Review: gigabyte z97x-gaming g1 wifi

Gigabyte world leader in motherboards, graphics cards and gaming peripherals presents us its flagship on the LGA 1150 platform with Z97 chipset. We are talking about the Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1 WIFI-BK that has 8 phases of maximum power, 10 SATA III connections, 2 SATA Express ports and PCI Express 3.0 to x16 slots thanks to the PLX PEX 8747 support chip .

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Technical characteristics

GIGABYTE Z97X-UD5H BLACK EDITION FEATURES
CPU	Intel® 1150 Processors
Chipset	Intel® Z97
Memory	4 x DDR3 DIMM 32GB DDR3 to DDR3 3200 (OC) / 2933 (OC) / 2800 (OC) / 2666 (OC) / 2600 (OC) / 2500 (OC) / 2400 (OC) / 2200 (OC) / 2133 (OC) / 2000 (OC) / 1866 (OC) / 1800 (OC) / 1600/1333 MHz
Multi-GPU Compatible	4 x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16 / x0 / x16 / x0 or x8 / x8 / x8 / x8) 3 x PCIe 2.0 x14-Way / 3-Way / 2-Way AMD CrossFire ™ / NVIDIA® SLI ™ technology slot
Storage	6 x SATA 6.0 Gb / s (Intel Z97 1 x SATA Express port (uses 2 x SATA ports 6.0 Gb / s via Intel Z97) 4 x SATA 6.0 Gb / s (Marvell 88SE9172)
USB and ports.	8 USB 3.0 ports (2 on the front panel, 6 on the rear panel) 8 USB 2.0 ports (6 on the front panel, 2 on the rear panel) 2 RJ45 LAN connectors 5 x audio connectors 1 x HDMI port 1 x DisplayPort 1 x DVI port 1 x Optical Audio Port
Net	1 x Intel Gigabit LAN, 1 x Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201
Bluetooth	Do not.
Audio	On board Creative Sound Core3D processor quad core audio AMP-UP audio technology with exclusive upgradeable OP-AMP Audio noise guard with backlight LED path
WiFi connection	Yes.
Format.	ATX format: 30.5cm x 24.4cm
BIOS	Dual AMI UEFI BIOS with 2X128 Mb ROMs Flash

Main improvements of the Z97 chipset to its predecessor Z87

There are hardly any differences between the Z87 and Z97 chipset on paper. We have few such as the incorporation of the SATA Express block with 10 Gb / s of bandwidth (40% faster) compared to the 6Gb / s of the classic SATA 3. How is there so much improvement? It is because they have taken one or two of the PCI Express lanes, so be careful when doing dual configurations or with multiple graphics cards. One of the most important improvements is the incorporation of the M.2 connection with NGFF support natively, thus replacing the well-received mSATA ports. This technology is the future of computing, since it will allow us to connect large, fast storage devices without occupying places in our box. During this year and 2015 we will see the increase in sales of this connection. Finally, we see the possibility of overclocking RAM memories up to 3300 mh. Well, this reaches the limit of mhz that we can reach with DDR3 memories.

Frequently asked questions to consider

- My heatsink is compatible with socket 1155 and 1556. Is it compatible with socket 1150? Yes, we have tested different motherboards and they all have the same holes as in socket 1155 and 1156. - Is my power supply compatible with Intel Haswell or Intel Devil Canyon / Haswell Refresh ? There are no Haswell certified power supplies. Most of the manufacturers have already released the list of compatible sources: Antec, Corsair, Enermax, Nox, Aerocool / Tacens and Thermaltake. Giving 98% absolute compatibility.

Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1 Wifi-BK

Like the Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H Black Edition we find an elegant case, with a series tone and sober, already on top has a handle for transport.

The box incorporates a window that we can see the most important technical characteristics and the plate from a plastic blister.

The Bundle is made up of:

Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1 Motherboard. Wifi-BK. Certified Black Edition. Back plate. SATA Wiring. Wifi antenna. SATA cables. Instruction manual and quick guide. USB 3.0 panel. CD with drivers and software.

I'm trying to find adjectives for the motherboard: incredible, devastating, overwhelming, shocking… I fall short. What a design! Few motherboards surpass this… finishes and good taste. As we see in the design, the color red and matte black predominate, which are distributed in the heatsinks and on the PCB.

The Gigabyte Gaming G.1 has 8 +2 digital power phases for RAM memory. They are few? They are of exquisite quality, and that means that it is capable of performing like another board with 18 power supply phases but which are of lower quality. The good thing about these that they barely heat up and we have guaranteed their operation. Both with trainers and CHOKES are Ultra durable.

Now a rear view of the motherboard, for the most curious?

The motherboard includes 4 DDR3 DIMM sockets to connect up to 32GB DDR3 with speeds of up to 3200mhz with overclocking. The XMP profile is also active to synchronize the memory with a simple click.

Regarding cooling, it has two large and very robust heatsinks. They are divided into two zones. The first is about the power phases that have a hybrid heatsink… What does this mean? That we can install both air and water cooling. It is compatible with G 1/4 fittings so it is not necessary to buy any block to be able to cool it. The improvement can range up to 20ºC difference. The second heatsink cools the south bridge and the PLX chip with small thermal pads.

We stop at the PCI Express 3.0 connections and see that it has 4 PCI Express 3.0 ports. But are they all at x16? Yes. If we mount a 4 Way SLI or CrossFireX we will have an x8-x8-x8-x8 configuration and in 3 Way SLI x16 x8 x8 Wow!

Why don't other motherboards do this syncing? Because it includes the PLX PEX 8747 chip. It also has 3 PCI Express to x1 slots to connect expansion cards: tuners, capturers, extra hard disk controllers, etc…

Small details are what make the differences. We find a panel that allows us to turn on the equipment, erase bios, reset and measure the voltage points.

And we continue with the small details… we have 7 4-pin heads (PWM) that allow us to control it from the Dual UEFI BIOS. An Intel network card and another with the Killer E2201-B controller that allows excellent gaming performance.

The Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1 Wifi-BK has a high-end integrated sound card: Sound CORE 3D. As we can see in the images, it is separated by an EMI shield and offers superior characteristics to other motherboards. The first is that it has two switches that allow us to choose between two levels of elevation, everything is very well indicated in the manual and on the PCB of the board. Also ditch with green bi-polarized capacitors that help keep the sound clear and accurate, while the boost levels are enabled. These traces with a clear line to the OP-AMP with high- powered headphones. Finally, note that the plate is illuminated with red LEDs giving a spectacular lighting effect. It has several OPA2134PA capacitors that are quite affordable, but if you replace them very often it can increase the cost considerably.

Regarding storage, we have 10 SATA III connections at 6Gb / s and 2 SATA Express connections that give us a lot of play when assembling high-performance equipment. It does not have an M.2 connection. which we must take into account when buying a solid state hard drive.

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All the rear connectors are gold plated, thereby improving conductivity. It consists of:

2 USB 2.0 ports. PS / 2 connector for keyboard or mouse. DisplayPort connection. 6 USB 3.0 ports. HDMI connection. Dual LAN Gigabit RJ45 to 10/100/1000. 7.1 sound card plus digital output.

Finally, we highlight your Intel 802.11 a / b / g / n / AC wireless network card

Black Edition certification

But what differs from the normal model to this Black Edition ? This means that the plate gives us a plus to the rest of the range and that it certifies that it works 100%. Well… What kind of tests does this certification have?

Gigabyte performs with a week-long continuous test (168 hours) with high server stress using mining tasks or mathematical calculations. So we know that when it reaches your hands, this motherboard will work perfectly.

Other benefits are the 5-year warranty increase and an exclusive area on your website that you can enjoy benefits, I suppose some giveaway, promotions or gift games.

BIOS

As we can see below except for the new Welcome screen, Gigabyte has not released any great news compared to previous BIOS. The advanced section we have many options and all of them are very intuitive. For our part we have been able to practice from a slight overclock as a strong one of up to 4500 mhz by air. The UEFI BIOS is fluid but not as fast as that of other rivals, if it improves that point we will be with the best bios on the market.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i7 4790k
Base plate:	Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1 Wifi-BK
Memory:	G.Skills Trident X 2400mhz.
Heatsink	Noctua NH-U14S
HDD	Samsumg 840 250GB
Graphic card	GTX780
Power supply	Antec HCP 850

To check the stability of the processor and the motherboard, we have made an extreme OC of up to 4800 mhz with Prime 95 Custom by liquid cooling. The graphics we have used is a Gigabyte GTX780 Rev 2.0. We go to the results:

TESTS
3dMark Vantage:	P41039
3dMark11	P15731 PTS
Crysis 3	43 FPS
CineBench 11.5	11.1 fps.
Resident EVIL 6 Lost Planet Tomb Raider Metro	1330 PTS. 135 FPS. 72 FPS 67 FPS

Final words and conclusion

The Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1 WIFI-BK is a high-end 8-phase + 2-digital ATX format motherboard for extreme overclocking and maximum owner reliability. The plate has a very attractive design and borders on absolute perfection. I admit it, I fell in love!

We have incredible features like the PLX PEX 8747 chip that allows us to configure 4 graphics cards to x8-x8-x8-x8, 4 PCI Express 3.0 connections, 10 SATA III connections, 2 SATA Express, 3D RECON sound card, Red Killer card and a very worked BIOS.

In our test bench we have installed a high-end equipment: i7-4790K, 16 GB DDR3 TridentX at 2400 mhz and a Gigabyte GTX780 graphics card. The impressions have been fantastic with games like Battelfield 4 at 90 FPS.

In short, if you are looking for a high-end motherboard for the Z97 chipset and want the most of the most, the Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1 WIFI-BK is a good candidate. But beware, it is not within the reach of any pocket due to its high price of € 399.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ DESIGN	- MISSING CONNECTION M.2 or MSata.
+ CHIP PLX FOR 4 GRAPHICS CARDS.	- HIGH PRICE.
+ 8 + 2 PHASES OF EXTREME QUALITY. ALLOW US A GREAT OVERCLOCK.
+ 3D RECON SOUND CARD.
+ 10 SATA CONNECTIONS + 2 SATA EXPRESS.
+ EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE.