INTRODUCTION:
The motherboard industry is a huge battlefield, and there's no way to hide that fact. Left and right, motherboard manufacturers are bombarding the consumers with simultaneous releases, and we the poor consumers are left in the middle of the battlefield sitting duck, thinking what we should buy most of the time. Gamers are often the type of consumers that is pitted in this field, and I tell you I've been through this, and it's so hard to make decisions. Gladly, there's GIGABYTE to help us out, with their G1-Killer series of gaming motherboards.
Aimed for the gamers, the Z77 G1.Sniper M3 is GIGABYTE's flagship Micro-ATX gaming motherboard. It has an Intel LAN, gaming oriented theme, the form factor to back it up for LAN parties, the breaching power of the Z77 chipset, and the awe inspiring Creative Sound Core3D™ to get those multi-channel audio output of yours to amp up the battlefield atmosphere. Will it blend? Lets find out, good sir!
MAIN FEATURES: LINK
SPECIFICATIONS: LINK
CPU
- Support for Intel® Core™ i7, i5, i3, Pentium, and Celeron processors
Chipset
- Intel® Z77 Express Chipset
Memory
- 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
- Support for DDR3 2400(OC)/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
Onboard Graphics
Audio
LAN
- Intel GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Expansion Slots
- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
1 x PCI Express x1 slot
Multi-Graphics Technology
- Support for 2-Way AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI technology
Storage Interface
- 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors, 3 x SATA 3Gb/s, 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s
Unique Features
- @BIOS
- Q-Flash
- Xpress Install
- Xpress Recovery2
- EasyTune
- eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)
- Auto Green
- ON/OFF Charge
- Q-Share
- 3D Power
- EZ Setup
Form Factor
- Micro ATX Form Factor; 24.4cm x 24.4cm
PACKAGING & CONTENTS:
The GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M3 came in an urban camo, ammunition box themed packaging. It's rather small, and is actually cute. Up front, there's the bold model name of the motherboard, and the G1-Killer logo, signifying that the motherboard inside belongs to the family of GIGABYTE's gaming motherboards. There are also some logos of the board's main features this side of the box.
The back of the packaging is a little busier with the detailed schematics of the motherboard, along with its specifications, and features. Prominent features this side of the packaging are the Super4 features: Super Speed, Super Shield, Super Hearing, and Super Sight. All of which are actually GIGABYTE exclusive slangs of the motherboard's main features, to make it easier for the gamers to understand what the geeky-nerdy features really means, and why it should mean a lot to them.
A harder camo themed packaging protects the board, and its bundled accessories. Open that one up, and you'll immediately be greeted by a carefully packed bundle of accessories.
The GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M3 came with the usual Driver Disc, a Multilingual Installation Guide, a User's Manual, 6x Black SATA cables, High Quality Flexible SLI Bridge, and Coded I/O Shield. With the G1 branding, the motherboard came bundled with the G1-Killer Poster, and a set of decals to decorate your HQ, and or your PC case as well.
The motherboard came protected in an anti-static bag, to keep it safe from well... static electricity. That's about it for the unboxing.
BOARD LAYOUT & CLOSER LOOK:
The GIGABYTE's G1-Killer Series of motherboards are well known for their striking Black, and Green militaristic theme, and this Micro-ATX board my friends, is no exception. Gone are the days of the colorful, rainbow puking GIGABYTE motherboards of the 21st century. This board looks so good, it makes good looking boards, not that good. -
Now where did I get that line?
Layout seems to be good, with support for multi GPU setups. There are also Four PWM fan headers strategically positioned at almost every corner of the motherboard. GIGABYTE addresses these as a part of the Super Shield: 4 strategically placed Smart Fan pin headers which allow for more precise control of system and CPU fans. They are also equipped with their own thermal sensors to keep the heat controlled. What's not to like?
Looking at this angle, we can clearly see that the socket area of the G1.Sniper is pretty clean, and sleek. The newly designed VRM heatsink sways away from the gunned theme of the G1-Killer motherboards of yesterday, and it sure is a welcome site. Adding to that, the size of the sink is pretty low profile, and will not obstruct any HSF, and Water Cooling configurations. Like a sniper in the prowl. -
Well played sir.
CPU Power delivery is brought to us by a 6+2+1 Power Phase Design. I know it's pretty basic for some, but do note that the TDP of highest supported CPU you can slap in here is only 77W. From my perspective it is ample enough, and will still provide enough headroom for overclocking.
A single EPS 4-pin power connector supplies the power to the CPU. Again, pretty basic but enough to do the job. Anyway, have you seen a sniper lugging a machine gun around? That's the point. No need to include some cost adding features.
The G1.Sniper has a total of 4 DDR3 DIMM slots that is able to support of up to a whooping 32GBs of RAM under Dual Channel mode. Each slot natively supports 1600MHz memory clock speeds with an Ivy Bridge CPU installed, and as far as I know it also supports 2400MHz DIMMs(OC). Adding to that, it also supports Intel's XMP to make it easier for you guys to configure your DIMM's settings. At this angle we can also see the standard issued 20+4 Pin power connector, the USB3.0 header, and a PWM fan header.
Looking at the I/O side of things, this board is locked and loaded with display ports and other I/O connectivity. First off, we've got a lovely PS/2 KB & Mouse combo port, which is a very, very great inclusion specially if you're the kind of guy whose into professional gaming, and needs to fully utilize the NKRO feature of your gaming keyboard. Continuing the tour, we've got plenty of USB ports: 4x USB 2.0 and 2x USB 3.0. Display wise, we've also got plenty of ports here starting from the VGA port, DVI, Display, and HDMI port. LAN connectivity is brought to us by a single RJ45 port, and there's a single SATAII E-SATA port for your storage needs. The G1.Sniper M3 also got True HD 2/5.1 channel audio ports with a S/PDIF Out support.
Those displays mentioned above is powered by a dual ASMedia chip(ASM 1442) that enables you, the user, to use a maximum of Two display ports at the same time, provided that your CPU has an onboard GPU. This means that you could either go with a VGA+HDMI, VGA+DP, DVI+HDMI, or DVI+DP combo. I'm not quite sure though if you could still use dual displays with Lucid MVP enabled.
Off with the top, and on with the bottom part of the motherboard, we can clearly see what the GIGABYTE folks did in the expansion side of things of the G1.Sniper M3: We've got a total of 4 expansion slots, all of them are PCI-E slots, and to be honest the layout is quite peculiar in my taste. You see, the board has a total of 3 PCI-E x16 expansion slots(Green), and only the top, and bottom slot adheres to the PCI-E 3.0 standards. The middle PCI-E x16 slot adheres to the PCI-E 2.0 standards, and only operates at x4 when used in a multi-GPU setup. This means that in order to get the most firepower under multi-GPU setup, you have to use the top PCI-E slot, and the bottom PCI-E slot. This wont be a problem if you have a larger case, and or have a mATX case with more than 4 expansion slots at the back, but if you just have enough room for the motherboard, then you'll end up using the middle PCI-E 2.0 slot.
PCI-E lane switching is bought to us by, tada! ASMedia. Above those ASM1480 chips lies the standard issued Dual BIOS chips that we all love from GIGABYTE. If you're not aware of what these chips does, Dual BIOS is actually a life saving feature that helps you to recover from bad/corrupted BIOS settings. A must for smarty, and not so smartypants out there.
GIGABYTE's Super Hearing is provided by a freakin' awesome, eargasmic Creative CA0132 chip that is supported by a couple of high-end Nichicon audio capacitors. The said chip is from Creative's OEM SoundBlaster lineup and is well known for its outstanding, and crisp audio delivery. Adding to that, an EMI shield runs through the territory of the audio chip that helps to reduce interference, for maximum audio satisfaction. To top things off, the audio front header is also supplied by the chip, so rest assured that you'll have a very great front audio experience too, if you prefer to use your case's audio ports.
There are also high-end Nichicon Bi-Polarized audio capacitors at each audio channel layout to furthermore imply that your generic audio chipset sucks. Clearly, GIGABYTE has done wonders this side of the board.
Under the EMI shield lies an Intel Gbe LAN controller, which is responsible for shaping your bandwidth, and is actually a way better chip than your average LAN controller. No fancy onboard Network Interface Card here folks. I like the fact that GIGABYTE understands what we really need in a gaming motherboard.
The PCH heatsink is rather small, and follows the flow of GIGABYTE's new sink design. Though small, it's actually enough to cool the chip underneath it.
The G1.Sniper M3, being a gamer oriented motherboard, is expected to have a justifiable amount of SATA ports. We''ve got 2xSATAII, and 2xSATAIII ports; a total of not so whooping 4 SATA ports on this side of the motherboard. Good thing they're angled.
Header wise, this board comes jam packed with 3x USB2.0 headers(One for the ON/OFF Charge), 1x TPM header, 1x Audio Header(Creative), color coded Front Panel headers, another SATAII port, and a PWM fan header at the edge of the motherboard.
BIOS/UEFI:
The GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M3 features the same 3DBIOS we've seen from the
Z77X-UD5H. That said,
it has a sharp look and feel UEFI BIOS, that both rookies, and veterans would love to tinker with.
Upon entering the BIOS/UEFI, you’ll be greeted by a nice 3D layout of a GIGABYTE motherboard. Hover your mouse over any of those grayed out sections, and a pop-up will appear, giving a hint on what that section does. Click it, and a window with tabulated menus, and slider based settings will appear, making it easier for newbies to overclock, and change settings. It's also noteworthy to add that there are tiny bits of of info at the right side of the motherboard poppin' up as you click any of the sections under this mode. Its like a command center for rookies. Lovely.
If you’re the war hardened veteran type, you might want to check out the Advanced icon, which will bring you to the holy grail of overclocking goodness. Click that one, and the GIGABYTE M.I.T will greet you like an old friend. There are multitude of options available in this side of the BIOS.
There are far to many settings to mention about GIGABYTE’s advanced BIOS settings, so we'll start, and focus on GIGABYTE's M.I.T. tab. First up, is the M.I.T Current Status, which will give you detailed, and timely readouts of your current processor and memory's voltages, as well as their settings.
Second one would be M.I.T.'s Advanced Frequency Settings sub menu, where you’ll be able to adjust your CPU’s Base Clock, Clock Ratio, and Memory Settings. This is where you’ll spend most of your time if you’re going to overclock your CPU and DIMMs.
The M.I.T.'s Advanced Memory Settings will take you to the memory settings sub menu from which you can set your XMP profiles, if your DIMMs does support it. You can also manually overclock or adjust your DIMMs timings thru this menu.
The System tab contains bits of info about the motherboard: Model name, BIOS version, date and time, and so on. The BIOS Features tab is pretty much straight forward with different boot options, and a bit of CPU settings.
The Peripherals tab happens to be the one who's responsible for most of the controllers found in the motherboard: SATA controllers, USB controllers, and Intel based features such as the LAN, Display, and IRST can be controlled here.
The Power Management, and Save & Exit tab is pretty much straight forward too. Nothing fancy here.
Overall, GIGABYTE's 3DBIOS never failed to impress me every time I check it out. The only thing I'd like to see from GIGABYTE next time around is the inclusion of easy to understand explanations for each and every settings we click, so that amateurs and pros a like will have a gist on how these settings really works, and how it affects the system.
TEST SYSTEM & PROCEDURES:
To provide precise test results, the test systems will run on an updated copy of Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1. BIOS, Chipset, and Video Card drivers will be updated too, as much as possible. No other softwares are running while benchmarks are on going. Below are the test system’s specifications:
Intel Test System: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB | ECS Z77H2-AX | GIGABYTE Z77 G1.SNIPER M3
Processor
Intel Core i5 3570K
Motherboard
GIGABYTE Z77X-UD5H-WB | ECS Z77H2-AX | GIGABYTE G1.SNIPER M3
CPU Cooler
ANTEC KUHLER H20 620
Memory
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4x2GB DDR3 1600MHz
Videocard
SAPPHIRE HD7750
HDD/SSD
Kingston SSDNow V+200 128GB
Power Supply
Cooler Master Silent PRO Gold 800W
LCD Monitor
LG FLATRON E2290 22" LED
OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 (Updated)
PERFORMANCE (CPU):
wPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton’s method for estimating functions.
PASSMARK PerformanceTest allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.
AIDA64. It is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for home users. We’ll use the built-in CPU, and FPU benchmark tools of AIDA64 to determine the system’s CPU performance.
CINEBENCH R11.5 is a real-world cross-platform test suite that evaluates the computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation.
Quote:
|
RESULTS: Scouring at the CPU performance results, we can see that the G1.Sniper M3 is able to go head to head with its bigger brother, and at some point in the benchies is a bit faster than everything else. Pretty solid CPU performance we got here from the G1.Sniper M3.
|
PERFORMANCE (MEMORY):
PASSMARK PerformanceTest allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.
AIDA64 is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for home users. We’ll use the built-in memory benchmark tools of AIDA64 to determine the memory’s performance.
Quote:
|
RESULTS: Memory performance is pretty solid across the board, but could've been better at PASSMARK's Allocate Small Block Test. We saw a comeback at PASSMARK's Large RAM Test, whooping both ECS, and its brother's arse.
|
PERFORMANCE (GAMING):
First up in the gaming performance test is Futuremark’s
3DMARK11. It is the latest version of the world’s most popular benchmark for measuring the 3D graphics performance of gaming PCs.
Resident Evil 5, is a
survival horror video game developed and published by
Capcom. It’s one of my favorite PC games mainly because I’m a fan of the series. It also has a built-in benchmarking tool to measure your PC’s performance. It’s only DX9 and DX10 compatible, though.
Just Cause 2 is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Avalanche Studios, published by Eidos Interactive, and distributed by Square Enix. It is the sequel to the 2006 video game
Just Cause.
Quote:
|
RESULTS: Gaming is where this motherboard should shine the most, and it didn't fail to deliver. The G1.Sniper M3 took the 3DMark11 crown from its bigger brother by bits, and real world gaming performance is pretty solid if not great.
|
PERFORMANCE (STORAGE):
PASSMARK PerformanceTest allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers. We will use PASSMARK’s Storage benchmarking tool to check out the storage performance of the system.
Crystal Disk Mark measures the sequential reads/writes speed of your storage devices. It also measures random 512KB, 4KB, 4KB (Queue Depth=32) reads/writes speed.
Quote:
|
RESULTS: Storage performance is a bit of mixed feelings, really. At PASSMARK, we can see that the G1.Sniper got the lowest score based on the cumulative Disk Mark score it got. With CRYSTAL DISK MARK however, we can see it regained grounds at Read and Write tests, beating its brother, but still unable to topple off the Golden Board's overall storage performance.
|
PERFORMANCE (OVERCLOCKING):
Overclocking is the cream of the crop of GIGABYTE and this board is no exception to that fact. We've managed to gain our baseline overclocked frequency of 4.6GHz with the i5 3570K with ease. I just set the multiplier to x46, set the Turbo Core limit of each core to 46, adjusted the vcore with an offset of 0.100v, and that's it. Now you, the smartypants, needs to understand that overclocking varies from each and every components that you use so you might not get the same results.
Quote:
|
RESULTS: Overclocking performance is good, if not great. With the benchies to back it up, the G1.Sniper M3 is able to go head to head with its bigger Z77 brothers.
|
VALUE & CONCLUSION:
Pricier, and bigger guns doesn't always translate to better weapons, since most of the time, it is more about the ammo. In the G1.Sniper M3's case, this has been proven true, with a fire power that is comparable, and is sometimes a bit better than its bigger, and pricier Z77 brothers. In all honesty, the out of the box performance of this mATX motherboard is a wonder to behold. It looks cool too.
Now talk about the features, the G1.Sniper M3 comes loaded with gaming oriented features, starting off with the battle hardened Intel LAN chip, that really works well with the included traffic shaping software. To top things off this side of the conclusion, there's the eargasmic Creative audio chip to back you up, and I tell you the audio solution works so fun-freakin'-tastic, I started to have this feeling that I gained an unfair advantage over my enemies in the battlefield. I was literally caught surprised, and I might find it hard to go back to my puny little onboard audio chipset.
And then there's the lovely price. With an SRP swaying at 7, 500-8,000 Pesos, this board my friends is a real steal. I mean, for the price, where else can you get yourself a Z77 motherboard that has the same caliber, form factor, and necessary gaming features? Sure, it doesn't have the full armaments of its bigger brother, the
G1.Sniper 3, but who cares. For its price point, the Sniper M3 is a legend of its own.
Quote:
|
BOTTOM LINE: The GIGABYTE G1. Sniper M3 is a well rounded gaming motherboard with a sweet price point. It's like the T-34 equivalent of motherboards, made to strike hard at the hearts of gamers. A perfect example of a real gaming motherboard that wont break the bank. Over and out.
|
PROS:
Quote:
- Outstanding out of the box performance
- Overclocking is as easy as 1-2-3
- Real gaming oriented features
- Price, and availability
|
CONS:
Quote:
- PCI-E layout could be better
|
PRODUCT LINK: LINK
GIGABYTE Z77 G1.Sniper M3 Review
