Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 Motherboard Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

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Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 Motherboard Review - The Intel Express Z68 chipset is the new hotness and as a result tons of Z68 boards are hitting the market. Gigabyte isn’t one to be left behind and as a result it has plenty of Z68 boards to choose from. The one we are evaluating here is the Z68X-UD3H-B3. Despite being somewhat of a budget board it certainly packs a ton of features and promises solid overclocking performance to boot.
 
Hey ya,

You list in the start of the article tested with CPU I7-2500k, but in all the charts after its listed as tested with a i7-2600K. Trying not to be a typo nazi here( god knows my typing sucks bad), but are the charts all 2600k or 2500k so the results are skewed or just the up front typo of 2500k and the 2600k results are correct as shown >??

Also any chance can toss in a extra Z board(s) to the mix ?? Would be nice to see how same model board shows against another Z board as well due to the hybrid stuff it has options for, and if can post some benches with hybrid lucid results.

Reason person gets a Z over other types is the lucid hydra stuff, so not comparing that with another Z board at all in the charts at least is kinda a mute point review of the board. Most would go with P version or some such if not looking for the specifics the Z offers.
 
Hey ya,

You list in the start of the article tested with CPU I7-2500k, but in all the charts after its listed as tested with a i7-2600K. Trying not to be a typo nazi here( god knows my typing sucks bad), but are the charts all 2600k or 2500k so the results are skewed or just the up front typo of 2500k and the 2600k results are correct as shown >??

Also any chance can toss in a extra Z board(s) to the mix ?? Would be nice to see how same model board shows against another Z board as well due to the hybrid stuff it has options for, and if can post some benches with hybrid lucid results.

Reason person gets a Z over other types is the lucid hydra stuff, so not comparing that with another Z board at all in the charts at least is kinda a mute point review of the board. Most would go with P version or some such if not looking for the specifics the Z offers.

I used a 2500K for all the subsystem testing. The 2600K was used in all the benchmarks. Kyle can correct me if I'm wrong, but the reason you aren't seeing more Z68 boards in the comparison charts is due to the fact that the turbo scaling is basically broken on most boards meaning that you can't turn the turbo scaling off or get it to work the same on each board. Essentially it makes an apples to apples comparison impossible as a result. The Lucid Virtu software will work the same on all these boards. It doesn't negatively effect performance in D-Mode and the I-Mode performance differences will vary based on the game. However the game benchmarks are done to isolate the board and CPU, not GPUs. So again, it's kind of a moot point.
 
I've got the Gigabyte Z68x-UD4-B3 board and have two raids operational using the onborad controllers. The two SATA3 controllers capable of raid was the only reason I bought the board in the first place.

I first set up my SSDs in raid 0 mode on the Intel controller; I'd read that the Marvell controlled had issues with the Corsair SSDs I am using. Everything was fine, installed Windows7 Pro.

After I got the OS all set up I connected my two Seagate 2TB drives and proceeded to turn on raid for the Marvell controller in the BIOS. As your review found this is when the trouble starts. If the Marvell controler is set to raid in the BIOS the system can't seem to boot from the Intel raid.

The solution I found was to just leave the drive settings for the Marvell controller in the BIOS alone. From in Windows 7 I installed the Marvell drivers and set up the raid from Windows using the storage management of the OS. Windows handles the Marvell raid and the BIOS handles the Intel raid.

Both raid sets seem to get along now, but only because I let Windows handle the Marvell controller.

I didn't have the patience to try installing the SSDs on the Marvell and seeing if I could get the raids to both function from the BIOS, but from what your review stated I probably saved myself alot of time and grief by skipping that if it's caused by and issue with the Z68 chipset.

Anyway, just thought the other readers would like to know there is a work around for multiple raids using the onboard chips.
 
I've got the Gigabyte Z68x-UD4-B3 board and have two raids operational using the onborad controllers. The two SATA3 controllers capable of raid was the only reason I bought the board in the first place.

I first set up my SSDs in raid 0 mode on the Intel controller; I'd read that the Marvell controlled had issues with the Corsair SSDs I am using. Everything was fine, installed Windows7 Pro.

After I got the OS all set up I connected my two Seagate 2TB drives and proceeded to turn on raid for the Marvell controller in the BIOS. As your review found this is when the trouble starts. If the Marvell controler is set to raid in the BIOS the system can't seem to boot from the Intel raid.

The solution I found was to just leave the drive settings for the Marvell controller in the BIOS alone. From in Windows 7 I installed the Marvell drivers and set up the raid from Windows using the storage management of the OS. Windows handles the Marvell raid and the BIOS handles the Intel raid.

Both raid sets seem to get along now, but only because I let Windows handle the Marvell controller.

I didn't have the patience to try installing the SSDs on the Marvell and seeing if I could get the raids to both function from the BIOS, but from what your review stated I probably saved myself alot of time and grief by skipping that if it's caused by and issue with the Z68 chipset.

Anyway, just thought the other readers would like to know there is a work around for multiple raids using the onboard chips.

Then you are using a software RAID and you are not using the BIOS / ROM / Firmware to handle anything at all. That's not really making use of the Marvell RAID controller. You are essentially able to do what you did with any AHCI volumes on non-RAID capable controllers through Windows. Again the OS handles everything at that point.
 
Helpful, clear review. I would have liked to see some tests of the onboard graphics since the board seems designed for use of integrated GPU. I realize that most enthusiasts would use a separate GPU, but then why choose this MB? I'm considering this MB for a non-gaming rig.
Thanks.
 
My experience with this board was at least three blue screens a day. Shipping it back.
 
I'm using this board and love it. I don't PC game, so I am using the onboard displayport to drive my 30" Dell. Its been 100% stable and I can't tell the difference between it and having dedicated graphics. I have to say having the CPU be the only major source of heat inside the whole box is a nice change.
 
Helpful, clear review. I would have liked to see some tests of the onboard graphics since the board seems designed for use of integrated GPU. I realize that most enthusiasts would use a separate GPU, but then why choose this MB? I'm considering this MB for a non-gaming rig.
Thanks.

There isn't much point in testing the integrated graphics performance. Anyone who cares about performance won't be using onboard graphics. The point of it is either connecting another monitor to it or for use with Quick-Sync. Enthusiasts will use it or they won't. I did use the onboard video with all my testing and it worked. Not much more I can say about it than that. Also, all integrated video using the same CPU will be the same if you are comparing Z68 boards or anything else using what's built into the Sandy Bridge processors.
 
also own this board -- loving it!

Got a killer deal from MicroCenter too - 179 for a 2500k i5, then the motherboard for 100 dollars after all the discounts and rebates.

have the CPU sitting at 4.2GHz on air -- can't wait to drop in a GTX570 and get battlefield 3 in a few months
 
Also, all integrated video using the same CPU will be the same if you are comparing Z68 boards or anything else using what's built into the Sandy Bridge processors.

Yes, all Z68 boards may well yield the same onboard GPU performance, but since reviewers seldom (almost never) provide the integrated GPU data, a reader is left in the dark. Thanks for your response.
 
Yes, all Z68 boards may well yield the same onboard GPU performance, but since reviewers seldom (almost never) provide the integrated GPU data, a reader is left in the dark. Thanks for your response.

Well the GPU data really needs to come from the GPU guys. Any data I came up with using different tests wouldn't be comparable to anything they've done in the past.
 
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