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GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:19 am
by Apoptosis
GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
GIGABYTE is known for putting out very high quality hardware. Today should be no different, at least in terms of quality. What we have to play with today is a little bit different in terms of features. If you have been following the latest Intel Chipsets, the Intel Z68 Chipset has the capabilities to utilize a SSD to speed up the performance of a traditional Hard Drive. The GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD features an integrated Intel Series 311 20GB SSD that is designed for exactly that! How does it perform? Read on to find out!
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!
Article Title: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1677/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: $239.99 shipped
Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 6:39 am
by sbohdan
So how the hell is it possible that your 2500K @5Ghz shows up in CPU-Z @ 1.056V, when mine is @ 1.428V (in CPU-Z incl. v-drop) to run stable?!
Can you give me the exact values in the BIOS for this OC?
BTW, nice MOBO from Gigabyte as always
Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 8:37 pm
by geokilla
Very interesting, having a built in 20GB SSD. According to Newegg, it is $80 more expensive than the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3 though, so unless there are more to it than just a 20GB SSD, I think I'll save that $80 and get myself a 60GB SSD instead. I'm not looking for top tier SSD anyways for my next rig.
Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 11:04 pm
by XstollieX
sbohdan wrote:So how the hell is it possible that your 2500K @5Ghz shows up in CPU-Z @ 1.056V, when mine is @ 1.428V (in CPU-Z incl. v-drop) to run stable?!
Can you give me the exact values in the BIOS for this OC?
BTW, nice MOBO from Gigabyte as always
I have pics I'll post up tomorrow in the article of the BIOS Settings, normally I include that but it got overlooked
this time. I'm actually at 1.5V I believe but for some reason it's not being detected properly with CPUz. Not sure why though. Going back to previous GIGABYTE articles they don't seem to show up right either.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1620/14/ P67A-UD7-B3
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1640/13/ Z68X-UD7-B3
Though the first GIGABYTE board the P67A-UD4 did show up correctly in CPUz
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1548/15/ P67A-UD4 this was a B2 stepping board though
Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:49 am
by sbohdan
XstollieX wrote:sbohdan wrote:So how the hell is it possible that your 2500K @5Ghz shows up in CPU-Z @ 1.056V, when mine is @ 1.428V (in CPU-Z incl. v-drop) to run stable?!
Can you give me the exact values in the BIOS for this OC?
BTW, nice MOBO from Gigabyte as always
I have pics I'll post up tomorrow in the article of the BIOS Settings, normally I include that but it got overlooked
this time. I'm actually at 1.5V I believe but for some reason it's not being detected properly with CPUz. Not sure why though. Going back to previous GIGABYTE articles they don't seem to show up right either.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1620/14/ P67A-UD7-B3
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1640/13/ Z68X-UD7-B3
Though the first GIGABYTE board the P67A-UD4 did show up correctly in CPUz
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1548/15/ P67A-UD4 this was a B2 stepping board though
I would really appreciate BIOS pics of your OC. How did you test for stability?
Also: i have read many posts and reviews stating that anything over 1.38V (incl. v-drop) (sandybridge) can damage the CPU and will shorten lifespan. What is your take on this?
Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 2:19 pm
by sbohdan
No BIOS pics?
Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 8:48 pm
by XstollieX
Doh, sorry been busy. Gimmie a few mins I'm at the computer now
Edit:
Here ya go, the pics are in the Article as well
On this board i had better luck upping the Turbo ratios
The only voltage I had to tweak was the CPU Vcore. I also set the Load-line to Level 10 as you can see.
Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:49 pm
by sbohdan
THANKS
