GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards announced today the new X99M-Gaming 5, a mATX addition to its X99 lineup based on the Intel X99 chipset with support for the new Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (Haswell-E) processor and latest DDR4 memory support.

With the GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard, the ultimate gaming station does not have to be bulky and expensive. With a compact, yet feature rich design, the X99M-Gaming 5 is an affordable solution packed with high-end features including GIGABYTE AMP-UP audio technologies, onboard SATA-Express and M.2 ports for fast data transfers, and a Killer gigabit Lan port from Qualcomm Atheros for better online gaming performance.

Gigabyte announced the GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce Tri-SLI (model: GV-N980X3WA-4GD), arguably the highest pixel-crunching power that ever came out of a single box. This contraption is a trio of GeForce GTX 980 graphics cards, with a factory-fitted liquid cooling loop, which sits outside your case. Each of the three cards features a factory-overclocked GTX 980 chip featuring 1228 MHz core, 1329 MHz GPU Boost, and 7.00 GHz memory; with a liquid-cooling pump-block over the GPU, and a base-plate that conveys heat from the memory and VRM to that block, using heat-pipes.

Coolant tubes from the three cards meet at the external unit, that has an independent 120 x 120 mm radiator for each of the three cards. Fan-speeds and coolant pressure of each of the three loops can be controlled at the unit's front-panel, which features an LCD display with coolant temperature and fan-speed readouts. Also part of the kit, are a custom 3-way SLI bridge, a reinforcement beam that counteracts PCB bending, a 5.25-inch front-panel bezel, from which the coolant tubes make their way out of the case, and to the external unit, and some tubing managment grommets. Gigabyte didn't announce pricing or availability.

GIGABYTE, the world's leading premium hardware brand, announces the release of the Raptor FPS gaming mouse, the champion design from the 2013 GIGABYTE Make It Real Mouse Design Competition. Co-designed by three emerging designers, this award winning piece was highly appraised by all judges and won the opportunity to turn the prototype into a mass-produced product. With its ergonomic low profile and lightweight design, the Raptor is crafted for claw and fingertip grip gamers to perform sharper movements and quick attacks with precision in comfort.

Resembling the sickle-shaped raptor claws, the GIGABYTE Raptor gaming mouse outlines a deadly weapon crafted for serious FPS players. Its compact body offers them with the agility to perform with sharp and precision movements quickly during intense in-game shooting. The optimally positioned sniper hotkey also provides a valuable tool in the combat, helping gamers immediately lower the cursor speed while aiming at the target to assure accuracy for every single headshot whilst making a rapid move or a sharp turn.

Gigabyte took the concept of H81M-WW a notch higher, and gave it the G1.Gaming branding. So what, if you can't run PCI-Express gen 3.0 graphics cards at their native gen 3.0 bus speeds, the H81 Express chipset must still amount for something? Gigabyte thinks so, and launched a G1.Gaming branded entry-level micro-ATX motherboard based on the chipset, which Intel reserves for "essential computing."

The new H81M-Gaming 3 is mostly identical to the H81M-WW, and the only visual differences we can spot are the second PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slot on the former, instead of the latter's legacy PCI; and the fancier PCH heatsink. The board still gives you onboard audio with audio-grade electrolytic capacitors and ground-layer isolation, even if its centerpiece, the ALC892 CODEC, doesn't have a three-figure SNR. One notable difference here is Gigabyte opting for an Intel-made gigabit Ethernet controller, instead of the cheaper Realtek-made one on the H81M-WW. Gigabyte didn't announce pricing or availability, but something tells us this package could sell well with entry-level gaming PC builders.

A time-traveler from two years ago would see the graphics card below to be a $100-ish mainstream fare, but looks can be extremely deceptive. This puppy packs more bite than a Radeon R9 290X. Gigabyte's latest creation puts a GeForce GTX 970 into a compact board that should play well with mini-ITX builds. The GTX 970 ITX card (model: N970IX-OC) features a full-height PCB that's about as long as a mini-ITX motherboard (17 cm), and a dense WindForce cooling solution that uses a single 100 mm fan to ventilate a dense aluminium fin heatsink, to which heat is fed by two 8 mm thick, and one 5 mm thick copper heat-pipes.

The card draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include one HDMI 2.0, two dual-link DVI, and three DisplayPort 1.2 connectors. It comes with factory-overclocked speeds of 1076 MHz core and 1216 MHz GPU Boost, compared to reference clocks of 1051/1178 MHz. The memory is left untouched at 7.00 GHz. The best part about this card is its price. Gigabyte is charging no premium, pricing it at US $329.99.

Gigabyte rolled out its second factory-overclocked GeForce GTX 970 graphics card after the GTX 970 G1.Gaming, the GTX 970 WindForce OC (model: GV-N970WF3OC-4GD). Its board design is identical to that of the GTX 970 G1.Gaming, but its factory-overclock is milder. The card ships with factory-overclocked speeds of 1114 MHz core, 1253 MHz GPU Boost, and 7.00 GHz memory, compared to the 1178 MHz core and 1253 MHz GPU Boost of the G1.Gaming, and NVIDIA reference speeds of 1050 MHz core, and 1178 MHz GPU Boost. The card features Gigabyte's new generation WindForce 3X cooling solution, which is capable of handling heavy thermal loads, which may look surplus to requirements for a 170W GPU, but serves to keep temperatures off the hair-trigger 80°C thermal limit. Based on the 28 nm GM204 silicon, the GeForce GTX 970 features 1664 CUDA cores, 104 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 4 GB of memory. Expect this card to be priced around US $350.

GIGABYTE, the world's leading premium hardware brand, introduces its latest gaming headset line, the FORCE H Series. Crafted for music lovers and audio-savvy gamers having uncompromising enthusiasm for music and gaming audio, the new FORCE H Series consist of five headsets that are all packed with unique ergonomic design and extraordinary audio engineering, delivering the optimized multi-dimensional comfort in sound, wear and control. Its sleek profile incorporates rigid, directional angles with asymmetrically polygonal patterns that beautifully stretch throughout the entire body, screaming a loud racing outlook that prepares gamers to fire on all cylinders for the upcoming battles.

Sound in Comfort
Each FORCE H Series headset is engineered with different audio technology suitable for each gaming needs. The flagship H7 and H5 feature real 5.1 and virtual 7.1 surround sound engine respectively for gamers seeking professional grade gaming audio performance. For immersive, true-to-life gaming experience, the H3 and H3X, built in with 50 mm neodymium magnet driver and inclined chambers, offers crisp in-game details with explosive bass and incredible positional audio to hardcore gamers. The H1 comes with high-fidelity sound quality via Bluetooth technology, making it perfect for mobile gaming.

Gigabyte launched the H81M-WW, its newest entry-level socket LGA1150 motherboard, in the compact micro-ATX form-factor, and based in Intel H81 Express chipset. Its unique selling point is an unusual onboard audio solution. The board features a Realtek ALC887 HD audio CODEC in the 6-channel configuration. Its 8-channel configuration is possible, if you plug in two channels through the jack wired to the front-panel audio header. The CODEC itself isn't impressive, with its under 90 dBA SNR, but is backed by Nichicon audio-grade electrolytic capacitors, and ground-layer isolation from the rest of the board.

The rest of its feature-set is pretty basic. The H81M-WW draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 4-pin CPU power connectors, and features a basic 3-phase CPU VRM. The CPU is wired to a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot. Other expansion slots include one each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes two each of SATA 6 Gb/s and SATA 3 Gb/s ports. The only display output is a D-Sub (analog, max resolution 1920 x 1200). The board's other legacy connectivity includes one each of serial (COM) and parallel (LPT). Two USB 3.0 ports, and a gigabit Ethernet connection make for the rest of it.

Gigabyte announced a new G1.Gaming series socket LGA1150 motherboard for gamers who don't plan on overclocking their CPUs, the G1.Sniper B6. Retaining the classic black+green color scheme, which should go well with reference-design GTX 980 and GTX 970 graphics cards, the G1.Sniper B6 is based on Intel B85 Express chipset, and comes with out of the box support for Core "Haswell" and "Devil's Canyon" CPUs. On the flip-side, while the board features two long PCI-Express x16 slots, only one of the two is gen 3.0 x16, and wired to the CPU. The other is electrical gen 2.0 x4, wired to the PCH, instead. The board hence lacks NVIDIA SLI support.

Drawing power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, the board features an 8-phase CPU VRM. Other expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes an M.2 10 Gb/s slot, and four SATA 6 Gb/s and two SATA 3 Gb/s ports. Gamer-grade features include AMP UP onboard audio featuring an EMI-shielded 115 dBA SNR CODEC, ground-layer isolation, audio-grade electrolytic capacitors, and a user-replaceable headphones amp; and Intel gigabit Ethernet. Expect this board to be priced under $120.

CyberPower Inc., a global manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, gaming laptops, and performance workstations, today announced it is adding a series of GIGABYTE gaming enthusiast notebooks to its VENOMX custom configuration service. Customers can now purchase select GIGABYTE-branded products direct from CyberPower Inc. and customize them to their own specifications.

The latest GIGABYTE products available under the program are the VENOMX GIGABYTE P25X2 and P25W2, as well as the Zeusbook Edge X4 high-performance gaming notebooks. With VENOMX, customers can custom configure their VENOMX GIGABYTE notebook with a full menu of CPU, GPU, RAM and other hardware and service upgrades such as factory-warranted overclocking.

GIGABYTE, the world's leading premium hardware brand, is pleased to launch the AIRE M93 ICE Rechargeable Mouse for Anywhere, a new AIRE Series computer mouse featuring GIGABYTE ICE Technology, which allows the mouse to work virtually anywhere, such as glass, polished granite, or any other high-gloss surfaces.

For enhancing computing experience, GIGABYTE endeavors to create products that delight consumers by understanding what users need. As people are taking their laptop PC to various different places, they come across a wide range of challenging spaces and surfaces that overwhelm standard wired mice. To meet such mobility needs, a mouse free from tangling wires with a convenient battery charge system and can also work on any kind of surfaces will benefit users significantly.

ASUS is preparing to cut prices of its motherboards by 5-10%, according a Taiwan-based newspaper. The Economic Daily News (translated) reports that the company is preparing these 5-10% retail price-cuts across its lineup, in a bid to compete better with second-best (by volume) Gigabyte, trailed closely by ASRock, and MSI. The paper observes that the cuts could impact Gigabyte's sales in China, making it fall short of its 5.5-6 million units shipped goal, down to 5.4 million, in Q3 2014. Its annual target of 21.5 million could drop to 20 million. ASUS shipped 10.4 million motherboards in the first half (Q1 and Q2) of 2014, and aims to ship 22.1 million units by the year-end.Update (17/09): ASUS stated that it currently does not plan to cut prices of its motherboards.

Gigabyte rolled out the entry-level H97-DS3H socket LGA1150 motherboard. Built in the ATX form-factor (305 mm x 190 mm), and based on Intel H97 Express chipset, the board features a mixture of legacy and modern connectivity that make it fit for office desktop builds. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors. It features a super-simple 2+1 phase CPU VRM. The CPU socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, and one PCI-Express 3.0 x16. Other expansion slots include PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4), and two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI.

Storage connectivity on the H97-DS3H include six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Display outputs include one each of dual-link DVI, D-Sub (VGA), and HDMI. Legacy connectivity includes PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, COM (serial) and LPT (parallel) headers. On to the more modern connectivity, and you get gigabit Ethernet, 6-channel HD audio, four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers), and a number of USB 2.0 ports. The board is driven by UEFI BIOS. Gigabyte dropped in its dual-UEFI BIOS redundancy. Expect a sub-$100 pricing.

Gigabyte joined the Radeon R9 285 launch party with a WindForce OC graphics card. The card uses a twin-fan WindForce 2X Triangle-Cool heatsink, which the company implemented on several performance-segment graphics cards, from both camps. The card features a factory-overclock of 973 MHz, with 5.50 GHz memory. Other Gigabyte-exclusives include gold-plated HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, which totally improve the quality of your digital video content. Or so thinks Gigabyte. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the R9 285 from AMD features 1,792 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide memory interface, which holds 2 GB of memory on this card.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the availability of their new X99 motherboard lineup based on the Intel X99 chipset with support for Intel's new Core i7 Extreme Edition (LGA 2011-v3 socket) processors and latest DDR4 memory support. Featuring 3 main categories of motherboards including G1 gaming, SOC overclocking and signature GIGABYTE Ultra Durable, GIGABYTE has an X99 series motherboard custom built for any 'Dream Machine' build.

"Given this incredibly powerful platform from Intel, GIGABYTE wanted to make sure each one of our X99 series motherboards delivered that 'WOW' factor for our enthusiast customers," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "In addition to being the first motherboards to support the latest Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition CPUs and recently released DDR4 memory, GIGABYTE X99 motherboards offer an extensive range of unique GIGABYTE features that truly unlock the full potential of the platform."

Much like ASUS, Gigabyte has branched its high-end DIY motherboard lineup into gamer and overclocker-centric ones, while retaining a mainline. The Gaming G1 series targets gamers, while the SuperOverclock Force (SOC Force) targets overclockers. The mainline Ultra Durable brand still draws some buyers to it, and Gigabyte has them covered with a high-end motherboard that gives them a balanced feature-set. The X99-UD7 is that product.

The X99-UD7 features a PCB that's 90% identical to that of the X99 Gaming G1 WiFi. The 10% that remains is toward the board's south-west, where the X99-UD7 features a different onboard audio solution across the "fence" (ground-layer isolation). The one on the X99-UD7 features audio-grade electrolytic capacitors, although not the green Nichicon-made ones found on the X99 Gaming G1 WiFi. It also lacks user-replaceable OPAMP. The rest of the feature-set is identical, barring cosmetic differences, like the heatsink color scheme.

It turns out that our older report suggesting that the most affordable of Intel's new Core i7 "Haswell-E" HEDT processors will feature a slimmer PCI-Express root complex, even if it gives you 6 cores at a [hopefully] sub-$400 price-point, holds true, after all. Intel's wacky approach to its latest HEDT processor lineup was confirmed by leaked manuals of Gigabyte's socket LGA2011-3 motherboards, based on the Intel X99 Express chipset. The manual confirms that while Intel's $500-$750 Core i7-5930K and >$1,000 Core i7-4960X offer bigger 40-lane PCI-Express Gen 3.0 root complexes; the Core i7-5820K features a narrower 28-lane one. This means that multi-GPU configurations on systems running the chip won't be too different from those on LGA1150 "Haswell" platforms.

On motherboards with, say, three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, the i7-5930K and i7-5960X will let you run two slots at full x16 bandwidth, and a third slot at x8. On systems with the i7-5820K, the second slot won't go beyond x8, and the third one will cap out at x4. On boards with four slots, one of them will run out of bandwidth. The trade-off for this narrower PCI-Express interface is the fact that you're getting six "Haswell" cores, twelve logical CPUs enabled with HyperThreading, about 12 MB of L3 cache, and a quad-channel DDR4 memory interface, at a price-point not too far off from the Core i7-4790K. So for enthusiasts with no more than two high-end graphics cards, the i7-5820K could provide an attractive gateway option to Intel's new HEDT platform. You can find the leaked manuals in this thread.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced its latest overclocking contest hosted on HWBOT.org, the GIGABYTE Z97-Pentium AE Beat the Heat Challenge. The main focus will be centered on the latest GIGABYTE 9 series motherboards and the G3258 Intel Pentium Anniversary Edition CPU. The challenge is open to all HWBOT.org overclockers and will be separated in 5 stages running various benchmarks on air/water cooling and LN2 cooling. A total of USD $2,000 in cash prizes and two GIGABYTE Z97X-SOC LN2 will be offered to the winners, as well as a lucky draw with 5 participants winning a GIGABYTE G-Powerboard kit.

EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce a a new Full Board water block kit for the latest GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-SOC Force overclocking motherboard.

EK-FB KIT GA Z97X-SOC Force full-board water block kit is a complete liquid cooling solution for GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-SOC Force motherboard. The water blocks directly cools Intel Z97 Express southbridge (PCH) and power regulation (VRM / MOSFETs) module. The two-piece set of water blocks feature high flow design that can be easily used with systems using weaker water pumps.

Ahead of its late-August launch, a picture of Gigabyte's flagship socket LGA2011-3 motherboard targeted at overclockers, the X99-SOC Force, leaked to the web. It reveals a monstrosity. In addition to overclocker-friendly VRM brawn, the board introduces a few segment-first features. To begin with, it's built in the ATX form-factor, and draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and SATA power connectors. It uses an 8+2+2 phase VRM to power the CPU and memory. The CPU socket is wired to eight DDR4 DIMM slots, and four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots.

Overclocker features include onboard clock and voltage tuning buttons, voltage measurement points, redundant UEFI Dual-BIOS, and more. Storage connectivity includes a 20 Gb/s (PCI-Express 2.0 x4 physical layer) M.2 slot, a SATA-Express 10 Gb/s port, and ten SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Other features include Gigabyte's AmpUP audio solution that features audiophile-grade capacitors, ground-layer isolation, and user-replaceable OPAMP chips, Intel-made gigabit Ethernet, and a number of USB 3.0 ports.

Here's the first picture of Gigabyte's new socket LGA2011-3 motherboard, the X99 Gaming G1. Designed for Core i7 "Haswell-E" processors, the board is packed to the brim with features, although it's positioned in the mainline lineup. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, and conditions it for the CPU using an 8-phase VRM. The CPU socket is wired to eight DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory; and four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots.

Storage connectivity includes ten SATA 6 Gb/s, one SATA-Express 10 Gb/s, and an M.2 slot. Network connectivity include 802.11 ac WLAN, Bluetooth 4.0, and gigabit Ethernet, driven by Qualcomm Killer E2200. The Sound Core3D audio solution features a user-replaceable headphone amp, audio-grade capacitors, and ground-layer isolation. A number of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0/1.1 ports make for the rest of it.

GIGABYTE today announced the Q21, a lightweight and affordable 11.6" laptop with high mobility needs. Powered by an upgraded Intel Celeron Processor, the Q21 brings enhanced integrated graphic core processing, delivering a satisfying experience for executing daily tasks and web browsing. The built-in dual storage provides massive capacity for personal data without sacrificing transmission speed on its rapid mSATA SSD. The Q21 strikes a perfect balance for those who pursue mobility, quality and great value.

Multicore Performance and Power Efficiency with Intel Celeron Processor
The high-performance Celeron processor on Q21 includes Intel Burst Technology 2.0 with four cores, four threads and 2 MB L2 cache, offering triple the graphics capabilities of previous-generation Atom processors. The new 22 nm microarchitecture brings performance increases without sacrificing energy efficiency. Intel HD Graphics Technology with Intel Clear Video HD Technology delivers smooth visuals and an unparalleled multimedia experience. Q21 also supports the latest DX11 for expanded PC application, game support and mobile entertainment.

A Gigabyte executive, in an interview with Expreview on the sidelines of ChinaJoy Game Developers Conference, confirmed that NVIDIA will launch its next-generation GeForce GTX 880 high-end graphics card in September, 2014. He said that in context of disclosing that his company is working on a custom-design card based on the new chip, named GTX 880 G1.Gamer. The new card will be designed with a massive cooler capable of handling thermal loads as high as 650W. What this means is, with its fans spooled down, the cooler will be able to passively cool the GPU over a wider temperature band, regardless of the GPU load. The fans will begin to kick in only at a higher temperature. Based on the "Maxwell" architecture, the GTX 880 could step up performance-per-Watt metrics for NVIDIA.

Here are some of the first pictures of Gigabyte's Essence mini-ITX case. Designed for entry-level mini-ITX desktops that can be fan-less, the Essence measures 300 mm x 234 mm x 74 mm; and is made of SECC steel and plastic. Its design involves a main cubicle inclined onto a stand, which encloses its power supply. A 120W external power brick supplies 12V, which it then gives out as various ATX standard power connectors. The case can hold a full-height mini-ITX motherboard, and a 2.5-inch drive. The case is beginning to sell in Japan, priced at the equivalent of $130. The source doesn't expect it to be priced above $100 in western markets.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the winners of the GIGABYTE CATZILLA OC Contest hosted on HWBOT.org. With $1,000 and two GIGABYTE Z97 series motherboards up for grabs, the GIGABYTE CATZILLA OC Contest invited the overclocking community to push their hardware to the limit by running the custom made CATZILLA benchmark skin on their GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboard.