Component analysis, Internal headers, Front panel headers, Switches
The Intel Z97 chipset lies underneath a red stylish heatsink. The logo is of the GIGABYTE Gaming series.
The heatsink is mounted by two screws behind the board.
The DRAM VRM is made with two 1R2 chokes along with coupled 8 pin flat lead package MOSFETs. Those MOSFETS are controlled by a Internal Rectifier 3570A controller and driven by a International Rectifier 3598 MOSFET driver. Also you get voltage test points in the board. Just hook up your multimeter and get voltages in realtime.
The CPU VRM section is built with an 8 phase design with a total of 8 chokes. The MOSFETs are cooled by the heatsinks. The heatsinks are red and black in color with silver colored GIGABYTE and G1 GAMING logo and are of good quality. Lets take them out and check what’s inside:
There are coupled MOSFETs(total eight pairs) for each power phase. However each MOSFET driver(International Rectifier model# 3598) drives 4 MOSFETs or simply two phases. That was done to cut down costs. So the VRM is okay to do the job but a very high voltage might cause instability.
The voltage controller is from International Rectifier and the model number 3563B. Capacitors are of premium quality.
The VRM heatsinks have thermal pads beneath them. They are of good quality.
So the VRM is adequate enough for a good overclock.
An ASM 1442K chip takes care of switching between the onboard display output ports.
There are on-board power, reset buttons. Additionally, a clear CMOS switch is given and BIOS switches. The BIOS_SW switch controls GIGABYTE’s patented Dual BIOS. The SB stands for single BIOS mode. That is useful if you need to flash the BIOS chips separately.
The Marvel 88SE9172 provides support for two additional SATA ports at 6 Gbps.
A two digit seven segment post code debug display is provided which is very useful. A front panel USB 3.0 header lies beside it and it is directly controlled by the Z97 Intel® chipset.
The UEFI/BIOS is stored in two 128 Mbit MX chips conforming GIGABYTE DualBIOS™ technology. It is not user replaceable however and is done to minimize footprint.
The switches for PCIe mode switching are from NXP and carry the model number L04083B.
There are photos of the fan headers. The front panel section consist of the conventional power, HDD LED, audio and USB headers. There is also support for SPDIF, a COM port and TPM header. I would have been happier if the fan headers were placed more strategically. The majority of the additional fan headers are at the bottom only.
CPU fan headers are placed at good locations and has support for two headers. One main and the other optional.
Nichicon premium Japanese-made capacitors are used for the audio filter.
The Audio IC is a Realtek ALC 1150 chip having Signal-to-Noise Ratio(SNR) of 115 dB. A metallic shield is given surrounding the IC for electric screening which prevents EMI(Electro-Magnetic Interference) of the board with the audio chip. The audio section is separated from the rest of the components of the board to isolate the audio from the interference of other components. Also the path way is lit up by red LEDs for the eye candy. You can also switch it off from the BIOS settings.
An ITE 8620E chip is used for Super I/O and monitoring.
An ITE 8892E chip provides support for legacy PCI ports. It actually converts PCIe signals to PCI(acts as a bridge).
The Ethernet support is provided with a Killer E2201 chip and offers good performance.
Notes: The CPU socket is very delicate. Install the CPU with utmost care to prevent damage to the socket. Do not touch the socket pins or the base of the CPU.
When opening the socket lever, just be careful of not scratching the board with the lever. This can be redesigned by using a plastic cap on the end of the lever and/or using a membrane on the surface of the board near the area.
