AkG
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A Closer Look at the G1.Sniper 5, pg.3
Beside the Marvel 9230 controller and underneath the black and green ‘glowing’ skull is the Z87 chipset and an ITE IT8728F Super I/O controller. The controller monitors several critical parameters on the board, including power supply voltages, fan speeds, and temperatures.
The user-friendly colour-coded front panel header is always a welcome addition, as is the second USB 3.0 header. The whole bottom of the motherboard is festooned with various ports as well: two USB 2.0 headers, four fan headers and front audio output.
Besides the PLX PEX8747’s addition, the other standout feature of GIGABYTE’s G1.Sniper 5 is its onboard audio solution. While the Creative Sound Core3D chip is among the better options available it is not all that unique and many other motherboards have included this quad-core 7.1 chipset. Rather than the chipset, what does make this iteration of the Core3D sound is the removable OP-AMP. Unlike the ASRock Fatal1ty Pro which has the headphone OP-AMP soldered to the motherboard, GIGABYTE has included a socketed solution. This means swapping it out for a different, higher end OP-AMP is a quick and painless solution which is covered by the board’s warranty. Later in the review we will show exactly how big a deal this seemingly simple OP-AMP socket is, but suffice to say it is a game changer in the realm of in-game audio fidelity.
The default OP-AMP which comes pre-installed is a Burr Brown OPA2134 which is quite decent but GIGABYTE also includes a second OP-AMP (a Texas Instruments LM4562NA) and even offers a prepackaged upgrade kit which can be purchased separately. Further helping the Core3D stand out, the audio circuitry has been thoroughly isolated to reduce EMI and high quality Nichicon Muse ES and Nichicon MW capacitors have been added for enhanced quality. These are the same caps found in ultra-high end audio equipment and they should further help the G1.Sniper 5 stand out from the crowd.
The G1.Sniper 5 certainly has a good list of connectivity options on its rear I/O panel, many of which are plated in gold. There are two USB 2.0 ports, a single mouse/keyboard combination PS/2 port, a SPDIF port, an Optical audio output port, six USB 3.0 ports, dual HDMI ports, a DisplayPort and 5.1 audio jacks with a dedicated OP-AMP powered headphone jack capable of powering 600ohm headphones.
While the gold plating and OP-AMP equipped headphone jack are nice, these are all features you can find on most upper end motherboards. What makes the I/O panel of the G1.Sniper truly stand out is the inclusion of two dedicated NICs: a Qualcomm’s Atheros ‘Killer’ E2205 Network Processing unit and Intel’s latest generation ‘Clarkville’ I217V. Simply put, this combination of Intel plus Atheros gives the G1.Sniper 5 a level of flexibility and performance that few motherboards will be able to match.
A Closer Look at the G1.Sniper 5, pg.3
Beside the Marvel 9230 controller and underneath the black and green ‘glowing’ skull is the Z87 chipset and an ITE IT8728F Super I/O controller. The controller monitors several critical parameters on the board, including power supply voltages, fan speeds, and temperatures.
The user-friendly colour-coded front panel header is always a welcome addition, as is the second USB 3.0 header. The whole bottom of the motherboard is festooned with various ports as well: two USB 2.0 headers, four fan headers and front audio output.
Besides the PLX PEX8747’s addition, the other standout feature of GIGABYTE’s G1.Sniper 5 is its onboard audio solution. While the Creative Sound Core3D chip is among the better options available it is not all that unique and many other motherboards have included this quad-core 7.1 chipset. Rather than the chipset, what does make this iteration of the Core3D sound is the removable OP-AMP. Unlike the ASRock Fatal1ty Pro which has the headphone OP-AMP soldered to the motherboard, GIGABYTE has included a socketed solution. This means swapping it out for a different, higher end OP-AMP is a quick and painless solution which is covered by the board’s warranty. Later in the review we will show exactly how big a deal this seemingly simple OP-AMP socket is, but suffice to say it is a game changer in the realm of in-game audio fidelity.
The default OP-AMP which comes pre-installed is a Burr Brown OPA2134 which is quite decent but GIGABYTE also includes a second OP-AMP (a Texas Instruments LM4562NA) and even offers a prepackaged upgrade kit which can be purchased separately. Further helping the Core3D stand out, the audio circuitry has been thoroughly isolated to reduce EMI and high quality Nichicon Muse ES and Nichicon MW capacitors have been added for enhanced quality. These are the same caps found in ultra-high end audio equipment and they should further help the G1.Sniper 5 stand out from the crowd.
The G1.Sniper 5 certainly has a good list of connectivity options on its rear I/O panel, many of which are plated in gold. There are two USB 2.0 ports, a single mouse/keyboard combination PS/2 port, a SPDIF port, an Optical audio output port, six USB 3.0 ports, dual HDMI ports, a DisplayPort and 5.1 audio jacks with a dedicated OP-AMP powered headphone jack capable of powering 600ohm headphones.
While the gold plating and OP-AMP equipped headphone jack are nice, these are all features you can find on most upper end motherboards. What makes the I/O panel of the G1.Sniper truly stand out is the inclusion of two dedicated NICs: a Qualcomm’s Atheros ‘Killer’ E2205 Network Processing unit and Intel’s latest generation ‘Clarkville’ I217V. Simply put, this combination of Intel plus Atheros gives the G1.Sniper 5 a level of flexibility and performance that few motherboards will be able to match.
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