Gigabyte Z97 Motherboard Line up detailed

Gigabyte is showing their upcoming Z97 motherboards including the Gaming G1 and OC Force series targeted at gamers and tweakers. The Gaming line from Gigabyte is based on the G1 lineup of motherboards, obviously with a clear aim at gamers and as such offer a lot of features. The OC series would be built for tweakers in mind and the board design places a focus on that.

WCCFTech has got the skinny (courtesy to them) on this one. Currently there are four motherboards listed (Gigabyte GA-Z97X-G1 Gaming Wi-Fi Black Edition, Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force, Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH (Thunderbolt 2), Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H Black Edition) split up into an OC and gaming (G1) series. Below an overview:

Gigabyte GA-Z97X-G1 Gaming Wi-Fi Black Edition

Gigabyte’s next-gen and massively feature packed GA-Z97X-G1 Gaming Wi-Fi Black Edition will have the latest Ultra Durable components along with new additions such as the Sound Core G chip and other gaming goodies. Featuring the LGA1150 socket, the motherboard will feature support for Haswell, Haswell Refresh, Devil’s Canyon and Broadwell processors.

Now the most interesting thing about the new board is that it will feature built-in water cooling support which is copper based and allows existing or non-existing users with water-cooled looped pipe setups to gain more cooling performance. This will help cool the MOSFETs and VRMs situated underneath the aluminum  heatsink that is a neat new design which features a 8 Phase VRM, fitted with top of the line components. It is powered by an 8-Pin connector. Expansion slots include four PCI-e 3.0 x16, four PCI-e 3.0 x1 slots while storage options include four SATA 6 GB/s ports and two SATA Express ports. Voltage check points can be found near the DDR3 DIMMs along with a USB 3.0 header right underneath it.

Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force

The Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force is the top of the line overclocking motherboard built with the Z97 chipset and will feature the new and improved design scheme powered with a 8 Phase VRM powered by an 8-Pin plus 4-Pin connector configuration. The V-Check Point 2 and several OC switches can be found right next to the DDR3 DIMMs. Expansion slots include four PCI-e 3.0 x16 (x16/x8/x8/x8), a single PCI-e 3.0 x1 slot and two PCI slots. The board has 4 SATA 6 GB/s ports and two SATA Express ports. Another 6-Pin power connector located near the top most PCI-e slot provides additional power and stability to the PCIe expansion slotswhile using multiple graphics cards. The motherboard features a nice Orange and black color scheme which looks great. The Killer E2200 LAN chip is also featured on the board for seamless online experience.

The SOC name is derived from Gigabyte’s Super Overclock series products which include their top of the line graphics cards powered by their WindForce coolers. The same DNA of the SOC products has been infused in Gigabyte’s Z97 OC series motherboards to deliver the best performance to enthusiasts.

The Gigabyte Z97 Legacy motherboards from Gigabyte will launch along side Haswell Refresh on 10th May 2014 and would be available at different price points. More products under the Legacy brand will be introduced after launch of Intel’s 9-Series platform.

Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH (Thunderbolt 2)

The Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH (Thunderbolt) is part of Gigabyte’s classic series featuring a top-notch design that includes a 8 Phase Ultra Durable VRM design. The LGA1150 socket is powered through a 8-Pin connector and the VRM, MOSFETs and electrical components are fused beneath a large heatpipe heatsink. The motherboard as you have noticed comes with a yellow and black color theme and a 2X Black colored copper PCB which adds stability.

Four DDR3 DIMMs offer support for overclocked memory with capacity of upto 32 GB while storage includes four SATA 6 GB/s and two SATA Express ports. A USB 3.0 header is situated right next to the storage options. A few OC switches and a diagnostic LED can be spotted near the DIMM slots. Gigabyte has added their latest Sound Core 5 design in the motherboard which delivers high quality output to audiophiles. Expansion includes three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/x8/x4) and three PCI-e 3.0 x1 slots. The motherboard comes with Intel’s Thunderbolt 2 ports for fast data transfers.

Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H Black Edition

The Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H BK is also the part of Gigabyte’s classic series featuring a top-notch design that includes a 12 Phase Ultra Durable VRM design. The LGA1150 socket is powered through a 8-Pin connector and the VRM, MOSFETs and electrical components are fused beneath a large heatpipe heatsink. The motherboard as you have noticed comes with a black color theme with small yellow lining and a 2X Black colored copper PCB which adds stability.

Four DDR3 DIMMs offer support for overclocked memory with capacity of upto 32 GB while storage includes four SATA 6 GB/s and two SATA Express ports. A USB 3.0 header is situated right next to the storage options. A few OC switches and a diagnostic LED can be spotted near the DIMM slots. Gigabyte has added their latest Sound Core 5 design in the motherboard which delivers high quality output to audiophiles. Expansion includes three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/x8/x4), two PCI and two PCI-e 3.0 x1 slots. From what i have noticed, it seems like their would be a black edition board for each series which will feature a much more improved design over the regular variant of the same board.