Gigabyte G1.Sniper B6 review - Final words and conclusion

Name: Gigabyte G1.Sniper B6 review
Brand: Gigabyte G1.Sniper B6

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 04/03/2015 09:10 AM [

] 21 comment(s)

Final words and conclusion

The G1.Sniper B6 is a close follow-up to the B5. Little is different other than the included M.2. slot, improved audio and an increase in CPU phase power delivery. Aesthetically the board is now more pleasing thanks to the wonderful HALO that is created with the built-in green LEDs. In that fashion it is quite amazing to see what Gigabyte brings to the table for roughly 90 EUR. You do need to understand the limitations of the chipset though, you cannot use more than one graphics card because the 2nd x16 slot is wired as x4 through a PCIe Gen 2.0 connection through the chipset. But rightfully that is the only severe limitation as otherwise you'll have a decent amount of USB ports, SATA ports, even an M.2. slot and an audio solution that is now based on the more high-end Realtek ALC 1150 codec. But let's not forget the included Gigabit jack. So overall these boards offer just tremendous value for money. And if you think the chipset will not allow for a decent overclock, well think again. 4.8 GHz stable on our Core i7 4790K was just not an issue whatsoever.

Aesthetics

Also the aesthetics are pretty nice. What the photos do not show you is that once the mobo is powered up an array of green LEDs at the backside of the motherboard will light up. That looks lovely. The mobo in the B6 revision now has a lovely dark matte black coating though, that is also a change over B5 with its dark brown PCB.

Tweaking

In terms of tweaking and overclocking, these chipsets officially may not be overclocked. This is a regulation set by Intel so that they can make more money and diversity with the Z87/97 chipset. But that didn't stop Gigabyte. Now manual overclocking was not very pleasant, but the motherboard has built in presets. 4800 MHz works fine. Be warned though, do set your CPU voltage manually as our 4790K defaulted to 1.5 Volts! Proper liquid cooling we feel is the only way to go once you pass 4600 MHz on a Haswell CPU with a wee bit of extra voltage on the processor (1.30V and higher).

Final words

Honestly we loved the B5 revision, and the new G1.Sniper B6 has improved over B5 with the addition of M.2., dark matte PCB, better LED halo lighting and an improved 8-phase (digital) CPU power delivery. These boards offer 90% of what even enthusiast PC users require. Performance wise you are close to the Z87/z97 chipset, differences are easily tweaked out. Combined with four SATA 6 Gbps ports, two SATA 3 GBps, an M.2. slot, the Gigabit Ethernet interface and the 7.1 channel HD audio as delivered by the upgraded Realtek ALC1150 codec we already are happy. Though the motherboard looks like it is capable, you should not see it as SLI/Crossfire compatible as the 2nd slot will fall back to x4 PCIe lanes Gen 2.0. However, if you are planning to use one graphics card then you will still get full x16 Gen 3.0 on the first slot. That's just excellent for ANY graphics card in any range up-to enthusiast class. The G1.Sniper B6 motherboard offers you everything and anything you need from an enthusiast class Haswell processor platform, in terms of features, USB 3.0, SATA3, PCIe Gen 3.0, relative ease of tweaking and sure, the design and component selection is done well. We would have liked to see WIFI though. But we also realize that the G1.Sniper B6 is a great bargain in terms of price versus features versus aesthetics versus overclocking. We just have to give a great value award.

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