With the G1.Assassin, Gigabyte clearly targets gamers. Therefore the second biggest motherboard manufacturer in the world tries this with a very catchy design as well as some unique features made especially for gamers.
The G1.Assassin currently is Gigabytes absolute high-end motherboard regarding gaming. Therefore we're very curious if this thing is able to convince from a layout and design perspective.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Specifications / Delivery
| CPU | Intel Socket 1366 Core i7 |
| Chipset | Intel X58 |
| Memory | Triple Channel DDR3, 6 x DIMM, Max. 24 GB DDR3, 2200 (OC) / 2133 (OC) / 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered |
| Multi-GPU |
2-/3-/4-way ATI CrossFireX 2-/3-way NVIDIA SLI |
| Slots | 2 x PCI Express x16 (x16) (PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2) 2 x PCI Express x16 (x  (PCIEX8_1, PCIEX8_2)2 x PCI Express x1 1 x PCI |
| Sound | - Creative CA20K2 Chip - 2/4/5.1/7.1-Kanal |
| Storage | 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1) 6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD) 2 x eSATA 3 Gb/s |
| LAN | 1 x Bigfoot Killer E2100 Gbit |
| I/O internal / Connectors | 1 x 24-Pin-ATX-Power 2 x 8-Pin-ATX-12V-Power 2 x 4-Pin-PCIe-12V-Power 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 6 x SATA 3Gb/s 1 x CPU Fan Header 1 x System Fan Header 3 x Fan Header 1 x Front Panel Header 1 x Front Panel Audio Header 1 x S/PDIF Out 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 1 x Clear CMOS Jumper 1 x Quick Boost Button 1 x Heatsink LED |
| I/O external | 1 x PS/2-Tastatur 1 x PS/2-Maus 1 x Optischer S/PDIF Out 1 x Koaxialer S/PDIF Out 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 4 x USB 3.0/2.0 1 x RJ-45 5 x Audio Jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Side Speaker Out, Line In/Mic In, Line Out) |
| BIOS | 2 x 16 Mbit Flash, Award |
| Formfactor | XL-ATX Form Faktor; 34.5cm x 26.3cm |
Features
| Dolby Digital Live | This is a real-time encoding technology: Dolby Digital Live converts an audio signal into a Dolby Digital bitstream for transport and playback through a home theater system. With it, your PC can be hooked up to your Dolby Digital-equipped audio/video receiver or digital speaker system, eliminating the confusion of multiple cables and ensuring the integrity of the audio signal. |
| Front-Headphone-Amplifier | Specially designed for gamers, Gigabyte G1.Assassin utilize a high capacity amplifier which is able to drive 150Ω loads, allowing gamers to enjoy a fuller range of dynamic sound with crisper details and less distortion when using high quality professional headphones. The amplifier also features wide band-width, low noise, high slew rate and low distortion, making it ideal for a demanding audio usage. |
| Killer NIC | Gigabyte implements a Bigfoot Networks Killer E2100 NIC on its G1-Killer series motherboards. The combination of a NPU as well as specifc software profiles allows appropriate traffic routing with packet priorization which can prevent lag issues. |
| Front-Control-Panel | As part of its box kit, the G1.Assissin motherboard features a convenient Front Access Control Panel that allows quick and easy access to two additional USB 3.0 ports and Power eSATA. The Front Access Control Panel also features a Quick Boost. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Layout
Gigabyte provided the G1.Assassin with an independant color scheme. Already at a first glance one can see that this board belongs to an own product category. The PCB itself has been covered with a matte black color and the expansion slots, three DIMM slots as well as parts of the heatpipe are green. Altogether this really is one good looking board. The shape of the cooling blocks might be a matter of taste and it once more underlines the target group Gigabyte has.
For sure Gigabytes high-end gaming motherboard comes with some nice features. One thing they focussed on was good sound quality. Therefore the engineers at Gigabyte decided to to put a Creative CA20K2 chip onto the board which offers clean and crisp audio as well as realtime encoding capabilities. Furthermore there also is a Bigfoot Killer NIC on this board. One can argue about this chip but at least if you own a cheap router and you do a lot of downloading it will optimize your network performance because it can prioritize smaller netzwork packets.
Totally you'll find six DIMM-slots on the Gigabyte G1.Assassin. Officially supported are DDR3 - 2200(OC) / 2133 (OC) / 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 with up to 24 GByte capacity. Positioning of the DIMM-slots has been well thought which means they aren't too close to the CPU socket. Therefore there wont be incompatibilities between huge CPU coolers and big memory modules.
Northbridge as well as the current converters are being kept at adequate temperatures via a passive heatpipe cooling solution. The southbridge has also been connected to the heatpipe allowing efficient cooling. The fact that the cooling blocks around the CPU socket aren't too big makes it comfortable to install a big aircooler. We also noticed the very high manufacturing quality of the cooling blocks and their weight which is quite immense.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Connectors and I/O
Totally Gigabyte equipped the G1.Assassin with eight angled SATA ports which we think is enough for every gamer. Unfortunately there are no practical onboard power- and reset-buttons and there is also no debug LED. Another thing Gigabyte has thought of concerns the usage of more than one graphics card. If you place, let's say four, high-end video cards there will be no problems because between ever PCI-Express x16 slot there is an extra slot free of space. Unfortunately there the last expansion slot is a PCI-Express x16 which means that placing a graphics card in there renders makes the connectors at the bottom edge of the board useless.
Totally you'll find five fan headers on the Gigabyte G1.Assassin which is more than enough, to provide a gaming rig with plenty of fresh air. The fan headers are located around the CPU and their also spread over the entire board which makes it easy to access them from any position in an enclosure.
Looking at external connectors and buttons directly at the back-panel Gigabyte equipped the G1.Assassin with a PS2 mouse connector, a PS2 keyboard connector, four USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, an analogue audio panel as well as a coaxial and an optical audio out.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| With the G1.Assassin, Gigabyte has a motherboard in its portfolio that is tailored especially to the needs of gamers. Therefore we liked the high quality creative sound card delivers crisp and clear sound as well as realtime encoding. Futhermore there also is a Bigfoot Killer E2100 network chip which became kind of a defacto standard on gaming motherboards. One can argue on sense or nonsense of this chip but nevertheless it makes sense if you own a cheap router and if you'd like to have something that is capable of packet priorization (QoS). | -
Design - Layout - Creative sound card - Bigfoot Killer NIC |
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| Layout | + | - | |
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Generally the Gigabyte G1.Assassins layout is very well thought. Once more very practical are the angled SATA. Unfortunately there are no power- and reset-buttons. You also wont find a debug display which would become very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. If your thinking about a multi GPU setup you'll definitely like that there is plenty of space between the different PCI Express x16 slots which allows an adequate cooling of more than one GPU. One thing which has the potential to cause headaches is the XL-ATX formfactor of this board which makes it incompatible to quite a lot of cases. Furthermore the last expansion slot is a PCI-Express x16. If you put a dual slot graphics card in there the connectors at the bottom edge of the board will be blocked. |
- Angled SATA connectors
- Plenty of space between PCI Express x16 Slots
for Multi-GPU-Setup
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- XL-ATX Formfactor | |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch