WEBVTT 00:00:05.600 --> 00:00:12.800 This video is brought to you by the Intel Core i7 4770K unlocked processor. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:18.720 If you're a speed freak, add an Intel 3500 series SSD to your Haswell system 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:22.080 for a truly enthusiast class experience. 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:24.560 Welcome to a much demanded unboxing. 00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:30.720 This is from Gigabytes G1 killer series of boards. This is the G1 Sniper 5 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:32.640 gaming motherboard. Now, a lot of people 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:37.280 ask me what what the heck is a gaming motherboard. And I think Gigabyte had it 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:42.960 mostly right with the original G1 series board. So, that was the Assassin, the 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:47.120 Sniper, and the Gorilla. But, there were a few things that they got wrong. At the 00:00:44.800 --> 00:00:52.079 time, it was a very strange platform to have a premium gaming board on LG 1366 00:00:50.239 --> 00:00:56.640 when there was a more updated platform on a different socket. And also, they 00:00:54.320 --> 00:01:02.160 were extremely expensive. Gigabyte has adjusted pricing down somewhat uh 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:09.119 compared to the original Assassin, but keep kept the premium features coming. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:12.799 So, they've actually been improved over those older boards, even though the 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:16.799 Sniper 5 is not as expensive as the Assassin was. That isn't to say that 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:21.680 this is an inexpensive motherboard, because my friends, it is not. It is 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:25.080 extremely expensive. Let's go ahead and run through the accessories. Like, look 00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:32.159 at this box of accessories. This is unbelievable. Four-way SLI bridge. 3-way 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:33.360 SLI bridge. Two-way SLI bridge. No 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:40.000 Crossfire bridge. That's okay. That should come with your uh your motherboard. USB cable for the I believe 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:43.840 this is for the uh Bluetooth guy. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Sorry. Crossfire 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:50.399 bridge. There you go. Nice black one. Matches your board. Next up, we've got 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:53.119 antenna for wireless. Next up, we've got 00:01:50.399 --> 00:01:56.640 aha front three and a half inch USB 3 bay 00:01:54.280 --> 00:02:03.479 device op amp upgrade kit. I'll show you this later. Okay, a nice sexy black IO 00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:09.440 shield. One, two, three, six connectors. Cables, not connectors. 00:02:07.119 --> 00:02:15.760 A manual. Another more different guide book. A manual for the wireless. And 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:19.440 finally, a Gigabyte sticker. Yes, one of 00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:21.280 the most complete accessory kits ever. 00:02:19.440 --> 00:02:25.520 And what I like about Gigabytes wireless implementation is it's just PCI Express. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:29.120 They don't use some proprietary module. So, if you happen to buy yourself a 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:33.040 Sniper 5 and you don't want wireless on your gaming motherboard that has super 00:02:31.040 --> 00:02:36.319 advanced onboard wired networking, you grab this thing, you throw it in another 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:40.480 machine like your Media Center PC, and boom, you've got Bluetooth and wireless 00:02:38.480 --> 00:02:45.280 on that machine instead. I think it's a great value ad and more manufacturers 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:50.720 should move towards nonproprietary accessories with their boards as opposed 00:02:46.959 --> 00:02:52.800 to stuff that you can only use only with 00:02:50.720 --> 00:02:56.640 this board and and only this board. Okay. Anyway, uh so moving right along, 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:00.800 we've got black solid caps rated at 10,000 hours at 105°, which is unlikely 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:05.760 to happen in your computer. Please don't let your computer run at 105°. A 00:03:02.959 --> 00:03:09.599 goldplated CPU socket. This is one of the few scenarios where gold plating 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:13.920 would actually matter because what's good about gold plating is that it's 00:03:11.440 --> 00:03:17.920 malleable, meaning that it will last for more insertions and removals, which is 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:21.360 one of the problems with these LGA sockets. They're not actually rated for 00:03:19.519 --> 00:03:25.599 very many of them. It has a two times copper PCB, so this is part of their 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:30.879 ultra durable five concept. Their glass fabric PCB that makes it more resistant 00:03:27.440 --> 00:03:32.959 to humidity, as well as all IR digital 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:35.599 power phases. So, those are under there and unfortunately you can't really see 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:40.319 them, but you'll have to trust me. They're really good and particularly on 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:45.200 my Gigabyte board. So, I use an X79 UP5 on my personal system. No coil wine 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:49.920 whatsoever, which is definitely thumbs up. Other physical sort of I consider I 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:55.440 consider this a durable feature, but I don't think that's actually how they brand it. But some somewhere on here, 00:03:53.200 --> 00:03:59.120 there are two physical there they are. Two physical UEFI BIOS chips, meaning 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:04.799 that you can switch between them. There's actually an LED indicator so you can see which one you're using. And I 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:07.799 want to move right along to the cooling solution. So this is one of the things 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:13.040 they were really talking about a lot at Computex. It uses I would consider this 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:16.560 a three option cooling solution. So it can be either completely passive. There 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:22.400 you go. See, you can see the heat pipe that connects it all the way down to the south bridge area here. Or you can run 00:04:20.400 --> 00:04:25.919 an active fan to cool it. Gigabyte claims it's silent. I call bollocks on 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:29.040 that because all these little tiny fans have an irritating wine that drives me 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:35.040 absolutely crazy. So, I would leave that off. Or you can use the integrated 00:04:31.919 --> 00:04:36.880 liquid cooling for maximum cooling. They 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:40.720 use 3/8 inch barbs. And while I would have preferred a G1 quarter socket like 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:43.919 ASUS has implemented on the Maximus 6 formula, the key difference between this 00:04:42.320 --> 00:04:49.199 and the Maximus 6 formula is this is actually available right from the launch 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:50.560 of Haswell and well there that's this is 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:55.680 actually available right now. Although that will be coming soon. I would have preferred that, but I use 38 in tubes 00:04:54.320 --> 00:04:59.199 anyway, so it wouldn't bother me personally that much. But if you prefer/ 00:04:57.440 --> 00:05:04.000 inch or quarter inch or you want to use nice angled compressions, then you're 00:05:00.960 --> 00:05:07.039 pretty much out of luck on this one. It 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.720 also has nine integrated fan connectors, 00:05:07.039 --> 00:05:11.919 of which seven of them are fully controllable, and one of them is kind of 00:05:10.479 --> 00:05:15.840 special. So, there's the CPU fan connector right up here, as well as the 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:19.520 CPU optional one. This is optimized for things like hooking up a secondary pump 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:23.440 that you want to run at 100% all the time, or some large heat sinks that 00:05:21.919 --> 00:05:27.919 actually have dual fans on them. You can plug that in and that's sort of an 00:05:25.080 --> 00:05:31.199 auxiliary CPU fan header. Other than that, we've got a couple more here. Only 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:35.759 three pins, unfortunately. I'd like to see more manufacturers moving towards 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:40.800 entirely four pin PWM fan header designs. You got 1 2 3 four along the 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:44.160 bottom. Really like to see this because particularly with a lot of cases that 00:05:42.479 --> 00:05:48.240 have basements, whether it's hard drive cooling fans or radiators or whatever 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:51.600 else down there, it's nice to have the option to plug everything into the 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:55.280 bottom of the board as well. And then there's one here at the back which is 00:05:53.280 --> 00:05:59.520 again nice to see. So they've really put a lot of thought into where those fan 00:05:57.280 --> 00:06:04.479 headers are as opposed to just uh you know putting them all up here as if 00:06:01.440 --> 00:06:07.520 we're all running front five and a 00:06:04.479 --> 00:06:09.919 quarter bay mounted fans. Like who does 00:06:07.520 --> 00:06:13.440 that? Nobody does that. Anyway, moving right along. Uh gaming oriented 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:18.560 features. So, it supports 4-way Crossfire and 4-way SLI, which means 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:23.759 that using PLX chips and PCI Express lane splitters and all that stuff, 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:25.600 you're achieving at least PCIe 8X 2.0 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:29.759 per slot when you install four cards. However, it should be noted that those 00:06:28.080 --> 00:06:33.759 splitters don't magically add more bandwidth to the platform and they can 00:06:31.280 --> 00:06:38.960 actually introduce latency. So, I don't necessarily like the implementation, but 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:41.680 NVIDIA limits SLI compatible slots to 00:06:38.960 --> 00:06:46.080 ones that operate at 8x or more for their reported speed. So, in order to 00:06:44.400 --> 00:06:50.080 get four-way SLI working, that's what Gigabyte had to do. And to make it sort 00:06:48.080 --> 00:06:53.600 of as gaming balls to the walls as they could, they wanted four-way crossfire 00:06:51.840 --> 00:06:59.039 and four-way SLI support. You've also got three additional PCIe 1X slots. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:02.880 Other gaming features, this right here, actually, we'll move into audio later. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:07.840 So this right here, dual land implementation. So they've got a an 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:09.919 Intel nick as well as a Bigfoot Network. 00:07:07.840 --> 00:07:14.400 So remember that is a Qualcomm solution now. Bigfoot Networks E2200, meaning 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:18.479 that you've got on the-ly packet prioritization for your gaming traffic 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:22.400 as well as a couple of other neat software implementation features that I 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:26.400 really like. For example, you could limit the bandwidth available for to a 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:29.919 particular application. So when I used to upload YouTube videos on my home 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:33.360 connection that wasn't as strong, it would just kill the internet connections 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:37.520 of everyone else in the house because it was completely saturating it. Then with 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:40.880 an with a Bigfoot nick, I could actually limit it to no only upload at this 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:43.840 speed. So everyone else was able to use the internet as well. So that's 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:47.599 something that I really like to see. And remember guys, the SATA ports are 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:51.120 colorcoordinated. So the six black ones are going to be off the Intel chipset 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:54.160 and those four gray ones are off of the Marll chipset. In terms of other 00:07:53.039 --> 00:07:59.120 connectors on the board that are notable, we've got onboard power and 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:03.599 reset connectors as well as onboard V checkpoints and a post indicator LED. A 00:08:01.599 --> 00:08:08.319 24 pin power connector I personally consider extremely handy. As well as 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:11.680 onboard USB 3. You can tell from the red background that that supports their 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:16.479 onoff charge feature which allows you to charge even high current draw Android or 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:19.759 iOS devices even while the computer is off. You've got auxiliary power. I 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:23.680 recommend using this if you're running three graphics cards or more. You've 00:08:22.080 --> 00:08:27.280 also got your front panel connectors, an additional front USB3 connector, 00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:33.279 although this one does not support onoff charge, as well as two USB 2 front panel 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:39.279 connectors and front audio, which leads us to audio. So this right here, this 00:08:36.719 --> 00:08:44.640 little strip actually illuminates green when the board is powered on and 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:47.120 represents a physical segregation 00:08:44.640 --> 00:08:51.519 between the rest of the board and the part of the PCB that handles audio. This 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:56.000 is the first time we've seen this feature and it kind of smacks of a bit 00:08:54.160 --> 00:09:00.959 of a oh well they were doing it so we were doing it sort of thing especially with the LED illumination but it's a 00:08:58.880 --> 00:09:05.200 good feature and I'm glad to see it implemented on more boards. Gigabyte has 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:08.800 taken their sort of their awesome onboard audio concept that they first 00:09:06.959 --> 00:09:12.399 introduced with the G1 series and they've really upped the ante. So check 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:15.680 this out. They're using a Soundcore 3D quadcore processor for the sound 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:19.760 processor. How meaningful is it that it's quad core? Not at all. But what you 00:09:17.760 --> 00:09:24.320 do get is you get Creative's software suite and you have hardware accelerating 00:09:21.760 --> 00:09:28.480 it. So it couldn't be that bad, even if quad core doesn't necessarily mean 00:09:25.920 --> 00:09:35.200 anything. You've also got audiograde capacitors here. And check that out. 00:09:31.800 --> 00:09:36.560 swappable op amp on a motherboard. So, 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:41.920 that's what this little kit here was for. It actually includes uh a chip 00:09:38.959 --> 00:09:45.920 puller as well as a second op amp. So, you can try out which one you like more. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:50.080 What op amps do is they change the signature of the sound. They change the 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:53.680 the sort of I don't want to say quality, but they do change the qu the subjective 00:09:51.760 --> 00:09:57.120 quality of the sound. So, you can not only try out the two that come with your 00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:00.480 board, but you can swap in pretty much whatever you want and really change the 00:09:58.800 --> 00:10:04.160 way that the sound operates. They've also got an amplifier that is capable of 00:10:02.160 --> 00:10:06.880 powering up to 600 ohm headphones. However, if you're running headphones 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:10.959 like that, you shouldn't be using onboard audio, even if it's fantastic 00:10:08.880 --> 00:10:14.959 onboard audio. And all of the audio connectors, look at those. Those are 00:10:12.560 --> 00:10:17.519 sexy, are goldplated, which may actually matter for these connectors cuz you want 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:21.040 to make sure you have a nice solid connection. It is an analog connector, 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:24.720 particularly for digital connections like USB, it totally doesn't matter, but 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:29.279 this it might actually help, especially if you unplug and plug things in 00:10:26.560 --> 00:10:33.279 repeatedly. And as far as convenience features go, they have their automated 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:37.040 overclocking as well as their Q flash utility that makes BIOS flashes a 00:10:34.800 --> 00:10:41.800 breeze. And I think I've covered the other things that I wanted to say about 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:45.519 that. Let's move right along to Onboard 00:10:41.800 --> 00:10:47.360 IO. Here we go. So, two USB 2.0 ports, a 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:51.360 PS2 keyboard mouse combo port. I still like to see these. Coaxial uh digital 00:10:49.680 --> 00:11:00.160 audio out as well as optical digital audio out. Six USB 3.0 0 ports, dual 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:02.000 HDMI, DisplayPort, and 7.1 audio out. 00:11:00.160 --> 00:11:05.360 The power connectors, including the 8 pin up here, as well as the 24 pin over 00:11:04.079 --> 00:11:10.079 on the right hand edge, are in their optimal locations. And it should be 00:11:07.760 --> 00:11:15.120 noted, this is a slightly wider board than normal. So, it's an EATX board, but 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:19.839 not a fully EATX board. So, it only uses the standard ATX mounting holes. Thank 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.240 you for checking out this unboxing. Don't forget to subscribe to Lance Tech 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:25.519 Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos. And leave a 00:11:24.160 --> 00:11:29.279 comment and let me know what you think, guys. Would you spend $400 on a 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:34.240 motherboard at this point? Or would you buy a cheaper board, maybe $150 board? 00:11:31.680 --> 00:11:38.240 Gigabyte has some great $150 boards, throw a high-end sound card in it, throw 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:42.500 a high-end Nick card in it, and call that a day. Which do you actually think 00:11:39.920 --> 00:11:52.940 is a better option?