GIGABYTE to Launch the Z87X-SLI
by Ian Cutress on December 2, 2013 9:20 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Gigabyte
- Haswell
- Z87
Hearing the name ‘Z87X-SLI’ took me aback. Z87 supports SLI already, right? Why would a manufacturer need to confirm SLI usage on the Z87 chipset: it is geared up to get the SLI license from day one. What I think GIGABYTE are going for here is a cheaper end SKU with SLI capabilities – the motherboard is devoid of all extra controllers and excess that might appear on more expensive models. There are no extra SATA 6 Gbps ports (six total), no extra USB 3.0 ports (six total), and the power delivery looks like an 8+2 affair, combined with a Realtek NIC, ALC892 audio codec and four total fan headers. The Z87X-SLI is stripped out – the only thing left would be to use a lower end chipset or not use some of the chipset features at all.
Like all Z87 GIGABYTE boards, it comes with DualBIOS and Ultra Durable 4 as standard, along with their updated BIOS and software package for Z87 which we reviewed with the Z87X-UD3H. In actual fact, looking at the UD3H alongside this Z87X-SLI shows that it is a stripped down version. Clearly there is a customer that is looking for a basic overclockable + SLI Z87 model in the market.
Pricing for the UK is set to be £95 (inc VAT), which means US pricing would be around $130. That puts it in the firing line of several Z87 Gaming motherboards as well as a few of the Z87 ITX models as well.
Source and Images from GIGABYTE UK on Facebook.
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simonpschmitt - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
Am I the only one who is taken aback by the two legacy-PCI Slots on a brand new board?TheinsanegamerN - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
yes. pci is aged, but it still has its uses. pci post cards, mainly. i do question the purpose of having 2 though.electroball09 - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
that first one doesn't even matter, since any Nvidia card you would be SLI'ing would cover it up anyways... kind of a head-scratcher, yes.Gigaplex - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
Not all of us choose to use dual-slot coolers.StealthGhost - Tuesday, December 3, 2013 - link
Any gpu will cover that first one, even a water cooled gpubunnyfubbles - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
since this is targeted towards higher end gamers (ie intention to use SLI) but without breaking the bank, I assume they think they might be targeting users who are planning on recycling their older PCI soundcards (since most soundcards have long since made the transition to PCI-e)that being said, I thought Intel fully phased out PCI controller from their Haswell chipsets (and have long since stopped including them on their higher end chipsets starting with SandyBridge) and thus would have to be included as an extra in any new motherboard, thus potentially adding cost to a motherboard toted as lean "stripped down" model...so yeah, kind of a head scratcher to me...
extide - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
PCI has not been included in Intel chipsets for a long time now, something like since P55 or so. (I may be off +/- a gen or so there but it definitely has been a while). And thus yes, PCI slots require a PCIe to PCI bridge. Most motherboards actually have them, even if they do not have a PCI slot, as things like firewire are typically still PCI based for some reason.DanNeely - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
It's been available in non-enthusiast chipsets (B75, Q75, Q77, H77 but not Z75 or Z77) as recently as IVB; that's actually more versions than had it with SNB for some reason (only B65 and Q67).wolrah - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
Agreed, what the hell are they for? I can see reason for one single PCI slot on a modern enthusiast motherboard, for those users who bought a nice sound card a while ago and aren't ready to give it up. Storage or LAN on PCI is idiotic these days, with GigE and even the slowest hard drives being able to basically max out the bus.More than that one token PCI slot is like having a gameport plug on the back panel. It's a waste of space that could have been better used by pretty much anything else.
Impulses - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
Would a nice PCI sound card worth using even have drivers on win 7/8? I guess an old Xonar ST would since it's otherwise very similar to an STX, in most cases you'd just be better off getting a new DGX for $35 or whatever tho (or just using on board, a lot of gamers don't seem to care a whole lot about audio).