Gigabyte G1.Assassin2

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Although the Intel X79 is very bland, motherboard manufacturers still have a chance to jazz it up with third-party controllers providing better network support, USB 3.0, additional SATA 6Gb/s support, and so on. Today we are testing the Core i7-3960X with the Gigabyte G1.Assassin2 which is the latest member of their G1.Killer range.

The new G1.Assassin2 is Gigabyte's new flagship G1.Killer motherboard and as such will likely be the most expensive. The board offers support for 2-way/3-way CrossFireX and SLI depending on your preference. The board also incorporates a Creative SB X-Fi Digital Audio Processor (20K2) on-board supporting X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity and EAX HD 5.0.

Gigabyte has included Bigfoot Networks' Killer E2100 NIC, which is featured on all G1.Killer motherboards. Whether that translates into any real-world benefit is debatable but Gigabyte is the only manufacturer implementing the Killer NICs onboard.Storage support has been enhanced. Apart from the six SATA ports attached to the Intel X79 chip, an additional two SATA ports have been included. Unfortunately, the Marvell 88SE9172 controller has been embedded rather than the newer and faster 88SE9182. The included chip provides an additional two onboard SATA ports that support 6Gb/s speeds as well as RAID0 and RAID1 arrays. The G1. Assassin2 is brimming with USB connectivity, exceeding the dozen standard USB 2.0 ports courtesy of two Fresco FL1009 controllers that supply four USB 3.0 ports -- two at the rear and another two using a bundled 3.5" front mounted bracket. The G1.Assassin2's matte black PCB gives it a unique look, as does its black and green component design. Aesthetics aside, we have no real complaints about the board's layout. Perhaps the only issue with the design is its placement of the DIMM slots and CPU socket, which are virtually on top of each other. 

Specification:

CPU: 

Support for Intel^® Core™ i7 processors in the LGA2011 package

L3 cache varies with CPU

Chipset:

Intel^® X79 Express Chipset

Memory: 

1, 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.

2, 4 channel memory architecture

3, Support for DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules

4, Support for non-ECC memory modules

5, Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

Audio: 

1, 1 x Creative CA20K2 chip

2, Support for Dolby^® Digital Live and DTS™ Connect

3, Support for X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity^® and EAX^® Advanced HD™ 5.0 technologies

4, High Definition Audio

5, 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel

6, Support for S/PDIF Out

LAN:

1 x Bigfoot Killer E2100 chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Expansion Slots: 

1, 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2)

* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16_1 slot; if you are installing two PCI Express graphics cards, it is recommended that you install them in the PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 slots.

2, 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)

(All PCI Express x16 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)

3, 2 x PCI Express x1 slots

(All PCI Express x1 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)

4, 1 x PCI slot

Multi-Graphics Technology:

1, Support for 3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFireX™ / NVIDIA SLI technology
* The PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2 slots operate at up to x8 mode when 3-Way AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI is enabled.

Storage Interface:

Chipset:

1, 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0/SATA3 1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices

2, 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2 2~SATA2 5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices

3, 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.

2 x Marvell 88SE9172 chips: 

1, 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3 6/GSATA3 7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices

2, 2 x eSATA 6Gb/s connectors (eSATA/USB Combo) on the back panel supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices

3, Support for RAID 0 and RAID 1

USB: 

Chipset: 
1, Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 ports on the back panel, including 2 eSATA/USB Combo, 6 ports available through the internal USB headers)
2 x Fresco FL1009 chips:
1, Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header) 
Internal I/O Connectors:

1, 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector

2, 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector

3, 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors

4, 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors

5, 1 x CPU fan header

6, 4 x fan headers

7, 1 x front panel header

8, 1 x front panel audio header

9, 1 x S/PDIF Out header

10, 3 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers

11, 1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header

12, 1 x Clear CMOS jumper

13, 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header

Back Panel Connectors: 

1, 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port

2, 1 x CPU overclocking button

3, 1 x BIOS switch button

4, 1 x Clear CMOS button

5, 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector

6, 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports

7, 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports

8, 2 x eSATA/USB Combo connectors

9, 1 x RJ-45 port

10, 5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Side Speaker Out, Line In/Mic In, Line Out)

I/O Controller:

iTE IT8728 chip

H/W Monitoring: 

1, System voltage detection

2, CPU/System temperature detection

3, CPU/System fan speed detection

4, CPU overheating warning

5, CPU/System fan fail warning

6, CPU/System fan speed control

* Whether the CPU/system fan speed control function is supported will depend on the CPU/system cooler you install.

BIOS: 

1, 2 x 64 Mbit flash

2, Use of licensed AMI EFI BIOS

3, Support for DualBIOS™

4, PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.6, ACPI 2.0a

Unique Features: 

1, Support for @BIOS

2, Support for Q-Flash

3, Support for Xpress BIOS Rescue

4, Support for Download Center

5, Support for Xpress Install

6, Support for Xpress Recovery2

4, Support for EasyTune

* Available functions in EasyTune may differ by motherboard model.

8, Support for Smart 6™

9, Support for eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)

10, Support for ON/OFF Charge

11, Support for Cloud OC

12, Support for 3TB+ Unlock

13, Support for TouchBIOS

14, Support for Q-Share

Bundle Software:

Norton Internet Security (OEM version)

Operating System:

Support for Microsoft^® Windows 7/Vista/XP

Form Factor:

E-ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 26.4cm

                                                Gigabyte G1.Assassin2