Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 LGA 1155 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s DDR3 2133 ATX Motherboard
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- CPU: Support for Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Pentium/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.
- Audio: Realtek ALC889 codec. High Definition Audio. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel. Support for S/PDIF Out. LAN: 1 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
- Expansion Slots: 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4. 3 x PCI Express x1 slots. 2 x PCI slots. Support for AMD CrossFireX technology
- Storage Interface: 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors. 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors. Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10.
- Back Panel Connectors: 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port/1 x parallel port/1 x serial port/1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector/1 x HDMI port/4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports/2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports/1 x RJ-45 port/3 x audio jacks (Line In/Line Out/Microphone)
- Internal I/O Connectors:1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector/1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector/2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors/4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors/1 x mSATA connector/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 clearing CMOS jumper/1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
- USB: Chipset: Up to 10 USB 2.0/1.1 ports. Etron EJ168 chip: Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel.
Supports for LGA1155 2nd Generation Intel Core Processors/Touch BIOS delivers the innovative new way to modify BIOS/4X performance boost with mSATA Intel Smart Response Technology/Supports USB 3.0 with superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps/High speed SATA3 storage interface with superfast 6Gbps link speed/GIGABYTE 3x USB Power with On/Off Charge USB ports/CrossFireX multi-graphics support for ultimate graphics performance/Hybrid EFI technology with DualBIOS for 3TB HDD support/HDMI graphics output for smoother HD video playback/XHD technology accelerating hard drive performance with ease/GIGABYTE DualBIOS technology delivering highest level failure protection
Gigabyte motherboard
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 LGA 1155 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s DDR3 2133 ATX Motherboard
List Price: $ 131.59
Price:
Great value for the price, and good for first-time builders,
Built my first PC with this motherboard. Got one of the last 8 Amazon Prime units in stock for $104.24. Perfect for a lower mid-level gaming PC. If I had to build another PC, I would go right back to a Gigabyte Z68 board.
Pros:
– More than enough PCI-E and PCI 16 slots for a network adapter, two graphics cards, and more. Can Crossfire between two ATI graphics cards.
– 4 DDR3 SDRAM slots, with enough clearance for low profile memory and a Hyper212+ CPU Cooler.
– Easy to overclock Intel K processors and adjust memory settings using the standard BIOS or TouchBIOS. The BIOS is logical and easy to navigate.
– 1 CPU FAN, 1 PWR FAN and 2 SYS FAN outputs on the board. SYS FAN locations are perfect for a side or bottom intake fan and a rear or top exhaust fan.
– 1 HDMI output, 2 USB 3.0, and 2 SATA3 6Gb/s ports included
– And the most important thing – it posted the first try.
Cons:
– Doesn’t support NVIDIA SLI
– The motherboard mounting locations confused me. There are supposed to be 9 locations for an ATX board, but this ATX board only used 6, and there was a 7th left over where I could not mount a standoff into my CM Elite 430 case.
– Backplate for the rear ports was cheap and difficult to install. But most are nowadays, it seems.
– Included CD had a lot of outdated drivers/utility software. When I went to the Gigabyte website to download the latest versions, I got confused between all the different utilities and drivers. Ended up downloading all of them just in case, but only installed the ones that I thought I needed. It was a lot of work to distinguish between the useful utilities/drivers and the useless/bloatware ones.
Paired this with an Intel i5-2500K CPU, Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler, Kingston 2x4Gb HyperX Genesis 1600 Mhz DDR3 SDRAM, EVGA GTX 550 Ti graphics, Seasonic M12ii 620W power supply, WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 7200rpm HDD, and ASUS DRW-24B1ST CD/DVD drive, all in a Cooler Master Elite 430 case running Win7 64bit.
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|I wanted to love this board, but I cant,
I really liked this board as a very cheap budget z68 board, but its got some warts. Gigabyte is certainly good about keeping up with bios updates and driver versions on their web site, but these boards have been plagued by problems with the board locking up if you use the power switch on the power supply. They had a fixed bios out for it but as of this writing sent out another bios update that says it ‘improves’ the problem, which means it hasnt been solved and certainly not by the last ‘this fixes it’ bios update. But that problem only affects some configurations.
The fast ram (that wont do you much good, at least not with sandy bridge), the usb 3 and the sata 6 are all appealing features. But then you get a parallel port and a serial port and a TPM connector that you probably dont need or want. Clearly a board made for a managed corporate type environment, but I cant think of many of those that are going to want an enthusiast z68 board.
There is only an hdmi port, no vga, dvi or display port. Too much room taken up by the serial and parallel port. No USB 3 header for a front panel mount. Realtek network and sound, not the intel network chip. More expensive boards will have more display options and a dual intel gigabit setup, but most people will be satisfied with the single hdmi port and single gigabit. You wont be able to do dual monitor on this without a video card added in.
The z68 gives a lot of choices for overclocking and providing hdmi out for the onboard cpu graphics. Other 1155 socket chipsets offer either overclocking or integrated video out, but the z68 does both. The newer z77 boards are superseding these and will offer the same capabilities along with ivy bridge cpu support (intels next generation), and multiple full speed pcie 3 slots. Since those are sliding in around the same price point as the z68 boards, you might look at those. Other than odd features most z68 and z77 boards perform quite similarly so buy on features and price. In the same feature set, a more expensive board will usually have thicker layers, a larger copper base for the cpu and generally more robust voltage regulation and power management. But this cheap gigabyte is decent enough for basic overclockers or performance enthusiasts on a budget.
But maybe I just need to dust off an old daisy wheel printer and hook it up to the parallel port to really appreciate it…
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|Good board, great price!,
I’ll preface this with saying that this isn’t my first build. At all. I’ve used mother boards from $75 to $300. My rating keeps in mind what you get for the price you pay.
The price on this motherboard is a steal for a Z68 board, especially considering everything it comes coupled with. SATA3 (6Gb/s), mSATA (for SSDs), USB 3.0, a large number of PCIe x1 slots, space between the RAM slots and the video card (too many boards smash the RAM slots up against where the video card will be once it’s installed), and one thing WAY too often overlooked… optical out for digital sound! (This is HUGE considering the analog sound output is seriously lacking.)
I had no issues installing anything (hardware or software related). The drivers on the CD were sufficient enough to get the computer up and running (you should never expect drivers on a CD for any piece of hardware to ever be up-to-date) and it’s very easy to overclock on the board. (I went from the stock 3.4GHz on my Core i7 2600k to 4.0GHz on my third boot up. I took it back down because I’m only running retail Intel cooling which is not enough for that sort of increase. Right now I’m at 3.7GHz and holding steady.)
Being an nVidia user I’m saddened by the inability to SLi… but truth be told I’ve had an SLi setup before and have no desire for it again. I’d rather have just one good solo card.
I did have the same issue as another reviewer where there was a strange number of mounting locations, and they didn’t all pair up with my case. Not a big deal as I always support the motherboard when mounting anything… just found it odd.
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