With the Z68X-UD4-B3 Gigabyte presents its midrange model regarding Intels Z68 chipset. The board itself comes with the new color scheme as well as a long feature list of which for example a 16 phase power design is part of. For us this is reason enough to take a closer look at this board from a layout and design perspective. 
The Z68X-UD4-B3 marks the midrange segement regarding Gigabytes Z68 motherboard lineup. Therefore we're really curious what they've done from the layout and design perspective.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Spezifikationen / Lieferumfang
| CPU | Intel Socket 1155 Core i7, Core i5, Core i3 |
| Chipset | Intel Z68 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR3, 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB DDR3, 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered |
| Multi-GPU |
2-/3-way ATI CrossFireX 2-/3-way NVIDIA SLI |
| Slots | 2 x PCI-Express x16 (dual at x16/x8
mode, compatible with PCIe x1 and x4 devices) 2 x PCI-Express x1 2 x PCI |
| Sound | Realtek ALC889, 7.1-Channel HD Audio Codec, Dolby Home Theater certified, S/PDIF Out |
| Storage | 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10) 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1) 4 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD) 2 x eSATA 6 Gb/s |
| I/O internal / Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX Power 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power 4 x SATA 6Gb/s 4 x SATA 3Gb/s 1 x CPU Fan Header 3 x System Fan Header 1 x Power Fan Header 1 x Front Panel Header 1 x Front Panel Audio Header 1 x S/PDIF Out 3 x USB 2.0/1.1 1 x USB 3.0/2.0 1 x Serielle Schnittstelle 1 x IEEE 1394a 1 x Trusted Platform Modul (TPM) 1 x Clear Cmos Button |
| I/O external | 7 x USB 2.0/1.1 1 x PS/2-Tastatur/Maus 1 x Optischer S/PDIF 1 x Koaxialer S/PDIF Out 1 x IEEE 1394a 1 x eSATA/USB Combo 1 x eSATA 6Gb/s 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 1 x HDMI 1 x RJ-45 6 x Audio Jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone) |
| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (2 x 32 Mb flash ROM, Award BIOS) |
| Warranty | 4 years |
Regarding the delivery you'll find everything you need. If you plan to build a multi GPU system you'll only find a SLI bridge in the delivery. Unfortunately there is no CrossFire bridge.
Features
| Dynamic Energy Saver 2 | Utilizing Gigabytes Dynamic Energy Saver the board is able to enhance the systems overall power efficiency. Therefore it is able to regulate power consumption of CPU, memory, chipset, graphics card, hard drive as well as connected fans. Of course all this will happen automatically. |
| On/Off-Charge | With On/Off Charge Gigabyte has a Feature onboard which allows users to recharge for example their iPhon, iPod or iPad via USB without starting it up. Furthermore the devices can draw more power from these special USB ports than from standard ones. |
| 16 Phase Power Design | Gigabyte equips the Z68X-UD4-B3 with their 16 phase power design. It consists of high quality components which guarantee a long lifespan, hight stability and good overclockability. |
| Cloud OC | Cloud OC should allow easy overclocking via an external device that can access the web. The program lets an overclocker access the different settings via a website. |
| Intel Smart Response Technology | [enIntels Z68 chipset allows to use a small SSD as a cache for a big hard drive in order to enhance overall system performance. Especially application and system starts are ment to benefit from this technology. Also the overall user experience should become smoother. Of course you shouldn't expect a setup which makes use of Intels Smart Response Technology to outperform a SSD as a system drive.[/en] |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Layout
Like with the P67-series motherboards Gigabyte uses their new color scheme. Therefore the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturer now uses a black PCB as well as black expansion slots. In conjunction the generate a very homogenous design. If you look at the heatpipe you see that the UD4 comes with an anthracite coating. Finally there are also some white spots which aren't distracting at all. We've been very positively surprised by Gigabyte lately, presenting such beautiful motherboards. We even think that this is one of the most beautiful boards they've ever introduced to the market.
Like other Gigabyte motherboards the Z68X-UD4-B3 comes with a 16 phase power design which guarantees stable current supply and good overclockability. Furthermore the 16 pahse VRM design relies on high quality polymer capacitors which have an average life expectancy of 50'000 hours. Furthermore there are low RDS(on) MOSFETs for lower temperatures and high quality inductors made of ferrite.
Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the Z68X-UD4-B3. Officially supported are DDR3 - 2133 / 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 with up to 32 GByte capacity. The DIMM-slots are quite close to the CPU socket which might cause some compatibility problems with big coolers especially when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders.
Southbridge as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via a passive heatpipe cooling solution. The fact that the cooling blocks around the CPU socket aren't too big make it comfortable to install a big aircooler. We also noticed the very high manufacturing quality of the cooling blocks and their weight which is quite immense.
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| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Anschlüsse und I/O
Totally Gigabyte equipped the Z68X-UD4-B3 with eight angled SATA ports which should be more than sufficient for any office PC or gaming system. Unfortunately there are no onboard power- and reset-buttons. Gigabyte also didn't equip this board with a debug display which would have been very useful if you should once have issues with one of the components in your system. It is quite common that the last PCI-Express x16 slot is also the expansion slot the closest to the bottom edge of the board. That has the consequence that the connectors at this place aren't accessible anymore. With the UD4 Gigabyte took this into account and placed the last PCI-Express x16 slot as the third last expnsion slot and therefore there wont be any complications. Also between the PCI-Express x16 there are two PCI-Express x1 slots which will let graphics cards breathe very well even when you're running an SLI/CrossFire-Setup.
Totally you'll find four fan headers on the Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 which is enough, to provide a well equipped midrange or even a high-end-system with fresh air. The fanheaders are located close to the CPU and they can also be found on the right edge of the board.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel Gigabyte provided the Z68X-UD4-B3 with a PS2 mouse/keyboard connector, six USB 3.0/2.0 ports, a firewire port, tow eSATA ports, two gigabit ethernet port, a SPDIF and coaxial optical out as well as an analogue audio panel.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Fazit
| General | + | - | |
| Like its predecessor the
P67A-UD4, the Z68X-UD4-B3 really is able to convince us. Also with this
board you get Gigabytes new color scheme which in our opionion is the
best looking at the moment. The layout has been very well thought too and
there is almost nothing that could have been done better. For example there are
the connectors at the bottom edge which are always accessible. There
won't be any graphics cards covering them because there is a PCI slot
inbetween. Gigabyte equipped the Z68X-UD4-B3 with a HDMI connector which underlines the marketsegment this product aims at. Therefore also the price targets the midrange sector. |
- Design - Layout |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
| Generally the Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3s layout is very well thought. Once more very practical are the angled SATA connectors. Unfortunately their is neither a debug LED nor a power- or reset-button. On the other hand the placement of the PCI-Express x16 slots is very well chosen and the fact that there are two PCI-Express x1 slots inbetween the PCI-Express x16 slots lets a SLI/CrossFire-Setup breathe appropriately. Furthermore the two last slots are legacy PCI slots which means that even a graphics card with a triple slots cooler wont block the connectors at the bottom edge of the board. | - Angled SATA connectors - Connectors a the bottom edge accessible in any case |
- PCI-Express x1 slot too close to
the northbridge cooler
- No Power/Reset-Button onboard - No Debug display |
|
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch