GIGABYTE Z68X UD4 Review

👤by David Mitchelson Comments 📅11-05-11
Conclusion

We’ve seen the benchmark results and we are aware of the features so what do we make of the Z68-UD4? Well, it ticks all the boxes in terms of offering a good blend of multimedia and performance. It may not have video outputs/onboard graphics that seem to be a big selling point for many other Z68 branded motherboards but I understand GIGABYTE’s reasoning behind omitting this feature – many who will invest in such a board, even the lower end UD4 will be choosing to install a high-end graphics card solution and possible multi-GPU configuration, why else would they spend so much on a motherboard with features such as SLI and CrossfireX?

The additional features we do get with the Z68-UD4 are the fantastic new Touch BIOS and SSD caching. As we’ve briefly seen, the Touch BIOS is a highly innovative new feature, allowing you to access BIOS settings without the need to actually boot into the BIOS at POST. For those who perhaps have concerns about entering the BIOS this new Touch BIOS will make steps to encouraging more users to customise their systems and this can only be a good thing.



Although the performance gains we have seen across all benchmarks have been marginal, overclocking the 2500K used in our tests proved to be a very worthwhile thing. Overclocking provided even better results, showing that we can access even greater bandwidth, FPS and access times. There are plenty of storage options (with 6G in there too), USB functionality, PCI-E lanes, and lots of great features on the I/O including a very handy ESATA/USB combo port.

So now we come to the price-point. Z68-UD4 is priced at £170 inc. VAT at launch. Some £20 more than the P67A-UD4. Projecting it closer to £200. The UD4’s close rival, the ASUS P8P67 can be had for £134 which will be a tempting alternative for many, although we only get Crossfire support with this board and there are lucrative features with the Z68-UD4 such as Touch BIOS, SSD caching, more SATA ports and that fantastic black/grey colour-scheme – even from just looking at this board, many will be drawn to it.

The bottom-line is: Z68 may not have been the most exciting launch this year but it does provide some interesting and very useful features, especially from GIGABYTE’s offerings. Z68-UD4 supplies a great blend of multimedia and performance with some stimulating features. There’s no denying it we have a soft spot for the Z68-UD4, just from looking at it!



Pros
+ A good blend of performance/multimedia
+ Touch BIOS
+ Very attractive styling

Cons
- Bordering on expensive
- Small justifications for moving from P67





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