Gigabyte has released a new Z97 motherboard, the GA-Z97X-Game Plus, a motherboard that comes with a Killer NIC, SATA Express, M2 and Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3 gaming audio suite.
In the 150 USD range this board will be quite competitive. it is a socket LGA1150 motherboard. The motherboards has a standard 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connector and is powered by an 8-phase VRM.
- Supports 4th and 5th Generation Intel® Core™ processors
- Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3 gaming audio suite
- High Quality Audio Capacitors
- Audio Noise Guard with LED path lighting
- Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD Audio with Built-in rear audio amplifier
- Killer™ E2200 gaming networking platform
- Extreme multi graphics support
- SATA Express support for 10 Gb/s data transfer
- M.2 for SSDs drives with up to 10 Gb/s data transfer
- Long lifespan Durable Solid caps
- APP Center including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ utilities
- GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™
The motherboard has and three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4) and storage is based on SATA 6 Gb/s ports (with a combined SATA-Express 10 Gb/s connector), and one M.2 (PCIe 2.0 x2). GIGABYTE G1™ Gaming motherboards are equipped with the GIGABYTE exclusive AMP-UP Audio Technology, which provides the industry’s highest level of onboard audio features and technologies. With GIGABYTE AMP-UP Audio, gamers and audiophiles are able to experience crisp, ultra realistic sound effects while gaming, and the richest possible sound experience when listening to their favorite music and movies.
The ALC1150 is a high-performance multi-channel High Definition Audio Codec that delivers an exceptional audio listening experience with up to 115dB SNR, ensuring users get the best possible audio quality from their PC. The ALC1150 provides ten DAC channels that simultaneously support 7.1-channel sound playback, plus 2 channels of independent stereo sound output (multiple streaming) through the front panel stereo outputs. Two stereo ADCs are integrated and can support a microphone array with Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), Beam Forming (BF), and Noise Suppression (NS) technologies. The ALC1150 incorporates Realtek proprietary converter technology to achieve Front differential output 115dB Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) playback (DAC) quality and 104dB SNR recording (ADC) quality.
GIGABYTE G1™ Gaming motherboards feature the Killer™ E2200 from Qualcomm Atheros, a high-performance, adaptive gigabit Ethernet controller that offers better online gaming and online media performance compared to standard solutions.
