Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC Unboxed [PCWorld France]

[DalekDoc]

PC World France has just posted pictures of the unboxing of the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC Haswell mainboard.

 

The pictures are attached for your enjoyment.

 

Some of the main features seem to be:

 

 

- 8 Phase Solid VRM

- Orange and black design theme

- Fifth generation Ultra Durable 5 feature set

- UEFI DualBIOS support

 

- Several on-board overclocking buttons

 

 

Source: http://www.pcworld.fr/carte-mere/actualites,gigabyte-ga-z87x-oc-montre-premiere-carte-mere-pour-intel-haswell-overclocking-lga-1150,538441,1.htm

 

 

[joelthezombie15]

LOVE the color scheme. to bad there is only one or two cases that match it

[SSOB]

That's a seriously SEXY ASS mobo!

[DalekDoc]

PS: Any Idea what that bracket is in the last pic? Also, why does it have internal USB ports next to the SATA? This is the second z87 motherboard I've seen do that. The first was the ASRock Z87 Extreme 4..

[Benx70]

thanks for the post, the pictures :)

[IPCharger]

GIGABYTE Y U NO HAVE A BLACK/RED MOBO!?!?!

[RainbowTylernol]

GIGABYTE Y U NO HAVE A BLACK/RED MOBO!?!?!

Probably because there are already waaaaaaaay too many black and red mobos out there and Gigabyte wants to do something different? I for one love seeing NEW color schemes that haven't been done a million times. 

[mr-nipples]

Nice pics! Love the colour scheme! :)

[IPCharger]

Probably because there are already waaaaaaaay too many black and red mobos out there and Gigabyte wants to do something different? I for one love seeing NEW color schemes that haven't been done a million times. 

 

I know there are already a lot but that's because a lot of gamers have a black/red color scheme, so I like that they try to be different but they will loose a lot of potential sales...

[Glenwing]

Well they could have picked something besides orange... there's like the one NZXT Phantom case that matches it and nothing else...

 

Also I don't think they could have picked a worse spot for that supplemental PCI Express power... and what's with the dual legacy PCI?  I would have preferred that the bottom PCI slot become a PCE x1 slot, and with that extra space put the CMOS battery there... then turn the upper PCI slot into a PCIe x16 slot so you have the choice of triple SLI with dual slot graphics cards with a slot of space in between each one for breathing room. (Put a dual slot card in slots 1, 4, and 7)

 

Otherwise, very nice...

[kemical]

looks so amazing 

[kemical]

that D3300 is it the ram frequency? 

[Nicktrance]

I think people are exaggerating how hard it is to make a build with these colours, you don't need a black and orange case, you just need a black case and then use some parts (e.g. Cougar or Xigmatek fans) or parts with orange accents. I'm not saying it's easy but it's not that hard... One complaint I do have is the placement of that USB3 header which will have its cables running into the 24-pin cables.

[Glenwing]

Well yeah but not many of the more popular/better parts come in orange.

[Nicktrance]

PS: Any Idea what that bracket is in the last pic? Also, why does it have internal USB ports next to the SATA? This is the second z87 motherboard I've seen do that. The first was the ASRock Z87 Extreme 4..

apparently you can use those ports to run Windows 7/8 directly off a flash drive... (I just read a bit about it here: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Gigabyte-LGA1150-High-End-Mobo-GA-Z87X-OC,21418.html I'd take this with a little pinch of salt until details are officially released)

 

Well yeah but not many of the more popular/better parts come in orange.

I know but it's not as difficult as some posts make it seem.

[IPCharger]

I think people are exaggerating how hard it is to make a build with these colours, you don't need a black and orange case, you just need a black case and then use some parts (e.g. Cougar or Xigmatek fans) or parts with orange accents. I'm not saying it's easy but it's not that hard... One complaint I do have is the placement of that USB3 header which will have its cables running into the 24-pin cables.

 

It's not that hard, but some people (like me) are going to be upgrading to Haswell their existing build which probably already has a red/black color scheme.

[Trommenissen]

Anyone know what that bracket in the last pic is ?

[XiaoPigs]

Brilliant board in terms of the features it has. I see OC buttons below the power button on the board. Can't really figure out what the switches on the side do.

 

The major turn off of this board is the orange. It's gonna be hard to match it properly with other parts.

 

Anyone know what that bracket in the last pic is ?

It's probably a PCI-E bracket used to support your GPUs. Don't quote me on that.

[Glenwing]

Yeah the spacing on the bracket seems to suggest it has something to do with PCI cards...

 

The white 1-4 switches at the very top are probably DIMM slot toggles for diagnosing memory or something... that's what I would assume anyway.  No idea what the 3 black switches on the side could be though.

[mgsstar]

This looks like a very nice motherboard. Any idea of that orange thunderbolt button? Probably automatic overclocking with one click? 

So many switches for adjusting Vcore and Vdimm etc.  :blink:

Any idea why motherboards are now having usb headers on the motherboard like the ones beside the SATA ports?

[Mightybaal]

That in a Mitx form would match my prodigy nicely in colour.

[Nicktrance]

Any idea why motherboards are now having usb headers on the motherboard like the ones beside the SATA ports?

 

From what I understand, they allow you to run Windows 7/8 directly off a USB 3.0 flash drive. 

 

 

Anyone know what that bracket in the last pic is ?

 

I'm guessing it's a support bracket for keeping heavy graphics cards from moving when the motherboard is lying on a box or some other makeshift test bench.

[EChondo]

LOVE the color scheme. to bad there is only one or two cases that match it

Uh, black cases match with it, how many black cases do we have? More than one or two :P

 

PS: Any Idea what that bracket is in the last pic? Also, why does it have internal USB ports next to the SATA? This is the second z87 motherboard I've seen do that. The first was the ASRock Z87 Extreme 4..

Booting off of the USB, or possible a dedicated BIOS updated slot. Hell they could manage to do something with bluetooth or use it as a temp bios spot so if you brick your board you can just use that. So many possibilities.

 

Well they could have picked something besides orange... there's like the one NZXT Phantom case that matches it and nothing else...

 

Also I don't think they could have picked a worse spot for that supplemental PCI Express power... and what's with the dual legacy PCI?  I would have preferred that the bottom PCI slot become a PCE x1 slot, and with that extra space put the CMOS battery there... then turn the upper PCI slot into a PCIe x16 slot so you have the choice of triple SLI with dual slot graphics cards with a slot of space in between each one for breathing room. (Put a dual slot card in slots 1, 4, and 7)

 

Otherwise, very nice...

Black cases.

 

Gotta agree with the power and I hate the USB 3.0 header right next to the 24pin header. I would like to see at least one legacy PCI, but two is overkill, especially in those spots. Looks like I'll have to run a sound card off of one of the PCI-E 4x,8x,16x slots.

 

For anyone wondering about the bracket, it looks like Gigabyte intends to have this motherboard as a test bench board. It only makes sense that that have onboard button, supplemental power in weird areas, USB ports on the motherboard, and also allowing 4-way SLI/Crossfire.

 

Also can anyone tell me what the third connector on the back I/O that has the blue cover on it? I know there is the HDMI and Displayport connectors to the right, but is that a USB 3 combo port with something else? It has a blue outline.

[Glenwing]

Uh, black cases match with it, how many black cases do we have? More than one or two :P

 

Booting off of the USB, or possible a dedicated BIOS updated slot. Hell they could manage to do something with bluetooth or use it as a temp bios spot so if you brick your board you can just use that. So many possibilities.

 

Black cases.

 

Gotta agree with the power and I hate the USB 3.0 header right next to the 24pin header. I would like to see at least one legacy PCI, but two is overkill, especially in those spots. Looks like I'll have to run a sound card off of one of the PCI-E 4x,8x,16x slots.

 

For anyone wondering about the bracket, it looks like Gigabyte intends to have this motherboard as a test bench board. It only makes sense that that have onboard button, supplemental power in weird areas, USB ports on the motherboard, and also allowing 4-way SLI/Crossfire.

 

Also can anyone tell me what the third connector on the back I/O that has the blue cover on it? I know there is the HDMI and Displayport connectors to the right, but is that a USB 3 combo port with something else? It has a blue outline.

Yeah that makes sense, and is probably what the expansion slot bracket is for.  Looks like the third connector is a second HDMI port.

[EChondo]

Yeah that makes sense, and is probably what the expansion slot bracket is for.  Looks like the third connector is a second HDMI port.

I was thinking that as well, but it has that little blue outline, wonder if it's a two port thing with something else. Guess time will tell!

 

Might pick this board up as I will need a testbench soon, but I'll probably go with something else more expensive. I love Gigabyte boards, but this is just weird.