The Board - A Closer Look

Gigabyte's new gaming line-up is a large departure from their past black and green offerings, with the Gigabyte Z97X-GAMING G1 WIFI-BK their top-tiered option. I really love the robotic eye reference as it hints at the "Sniper" boards Gigabyte released for past platforms.


The Gigabyte Z97X-GAMING G1 WIFI-BK uses a unique dual-BIOS design with two physical chips soldered to the board's surface. Two switches along the board's bottom edge determine which BIOS is in use, with the other being a bootable fail-safe backup option the board automatically enables should the other fail, although you can force the board into single-BIOS mode, where it will only use the BIOS you pick, which is useful if you are, say, pushing the board hard and want some safety by isolating the other BIOS completely. Should things go wrong, simply flip the switch to boot from the other BIOS and re-flash the bad BIOS.


When in that single-BIOS mode, pushing to find your system's limits, monitoring voltages is a key part of getting as much as you can out of your system, so the Gigabyte Z97X-GAMING G1 WIFI-BK has some measurement points in an easily reachable location, with all critical lines available via a multi-meter. RESET, POWER, and Clear CMOS close-by, all accompanying buttons you might need when doing so are also readily available. With a dual-digit POST display here, this corner is solely dedicated to overclocking functionality.


I noticed an ITE Super I/O chip that provides monitoring and fan control, while an ASMedia part enables the rear I/O's additional USB 3.0 ports. The KillerNIC controller is an E2201-B, a different chipset from what I found on most other boards I have tested recently. Other boards mostly use KillerNIC E2205 chipsets.


Two Marvell 88SE9172-NNX2 controllers provide the additional SATA 6 Gb/s connectivity the Intel Z97 PCH does not provide. Each close to the ports they power, the Marvell controllers peek out from under the Intel Z97 PCH's bright red heatsink's edge.


The added PCIe connectivity is provided via a large PLX PCIe hub hidden under the heatsink shown above. These chipsets are known to produce a fair amount of heat, so I was not willing to remove the cooler as it could have affected the board's default thermal characteristics. I also found another PLX PCIe bridge, a 4-port, 4-lane device that probably connects to the additional devices found here, although it may power a couple of the PCIe x1 ports instead. I'm not entirely sure, to be honest, but made a note to check on whether I found anything seemingly affected by the use of so many bridge chips, and other than a bit of added thermal output, there was not much different to a normal board.


The Gigabyte Z97X-GAMING G1 WIFI-BK's audio portion is separate from the rest of the board, quite like all its overclocking features, which we see quite often now on motherboards, but Gigabyte's own design offers slightly different features than other boards. However, like the others, there is a clear line through the board that is illuminated by a bunch of LEDs placed along its length at various locations.


There are two available boost levels for those who want to boost the audio, each enabled via the physical switches shown above. A clear diagram close-by thankfully shows which is which, making their use pretty straightforward. Next to them are these impressive green bi-polarized capacitors which help keep the sound clear and accurate while those boost levels are enabled.


The specialized audio capacitors draw a clear line to the socketed OP-AMP, which boosts the signal while providing a bit of color based on the OP-AMP's exact amplification circuit design. Audiophiles have long ago gone over all the functionality of such devices, and there are, as such, many OP-AMPs of high quality to be found, each with a particular sound the board's socketed design allows you to swap in for that sound you like. While usually reserved to add-in cards and more common to BIOS chips, I was pretty impressed to see Gigabyte switch things up by putting a socket for such functionality in the right place, where users are more likely to make use of it. The OPA2134PA is a rather popular and fairly affordable OP-AMP, but getting and testing suitable replacements can quickly become expensive.

The entire audio design is also a part of the rear I/O panel, not the front panel as in some other designs, because keeping the signal path as short as possible lessens the chance of interference from outside sources. The back panel's connectors are gold-plated, a common audiophile feature that reduces corrosion, which happens as current passes from one place to the next. All in all, pretty impressive, although I think the test results will speak for themselves.