Gigabyte has offered up a few hints regarding its upcoming Intel Z87 chipset motherboards, due to launch alongside Intel's Haswell family of processors later this year.
Currently, the company is only publicly discussing two models in its upcoming Haswell-compatible range: the G1 Killer Z87 and the GA-Z87X-OC, both aimed firmly at the enthusiast market and both featuring Intel's Z87 chipset in order to support the fourth-generation Core family of chips in their LGA1150 packaging.
The first Haswell compatible board, the G1 Killer Z87, comes with a raft of features designed to please enthusiasts: the audio connections, which are mated to a Creative Labs Core3D onboard audio processor, feature gold-plating, as do the DisplayPort and HDMI connectors, while the latest revision of the company's Ultra Durable design - dubbed, imaginatively, Ultra Durable 5 - are to feature, including revised power circuitry and long-life solid-state capacitors.
The key feature of the G1 Killer, however, is its onboard heatsinks: while capable of being used stand-alone, the design of the heatsinks that cover the voltage regulator modules (VRMs) and other heat-producing components are such that they can be integrated into a watercooling loop with no additional hardware required. While full details have yet to be provided, a teaser image shows a combination passive-cooling heatsink with a central water channel for integration into a loop.
The GA-Z87X-OC, meanwhile, is aimed more at extreme overclockers - hence its 'OC' suffix. Based on the same Z87 chipset, the board is to be exclusively available in the EATX form factor and includes both the liquid-cooling capabilities of its smaller brother along with tweaks that make it suitable for use with liquid nitrogen cooling. Combined with on-board controls to adjust the overclock without having to reboot and access the BIOS, Gigabyte is clearly hoping to win the hearts of top-end overclocking enthusiasts with the GA-Z87X-OC.
Thus far, Gigabyte has not offered any clue as to how much the boards will cost, nor when it plans to release them into the market - but with rumours spreading that Intel is planning a June launch for its Haswell chips, the boards are likely to appear sooner rather than later. If you need more pretty pictures to drool over in the meantime, the company has publsihed a teaser gallery on its Facebook page.
Currently, the company is only publicly discussing two models in its upcoming Haswell-compatible range: the G1 Killer Z87 and the GA-Z87X-OC, both aimed firmly at the enthusiast market and both featuring Intel's Z87 chipset in order to support the fourth-generation Core family of chips in their LGA1150 packaging.
The first Haswell compatible board, the G1 Killer Z87, comes with a raft of features designed to please enthusiasts: the audio connections, which are mated to a Creative Labs Core3D onboard audio processor, feature gold-plating, as do the DisplayPort and HDMI connectors, while the latest revision of the company's Ultra Durable design - dubbed, imaginatively, Ultra Durable 5 - are to feature, including revised power circuitry and long-life solid-state capacitors.
The key feature of the G1 Killer, however, is its onboard heatsinks: while capable of being used stand-alone, the design of the heatsinks that cover the voltage regulator modules (VRMs) and other heat-producing components are such that they can be integrated into a watercooling loop with no additional hardware required. While full details have yet to be provided, a teaser image shows a combination passive-cooling heatsink with a central water channel for integration into a loop.
The GA-Z87X-OC, meanwhile, is aimed more at extreme overclockers - hence its 'OC' suffix. Based on the same Z87 chipset, the board is to be exclusively available in the EATX form factor and includes both the liquid-cooling capabilities of its smaller brother along with tweaks that make it suitable for use with liquid nitrogen cooling. Combined with on-board controls to adjust the overclock without having to reboot and access the BIOS, Gigabyte is clearly hoping to win the hearts of top-end overclocking enthusiasts with the GA-Z87X-OC.
Thus far, Gigabyte has not offered any clue as to how much the boards will cost, nor when it plans to release them into the market - but with rumours spreading that Intel is planning a June launch for its Haswell chips, the boards are likely to appear sooner rather than later. If you need more pretty pictures to drool over in the meantime, the company has publsihed a teaser gallery on its Facebook page.
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