Gigabyte G1.Assassin X58 Motherboard Review

Performance Summary: Throughout testing, the G1 Assassin regularly traded places with the two comparison boards. As one would expect, performance comparisons of motherboards from the same chipset family will yield very few surprises. After all, a processor will perform at its stock speed on one motherboard just as well at it would another, with only a few minor variances in chipset timings from one manufacturer to the other. The big differences lie in the features each motherboard has to offer, and the individual design of the product.

The market for X58 motherboards is filled with mature products that have been available for some time. There are lots of options for those who want to upgrade their current platform. ASRock sells a board starting at $154, and every major company offers base model X58 boards around $170. But of course, the G1 Assassin sits at the opposite end of the spectrum. At this price point, comparable options include the Asus Rampage III Extreme, or Black Edition, or EVGA's Classified 770, and Gigabyte's own X58A-OC or G1 Sniper. These boards cost approximately $400 and up, and offer similar features.

Gigabyte's G1 Assassin motherboard does not disappoint. It performed on par with other high-end competition, while bringing some new features to market. Specifically, we liked the inclusion of Bigfoot Network's Killer E2100 chip for enhanced online gaming, and the unique heat sink design that speaks directly to our gamer sense of style and soul. Just remember these features don't come cheap. If you're on a budget, look somewhere else.

So would we recommend this product? It really depends on your current situation. If you're already married to X58 and rocking a six-core 990X Extreme Edition Gulftown, the G1 Assassin could be a nice upgrade over previous motherboard models. But if you're building from scratch, there are other platforms like P67 and Z68 that offer support for the latest advanced processor and features, as well as lower price tags. Also keep in mind, Intel's next-gen enthusiast platform is only a few months away.  That said, in terms of currently available hardware, the X58 chipset also offers the best performance money can buy for Intel's Core i7 and it's also the only Intel chipset to provide true dual X16/X16 PCIe connectivity for multi-GPUs setups as well. And so, if you want it all, boards like Gigabyte's G1 Assassin certainly deliver.

Unique heatsink design SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0 Bigfoot Networks Killer E2100 NIC	Expensive Aging platform