Manufacturer: Gigabyte Price: $ 450 US Author: Steve Date: 04/04/2011

[ Introduction ]

Today we are taking a look at the Gigabyte G1.Sniper which is an extreme motherboard that is designed for extreme gaming. As a member of the elite G1.Killer family, this no expense spared motherboard boasts the very best features found on any motherboard today. So for those after a motherboard that makes no compromises, be sure to check out our take on the G1.Sniper... When Intel released their latest generation Sandy Bridge processors on January 9th 2011, they rendered the LGA1156 platform obsolete. However the LGA1366 still remained their flagship platform and although the release of the Core i7 2600K designed for the LGA1155 socket took away some of its sting, for enthusiasts Intel’s LGA1366 backed with the X58 chipset was still the way to go. Not only does this platform support 6-core processors, but it is better equipped to handle multi-GPU configurations. Without the aid of the Nvidia NF200 chip Intel P67 motherboards can only support a pair of graphics cards in an x8/x8 configuration. Therefore at the heart of today’s ultimate gaming PC’s you will likely still find the Intel X58 chipset coupled with a high-end Core i7 processor. The next question is which X58 motherboard is worthy of playing host of an ultimate gaming PC? Some boards that spring to mind are the Asus P6T7 WS Supercomputer ($400 US), EVGA 170-BL-E762-A1 ($400 US), Asus Rampage III Extreme ($380 US) or the Gigabyte X58A-UD9 ($420 US). All are very impressive X58 motherboards that include everything bar the kitchen sink. Out of these boards we recently reviewed the Gigabyte X58A-UD9 and if you read that review you will know we were not that fond of this motherboard. While doing everything well, the $700 US price tag at the time was absurd, and although it is now considerably more competitive at $420 US, it still looks a little pale when sitting next to the Asus Rampage III Extreme for example. The X58A-UD9 simply did not look like a high-end Intel X58 motherboard with all those bright baby blue connectors. Although aesthetics do not play a role in the functionality of a motherboard, when spending over $400 US most gamers want it to look good, and for guys that play games like Crysis 2 for example, baby blue is not an option. When Gigabyte launched their new LGA1155 series of boards they reconsidered the baby blue and white color scheme on the navy blue PCB, and instead opted for a much more aggressive black theme for their high-end products. Boards such as the P67A-UD7, P67A-UD5 and P67A-UD4 got the matt black PCB treatment which was complemented with all black connectors. Gigabyte then took this concept a step further when they released the G1.Killer range early this year. Much like the Asus ROG “Republic Of Gamers” the G1.Killer range has been designed for seriously hardcore gaming. This new range features several state-of-the-art onboard solutions from industry leaders including Creative and Bigfoot Networks, as well as several unique Gigabyte features. The range has been kick started with three models, all of which are built around the Intel X58 chipset. The most elite of which is the G1.Assassin ($530 US), though there is also the G1.Sniper ($450 US) and G1.Guerrilla ($350 US). Of course we are checking out the middleman, the G1.Sniper, which boasts all the same features found on the more expensive G1.Assassin, just not to quite the same degree.

Table of Contents >>> Introduction <<< Features & Specifications Design & Layout BIOS & Overclocking Memory Bandwidth Performance Synthetic Performance Application Performance Encoding Performance Gaming Performance SATA 6Gb/s Performance Audio Performance Power Consumption Conclusion Next Page ->

ProX	Posted on: 04/06/2011 11:08 AM Ohh man I think I am in love that board rocks! I have to get my hands on this

zeno	Posted on: 04/06/2011 09:32 PM Yeah this is one of the coolest boards I have seen. Shame I am in no position to buy three high-end graphics cards :*(

ugamer

Posted on: 04/06/2011 09:44 PM Nice review, great photos. I have been waiting to get a good look at this board for some time. I wish there was an option to drop the Killer NIC. I like the audio, hate the LAN!

Bluescreendeath

Posted on: 04/07/2011 12:07 AM This has almost made me regret buying the Asus Rampage III Black Edition since it cost me about $150 more. I can confirm that the new Marvell controller is way faster than the old one. My Crucial C300's are even faster now

CrazyBean

Posted on: 04/07/2011 01:22 AM great review thanks. i know gamers probably dont needs loads of usb3 ports but a few more would have been the icing on the cake for me.

dinos22

Posted on: 04/07/2011 02:45 AM Hey CrazyBean, the board has 4 USB3.0 ports (2 back, 2front) if you need more G1 Assassin has 8xUSB3.0 ports http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/259/models.htm

CrazyBean

Posted on: 04/07/2011 08:09 AM thanks dinos22 and its only $50 more which is not to bad. I might order one from Mwave tomorrow. wish you had of reviewed that board steve :P

Robbo

Posted on: 04/07/2011 09:51 AM Hahahahha @ the ammo clip As lame as it is I guess you cannot see it once the cards are installed so who cares. Still overall a bad ass looking board. I enjoyed going through the photos.

kazz	Posted on: 04/09/2011 08:54 AM Impressive looking motherboard that, wouldn't mind using this for my next LAN PC Build. Will they be making any G1.Killer LGA1155 boards?

lokkie

Posted on: 04/28/2011 10:43 AM Awesome motherboard, simply AWESOME ... that is all

Bubba

Posted on: 08/03/2011 08:13 PM Informative review!!! Emailed Gigabyte if latest Beta F4B Bios corrected the AHCI issue mentioned in the review. Their response...Yes!!! Time will tell!!