Product Showcase
Product Showcase
The Gigabyte G1.Sniper B5 can be considered a budget to mainstream product. For the money it really is offering very interesting features with looks that make you think this is enthusiast level. This motherboard will cost you only 80 EUR and in the USA we noticed it selling for as little as 95 USD already. Let's have a quick peek at the box first shall we?
Below is the packaging and bundle. Above just the packaging. As you'll notice the motherboard is a reasonably nice looking motherboard alright. A black & green style however there are a lot of colors going on there components and connectors wise.
Despite being a G1.Killer series product, the Gigabyte G1.Sniper B5 motherboard does not come with a Killer E2200 ethernet jack. Not something many people dislike I guess. Being budget the Gigabyte G1.Sniper B5 motherboard does feature some more high-end features we have come to expect from the motherboard maker, which come in the form of component selection (Ultra Durable 4) and optimized audio.
Gigabyte G1-Killer motherboards feature an on board OP-AMP socket, allowing enthusiasts to swap out the motherboard's on-board operational amplifier (OP-AMP) and explore personal audio preferences using a range of nuanced OP-AMPs available on the market. You'll also spot Nichicon high end audio capacitors.
The I/O back panel reveals four USB 2.0 ports with another two USB 3.0 ports. A Realtek ALC868 high definition audio codec is the source for audio and we spot an Intel 10/100/1000 fast Ethernet jack. There are single PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports that can be used for a gaming keyboard, we spot optical SPDIF in/out port and six audio jacks. Then monitor connectors wise 1 x HDMI ports with max. resolution up to 4096x2160@24Hz, 24bpp/2560x1600@60Hz, 24bpp/ 1920x1080@60Hz, 36bps is supported. Lacking here is a CMOS reset switch, which I always find very convenient at the rear IO. In fact the entire motherboard does not have any extra buttons for power/reset etc. That's OK though for a mobo in this price range.
The motherboard is nice to look at. This B85 has an 4+1 Phase Power Design. The motherboard features two PCIe x16 Gen 3.0 out of which one is fully x16 connected (the second one is running x4 from the chipset. The board has one 4-pin power feed for the processor located on just behind the rear IO. Four DIMM slots offer support for dual-channel DDR3 memory at 1600/1333 MHz (higher XMP profiles are supported). You can install a maximum of 32GB in total.