TheOverclocker Issue 37 | Page 27

(loads the last successful boot even after CMOS clearing). Of course there are other several switches and buttons for you to work with, but these are the stand out ones which aren’t actually new to this line of motherboards. GIGABYTE may not admit this when asked directly, but it is without question that what makes this motherboard useful and practical in an overclocking context is this very area/OC Touch region of the board. It is reductionism you may think but consider that, GIGABYTE largely uses an identical BIOS for all the motherboards. Thus there’s not anything to marvel at within which is distinctively different from what the gaming boards offer. For the most part in fact, outside of LN2 overclocking, the performance and tuning capabilities are identical. If there’s any positive criticism one may have for this motherboard is that once again the BIOS is not a 1:1 match for how fantastic the actual board in electronically and by design. It is a culmination of the best mechanical/ electronic wizardry, which is vastly superior to the software driving it. This has been the narrative for GIGABYTE OC boards for a while, but the discrepancy between these two elements varies and in some cases, (such as the X99 SOC-FORCE) the BIOS holds its own against the rest of the motherboard making for the most compelling overclocking offering for that particular platform to date. Moving farther on you may have noticed again the vast connectivity options that GIGABYTE is offering with this motherboard. Yes we’ve pretty much gotten over the inclusion of USB 3.1 Type A and Type C connectors, which of course are present here. It is however, the dual USB connectors near the SATA ports which add Issue 37 | 2016 The OverClocker 27