Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force

Asrock is yet to release an Intel 9-Series motherboard that costs more than $170 and we felt they were pretty keen coming out of the gate with eight new motherboards, all the same that pales in comparison to the thirty motherboards Gigabyte has brought to the game.

Leading the mob is the $350 Z97X-Gaming G1 WIFI-BK, whose highlights include iv-way SLI or Crossfire back up, Creative Sound Core3D quad-core sound processor, AMP-Up sound applied science with exclusive upgradable OP-AMP, dual Gigabit LAN, dual DAC-Upward USB ports, gold plated display and audio ports, high end Nichicon audio capacitors, Bluetooth 4.0+867Mbps 11AC dual band WIFI carte and the list goes on…

Although the board nosotros've received isn't quite as decorated, it still has a lot to offer, particularly at the $210 price signal. The Z97X-SOC Force is no slouch and every bit the proper noun suggests this is a motherboard with a focus on overclocking.

Some of the overclocking related features include OC Ignition, OC DIMM and OC PCIe Switch, OC Brace, OC Touch, OC PEG and OC Connect. If yous are sick of saying OC already so peradventure skip the next few paragraphs.

The OC Ignition feature keeps power flowing to the motherboard and connected components while the system is shut downward then fans will keep to provide airflow in cold bug situations and i-ram drive users volition not lose installed data. OC Ignition as well lets you pre-test water cooling setups and allows for instance mod demonstrations without having to turn on the PC.

The OC DIMM Switch lets you manually enable or disable each DIMM slot. Gigabyte says this allows you lot to effortlessly disable memory DIMMs from the arrangement without the hassle of concrete removal.

Equally y'all would expect, the OC PCIe Switch works in much the aforementioned style. Overclockers can manually enable or disable each installed PCIe slot, allowing users to disable individual graphics cards without physically removing. Gigabyte says this is especially useful when overclocking on LN2 and h2o cooled systems.

OC PEG adds auxiliary ability to the PCIe slots of your motherboard, improving arrangement stability in extreme configurations -- particularly handy in power-hungry 4-way graphics configurations.

OC Touch includes a range of hardware overclocking buttons directly on the motherboard, making overclocking on the fly extremely fast and easy.

We really like OC Connect, which positions two USB connectors on the near side of the motherboard facing the overclocker, making it easier to relieve information, flash the BIOS or install software on an open up test bed.

Other non-chipset related features include a build-in rear audio amplifier, all IR digital CPU power blueprint, OPT fan support, 10K Durable Black solid caps, 5x (15μ) aureate plated CPU socket and a 2x copper PCB pattern (two oz Copper PCB).

Gigabyte has too thrown in the Realtek ALC1150 codec for HD vii.i channel audio while networking is handled past the Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201 fleck, which is pitched a "no lag, just frag" solution.

We're disappointed that there is no M.2 socket on this board -- just the standard 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports forth with the SATA Express connector which shares the 4th and 5th SATA ports. For an expensive high-cease Z97 board, the Z97X-SOC Force seems lite on storage.

Where the Z97X-SOC Forcefulness doesn't drop the ball is in its GPU support. The board offers support for 4-manner Crossfire and 2-way SLI. The board achieves this by offering 4 PCIe x16 slots using a x16/x8/x4/x4 configuration.

Around at the I/O panel users volition find four USB 2.0 ports, D-Sub (VGA) output, DVI-D output, HDMI output, DisplayPort output, S/PDIF output, 4 USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit LAN and six audio jacks.

Overall, the Z97X-SOC Forcefulness looks to be a nice option for overclockers wanting to stress a Haswell processor. For those less interested in overclocking but wanting a amend remainder of features, be certain to check out the Z97X-UD7 Thursday for $220, information technology's another great looking board.