Review: gigabyte z68x-ud3h

Gigabyte one of the giants in the computer world. It has given us one of the boards with the best quality / price ratio of the second generation Intel socket 1155, of the new Z68 chipset.

The Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 is a mid-range model, but with high-end features. Among its strengths is its good layout and its excellent Driver Mosfet transistors that allow greater stability.

Product Loaned by:

FEATURES GA -Z68X-UD3H-B3
Processor	Intel® Core ™ i7 processors / Intel® Core ™ i5 processors / Intel® Core ™ i3 processors / Intel® Pentium® processors / Intel® Celeron® processors on LGA1155 platform
Chipset	Intel® Z68 Express Chipset
Memory	32 GB Maximum in 4 DDR3 non-ECC modules 2133/1866/1600/1333 / 1066mhz at 1.5V
Integrated Graphics	Integrated in Chipset (HD3000): 1 x DisplayPort max: 2560x1600p 1 x DVI-D max: 1920 × 1200 1 x HDMI max: 1920 × 1200 1 x D-Sub
Audio	Realtek ALC889
Lan	1 x RTL8111E Gigabit
Baseboards	2 x PCI Express x 16 3 x PCI Express x 1 2 x PCI
Storage support	3 x SATA 3Gb / s Intel 2 x SATA 6Gb / s Intel (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10) 1 x eSATA 3Gb / s 2 x SATA 6Gb / s Marvell System: Hybrid EFI Technology (Supports hard drives up to 3TB).
USB and IEEE 1394	12 USB 2.0, 4 USB 3.0 and 1 IEEE 1394th
Rear Panel	1 x eSATA 3Gb / s connector1 x DVI-D port1 x D-Sub port1 x PS / 2 keyboard / mouse port1 x DisplayPort2 x USB 3.0 / 2.01 x HDMI1 x Optical Output S / P-DIF1 x IEEE 1394a6 x audio jacks (Line In / Line Out / MIC In / Surround (Rear / Center / Subwoofer / Side) 4 x USB 2.0 / 1.11 x RJ45 LAN
BIOS	AWARD BIOS and DUAL BIOS. NEW TOUCH BIOS
Format	ATX, 305mm x 244mm

We have been surprised by the trend in the new Z68 Chipset motherboards that end with the "B3" termination. As you will remember the P67 B2 chipset is defective because it causes degradation in the SATA ports. Two months later they released the new B3 revision that was totally exempt from this problem. We believe it is unnecessary to include the B3 termination, because there is no Z68 with revision B2…

The Z68 chipset is the combination of the P67 B3 and H67 chipsets. From the healthy P67 B3 it brings the possibilities of further overclocking to the K processors and integration with MultiGPU SLI and Crossfire. From the H67 chipset the compatibility of the improved Intel HD3000 graphics chipset, although not all the boards include the outputs. Let's see its characteristics:

INTEL GRAPHICS HD3000 FEATURES
Chip	32nm
Execution Units	12
Base frequency and maximum frequency	Base: 850mhz Maximum: 1100mhz (2500k) and 1350mhz (2600k)
Supported technology	DirectX 10.1, Shader Model 4.1. and OpenGL 3.0
Maximum resolution	2560 × 1600
Departures	VGA, digital, display port and hdmi 1.4
BIOS	AWARD BIOS and DUAL BIOS. NEW TOUCH BIOS
Format	ATX, 305mm x 244mm

This new chip offers us the new Intel Smart Response Technology and LucidLogix Virtu. This system helps us to offer a higher speed when using our SSD.

The box design is attractive and colorful. In it the technology that has been used and the characteristics of the motherboard are detailed:

Contains the following accessories:

• 2 x Pack cables SataPuente SLIPlatinaManual y Drivers.

Close-up of the motherboard:

Rear:

Rear connections. Among them we see the analog and digital outputs of the graphics card:

Here we see the Kingston KHX1600C9D3P1K2 / 4GB memory already installed:

The heatsinks used by Gigabyte are of excellent quality. As we can see in this image, it covers the entire suer bridge of the plate. In addition Gigabyte has changed its blue aesthetic for a very elegant black.

CMOS panel and control panel:

This robust heatsink covers the phases:

A more than acceptable layout:

SATA ports and Kingston SSDNOW100V + 64GB SSD

Its BIOS is still the classic one, as we can see in the following images:

Gigabyte has developed a utility called " BIOS TOUCH ". With it we can apply and monitor the on-site BIOS from windows.

As we can see the program is the best that we can find.

Smart Quick Boost allows us a slight OC to the processor:

And the option to update the BIOS from Windows:

Although our recommendation is to always do it from the BIOS. Windows can fail at any time, and we can have a paperweight of € 180…

WE RECOMMEND YOU The successor to the AMD X570 (X670) chipset will be manufactured by an outside company

TEST BENCH:
Box:	Silverstone FT-02 Red Edition
Source feed:	Seasonic X-750w
Base plate	Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3
Processor:	Intel i7 2600k @ 4.8ghz ~ 1.34v
Graphic card:	Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti SOC
RAM:	Kingston KHX1600C9D3P1K2 / 4GB
HDD:	Kingston SSDNOW100V + 64GB SSD

We have tested the processor at 4800 mhz with Linx and Prime 95. The voltage that has demanded us to be stable has been around ~ 1.36V. Although the performance has been very good: 73014 points with 3d Mark Vantage . The plate offers great stability and its cooling is very good. We have tried some games and these have been the results:

RESULTS
3dMark06			25558 PTS
3dMark11 P (FULL VERSION)	P5290
Heaven Benchmark v2.1		1247 PTS
THE PLANET DX11 1920X1080 X8	62.5 FPS
Metro 2033 D10 1920 x 1080 HIGH	54.2 FPS

Our tests have passed with a note. The Z68X-UD3H-B3 offers a good overclocking for our processors, but the voltage demand is higher. With the Asus P8P67 Deluxe we could stabilize the processor at 1.34v, while the Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 1.36v.

It has won a lot aesthetically with the black color on the PCB In addition to its acceptable distribution of the PCI sockets we miss an on / off button to perform overclocking tests on our box or bench table. Its new TOUCH BIOS is quite friendly, although it has given us a fault in the voltage configuration. Remember that we always have the classic BIOS to make all the adjustments.

We value that it is an optimal board for Gamers, graphic designers and multimedia applications. Great performance at a great price.

ADVANTAGE		DISADVANTAGES
+ Black painted PCB	- With Vdroop
+ Good OC margin	- Few BIOS updates
+ Improved phases	- I / O button on PCB
+ Integrated graphics card and multigpu support	- Clear CMOS button
+ USB 3.0. and Sata 6.0.
+ BIOS TOUCH

The Professional Review team awarded him the Bronze medal: