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Today we are going to talk about a mainboard that was designed very conveniently and correctly, supports all contemporary interfaces such as eSATA, USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gbps and IEEE1394 (FireWire), has all necessary Video outs. It does, however, suffer from a few issues during overclocking, although the produced results are quite exceptional.
Gigabyte has released their Z68 lineup, and today I am going to look at the UD3H - a $170 Z68 board aimed at the mainstream consumer market. The Z68 based motherboards are very similar to the P67 equivalent but they have had a few extra features added. They include Virtu and SSD caching as well as allowing you to take advantage of the GPU built into your Sandy Bridge processor. Is it worth switching from P67 to Z68 for a few extra features? Well, after what I have seen, no, not really.
<p><span style="font-size: small;">This is the top-of-the-line solution in Asus’ Intel P67 Express based family. Only this one model features the full set of functions: deluxe accessories bundle, enhanced processor voltage regulator, integrated Bluetooth module, eSATA and Power eSATA ports, USB 3.0 on the back panel with an option to be connected to the front panel, IEEE1394 (FireWire) and two Gigabit network controllers.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-p8p67-deluxe.html">Read more...</a><br />
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Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3, GA-Z68X-UD4-B3, GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 and GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 mainboards do not have video Outs, that is why integrated graphics doesn’t work on them. They can use Intel Smart Response technology, but do not support any of the Lucid Virtu modes. Read our in-depth review to find out about other features of these mainboards.
<p><span style="font-size: small;"> Our initial tests with the ASRock A75 Extreme6 were based on a pre-release model, and shown in our preview. At that point, the board design was not finalized and the BIOS was still quite raw, but the performance was essentially complete. However, now in my grasp is the full release version of the Extreme6. Alongside this standard motherboard review, and testing to see whether it's worth the $150 asking price, we're also going to take a good look at the overclocking features of the Desktop Llano chipset.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"> I've essentially run our motherboard test suite on two versions of this board now, and having recently played with Cougar Point and AMD Fusion (review to come), it slots nicely in the middle in most aspects - especially CPU power. We're not seeing anything special here with Desktop Llano - as Anand pointed out, in the region of Phenom II X4 performance. For the integrated GPU, it's a different matter, with up to 2x the performance of the highest version of Intel's integrated graphic solutions of the Sandy Bridge second generation Core series. Both of these will come in the form of results I will look at later.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/4478/asrock-a75-extreme6-review-and-desktop-llano-overclocking">Read more...</a><br />
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There appear more and more mainboards based on AMD Brazos and APU AMD E-350. Today we are going to talk about two models offered by AMD’s closest partner – Sapphire Company.
It's been a while since we've discussed AMD motherboards at AnandTech—over the next few months, I am hoping to bring them back. To start, we have our first Desktop Llano product on the test bed—the ASRock A75 Extreme6. Unfortunately, what I've been testing is still 'a work in progress'—so there are issues with the BIOS and design still to be decided. For now I'll let you know what I've found, in terms of performance and design. But when the full board comes my way with release information, I'll post a full review.
The desktop Llano series is the mainstream jewel in the AMD calendar. As Anand has discussed, the Fusion APU architecture of AMDs plan is split between the Brazos platform (with Ontario and Zacate) of sub 18W processors with Bobcat cores, and the Lynx platform (with Llano) for 25-100W processors. The former has 1-2 Bobcat cores, whereas with Llano we're dealing with 2-4 K10 cores.
In terms of motherboard design, the Llano processors absorb any form of Northbridge, and the motherboard will use a series of 'Fusion Controller Hubs', codename Hudson. The desktop version will use the Hudson-D series Fusion Controller Hubs, with the A75 Desktop 'Lynx' models under the Hudson-D3 header. The main selling points will be the six native SATA 6 Gbps ports and the four native USB 3.0 ports.
Both these mainboards based on Intel P67 Express chipset have all the necessary interfaces and functionality that high-end contemporary mainboards from leading manufacturers should have. Besides, they also boast a few Elitegroup’s own proprietary unique features.
This mainboard stands out among most similar solutions due to larger number of USB 3.0 ports. It works fine in nominal mode, proves effective during memory overclocking, but like other MSI mainboards, it loses its power-saving technologies during overclocking with voltage adjustment.
This mainboard is targeted for those users who do not deal with any overclocking and prefer to have their systems run in nominal mode with the default settings. In this case the functionality of the Intel P67 Express chipset has been extended with a number of additional controllers delivering USB 3.0, PATA and eSATA support. Plus, the price of this product is really attractive.