Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5
When money is no obstacle
Price: $560
What better way to relax after a session of
day trading than playing games on your new rig powered by this uber board? At
$560 it’s one of the most expensive Z87 boards on the market, but it’s designed
for those who don’t know the meaning of the word ‘compromise’.
Gigabyte
G1.Sniper 5
We tested the amazing removable headphone
amp and Creative Sound Core3D audio chip at Computex, and it propelled this
board to the top of our list for quality onboard audio. Unfortunately, our
review sample had a faulty audio system, exhibiting a lot of static, but we’d
have no qualms in using the onboard audio for gaming, provided you’re using
headphones (the removable amp doesn’t power the speaker outputs, only the
headphones). With incredibly high quality power components, it’ll overclock
like a demon, and quad GPU support makes it top tier. It’s even ready for water
cooling, while the Killer 2200 Ethernet is a nice touch. If only the Wi-Fi
supported 802.11ac it’d be perfect.
Despite a bizarrely low score, the G1.
Sniper 5 performed admirably in nearly all of our other tests. If you don’t
mind paying such a high price, this board has basically everything a PC gamer
could ever need.
Verdict: 9/10
·
Welcome to the big leagues – this board is for
those who put PC gaming above all else.
·
Top quality throughout
·
Excellent onboard audio
·
Includes all the things
·
A couple of low benchmark results
·
Review sample had faulty audio
Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H
The quiet achiever
Price: $229
This is the only board we reviewed that
isn’t directly targeted at game freaks like you. What do you miss out on in
exchange for such a nice price? To be honest, not a great deal. Three PCIe x16
slots provide plenty of bandwidth for a dual SLI/CrossFire setup, and the three
PCIe x1 and single PCI slots round out your options. The cooling solution has
been tamed from the water block seen on the Sniper, but serious over-clockers
probably wouldn’t even bother changing it, as this area remains cool to the
touch.
Gigabyte
Z87X-UD3H
The audio chip has been downgraded to an
old Realtek ALC898 chip, but for just $28 you can buy a decent headphone
soundcard in the ASUS Xonar DG that’ll equal most of the quality onboard
solutions seen here, with the exception of the Sniper’s upgradeable amps. The
BIOS retains most of the overclocking options of the other boards, and will
happily get your Haswell up to 4.5GHz provided the CPU is able. Even the
performance was fine, benching around the middle of the pack.
If you don’t mind using a board that
doesn’t have gaming labels all over the packaging, this is a solid offering,
though the MSI board below offers more features around the same price point.
·
Verdict: 8/10
·
If you want maximum bang for buck, this isn’t a
bad option especially considering the performance.
·
Great price
·
SLI/CrossFire ready solid over-clocker
·
Poor onboard audio
·
Not many advanced features
MSI Z87-GD65
Dragon on a budget
Price: $260
This is the follow-up product to MSI’s long
delayed Z77-GD65 board, and it’s a much timelier product. It’s using the latest
Z87 chipset obviously, but also includes many of its predecessor’s interesting
features. Considering the excellent price, the range of extras is really rather
remarkable.
MSI
Z87-GD65
First, there’s the same Killer Ethernet
adaptor as found on Gigabyte’s dollar-demon. It’s also got solid audio in the
form of MSI’s Audio Boost. It’s branded as a Creative solution, but actually
uses Realtek’s ubiquitous ALC1150 chip. As expected, this is bundled with high
quality caps and shielding to deliver much better audio quality than other
onboard solutions, and is perfectly fine for headphone users. With three full
length x16 PCI slots and another four PCIe x slots there’s plenty of space for
other components. We love MSI’s new BIOS and software suite, which are equal to
Gigabyte’s brilliant UI.
If there’s one issue, it’s the inconsistent
performance we saw in our test. However, for the price you get a whole lot of
motherboard, and we’ve no doubt that MSI will iron out any wrinkles in future
BIOS updates.
Verdict: 9/10
·
Amazing value, this is the board to use when
money is tight but you don’t want to sacrifice features.
·
Feature rich for a low price
·
Excellent BIOS and software experience
·
Looks good
·
Some inconsistent performance results
Home
tests, no OpenCL acceleration
·
Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5: 4792
·
ASRock Z87 Extreme4: 5257
·
ASUS Maximus VI Extreme: 5421
·
ASUS Maximus VI Hero: 5323
·
SanDisk Extreme II 240GB: 4756
·
MSI Z87-GD65: 4998
Aggregate
Memory Performance (GB/sec)
·
Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5: 26.54
·
ASRock Z87 Extreme4: 21.77
·
ASUS Maximus VI Extreme: 27.81
·
ASUS Maximus VI Hero: 27.78
·
SanDisk Extreme II 240GB: 26
·
MSI Z87-GD65: 27.08
Grid 2 – 800 x 600, Ultra Low Detail, 0xMSAA
Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5
·
FPS Minimum: 202
·
FPS Average: 281
ASRock Z87 Extreme4
·
FPS Minimum: 181
·
FPS Average: 244
ASUS Maximus VI Extreme
·
FPS Minimum: 183
·
FPS Average: 257
ASUS Maximus VI Hero
·
FPS Minimum: 209
·
FPS Average: 287
SanDisk Extreme II 240GB
·
FPS Minimum: 176
·
FPS Average: 278
MSI Z87-GD65
·
FPS Minimum: 180
·
FPS Average: 247
Metro Last Light – 1024 x 768, DX10, Ultra Low Quality,
Low Tessellation
Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5
·
FPS Minimum: 9
·
FPS Average: 133
ASRock Z87 Extreme4
·
FPS Minimum: 29
·
FPS Average: 135
ASUS Maximus VI Extreme
·
FPS Minimum: 23
·
FPS Average: 143
ASUS Maximus VI Hero
·
FPS Minimum: 24
·
FPS Average: 143
SanDisk Extreme II 240GB
·
FPS Minimum: 31
·
FPS Average: 140
MSI Z87-GD65
·
FPS Minimum: 35
·
FPS Average: 138
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