GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD

GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD @ Bjorn3D

“The GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD board utilizes the latest Intel Z68 Express Chipset that supports Intel second generation Corei7/i5/i3 processors (Sandy Bridge). Among the new features added to the Z68 chipset is the Intel Rapid Response Technology, Lucid Logix VIRTU support, and two-way CrossFire/SLI support. We had done an extensive overview of the Z68 chipset at launch, so those who are not familiar with the other features can check out our previous article.”

MSI A75MA-G55

MSI A75MA-G55 @ Benchmark Reviews

“The MSI A75MA-G55 sports the new FM1 socket which takes Llano APUs. Currently the two available are the A8-3850 and the A6-3650, which come ready to rock with Radeon HD discrete level graphics. We have already seen the performance of the AMD A8-3850 APU, now let’s look at the MSI design for the A75 chipset and how they differ from the competition.”

ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z

ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z @ TBreak

“As far as overclocking is concerned, this who affair is made extremely easy with the UEFI BIOS on the Gene-Z, with default overclocking values for out test Core i7-2600K being 4.2GHz and 4.6GHz from the stock speed of 3.4GHz. Obviously all the voltage and memory settings are taken off automatically; however for our review I still overclocked the system manually to 4.7GHz.”

GIGABYTE G1.SNIPER2

GIGABYTE G1.SNIPER2 @ Legit Reviews

“Instead the G1.SNIPER2 uses a discrete level network interface card from Bigfoot Networks integrated directly onto the PCB. The Bigfoot Networks Killer E2100 NIC features a dedicated NPU (Network Processing Unit) with 1GB of dedicated DDR2 memory. The second of two features that stands out on the GIGABYTE G1.SNIPER2 is the audio. The SNIPER 2 takes advantage of a Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Digiatl Audio Processor (20K2)…”

ASRock A75M-ITX

ASRock A75M-ITX @ TweakTown

“Before we look at the performance side of things, the first thing we need to do is check out the package to see what ASRock is offering us. Then we’ll take a closer look at the motherboard before we get into the BIOS to see what’s going on there. Once that’s done, we’ll look at our testbed before we also check out the overclocking capabilities of the board and of course the performance it’s able to offer against another mITX board we’ve looked at recently.”

GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD

GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD @ TweakTown

“Today we’re going to look at two solutions for bringing Smart Response Technology to your system. Both are based on GIGABYTE motherboards, some of the best we’ve used to date. Since Intel SRT requires a Z68 (or future) chipset, a new motherboard is required right from the start. Intel Smart Response Technology should become a part of most near future Intel chipsets and we expect to see the technology for several years to come.”

MSI Z68A-GD80 G3

MSI Z68A-GD80 G3 @ PC Perspective

“The Z68A-GD80 showed its prowess in several of our benchmarks, but the most impressive aspects of this board lies in its overclocking and power management capabilities. We were able to get a 4.789 GHz overclock using a Thermaltake Frio OCK cooler (two fans running at 2,000 RPMs), which is the highest overclock we have achieved with our i5-2500K processor.”

Roadmap for Next Gen Mobo Firmware

Roadmap for Next Gen Mobo Firmware @ TechReport

“The BIOS was never that exciting, but its UEFI replacement has the potential to make motherboards much sexier than they’ve ever been before. Mobos have never been that sexy, but bear with me, because contemporary motherboards seem destined to continue offering largely equivalent hardware configurations, performance characteristics, and overclocking potential, making the quality of their firmware one of few things that set them apart from one another.”

Intel Sandy Bridge 4-Way Roundup

Intel Sandy Bridge 4-Way Roundup @ Neoseeker

“In this roundup Neoseeker has four motherboards on the chopping block. All of them will be put through the same testing processes and judged accordingly. Running through the gauntlet today is a single motherboard from ASUS, two from Gigabyte and one from Sapphire. Most of the motherboards utilize the Z68 chipset detailed above, while the ASUS motherboard uses the P67 chipset.”

Sapphire A75 Pure Platinum

Sapphire A75 Pure Platinum @ OC Club

“As with all socket types, the motherboard isn’t really going to give a noticeable performance increase or decrease. If they did, the comparison charts would be slightly more interesting. So instead of buying a motherboard based on performance, it’s best to purchase one based on its overclockability, features, and sometimes even its looks. After using the Sapphire A75 Pure Platinum I’m confident in saying that it doesn’t fall short in the latter two of these categories.”