Design & Layout

The G1.Sniper2'due south matte black PCB gives it a unique look, as does its black and green component pattern. Aesthetics aside, nosotros take no real complaints about the board'due south layout. Perchance the only issue with the design is its placement of the DIMM slots and CPU socket, which are nigh on top of each other.

The G1.Sniper2 features an viii-phase power design that utilizes low core free energy loss Ferrite Core Chokes too every bit Low RDS(on) Commuter-MOSFETs. These components are said to handle a higher current load while offering better ability efficiency and lower operating temperatures. Each power phase of the motherboard has three main components, one asphyxiate, one capacitor and ane MOSFET.

Gigabyte has also included its Dual Power Switching design, which is meant to maximize the board'southward lifespan. When Dual Power Switching is activated, two sets of four power phases operate in tandem, automatically enabling one gear up of iv phases and disabling the other four, allowing the inactive ready to rest.

Different a traditional power design where some phases can fail prematurely because they're ever in functioning, Dual Ability Switching ensures that each ready of phases share the workload, finer doubling their lifespan.

Another unique characteristic of Gigabyte'southward Dual Power Switching is that if one of the power phases fails, the motherboard will automatically disable its group of iv phases and go along operating with the other ready. With traditional motherboards, if one ability phase fails, the board becomes a paperweight.

Cooling the eight-phase ability design are 2 large heatsinks, i of which is continued to a bigger heatsink using a 6mm heatpipe. The larger heatsink is located where you'd typically notice the northbridge.

However, because the Z68 chipset has been used at that place is no northbridge, meaning this heatsink isn't cooling anything. The Z68 is cooled by the smaller heatsink that resembles an ammunition mag.

The two PCI Express x16 slots (colour-coded greenish) are separated past ii other expansion slots, providing plenty of room for airflow between SLI or Crossfire setups. While the master slot offers x16 bandwidth, the secondary slot is electrically wired for x8 speeds considering the Z68 can only support dual graphics cards in an x8/x8 configuration.

Gigabyte has mounted the six SATA ports at a 90-degree angle backside the second and tertiary PCIe x16 slots to avert conflicts with high-stop graphics cards, which typically bridge the length of a motherboard. A seventh slot is positioned vertically and is designed to connect to a powered front panel eSATA port.

The 4 DDR3 DIMM slots have also been placed far enough away from the primary PCIe x16 slot, which is important on an enthusiast lath. As we've seen with other Gigabyte boards, the G1.Sniper2 places its CMOS battery between the PCIe x16 slots, making it difficult to admission, and it's worth mentioning that there'due south no CMOS clear switch on the board's I/O panel.

Speaking of which, the rear interface panel is occupied by a single PS/2 port for legacy keyboard and mouse back up, seven USB two.0 ports, 2 USB 3.0 ports, an eSATA port, HDMI-out, Ethernet, five audio jacks, Due south/PDIF optical/digital connector and an OC button.