1 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,519 welcome to a very exciting and very exclusive unboxing this is the Gigabyte 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:18,439 G1 snipers actually I think that's a two 3 00:00:15,839 --> 00:00:22,800 the G1 Sniper 2 I actually have not only the Sniper 2 but also the sniper one so 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:26,880 we can compare them against each other but let's go over what is similar about 5 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:30,400 them before we even get started here so number one they're both made by Gigabyte 6 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:35,879 number two they both have three-year warranty in the US and Canada 7 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:38,320 number four I lost track okay they're 8 00:00:35,879 --> 00:00:42,840 also both part of the G1 gaming series of motherboards from Gigabyte which 9 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:45,120 means these are decked out to the nines 10 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:51,079 with all the gear you need for gaming we also have XI extreme Fidelity sound on 11 00:00:48,079 --> 00:00:52,600 both of these boards killer e2100 gaming 12 00:00:51,079 --> 00:00:57,039 networking built into both of these boards and support for fast Intel 13 00:00:55,640 --> 00:01:01,680 processors built into both of these boards however they are different the G1 14 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:08,960 sniper us the Intel x58 platform and 1366 CPUs the G1 Sniper 2 uses the z68 15 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:14,479 platform and Intel second generation core i7 Core i5 and core I3 CPUs so that 16 00:01:12,759 --> 00:01:20,479 means it does support sandybridge processors and they have also built in 17 00:01:17,479 --> 00:01:23,439 support for upcoming Intel 22 nanom 18 00:01:20,479 --> 00:01:26,799 processors which are codenamed ivybridge so you are going to be buying a fairly 19 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:33,560 futureproof motherboard with the Sniper 2 last but not least it is ready for for 20 00:01:30,079 --> 00:01:36,360 Native PCI Express gen 3 that is double 21 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:42,360 the bandwidth or quadruple the bandwidth of PCI Express 2.0 and 1.0 respectively 22 00:01:40,479 --> 00:01:49,200 very cool so that means even if you're running 2-way SLI with dual 8X PCI 23 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:53,079 Express 3.0 graphics cards that will be the same bandwidth that used to be 24 00:01:51,280 --> 00:02:00,200 available to motherboards that were running dual SLI in dual 16x PCIe 2.0 25 00:01:57,479 --> 00:02:04,880 slots so there's something to consider because it does support sandybridge we 26 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:06,920 do have full support for Intel SRT 27 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:10,840 technology so that's where you take your SSD you use it as a cache for your hard 28 00:02:08,879 --> 00:02:15,120 drive and you can run up to four times faster in a real world scenario uh 29 00:02:13,239 --> 00:02:21,280 honestly it baffles me that more people aren't using SRT because it really does 30 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:24,800 work it's very very cool let's go ahead 31 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:26,720 and start taking this box apart here and 32 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:31,239 we'll do our typical unboxing and then I'm going to do a bit of a comparison 33 00:02:28,599 --> 00:02:34,360 between the Sniper 2 and the sniper one I'll take that one out as well and we'll 34 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:39,599 have a we'll have a quick look at it so here's the Sniper 2 comes in a nice 35 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:43,080 matte black box to match that gorgeous matte black 36 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:48,720 PCB and let's look at what we've got in terms of accessories we have the 37 00:02:45,319 --> 00:02:50,920 Gigabyte G1 series poster which I have 38 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:54,760 seen a couple of times included with G1 series boards with the original assassin 39 00:02:53,080 --> 00:03:01,280 sniper and gorilla characters on the front as well as a target with pre- 40 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:03,680 bullet hold holes on it for you on the 41 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:08,959 back next we have some stickers including more bullet holes a skull some 42 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:10,840 bullets more bullets and bullet holes 43 00:03:08,959 --> 00:03:14,920 excellent stuff finally we have a Gigabyte sticker not finally there's 44 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:21,000 still more actually this is a very rich accessory package users manual including 45 00:03:17,959 --> 00:03:23,120 some notes uh PCI Express 16x slots are 46 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:29,040 compatible with Next Generation Intel 22 NM CPUs and support the PCI Express 3.0 47 00:03:26,599 --> 00:03:32,120 standard very cool uh driver disc throw that away download latest from the 48 00:03:30,319 --> 00:03:35,840 Gigabyte website smart response technology installation guide um 49 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:38,879 Gigabyte actually has a much better much smarter way to install this just 50 00:03:37,319 --> 00:03:43,040 download the little utility off their website it's awesome it's so easy I 51 00:03:41,519 --> 00:03:47,480 couldn't even believe it all right next we've got four SATA 52 00:03:45,959 --> 00:03:53,400 cables remember those are going to be compatible with SATA 2 or SATA 3 doesn't 53 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:55,720 really matter and a DVI to HDMI adapter 54 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:59,280 remember those are signal compatible so it doesn't really matter if you use an 55 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:05,480 adapter there is no signal degradation we have an Shield a black flexible SLI 56 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:12,319 Bridge nice touch I hate seeing those ugly Brown SLI Bridges including on 57 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:13,920 included on high-end boards cuz it just 58 00:04:12,319 --> 00:04:18,720 makes your build look terrible oh this is nice look at this okay so Gigabyte 59 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:24,960 includes quick boost so I'm guessing that's a OneTouch overclocking button 60 00:04:20,799 --> 00:04:27,919 ESAT USB combo port and then two USB 3.0 61 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:32,280 ports in a 5 and 1/4 in Bay uh adapter piece very nice because a lot lot of 62 00:04:30,280 --> 00:04:36,680 cases still don't support usb3 so you can add that to your 63 00:04:34,479 --> 00:04:43,960 existing case while you wait to upgrade it or whatever the case may be very 64 00:04:39,479 --> 00:04:43,960 nice and here it is the Sniper 65 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:51,639 2 their G1 series boards just look so 66 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:54,440 good like they just look so good 67 00:04:51,639 --> 00:04:58,440 Gigabyte used to be kind of uh in my eyes a bit of a joke in terms of their 68 00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:02,280 aesthetic but theyve just turned that completely around 69 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:06,400 with this with the G1 series boards they've got a very sharp overall look so 70 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:12,240 we're using a matte black PCB we have certain shiny components including the 71 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:15,680 vrms including the CPU socket we've got a little bullet sticking out of I 72 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:21,240 believe you guys were telling me this is a MAG not a clip can't remember for the 73 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:27,000 life of me anymore uh We've also got the barrel of a pistol as part of the mosfet 74 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,919 cooling up here and uh green lights here 75 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:33,160 that look just great if you throw in something like a g TX 590 which also has 76 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:37,400 glowing lights on the side looks just amazing in a gaming build 77 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:42,400 um oh that's interesting okay getting 78 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:46,600 getting to that later so why don't we look at the overall layout of the board 79 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:51,039 first so first of all we start with the CPU socket in the middle that is an LGA 80 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:55,240 1155 socket supporting Intel Sandy bridge and even Ivy Bridge CPUs so be 81 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:59,840 ready for that we've got our power delivery up here in the top left exactly 82 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:04,440 where it belongs that's an 8 Pin uh eight pin SL slot next we have our CPU 83 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:10,599 fan connector here which is a four pin pwm CPU fan connector you can clearly 84 00:06:06,759 --> 00:06:14,680 see the vrm cooling is using a sort of a 85 00:06:10,599 --> 00:06:16,759 gun metal themed gun appearance themed 86 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:21,120 look it's got heat pipes that are carrying from the uh well from the 87 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:27,360 chipset up to this side and then it just has a dedicated uh non-heat piped uh 88 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:32,960 mosfit heat sink up at the top moving over to the right hand side we have four 89 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:35,599 DDR3 slots supporting dual Channel 90 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:39,960 operation next we have our 24 pin power connector along the right hand Edge and 91 00:06:37,759 --> 00:06:46,160 this is something that I just don't see enough of USB 3 header on the right hand 92 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:50,759 edge of the board this is the smartest place for it I am just tired of running 93 00:06:48,919 --> 00:06:53,880 front panel connectors way down here to the bottom when you don't have to they 94 00:06:52,520 --> 00:07:02,000 should be right here because that's where they're going to be the closest to the front of your case love it great 95 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:04,400 designs decision next we've got two SATA 96 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:10,440 3 connectors running off of a thirdparty chipset we have two SATA 3 connectors 97 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:14,680 running off of the Intel chipset and then we have three SATA 2 connectors 98 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:20,560 also running off the Intel chipset your last Intel sata2 connector is likely 99 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:22,280 running off the back as an EA connector 100 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:25,360 all right next we've got some more you know what I'll do a summary of The Fan 101 00:07:23,599 --> 00:07:28,919 headers at the end so that you guys can see where they all are here is the 102 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:32,720 custom header for the OC button that was on that front panel next we've got our 103 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:39,240 front panel headers we've got a clear seimos jumper we've got 104 00:07:36,759 --> 00:07:43,160 uh ah front USB so you see the one with the red background that means that it 105 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:46,919 supports uh higher current so you can actually charge things like tablets with 106 00:07:44,919 --> 00:07:50,360 the utility from the Gigabyte website off of those particular ports so make 107 00:07:48,639 --> 00:07:55,159 sure you've plug those ones in first you've got a couple more front USB 2s 108 00:07:52,520 --> 00:08:01,879 front panel audio and in terms of PCIe slot layout we've got two PCIe 16x slots 109 00:07:58,319 --> 00:08:03,759 two PCIe 1X slots and two PCI slots so 110 00:08:01,879 --> 00:08:08,440 that's pretty good mix if you install two dual Slot Cards you're going to be 111 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:09,879 covering these guys those two and those 112 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:14,440 two so that'll leave you with one PCI e1x and one PCI slot now having fewer 113 00:08:12,599 --> 00:08:19,159 expansion slots on a board like this is far less of a concern because you 114 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:26,120 already have a very high-end hardware sound card check that out and a very 115 00:08:23,199 --> 00:08:29,840 high-end Hardware Nick those are already built into the board so you pretty much 116 00:08:28,159 --> 00:08:33,919 don't need to replace them with with anything very very cool all right 117 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:38,159 actually okay yeah I promised I'd do you guys the summary of all of the CPU 118 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:42,360 connectors so our fan connectors rather we've got one two uh stay further back 119 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:45,560 so I can just point out where they are three 120 00:08:43,959 --> 00:08:51,519 4 5 five yep fan five fan connectors it's 121 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:56,560 a very respectable amount and they are all pwm so you don't have to fuss with 122 00:08:54,000 --> 00:09:02,120 any sort of uh linear voltage adjustments for changing the RPM of your 123 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:09,959 fans on the back here we will find 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 USB 2.0 ports that guy is a 124 00:09:07,399 --> 00:09:14,560 combo USB 2 ESAT Port love these ports so handy everything should be this 125 00:09:11,399 --> 00:09:15,920 flexible and then two USB 3.0 ports 126 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:20,959 personally I believe that's enough especially if you already have two in the front since most things that I'm 127 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:24,399 using USB 3 for these days are just storage anyway which I'm plugging and 128 00:09:22,399 --> 00:09:28,720 unplugging fairly frequently we've got our OC button on the back all right that 129 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:35,800 should be pretty self-explanatory it OC's next we have a PS2 USB U PS2 130 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:38,480 keyboard mouse combo Port an HDMI output 131 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:44,720 more on that in just a second and then we have gigabit Ethernet and finally 7.1 132 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:46,560 audio with optical audio out so this is 133 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:50,680 a feature that I didn't mention before this is Intel Quicks sync so what you 134 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:56,360 can do is you can use that HDMI port you can use your HDMI to DVI adapter put it 135 00:09:54,079 --> 00:10:01,399 in like that and you can actually take advantage of the onboard graphics card 136 00:09:58,959 --> 00:10:04,720 built into the Intel CPU to transcode video even when you're running a 137 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:09,200 dedicated graphics card there is a slight performance decrease but I would 138 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:12,399 say for the incredible boost you get in transcoding performance especially if 139 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:16,600 you have a tablet or a smartphone you want to switch your videos over to a 140 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:21,120 compatible format it is an enormous advantage to the Intel z68 platform so 141 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:25,480 thank you for checking out my unboxing of the Gigabyte G1 Sniper 2 don't forget 142 00:10:24,079 --> 00:10:29,920 to subscribe to Linus Tech tips for more unboxings reviews and other computer videos