Gigabyte G1 Sniper Z97 Review

[section_title title=”Closer Look”]Closer Look

Taking our first look at the G1 Sniper, the general theme of the motherboard has changed from green to red with the new Z97 variation of the Sniper series.  In my opinion I actually liked the green Z87 G1 Sniper and it made a change from the normal blue/red themed motherboards on the market.  I have no explanation as to why Gigabyte have gone with the red but it does fall in line with a lot of other brands themes such as ASUS and MSI.

The Gigabyte G1 Sniper Z97 features the following expansion slots from top to bottom:

–          PCI -E x1

–          PCI-E x 16 (Gen3)

–          PCI-E x1

–          PCI-E x1

–          PCI-E x8 (Gen3)

–          PCI

–          PCI

Plenty of expansion slots on the G1 Sniper and it also has support  for AMD Crossfire, as well as SLI in 2 x GPU configurations.

At the top of the motherboard, we have the newly designed and deep red heat sinks which keep the MOSFETs cool.  Aside from the G1 Gaming branded heat sinks is the 6+2 power phase design that Gigabyte have elected to use on the G1 Sniper; pretty standard for a low-mid range motherboard these days.

Also in view is the 8pin ATX connector which powers the CPU socket area and the CPU socket itself; the G1 Sniper Z97 motherboard has support for Haswell CPUs and will also support Broadwell when it is released.

The bottom right hand corner of the motherboard houses the Southbridge heatsink, which in the case of the G1 Sniper Z97, looks pretty nifty and fits with the overall design of the board.

On top of that, or should I say to the side, are 6 x SATA3 (6Gbps) ports which allow users to use RAID configurations, such as RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10; very standard with the new Intel Z97 chipset. The G1 Sniper Z97 also features a front panel USB 3.0 header.

The G1 Sniper Z97 motherboard like all ATX Z97 boards has 4 DIMM slots with a maximum capacity of up to 32GB.  In terms of speed, the G1 Sniper Z97 supports up to 3000MHz via overclocking which is very nice to see on a board in this sort of price range.

The memory slots also have a nice grey and black contrast but I can’t help feeling that a red and black theme would give a better look given the overall theme of the board is red/black.

Sound wise, the G1 Sniper is equipped with a Creative Sound Core 3D audio chip and a TI Burr Brown OPA2134 operational amplifier which is designed to provide superior on-board sound performance.  One interesting thing about the G1 Sniper Z97 is that you have the ability to upgrade the OP amps ( purchased separately) via an IC extractor, which again, isn’t included in the box but it is still nice to be given the choice.

The Creative Sound Core audio processor is a dedicated chip which doesn’t burden the CPU with processing the sound which allows it to focus on other things.  Coupled with this is the Creative SBX Pro Studio Audio Suite, which, like the software you find with the ALC1150 sound chip, allows you to change many different things including bass, treble, surround sound and gives you more control over your total audio experience; probably one of the major high points of this motherboard for me.

In addition to the upgraded on-board sound, Gigabyte has also gone all out with their audio capacitors which, much to my dismay, are green.  I really appreciate the quality of the audio components of the motherboard, but why colour them green?  Surely red would have been a better colour. The red/black/green doesn’t really contrast well; that is my opinion anyway.

Last but not least, we have the rear I/O of the G1 Sniper Z97 motherboard which has the following ports/connectors:

–          3 x USB 2.0 ports

–          1 x PS2 (keyboard/mouse) port

–          4 x USB 3.0 ports

–          1 x DisplayPort

–          1 x HDMI port

–          1 x RJ-45 (Killer E2200) port

–          1 x Coaxial S/PDIF out

–          1 x Optical S/PDIF out

–          5 x Audio jacks (Centre, Subwoofer, Speaker out, Rear speaker out, Line in/Mic in, Line out, Headphone)

There are a wealth of options available and I really like the inclusion of the DisplayPort connector.  Plenty of audio connectors as well which are also gold plated; seems Gigabyte have certainly gone for gold with their on-board audio!