA controller mode without digging into the BIOS. The SATA controller mode relates to how the controller on the motherboard or add-on card communicates with the hard drive or SSD. Users will be able to choose from legacy IDE, AHCI, and RAID modes. From the brightly colored Windows tool, users can change the setting accordingly. The utility will then write the setting to the CMOS and prompt the user to reboot the computer so that the change can take effect.

The tool will work with any Gigabyte motherboards with the Intel H61, H67, P67, or Z68 chipsets. Further, the utility will run on both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. It is available to download from here.  The package comes as a zip file containing an executable that does not need to be installed, which is a welcome touch.

While the Gigabyte Disk Mode Switch tool will make changing the setting easier than digging through the BIOS, it effectively accomplishes the same thing. What this means from a practical standpoint is that the Windows tool for changing the SATA mode suffers from the same issues that changing it in the BIOS does; mainly that the (Windows) operating system does not like such drastic changes and the user may encounter problems with Windows recognizing the drive and/or assigning the proper drivers. This is an issue primarily when changing the SATA mode of the drive that the operating system is installed on. While there are some registry tweaks that promise to help smooth the process, it is generally recommend to ensure the proper SATA mode is set before installing Windows onto the drive. Therefore, this tool’s usefulness is somewhat questionable.

Have you encountered any issues in changing the SATA mode post-install? Is this gigabyte tool useful or just another piece of manufacturer "helpware" that DIYers will never use?

Buy the Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3-iSSD; get a 20GB Intel SSD for free!

Subject: Motherboards | August 24, 2011 - 04:33 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gigabyte, Z68XP-UD3-iSSD, Intel SRT, intel 311

Gigabyte has been talking about releasing a Z68 board with an integrated Intel 310 series drive since CES and they have finally released it.  The Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3-iSSD ships with a 20GB Intel 311 SSD already installed to let you take advantage of Intel SRT right off the bat.  Power users will be glad to know it is not integral and can be swapped out with a 40GB or 60GB model if you deem it necessary for your continued happiness.  That is just one of the huge list of features on Gigabyte's new board, which only seems to be missing support for 4 way CrossFire or SLI which when you look at the minuscule gains it provides is not a problem at all.  Head over to Legit Reviews to see this $240 monster run.

"It's not very often that something throws me for a loop, at least not when it comes to motherboards any more. That's exactly what happened when I first heard about the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD! My first thoughts were that it's a great idea, followed by that boards has to cost a pretty penny! After today's testing, I will stand by my initial though of that's a great idea. What truly blew my mind was the price. As I said above, I thought the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD was going to cost a pretty penny, somewhere in the $350-$400. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the Z68XP-UD7-iSSD retails for only $239.99! Needless to say I was a bit shocked!"

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• ASUS Rampage III Gene X58 LGA1366 mATX ROG Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H Review and Llano Overclocking @ X-bit Labs
• ASUS P8H67-I (Intel H67) Mini ITX @ Tweaktown
• GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD5 @ Bjorn3D
• Sapphire Pure Platinum H67 Socket 1155 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
• Asrock Fata1ty Z68 Professional Gen3 1155 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
• ASUS Rampage III Black Edition Review @ Neoseeker
• Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 Motherboard Review @Hi Tech Legion
• Gigabyte G1-Killer Sniper 2 Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane
• BIOS Option Of The Week - SSE/SSE2 Instructions @ TechARP
• ECS HDC-I Motherboard Review @ Hardware Secrets
• ASUS Crosshair V Formula @ Overclockers.com
• Asus Sabertooth AMD 990FX Motherboard Review @ OCIA

The new B3 revision of the ASUS P8P67 Pro is more Solid than Snake

Subject: Motherboards | August 17, 2011 - 03:43 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: lga1155, asus, P8P67 Pro rev b3

When testing the ASUS P8P67 Pro, [H]ard|OCP managed to get 4.8GHz out of an Intel i5 2500K; about as good a recommendation as you could hope for.  That is in addition to ASUS' specific BIOS which will disable Turbo scaling, pegging the CPU to the top speed whenever it is in use, which explains the higher scores in some of the benchmarks they ran.  The built in OC Tuner BIOS application will overclock the board for you, in the tests after about 5 minutes and a few reboots it stabilized a 2600K on the board at 43x102.1 or 4.39GHz and could be pushed higher if you manually raised the multiplier. The board may not have some of the extras available on other makes but as far as stability goes this board is hard to beat.

"ASUS' latest foray in to the Intel LGA1155 market shows up in a competitive package, the P8P67 Pro. The board combines the features and technologies you've come to expect from ASUS and promises not to disappoint. This motherboard also happens to target the sub-$180 market so it will be on the list for budget minded builds."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3 Intel P67 Motherboard Review @ PCSTATS
• MSI Intel 1155 Z68 PCI Express 3.0 Motherboard Z68A-GD65G3 @ TechwareLabs
• Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 Intel P67 Motherboard Review @ PCSTATS
• Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Intel Z68 Motherboard Review @ PCSTATS
• ASUS Maximus IV Extreme @ Bjorn3D
• Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Intel Z68 Motherboard + 20GB Intel SSD Review @ PCSTATS
• Asrock Z68M-ITX/HT @ Legion Hardware
• Z68 vs. X58 - Which Is The Better Gaming Platform? @ Tweaktown
• BIOS Option Of The Week - TV Standard @ TechARP
• Dueling Zacate motherboards from Asus @ The Tech Report
• Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 Motherboard Review @ HardwareLOOK

ECS Announces Three New A55 Based AMD Motherboards

Subject: Motherboards | August 9, 2011 - 06:42 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: motherboard, ECS, APU, amd, A55

According to Tech Connect, ECS is about to release three ECS FM1 motherboards powered by the lighter A55 chipset to compliment the company’s higher end A75 boards. The new A55 based motherboards will be known as the A55F-A, A55F-M2, and the A55F-M3, the first being ATX and the remaining two boards being micro-ATX.

The new motherboards will support AMD’s A Series APUs and will feature one PCI-E x16 slot, Gigabit Ethernet, and one VGA connection. The standard ATX sized A55F-A will further have four DDR3 DIMM slots, five SATA II 3Gb/s ports, 12 USB 2.0 ports, and HDMI and DVI video connectors. The A55F-M2 on the other hand with receive two DDR3 DIMM slots, six SATA 3Gb/s ports, 12 USB 2.0 ports, and HDMI and optional DVI connections. Lastly, the A55F-M3 has two DDR3 DIMM slots, four SATA 3Gb/s ports, and eight USB 2.0 ports.

More photos of the new boards can be seen here. Price and availability of the new A55 chipset motherboards have not yet been released.

X58 is still the king, check out the ASUS ROG Rampage III

Subject: Motherboards | August 9, 2011 - 03:53 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: asus, rampage III, ROG, X58

If you fell the inescapable need to overclock your CPU to insane speeds and get the bit of extra oomph that triple channel DDR3 can provide then the ASUS Rampage III is the ~$600 motherboard for you.  [H]ard|OCP recently reviewed the board and its incredible list of extra components, even going so far as trying to kill it in a three day incubation test.  Four PCIe 16x slots (dual 16x, quad 8x), two PCIe 1x slots, two SATA Gbp/s ports, a half dozen SATAII ports with two eSATA round out the internal connections.  Externally two USB 3.0 ports and eleven USB 2.0 ports will get your peripheral connected and there is not only a normal gigabit ethernet connection, they included wireless and a KillerNIC which happens to be on an ASUS ThunderBolt card.  Read on at [H]ard|OCP. 

"While P67 and Z68 is all the rage, if you are looking for the most powerful computing system money can buy, then X58 is still it. ASUS promises to deliver everything you expect out of X58 and then some with its latest Republic of Gamers branded board. If you are looking for the ultimate X58 motherboard, it's the Rampage III Black Edition."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• Sapphire Pure Platinum Z68 Motherboard caught on camera @ eTeknix
• Sapphire Pureblack P67 Hydra @ XSReviews
• ASUS Maximus IV Extreme Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z @ Tweaktown
• Asus Maximus IV Extreme Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane
• Gigabyte G1.Sniper and GA-X58A-OC: LGA1366 Mainboards for Gamers and Enthusiasts @ X-bit Labs
• GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 2: A Preview @ Bjorn3D
• ASUS P8P67 PRO Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 GEN 3 Intel Motherboard Review @ TechwareLabs
• Roundup: Eight Mini-ITX Mainboards for LGA1155 Processors @ X-bit Labs
• ASUS Rampage III Black Edition @ Bjorn3D
• BIOS Option Of The Week - USB Mass Storage Reset Delay @ TechARP
• Understanding All Voltage Configurations from the Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• ASUS F1A75-M PRO Motherboard Review @Hi Tech Legion
• ASUS F1A75-V PRO vs ECS A75F-A vs Gigabyte A75-D3H @ t-break
• Biostar TA75A+ Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe Review @ Neoseeker
• ASRock A75 Pro4 Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
• ASUS E35M1-M Pro Motherboard Review @ Neoseeker

Gigabyte's new Z68X-UD3H-B3, the same one being given away at QuakeCon

Subject: Motherboards | August 1, 2011 - 02:20 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Z68X-UD3H-B3, gigabyte

One of our planned giveaways at the 2011 PC Perspective Hardware Workshop during QuakeCon is the Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3.  Now if the fact that the board is being given away for free isn't enough to convince you to come, maybe the review at [H]ard|OCP will sway you to come.  It did pick up an Editors Choice and a Silver Award after all.  It has all of the bells and whistles associated with the Z68 chipset, from onboard video out to Intel SRT; as well Gigabyte went for top of the line components and a 7 phase power design.  It wasn't perfect though, the reviewers had minor difficulties with the storage system, from tweaking the onboard controllers to installing high end RAID cards, they felt that some improvements were required.  It also lacks a new UEFI style BIOS, but apart from that the board was solid and performed very well.

"The Intel Express Z68 chipset is the new hotness and as a result tons of Z68 boards are hitting the market. Gigabyte isn't one to be left behind and as a result it has plenty of Z68 boards to choose from. The one we are evaluating here is the Z68X-UD3H-B3. Despite being somewhat of a budget board it certainly packs a ton of features and promises solid overclocking performance to boot."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

   Motherboards

• ASRock Z68 Fatal1ty Gen3 Motherboard Review @ HardwareHeaven
• Zotac Z68-ITX WiFi Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• Gigabyte X58A-OC Overclocking Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane
• ASRock Z68 Extreme4 @ Hardwareoverclock
• MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) Motherboard Review @ t-break
• BIOS Option Of The Week - V-Link Mode Selection @ TechARP
• AMD Llano A6-3650 APU and Sapphire Pure Platinum A75 Motherboard Review @ HardwareHeaven
• ECS A75F-A (AMD A75) @ Tweaktown
• AMD A8-3850 & Gigabyte A75M-UD2H @ OC3D

Just Delivered: MSI Z68A-GD65 G3 Motherboard with PCI Express 3.0 Support

Subject: Editorial, Motherboards | July 29, 2011 - 02:03 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: z68, pcie 3.0, msi

Just Delivered is a section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.

As we gear up for the PC Perspective Hardware Workshop at Quakecon 2011 next weekend, August 6th, we are starting to get in some very interesting products.  The coolest part?  All of this is going to be GIVEN AWAY to attendees!! 

MSI is supplying us with a pair of new motherboards for our system build contest that will be held during the workshop - faster person to get a system up and running will get some killer prizes.  Even better, these are some of the FIRST Z68A-GD65 G3 boards in the US - the very same ones we saw at Computex in June sporting the world's first PCIe 3.0 implementation.

Sporting an LGA1155 socket and the new Z68 chipset, you get all the features associated with it including SSD caching and integrated graphics support.

The classic features from MSI continue to exist here with the Military Class II components as well as the always well-received OC Genie button.

It sports a total of 4 USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, DVI and VGA outputs and a lot more.  

One thing to note: this motherboard will ONLY support PCIE 3.0 speeds once the Ivy Bridge processors are released later this year so unless you have some unreleased hardware (and please do share!) then you aren't going to be seeing the advantages of this tech quite yet.  

Still, future proofing is good news!! 

Thanks to MSI for these boards and if you are coming to our workshop be prepared for your chance to win one before the rest of the worlds gets their hands on them!

Sapphire jumps on the AMD A75 chipset

Subject: Motherboards | July 27, 2011 - 06:03 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: a75, sapphire, sapphire pure platinum, llano, hudson

Longtime GPU partner Sapphire is taking advantage of the new AMD A75 Hudson-D3 FCH chipset to put out their new Sapphire Pure Platinum A75 motherboard.  Onboard are five SATA3 ports, a single PCIe 16x, a single PCI 4x, two PCIe 1x, and two 32-bit PCI slots along with 7.1 sound from a Realtek ALC892 chip and a mini PCIe slot.  Externally you will find four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, a LAN port and even Bluetooth.  As far as budget boards for Llano go, Hi Tech Legion have not seen better and that was before they managed the 35% overclock.

"Sapphire has just released their venture into Llano with the Sapphire Pure Platinum A75 Motherboard. The Platinum A75 offers all of the premium niceties that can be found with AMD's Lynx platform. First, there is the top tier A75 Hudson-D3 FCH chipset. This has an FM1 socket for the latest Llano APU chips. There is support for up to 16GB of 800/1033/1333/1600/1866 MHz speed DDR3 memory. This chipset offers exceptional connectivity as you get five SATA3 ports, one 16x PCI-E, two 1x PCI-E, one 4x PCI-E, two 32-bit PCI, and four USB 3.0 ports. Because the APU is a CPU/GPU combination, for video connectivity, there is an HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort available."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• MSI A75MA-G55 AMD Socket FM1 Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
• MSI A75MA-G55 @ Tweaktown
• BIOS Option Of The Week - V-Link 8X Support @ TechARP
• ASUS Sabertooth P67 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

Gigabyte's new Z68 board with added NF200 goodness

Subject: Motherboards | July 22, 2011 - 12:12 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gigabyte, gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3, NF200, z68

ASUS is not the only company with extra PCIe lanes on their X68 board anymore, as Gigabyte's new Z68X-UD7-B3 hits the market.  With an included NF200 chip there are four PCIe 16x slots, two of which run at 8x speeds.  You even get a PCIe x1 slots, and 2 PCI slots though the PCIe 1x is slightly blocked by the heatsink on the NF200.  [H]ard|OCP were very happy with this board, it survived 3 days in their torture chamber before finally crashing when most boards are considered solid it they can survive 24 hours.   If you need a high end SLI board, take a look at this review.

"The Z68X-UD7-B3 is GIGABYTE's latest release supporting LGA1155 processors and new Z68 Intel Express Chipset. This motherboard looks to be gunning for a top spot with is mix of performance and features. Is the UD7 worth your hard earned dollars?"

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• ECS P67H2-A Review: A visit back to Lucid's Hydra @ AnandTech
• Sandybridge - Z68 Chipset - RST and Quicksync an Interview with Dan Snyder of Intel @Hi Tech Legion
• Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review: 20GB SSD On-Board @ Techspot
• EVGA P67 FTW Motherboard Review @Hi Tech Legion
• TYAN S5510GM3NR Server Motherboard @ TechwareLabs
• ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• Biostar 1155 TZ68A+ @ OC3D
• Jetway H109-Z @ Tweaktown
• Zotac's Z68ITX Mini-ITX motherboard @ The Tech Report
• ASUS P67 Sabertooth @ Bjorn3D
• MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) LGA1155 @ X-bit Labs
• Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P @ OC3D
• BIOS Option Of The Week - Vanderpool Technology @ Tech ARP
• ASRock A75 Extreme6 @ Tweaktown
• ASUS F1A75-M PRO FM1 Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews
• Sapphire Pure Platinum A75 @ Tweaktown
• Sapphire Pure Platinum A75 Motherboard Review @ eTeknix

Sapphire Introduces New Pure Platinum Motherboard Supporting AMD A-Series APUs

Subject: Motherboards | July 21, 2011 - 11:25 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: sapphire, motherboard, fusion, APU, amd

Sapphire Technologies, most popular for their line of AMD discrete graphics cards, has recently unveiled a new ATX motherboard supporting AMD’s A-Series APUs. Dubbed the Sapphire Pure Platinum A75, the board supports the latest interface standards including SATA 3 6Gbps, USB 3.0, PCI-E 2, and USB 2.0. Further, the board supports Gigabit LAN, Bluetooth, and four dual channel memory sockets.

The Pure Platinum A75 motherboard is a full ATX affair that is chock full of expansion slots. Four dual channel DIMM slots for DDR3 memory, two PCI-E 2 x1 slots, one PCI-E 2 x4 slot, one PCI-E 2 x16 slot, and two PCI slots along the bottom of the board. On the storage front, the motherboard contains five SATA 3 6Gbps ports with ACHI and RAID support and a single SATA 2 3Gbps port that is connected to the rear header and is used as an eSATA connection.

Other features of the board include Dual Graphics support when the APU is paired with a AMD HD 6600 or HD 6500 series for a boost in graphics performance by using both the discrete card and APU together. A single digital debug display, push buttons for resetting the BIOS, starting, and restarting the system, Dual BIOS support, and voltage test pads that allow voltage readings of the APU and memory circuits. Further, the motherboard uses gold plated connectors on the USB 3.0 and LAN ports in addition to solid capacitors and Sapphire Diamond Black chokes in the VRM area.

Rear IO of the board includes Display Port, DVI, HDMI, four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, one Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR antenna, one eSATA port, and one PS/2 keyboard/mouse combination port. The board also included the standard fair of audio ports, supporting up to 7.1 audio.

According to Sapphire, the board is currently in production and will be available through the usual channel partners and retailers. You can check out more photos of the motherboard here.

Zotac thinks small with their new Z68 motherboard

Subject: Motherboards | July 15, 2011 - 01:50 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: zotac, mini-itx, z68

If you are looking to bring the benefits of the Z68 chipset to your LAN box, look no further than Zotac's Z68-ITX WiFi mini-ITX board.  They've done everything possible to trim down the size while keeping the functionality you need to play games. While there is only a single PCIe 16x slot and 4 SATA ports in total, you have 8 USB 2.0 ports and a pair of USB 3.0 as well as a variety of audio and video output ports.  As well there is a serious WiFi add on card with dual antenna to get you connected to your friends and enemies.  Check out the full review that TechPowerUp posted here.

"ZOTAC recently announced their mini-ITX Z68 motherboard. Supporting standard desktop parts for expansion, the ZOTAC Z68-ITX WiFi offers all the features of the Intel Z68 chipset, including some decent overclocking. We put the Z68-ITX WiFi through the paces, and take this little roadster for a wild ZOTAC ride."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• ASRock Z68 Extreme 4 Motherboard Review - "All Inclusive" Becomes The New Standard @ SSD Review
• Asus Rampage III Black Edition @ LegionHardware
• ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z (Intel Z68) mATX @ Tweaktown
• ASRock H61M/U3S3 @ Phoronix
• Intel DH61AG Media Series Mini-ITX Motherboard and Core i5-2390T Review @MissingRemote
• Fusion E-350 Review: ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe, ECS HDC-I and Zotac FUSION350-A-E @ AnandTech
• MSI A75MA-G55 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• AMD 990FX Review: ASUS Sabertooth 990FX vs ECS A990FXM-A @ t-break
• ASUS F1A75-V PRO Motherboard Review @Hi Tech Legion
• ECS A75F-A Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

Gigabyte's high powered A75M-UD2H for the low powered Llano processor

Subject: Motherboards | July 11, 2011 - 05:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: llano, gigabyte, a75, fm1

Gigabyte made sure that a Llano user will be able to get all that they want out of the  A75M-UD2H; 8+2 phase power, five SATA II I ports and an eSATA on the backplate to keep the combo PS/2 port, D-sub port, DVI-D port, HDMI port, DisplayPort, optical SPDIF connector, two USB 2.0, four USB 3.0 port, one FireWire port, the Gigabit Ethernet port, and 8 channel audio ports.  As you can tell that backplate is very full. It also supports Crossfire with a pair of PCIe slots running 8x when both are populated. Taking the board through its paces was only one facet of Bjorn3D's review, they also pair the board and APU with an HD6870 to see how it performs with a powerful GPU.  Check out the review.

"When we looked at Llano, we determined that its CPU performance is similar to Athlon II X4 or Phenom II X4 840 processor, so why would a discrete GPU user choose Llano instead of an Athlon II X4 or Phenom II X4? Should the user choose a more expensive CPU for gaming? Firstly, Llano is more power efficient and runs much cooler than the 45nm processors. We'll be testing the second question today.

In this review, we are not only going to take a look at the GIGABYTE board, but we are also going pair the board with an HD 6870 and run a few games at 1920x1080 resolution with typical settings that average gamers would use to see the impact of CPU performance in games"

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• Gigabyte A75M-UD2H Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• ASUS F1A75-V Pro @ Tweaktown
• Gigabyte A75M-UD2H FM1 Llano Motherboard Review @ eTeknix
• GIGABYTE A75-UD4H @ Tweaktown
• BIOS Option Of The Week - Virtualization @ Tech ARP
• Zotac Z68-ITX WiFi @ OC3D
• GIGABYTE Z68X-UD7-B3 Intel Z68 Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
• Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 @ AnandTech

Video Perspective: AMD A-series APU Overclocking and Gaming Performance

Subject: Graphics Cards, Motherboards, Processors | July 6, 2011 - 08:15 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: amd, llano, APU, a-series, a8, a8-3850, overclocking

We have spent quite a bit of time with AMD's latest processor, the A-series of APUs previously known as Llano, but something we didn't cover in the initial review was how overclocking the A8-3850 APU affected gaming performance for the budget-minded gamer.  Wonder no more!

In this short video we took the A8-3850 and pushed the base clock frequency from 100 MHz to 133 MHz and overclocked the CPU clock rate from 2.9 GHz to 3.6 GHz while also pushing the GPU frequency from 600 MHz up to 798 MHz.  All of the clock rates (including CPU, GPU, memory and north bridge) are based on that base frequency so overclocking on the AMD A-series can be pretty simple provided the motherboard vendors provide the multiplier options to go with it.  We tested a system based on a Gigabyte and an ASRock motherboard both with very good results to say the least.  

We tested 3DMark11, Bad Company 2, Lost Planet 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Dirt 3 to give us a quick overall view of performance increases.  We ran the games at 1680x1050 resolutions and "Medium"-ish quality settings to find a base frame rate on the APU of about 30 FPS.  Then we applied our overclocked settings to see what gains we got.  Honestly, I was surprised by the results.

While overclocking a Llano-based gaming rig won't make it compete against $200 graphics cards, getting a nice 30% boost in performance for a budget minded gamer is basically a no-brainer if you are any kind of self respecting PC enthusiast. 

The difference a letter can make; 4 LGA1155 boards from Gigabyte

Subject: Motherboards | July 6, 2011 - 06:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gigabyte, sandybridge, ga-z68x, lga1155

Gigabyte's GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3, GA-Z68X-UD4-B3, GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 and GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 are up for review on X-bit Labs right now.   You need to be fairly observant to notice the difference in the models and have a great memory to know which is which at a glance.  They all share some similar characteristics, such as the lack of onboard video out but also share positive traits like Dual BIOS and Phase LEDs and a number of USB 3.0 and SATA 6G ports.  They had a few problems during the review which you might want to find out about before purchasing one of these boards.

"Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3, GA-Z68X-UD4-B3, GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 and GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 mainboards do not have video Outs, that is why integrated graphics doesn’t work on them. They can use Intel Smart Response technology, but do not support any of the Lucid Virtu modes. Read our in-depth review to find out about other features of these mainboards."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• Asus P8P67 Deluxe @ X-bit Labs
• Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3-iSSD vs ASUS P8Z68-V Pro @ t-break
• MSI Big Bang Marshal @ Tweaktown
• ASUS Maximus IV Extreme P67 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
• ASUS P8Q67-M DO/CSM Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe Motherboard Review @Hi Tech Legion
• Foxconn H67A-S Motherboard Review @ eTeknix
• ASUS Republic of Gamers Maximus IV Gene-Z Motherboard Review @ HardwareHeaven
• Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 AM3+ Motherboard Review @Hi Tech Legion
• BIOS Option Of The Week - TM2 Bus VID @ TechARP
• Gigabyte 990FXA UD5 Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane

MSI Announces New PCI-Express 3 Motherboard

Subject: Motherboards | July 6, 2011 - 04:36 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: PCI-E 3.0, msi, graphics

MSI recently unveiled a new motherboard supporting the PCI-Express 3.0 standard. The Intel LGA 1155 CPU socket and Z68 chipset are also features of the upcoming motherboard, dubbed the Z68A-GD80 (G3).

The new MSI board joins ASRock's announcement as one of the first PCI-Express 3.0 motherboards, and is loaded with tons of features. The Z68 chipset naturally supports Intel Sandy Bridge processors, PCI-E 3.0, a UEFI BIOS, OC Genie II, and their signature MIL-810STD military class components. The PCI-E 3.0 slots help AMD CrossFire X and NVIDIA SLI multi GPU solutions fed with plenty of bandwidth. Rear IO includes a PS/2 port, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, DVI, 7.1 audio, Dual Gigabit Ethernet, e-SATA, and firewire.  On board IO includes 3 PCI-E 3.0 slots, 2 PCI slots, and two PCI-E x1 slots, the 1155 CPU socket, and 4 DDR3 DIMMs.

What do you think of the new board; are you ready for PCI-E 3.0?

You seen the processor, now check out the socket FM1 motherboards

Subject: Motherboards | June 30, 2011 - 01:56 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: fm1, llano, ASUS F1A75-M Pro, amd, a8-3850, lynx

Along with the arrival of the A series of Llano processors comes socket FM1 motherboards and the AMD A75 FCH (Hudson D3) chipset.  Legit Reviews focused on the ASUS F1A75-M Pro motherboard, which supports dual channel RAM and has three PCIe slots, a 16x, a 4x and a 1x as well as six SATA 6Gb/s ports which support Raid 0, 1, 10, and JBOD configurations. It also puts the new UEFI BIOS to good use, if you didn't know you were looking at a BIOS you wouldn't recognize it as one.  At a price of $120, this would allow you to pick up an A8-3850 and this motherboard for about the same price as a Core i5 2500k without the motherboard.  Not too shabby.

"Where the ASUS F1A75-M Pro truly excelled today was the performance of the integrated graphics. Every one of our graphics tests that we compared the Intel HD Graphics 3000 to the AMD A8-3850 with AMD Radeon HD 6550D there was a clear and decisive winner. For our recap of the graphics performance let's start with Total War: Shogun 2 in DirectX 9 mode. The ASUS F1A75-M Pro was able to pull out an average that was 143.4% faster than the Intel system at a resolution of 1280x1024..."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• ASRock A75 Extreme6 Review and Desktop Llano Overclocking @ AnandTech
• Llano motherboards from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI @ The Tech Report
• Asus F1A75-M Pro Llano Motherboard Review @ eTeknix
• ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z @ OC3D
• Asus K53SV-A1 Review @ TechReviewSource
• ASUS P8Z68-V Pro @ iXBT Labs
• Asus' P8H67-I Deluxe Mini-ITX @ The Tech Report
• Asrock Z68 Pro3-M Socket 1155 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
• Gigabyte A75M-UD2H Motherboard First Look Preview @ eTeknix
• Biostar TZ68A+ LGA1155 @ techPowerUp

New ASRock Z68 Fatal1ty Motherboard Supports PCI-E 3.0

Subject: Motherboards | June 29, 2011 - 08:08 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: z68, pcie 3.0, motherboard, Intel

ASRock recently unveiled a new enthusiast Z68 chipset based motherboard supporting the PCI-Express 3.0 standard. Dubbed the Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3, the company claims that when coupled with the upcoming Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs, “users are assured to enjoy the full power of PCIe Gen3 standard” as a powerful gaming motherboard.

The board further features the LGA 1155 socket, four DDR3 DIMM slots capable of 2133 Mhz, two PCI-Express 3.0 slots, one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, one PCIe x1 slot, and two PCI slots. IO standards include the latest SATA III 6 Gbps, Intel’s SRT (Smart Response Technology) caching, and USB 3.0. The board is further capable of supporting either NVIDIA Quad SLI or AMD CrossfireX technology. An on-board PLX PEX8608 chip has been added to allow the PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 3.0 ports to coexist at their native speeds.

Rear connections include a special Fatal1ty mouse port that users can adjust the polling rate of to anywhere between 125 Hz to 1000 Hz, eight USB ports (likely four USB 2.0, four USB 3.0), VGA output, two HDMI outputs, Digital audio out, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and 7.1 channel THX TruStudio audio outputs.

The ASRock board is ready to get its game on according to the company who stated that “is the world's first motherboard that supports PCIe 3.0 and goes on sale now.”