Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 on sale now!

[chispy]

Huh... what ? Woow just wooow , Gigabyte i think are shooting itself on the foot , a lot of promotion and money in PR for gigabyte X58-OC 1366 Plattform Motherboard and a soft launch well over a month ago and the board has not hit retail yet , no where to be found , its not in stores , and now they are selling and in stores a new Z68X mobos , mehh... Lame bussiness .

[EagleRock]

but is it only Gigabyte that will stop ? maybe others will do the same !!? if so maybe i should wait to replace my broken sata asus with z68 :/

[PatRaceTin]

i just got UD7 B3 but F4beta BIOS still old fashion BIOS style

[TheLostSwede]

AFAIK the P67X-UD3 and P67X-UD3R were both cancelled before hitting production, despite being on Gigabyte's website.
The rumours about going all Z68 is true, but do be aware of the fact that the cost difference is very small, much smaller than initially expected and that's why Gigabyte decided to do this.
It's likely that more companies will follow Gigabyte's lead as there's really no point to the P67 chipset now.

As far as UEFI is concerned, again, this is as far as I understand things, Gigabyte will add support for it on most, if not all of their Sandy Bridge boards over time.

[EzyRyder]

Ok - an MSI rep is saying on OCUK that they are probably doing this because their sales haven't been that strong for P67 mobos. Any info on that?

He is also saying that Z68 is more expensive than P67, but by how much?!

[nossy23]

I wonder what that means for those of us who still have to swap their motherboard?

I was just going to call the shop where I bought my UD7 to get the new version. Should I wait a bit, and will Gigabyte give me a Z68X-UD7-B3 instead?

And if so, will a complete reinstall of Win 7 be necessary?

[EzyRyder]

What I would do is to wait and then return it for a refund when the Z68 boards appear.

That way you will be able to choose which board you prefer.

[TheLostSwede]

As I was saying, the cost difference is VERY small, I can't say exactly how much, but it's less than you have fingers on one hand
The difference is really very small and as such the P67 chipset makes no sense.

[stasio]

Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 out of the box!



http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n...42%26p%3D301270

[TheLostSwede]

And this would be why the P67X boards were cancelled, the Z68X-UD3P
http://translate.googleusercontent.c...Xr4KZrXeJ3NRiw

[GoldenTiger]

What I would do is to wait and then return it for a refund when the Z68 boards appear.

That way you will be able to choose which board you prefer.

Wonder if this is doable still, my p67 mobo has an sata dead already l need to replace. I should ask tigerdirect about their policy.

[kgk]

Hrrrm. I just put a P67 UD4-B3 in my new system. The possibility that it will see minimal support going forward has me somewhat nervous about keeping it.

I'm planning on sticking with my 2600k rather than upgrading to socket 2011. Gonna wait until the octocores move to 22nm.

[EzyRyder]

No DVI output?

[Demo]

Will the Z68 chipset really offer something better to the P67? I dont use SSD and the IPG, is it true that the X68 is the real 2nd gen i7 platform that iron out a lot of bugs/issues on the P67?

[PatRaceTin]

Every thing still unclear

[G H Z]

If Gigabyte have moved to EFI, does that mean gimped 3DMark01 performance?

If the images from LostSwedes link are correct, this board is not using EFI BIOS.

[dupcengier24]

If the images from LostSwedes link are correct, this board is not using EFI BIOS.

hmm how link ??? please give this link

[sxs112]

GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3

NT:7000

[Otis11]

So what's the benefit of Z68 that doesn't have any graphics output?

[sxs112]

So what's the benefit of Z68 that doesn't have any graphics output?

Gigabyte P67 Mainboard, replaced Z68 Chip

[nn_step]

Finally also gigabyte moved to EFI BIOS

I would consider that a bad thing, as UEFI is nothing more than an attempt to preserve artificial intellectual property rights. It does not solve any of BIOS's long standing problems of requiring two different drivers - one for the firmware and one for the operating system - for most hardware and because UEFI can allow for more flexible remote network booting than current BIOS technology, there are concerns over the security provisions in the standard.

I would ultimately consider any motherboard that implements UEFI ultimately a step backwards since it was designed as a "lock-in standard" and in many respects it is inferior to the BIOS that it is replacing. Ultimately, it costs more and only causes more problems.

People seem to forget that the job of the firmware is to provide sufficient information to the operating system and to load and run the bootloader. Any configuration can be done inside the operating system or inside a sparse shell used only by people smart enough to figure out what buttons to click.

If A BIOS needs to be bigger than 64kB, then you are adding more crap than is necessary and wasting money on Flash chips that could be better used on Memory traces.

[Eldonko]

Yeah it seems silly to not have a DVI output considering that is the whole point of Z68.. No Virtu or Synergy with GB Z68?

So what's the benefit of Z68 that doesn't have any graphics output?

[SKYMTL]

First we get rebranded GPUs....now rebranded mobos. That right there looks like a P67 board with a Z68 chipset.

Without a video output, there is no way to enable the on-chip GPU for Quick Sync, NVIDIA's upcoming Synergy technology won't work, Virtu is a no go, etc. etc. If this is true, Gigabyte basically took one of the main selling points of Z68 and threw it to the dogs. Let's hope these are pre-production proof of concept boards...

[zads]

KitGuru heads for the underground carparks to find out, deepthroat style.

TMI on how they get information leaks

Anyway, might make sense from Gigabyte's manufacturing standpoint:
They were probably mid-way through production with the faulty P67 boards when they had to hit the emergency stop on production.
Now they have a ton of good leftover motherboard PCBs (which aren't cheap to design or manufacture) and so they just decide to forego the P67 and go straight Z68 for a minimal price delta.

Also, who knows- maybe Gigabyte did testing or screening on Z68 chips and found they can help the K-series overclock better, and thus made a better enthusiast board without dumping a million dollars and a couple months of time on a new design..
Probably wishful thinking, but who knows..

[sdsdv10]

I would consider that a bad thing, as UEFI is nothing more than an attempt to preserve artificial intellectual property rights. It does not solve any of BIOS's long standing problems of requiring two different drivers - one for the firmware and one for the operating system - for most hardware and because UEFI can allow for more flexible remote network booting than current BIOS technology, there are concerns over the security provisions in the standard.

I would ultimately consider any motherboard that implements UEFI ultimately a step backwards since it was designed as a "lock-in standard" and in many respects it is inferior to the BIOS that it is replacing. Ultimately, it costs more and only causes more problems.

People seem to forget that the job of the firmware is to provide sufficient information to the operating system and to load and run the bootloader. Any configuration can be done inside the operating system or inside a sparse shell used only by people smart enough to figure out what buttons to click.

If A BIOS needs to be bigger than 64kB, then you are adding more crap than is necessary and wasting money on Flash chips that could be better used on Memory traces.

Interesting read, thanks for that. First I've seen against UEFI...