Legit Motherboard Reviews

GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Review

Manufacturer: Gigabyte
Product: GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD
Date: Wed, Aug 24, 2011 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Dan Stoltz -
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GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Intel Z68 Motherboard

GIGABYTE Z68Xp-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Layout

GIGABYTE is definitely a household name when it comes to computer components. GIGABYTE has been in the game for more than twenty years and continue to put out some of the top enthusiast products available today. Today though, we will be looking at a much more main stream offering. The GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD is one of twenty or so Intel Z68 chipset motherboards from GIGABYTE. The GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD is the identical to the Z68XP-UD3 in every way except for one. As you may have guessed by the extended portion of the name Z68XP-UD3-iSSD there is something having to do with SSD's (Solid State Drives), and I'll admit it's a great idea!

If you look at the center of the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD you will see a square where you used to find the north bridge chipset. It's tough to make out in the picture, but that is actually a 20GB Intel Series 311 SSD! The Intel 20GB Series 311 SSD is rated for a maximum of 200MB/s read and 105MB/s write. Overall it's a nice little SSD. Unfortunately it isn't really a large enough SSD for you operating system, but it is definitely large enough to take advantage of the Intel Smart Response Technology that is available on the Intel Z68 chipset.

Just a short time ago Legit Reviews took a look at our first offering from the GIGABYTE line of Intel Z68 motherboards. When we looked at the GIGABYTE Z68X-UD7-B3 we were impressed with the performance but it lacked one of the key features that make up the Intel Z68 chipset. There was no way to access the onboard video. This meant that we had no way to access the features that accompany the Intel HD Graphics. Features such as Intel Quick Sync Video, Intel InTru 3D, Intel Insider and switchable graphics with LucidLogix Virtu GPU Virtualization were out of our reach. The GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD features an onboard HDMI port which will give us access to all of the available Intel HD Graphics features that we missed out on previously!

In addition to the integrated Intel 20GB SSD and access to the Intel HD Graphics, there is a number of other great features on the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD. Among these features is the GIGABYTE Touch BIOS, Ultra Durable 3, On/Off charge technology, Super Speed USB 3.0, SATA III 6Gbps,  USB Power Boost, Turbo XHD fully automatic RAID 0, and of course the Multi GPU capabilities of both CrossFireX and SLI!

GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Intel Z68 Chipset Motherboard Specifications

CPU  - Support for:
  • Intel Core i7 processors
  • Intel Core i5 processors
  • Intel Core i3 processors
  • Intel Pentium processors
  • Intel Celeron processors in the LGA1155 package
Chipset  - Intel Z68 Express Chipset
Memory
  • 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
  • Dual channel memory architecture
  • Support for DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
  • Support for non-ECC memory modules
  • Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
Audio
  • Realtek ALC889 codec
  • High Definition Audio
  • 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
  • Support for Dolby Home Theater
  • Support for S/PDIF Out
LAN
  • 1 x Realtek RTL8111E chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Expansion Slots
  • 1 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
  • 1 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
  • 3 x PCI Express x1 slot (All PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
  • 2 x PCI slots
Multi-Graphics Technology  - Support for 2-Way/3-Way ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI technology
Storage Interface  - Chipset:
  • 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3_0, SATA3_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
  • 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_2~SATA2_5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices 
  • Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
 - 2 x Marvell 88SE9128 chips:
  • 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
  • Support for SATA RAID 0 and RAID 1
USB  - Chipset:
  • Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 on the back panel, including 6 ports available through the internal USB headers)
2 x Etron EJ168 chips:
  • Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 on the back panel, 2 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
IEEE 1394  - VIA VT6308 chip:
  • Up to 2 IEEE 1394a ports (1 on the back panel, 1 via the internal IEEE 1394a header)
Internal I/O Connectors
  • 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
  • 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
  • 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
  • 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
  • 1 x mSATA connector + SSD 20 GB
  • 1 x CPU fan header
  • 2 x system fan headers
  • 1 x power fan header
  • 1 x front panel header
  • 1 x front panel audio header
  • 1 x S/PDIF Out header
  • 3 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
  • 1 x USB 3.0/2.0 headers
  • 1 x IEEE 1394a header
  • 1 x serial port header
  • 1 x clearing CMOS jumper
  • 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
Back Panel Connectors
  • 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
  • 1 x HDMI port
  • 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
  • 1 x IEEE 1394 port
  • 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
  • 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
  • 2 x eSATA/USB Combo connectors
  • 1 x RJ-45 port
  • 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)
I/O Controller  - iTE IT8728 chip
H/W Monitoring
  • System voltage detection
  • CPU/System temperature detection
  • CPU/System/Power fan speed detection
  • CPU overheating warning
  • CPU/System/Power fan fail warning
  • CPU/System fan speed control
BIOS
  • 2 x 32 Mbit flash
  • Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
  • Support for DualBIOS
  • PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b
Unique Features
  • Support for @BIOS
  • Support for Q-Flash
  • Support for Xpress BIOS Rescue
  • Support for Download Center
  • Support for Xpress Install
  • Support for Xpress Recovery2
  • Support for EasyTune
  • Support for Dynamic Energy Saver 2
  • Support for Smart 6
  • Support for Auto Green
  • Support for eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)
  • Support for ON/OFF Charge
  • Support for Cloud OC
  • Support for 3TB+ Unlock
  • Support for TouchBIOS
  • Support for Q-Share
Form Factor ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm

The question of the day for the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD is how much would you expect to pay for a GIGABYTE motherboard with a SSD already installed into the board> Plus it is an Intel SSD at that! You might be surprised, the retail price for the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD is only $239.99! Shocked? I know I was! Before we get to looking at the performance of the GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD let's take a look at the packaging and bundle that comes with our new board!

Next Page - GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Retail Packaging and Bundle


Review Index
Page 1 - GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Intel Z68 Motherboard
Page 2 - GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Retail Packaging and Bundle
Page 3 - GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard Layout and Features
Page 4 - GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD System BIOS
Page 5 - The Legit Reviews Test System
Page 6 - SiSoft Sandra 2011 sp2 Memory Bandwidth
Page 7 - NVIDIA SLI Scaling Performance
Page 8 - AMD CrossFireX Performance Scaling
Page 9 - Futuremark 3DMark 11 Synthetic Benchmark
Page 10 - Rightmark Audio Analyzer
Page 11 - SATA III 6Gbps Performance Testing
Page 12 - SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Performance Testing
Page 13 - GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Intel Smart Response Technology Performance
Page 14 - GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD System Power Consumption
Page 15 - GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Overclocking
Page 16 - Final Thoughts and Conclusion