Gigabyte mobo + ssd caching = Z68XP-UD3-iSSD

panyan · 28 May 2011 at 23:30

seeing as nobody has reported this yet:

"Gigabyte has decided to simplify matters for those who want the power of an SSD in their desktop, but don't want to deal with the hassle of buying and connecting one. The company's new Z68XP-UD3-iSSD (catchy, no?) motherboard comes with a 20GB Intel SSD 311 mounted right on it. It's not clear if you can simply dump files on it like a normal drive -- what it can do, however, is use Intel's Smart Response tech to cache frequently accessed data, like your OS, to improve performance. Essentially, it turns any hard disk you connect to the system into a hybrid drive with a much larger reserve of flash storage, which should sound somewhat familiar. The board also features the ability to switch between discrete and built-in graphics thanks to Lucid Logix's Virtu. The rest of the features are pretty standard fare: USB 3.0, a pair of 16x PCI-E slots, and 6GB SATA connections. The latest Z68 board from Gigabyte will go on sale early in June and, while we don't have a price, we've done a little (PR) embedding of our own after the break. "

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/28/gigabyte-bolts-an-ssd-to-a-motherboard-so-you-dont-have-to/

Deathwish · 29 May 2011 at 00:02

Wonder what happens if you pair it up with another SSD? Speedier than a speedy thing on speed?

Surveyor · 29 May 2011 at 00:12

Deathwish said:
Wonder what happens if you pair it up with another SSD? Speedier than a speedy thing on speed?

SSD Caching only works with a mechanical HDD as the main drive.

panyan · 29 May 2011 at 11:54

Deathwish said:
Wonder what happens if you pair it up with another SSD? Speedier than a speedy thing on speed?

Surveyor said:
SSD Caching only works with a mechanical HDD as the main drive.

use superfast ssd to cache a slower ssd

RaMDOM · 29 May 2011 at 19:19

This might be interesting. I am in the Market for an upgrade and am now looking at a z68 board for the sad caching, thanks go OcUK Forumites for pointing them out to me.

Was looking at the Asrock board and a 30gig ssd. If this turns out to be a competitive price to those two together I might look into it. Have always liked the Gigabyte boards, but will wait for a few reviews I think.

PR. · 29 May 2011 at 19:56

After my experience with a Gigabyte H67 mobo, I won't look at GB again until they ditch their "Dual BIOS (with 3TB+ support)" and use a proper UEFI system.

Rroff · 29 May 2011 at 20:02

That seems an awfully petty reason not to use one.

r0cky · 4 Jul 2011 at 13:43

Thinking of this Motherboard, any experiences?

ewarwoowar · 4 Jul 2011 at 13:48

PR. said:
After my experience with a Gigabyte H67 mobo, I won't look at GB again until they ditch their "Dual BIOS (with 3TB+ support)" and use a proper UEFI system.

Poor reason is poor.

BIOS>UEFI

KelDG · 4 Jul 2011 at 15:24

That is a pretty cool idea, it also looks like you can replace it as well in case it goes duff.

Also BIOS vs UEFI who cares as long as the option to crank up your CPU is there.

nightmare99 · 4 Jul 2011 at 19:53

Poor reason is poor.

BIOS>UEFI

Lol fight the future why don't you, I bet you stuck to windows 98 for ages as well

There is a roundup of something like 8 Brazos boards on tomshardware and gigabyte is the only one rocking a legacy bios.

Ultim8 · 5 Jul 2011 at 23:28

Whats all the hype about UEFI, sure its newer but does it really mean its better?
How often/long do you spend in your bios and more importantly does it affect the performance and overclocking? If anything an older more tested bios will win when it comes to stability and overclocking.