The GA-Z68AP-D3 motherboard, is based on the Intel® Z68 Express Chipset and supports the new 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processors. With the D3 board, it allows you to significant increase performance with the well known Intel®
Smart Response Technology. The GA-Z68AP-D3 motherboard has mSATA drive
connectors on this standard desktop PC motherboard. The GA-Z68AP-D3
board is integrated with GIGABYTE's proprietary Touch BIOS™ technology.
This D3 motherboard is stated ATX and just about makes the standards,
however the bard is actually mildly smaller than other boards in its
range, the D3 is about 3cm smaller. The D3 has only a 4 pin connector,
so let’s take a look at the motherboard and then see how well it
performs against its Z68 cousins.Specification
CPU- Support for Intel® Core™ i7 processors/Intel® Core™ i5 processors/ Intel® Core™ i3 processors/Intel® Pentium® processors/Intel® Celeron® processors in the LGA1155 package
- L3 cache varies with CPU
- Intel® Z68 Express Chipset
- 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
* Due to Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than 4 GB. - Dual channel memory architecture
- Support for DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
- Support for non-ECC memory modules
- Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
- 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200
- Realtek audio codec
- High Definition Audio
- 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
* To configure 7.1-channel audio, you have to use an HD front panel audio module and enable the multi-channel audio feature through the audio driver. - Support for S/PDIF Out
- 1 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot. - 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2 and PCIEX1_3 slots. When the PCIEX1_2 slot or the PCIEX1_3 slot is populated, the PCIEX4 slot will operate at up to x1 mode.
(All PCI Express x16 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
* To support PCI Express 3.0, you must install an Intel 22nm CPU. - 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
(All PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.) - 2 x PCI slots
- Support for AMD CrossFireX™ technology
* The PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x4 mode when AMD CrossFireX™ is enabled.
Chipset:
- 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0, 1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
- 3 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2 2~4) supporting up to 3 SATA 3Gb/s devices
- 1 x mSATA connector
- Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
* When a RAID set is built across the SATA 6Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s channels, the system performance of the RAID set may vary depending on the devices being connected.
Chipset:
- Up to 10 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 6 ports available through the internal USB headers)
- Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
- 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
- 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
- 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
- 3 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
- 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)
- iTE IT8728 chip
- System voltage detection
- CPU/System temperature detection
- CPU/System/Power fan speed detection
- CPU overheating warning
- CPU/System/Power fan fail warning
- CPU/System fan speed control
* Whether the CPU/system fan speed control function is supported will depend on the CPU/system cooler you install.
- 2 x 32 Mbit flash
- Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
- Support for DualBIOS™
- PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b
- Support for @BIOS
- Support for Q-Flash
- Support for Xpress BIOS Rescue
- Support for Download Center
- Support for Xpress Install
- Support for Xpress Recovery2
- Support for EasyTune
* Available functions in EasyTune may differ by motherboard model. - Support for Dynamic Energy Saver™ 2
- Support for Smart 6™
- Support for Auto Green
- Support for eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)
- Support for ON/OFF Charge
- Support for Cloud OC
- Support for 3TB+ Unlock
- Support for TouchBIOS
- Support for Q-Share
- Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
- Intel® Smart Response Technology
- LucidLogix Virtu
* Make sure the monitor cable has been connected to the integrated graphics port on the back panel.
- Support for Microsoft® Windows® 7/Vista/XP
- ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 21.5cm
- Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors' website or 3rd party website.
- Most hardware/software vendors may no longer offer drivers to support Win9X/ME/2000/XP SP1/SP2. If drivers are available from the vendors, we will update them on the GIGABYTE website.
Features
- Onboard mSATA connector and Smart Response Technology
- GIGABYTE EZ Smart Response
- Built-in Visuals
- GIGABYTE Touch BIOS™ (Patent Pending)
- PCI Express Gen.3 Support (50,000 Hours Japanese Solid Capacitors)
- New 100% Hardware VRD 12 Compliant CPU Power Design
- 108dB Signal-to-Noise ratio playback
- DualBIOS™ 3TB+ HDD Support (Hybrid EFI Technology)
- SuperSpeed USB 3.0
- SATA 6 Gbps
- 3x USB Power Boost
- Turbo XHD- Full Automatic RAID 0
- Multi-display support with 2 way CrossFireX
- Smart 6 – Smarter PC system Management
- Cloud OC
- AutoGreen- Greening your PC via Bluetooth cellphone
- HDMI™-The Next Generation Multimedia Interface
- ErP Lot 6 support
Packaging and Contents
You can see clearly on the box straight away from the graphics of the
motherboard, that Gigabyte has gone for their usual blue colour scheme.
The box states big and large how much of a performance boost this board
offers you compared to a reference board, which will be something low
spec, because they all do this. But Gigabyte have included black and
white chequered racing flags behind their bold increased performance
features. Zoom, Zoom!
Inside the box, the contents include:
• User manual/ Quick Start Guide/ Intel Smart Response Guide
• 2x SATA 2 (3Gbps) and 2x SATA 3 (6Gbps) Cables
• I/O Shield
• Motherboard
Here we can get a good look at the GA-Z68AP-D3 board in overview. As
you may notice from a first glance, nothing is really striking you
instantly, it seems to be a very simplistic board. The USB and I/O
connecting headers are colour coded. The Z68 chip is covered by the grey
very low profile heat sink, over quite a large area of space. If you
take a look you will see no shortcut buttons on the board, such as power
and reset, or any instant overclocking buttons, nor even a debugging
LED, to let you correspond the error code to a manual, to let you know
what exactly has gone wrong if you haven’t installed devices correctly.
This LGA1155 socket board supports Intel XMP memory modules. Also
supported is dual channel DDR3 slots for up to 32GB, and 1066MHz up to
2133MHz kit support.
First thing you set your eyes on is the heatsink around the socket
area, normally for the Z68 boards a second heatsink is normally
installed. The D3 only has a 4 pin power connector, so I’m curious to
the power on the board. As the board is LGA1155 it supports Intel’s 2nd
Generation Core i7/i5 and i3 Processors, of which we will be using an
i7- 2600K.
Above the PCI-E slots and in the direct centre of the board is a
mSATA connector. The Gigabyte website gave this information on the
connector.
“GIGABYTE will introduce 4 unique Z68 motherboard models with an
onboard mSATA connector that can employ Intel® Smart Response Technology
together with new 20GB Intel® 311 mSATA SLC SSDs to boost system
performance.”
The D3 plays host to:
- 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
- 2 x PCI x16 slots
As a lot of board the top PCI Express slot operates at x16 while the
lower slot runs at a slower x4. As Gigabyte state on their websites,
running two GPU’s at the same time will slow both down to the slowest
run speed, which is obviously x4. The D3 can only accommodate for ATI
CrossfireX, but not NVIDIA SLI. Gigabyte have also included 2x PCI
legacy slots for those of you sporting older sound cards or other
devices.
“The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2 and PCIEX1_3
slots. When the PCIEX1_2 slot or the PCIEX1_3 slot is populated, the
PCIEX4 slot will operate at up to x1 mode.” – Gigabyte
There are only two sata 3 ports which are not supported by a marvel
controller but instead supported by the Intel Z68 chipset, so some users
will be happy about that. We have the following storage ports: 4x SATA 2
(3Gbps) and 2x SATA 3 (6Gbps) storage ports.
I/O
On the I/O panel of the D3 board, we have the following features
below; this board is one of the slightly lower end UD models, and that
might be way we are seeing less audio options. You may have noticed the
old school purple and green serial port on the left hand side, Gigabyte
have included this to home in on that very small amount of users still
using this port in their day to day usage; I suppose it’s better to have
it than not at all.
• PS2 Keyboard/Mouse
• Parallel port
• Serial port
• S/PDIF Optical
• HDMI port
• 2 x USB 3.0 ports
• Gigabit LAN (RJ45)
• 2 x USB 2.0 ports
• Audio via Realtek ALC889 codec
Test Setup and Overclocked Results
|
Motherboard |
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 |
|
CPU |
Intel core i7-2600K (3.4GHz) |
|
RAM |
GeIL EVO Corsa CL9 2133MHz (2 x 4 GB) |
|
Graphics Card |
Asus ATi Radeon HD 6970 2GB |
|
Hard Drive |
Plextor SSD 120 GB |
|
PSU |
Antec HCG 750w |
|
CPU Cooler |
Thermolab Trinity |
Test Method
All motherboard will be tested by means of an i7-2600K processor, due
to its unlocking capabilities. All motherboard are to be tested by
using the following synthetic benchmarking software tests:
- 3D Mark11
- AIDA64
- X264 HD
- Cinebench
- Sissoftware Sandra
For the Games testing the CPU shall be set it its overclocked speed. The motherboard shall be tested with the following games:
- Crysis 2 (updated to 1.9 patch & DirectX 11 & High Resolution Texture Pack)
- Dirt 3
- Just Cause 2
Overclocking Method
The Intel Core i7-2600K will be used for motherboard reviews, due to
it being one of the gamers best choice processors. Overclocking for the
majority of user choose to overclock through only increase the
multiplier and the voltage, this is what we intend to perform for you
also, the BLCK shall not be changed for the overclocking. The BLCK will
stay static at 100MHz and only the multiplier shall be touched for
example, the BLCK is at 100MHz and we change the multiplier to x42, then
the processor will output 4GHz of power.
All latest motherboards allow you to get way passed a 5GHz clock
speed, but most of the time if even if you overclock correctly 5GHz+ can
decrease your processors life time rapidly, and most of the time 5GHz
isn’t necessary. HardwareLOOK aims to provide you with the most
relatable results and settings for every review.
Even overclocking to 4.8GHz with Sandy Bridge processors offering you
a low voltage for speed at 1.45v is still not realistic. Sure it can be
done, and so can 5GHz with a water cooler, but you’re not going to be
running that 24/7 or even 5 hours at a time.
With this in mind, we like to overclock up to 4.6GHz at a stable
1.45v with Sandy Bridge, which is safe, stable, and most of all
realistic. Thus, the overclocking performance benchmarks on HardwareLOOK
are something you can all achieve consistently and relate too.
With the K series processors, overclocking is made that much easier
to perform, all you have to do is click your overclock limit on the
“Load Optimized CPU OC Setting” and it gives you from Turbo 4.0GHz going
right up to 4.8GHz in increments of 0.2. At stock, the CPU voltage is
at 1GHz.The CPU Clock speed is at stock is at 3.4GHz (x34).
x264 HD
|
x246 HD measure how fast your system can encode the short video
file that is in format MPEG-2, which is the same as a DVD quality video
file. It encodes that file into the x264 format, which is a better
encoded format than your classic Xvid and DivX codec. The program
gives us very accurate frame rate as to how fast the encoding ability
is, and even more so for multi-core processors. x264 HD performs two tests or “passes” as they are called in the program. The passes compress the MPEG-2 file into x264 HD. One test produces 4 frame rate results of which we average out for you and apply our singular result. |
Games Testing
Conclusion
This Gigabyte-Z68AP-D3 motherboard is on the lower end scales of the
Z68 marketed boards. Yo may have seen this board around a lot recently
as is starting to become more popular, this may be due to is great
affordable price for users. As far as the looks of the board, well you
not going to get anything special with the lower end of the market, and
in the same respect you aren’t going to find many outstanding eye
catching features layered on this board. The board seems to have just
about entered the lower end market, it has parallel/serial ports which
are very old school and has HDMI but we found it odd that DVI/VGA wasn’t
included. .It just about qualified for ATX because of its smaller sized
design, as mentioned in the introduction.
Performance wise, it has been slightly up and down with the D3. Both
MSI and ASRock Z68 boards we tested it against are both in the higher
end market, with the MSI board being known as the number one choice Z68
board. As for the Gigabyte D3 being a lower end board, it has actually
done well, as you would expect the lower end board to be at the bottom
every time, but in fact it on average performed at the middle mark.
As previously said, the board may be a winner because of its great
price. The Gigabyte-Z68AP-D3 motherboard is on the market for just £80.
So you are getting so much performance for price with this board. For
that tiny price, you can really complain about the lack of features on
the board. So all in all, to all readers that have been searching for a
low costing LGA1155 motherboard that performs to a good standard, then
the D3 may be the board to consider, especially if you trying to build
your first computer at around £450.
Pros:
- Great price
- Above the standard for performance
- Aesthetics
- Lack of Features
- No NVIDIA SLI support
