GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

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GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

Post 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!

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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
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Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

Post 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 =D>
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Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

Post 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.
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Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

Post 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 =D>
I have pics I'll post up tomorrow in the article of the BIOS Settings, normally I include that but it got overlooked :oops: 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
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Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

Post 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 =D>
I have pics I'll post up tomorrow in the article of the BIOS Settings, normally I include that but it got overlooked :oops: 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?
Main rig: NZXT Phantom modded case with Danger Den WC, Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite, Ryzen 5800X @ stock, 32GB Patriot Viper DDR4 3200Mhz 16-18-18-36-1T, AMD RX 5700XT + AlphaCool WC, ACER Nitro XV2 27", SP 1TB nvme PCiE GEN3, Samsung 2TB; Cooler Master MW Gold 650W, Win10 Pro 64
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Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

Post by sbohdan »

No BIOS pics? 8-[
Main rig: NZXT Phantom modded case with Danger Den WC, Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite, Ryzen 5800X @ stock, 32GB Patriot Viper DDR4 3200Mhz 16-18-18-36-1T, AMD RX 5700XT + AlphaCool WC, ACER Nitro XV2 27", SP 1TB nvme PCiE GEN3, Samsung 2TB; Cooler Master MW Gold 650W, Win10 Pro 64
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Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

Post by XstollieX »

Doh, sorry been busy. Gimmie a few mins I'm at the computer now :oops:
Edit:

Here ya go, the pics are in the Article as well
Image
On this board i had better luck upping the Turbo ratios
Image
The only voltage I had to tweak was the CPU Vcore. I also set the Load-line to Level 10 as you can see.
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Re: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

Post by sbohdan »

THANKS :)
Main rig: NZXT Phantom modded case with Danger Den WC, Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite, Ryzen 5800X @ stock, 32GB Patriot Viper DDR4 3200Mhz 16-18-18-36-1T, AMD RX 5700XT + AlphaCool WC, ACER Nitro XV2 27", SP 1TB nvme PCiE GEN3, Samsung 2TB; Cooler Master MW Gold 650W, Win10 Pro 64
my complete GFX tuneup & cooling mod: http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopi ... highlight=
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