14 DAY TRIAL // While there are still more than three weeks left until the Intel Z68 chipset is officially launched, a Norwegian e-tailer has already listed the upcoming Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 motherboard on its website for the equivalent of $398 US.
The motherboard isn't in stock at this moment, but the website does feature a very brief specification list, which seems to hint that the board is just a revised version of the P67A-UD7.
Other manufacturers, such as MSI and ASRock, has also taken a similar route when they designed their Z68-powered motherboards, so its highly possible that Gigabyte has chosen to do the same.
This doesn't mean however that the board will be an exact replica of the P67A-UD7 as it will most surely pack a few extra features, characteristic to the company's new X-series boards, as well as dual-link DVI and HDMI video outputs (at the very least).
he Z68 chipset comes as a hybrid between the P67 and the H67 and was designed so as to allow for overclocking Sandy Bridge CPUs while using the integrated graphics.
Presently, this isn't supported by the P67 or H67 chipsets as the first one lacks the flexible display interface (FDI) that is required in order to use the on-die GPU while the latter doesn't allow for CPU multiplier adjustment.
Although most enthusiasts won't be interested in running the Sandy Bridge integrated GPU, opting for the Z68 could allow them to use the Quick Sync media accelerators packed inside Intel's second generation Core architecture.
This will significantly speed up the transcoding process without affecting the image quality of the resulting video, and only requires a Lucidlogix Virtu driver which enables on-the-fly GPU switching.
In addition, the chipset, also supports an SSD caching technology, called Smart Response by Intel, which allows users to speed up their storage system by pairing together a solid state disk with an HDD and using the former as a fast cache memory for the hard drive.
The Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 motherboard is listed at 2715 Norwegian kroner, which, excluding the 25% VAT, translates into about $398 US. The board should become available on May 8.