Gigabyte G1.Sniper3 Z77 Motherboard Review

Performance Summary: The Gigabyte G1.Sniper3 delivered solid numbers across the board--not necessarily blowing away the competition, but certainly edging it out on occasion and holding its own throughout testing. The Crysis score was lower than expected, but based on our other tests, this board doesn't have any performance concerns. Although it does gobble up more juice at idle than any other Z77 Express-based motherboard we've tested to date.


Where the G1.Sniper3 shines is overclocking; we were able to goose the system to 4.73GHz with the Core i7-2600K inside (with air cooling and stock voltages), which was much better than all but one of the other boards we've tested so far. Further, the motherboard proved to be rock stable as we pushed the base clock up to 106 (with a x45 multiplier) without any stability issues whatsoever. The best performance actually came at 105/x45, but the system never crashed once even when we had it overclocked too far for it to operate at an optimal level.

With so much headroom, plenty of features, and ample graphics expansion--remember that this mainboard supports four-way graphics with cards running at x8 each--the G1.Sniper3 is as feature rich as they come.

The price tag isn’t bad, either--you can snag one of these bad boys for $279.99. Granted, you can opt for a Z77 board that costs less and still get the performance and features you need, but if you’re looking for a gaming motherboard with excellent overclocking and expansion capabilities, and eye-catching aesthetics, the G1.Sniper3 definitely gives you the right bang for your buck.