Gigabyte Z77 G.1 Sniper 3

[Skyguy]

Gigabyte introduced their gamer-oriented “Sniper" branded motherboard series with the X58 chipset and today they continue the Sniper 3 series with the Z77 chipset and we have to say, it's a real badass looking motherboard.



Click Gigabyte Z77 G.1 Sniper 3 for the full review.

[Solara2xb]

Nice review Jimbo!! This is a great board!!

[Doctor_Death]

Good review Jim! looks like another winner for Gigabyte, a lot of people want this board

[aryan51]

nice review jimbo

[Drdeath]

Thanks guys. I would pu the Sniper on the top of my list if I were making a build.

[Solara2xb]

This board is also at the top of my list also.. Too bad money is tight and I can't get it yet.

[kzinti1]

Not a very good board at all by my experience.
It completely died after just a couple of weeks. I did every check I could with every component on a working board and this one is just plain dead.
No POST. No beep code. Not even any code showing on the LED.
The battery checks out fine as does the psu. All the jumpers are in the right places. The cpu works just fine, except a lot cooler, on another board (an ASUS, not that it matters).
When it was still running it was just plain buggy. Even when flashed with the latest BIOS it failed to recognize GSkill memory. Wildly varying voltages using its own monitor and the same using CPU-Z, CPUID, SANDRA and AIDA 64.
You say it recognizes an SSD? If so, then they aren't on speaking terms. I had to dig out a spare hdd I was saving for extra storage. It never saw my mSATA, either.
Warm running you say? How about 95C after just a few seconds of Prime 95? I immediately shut it down when that happened. My Corsair H100 was reseated several times just to be sure, and it did the same each time. There's nothing wrong with the H100 cooling my other boards, either.
I just hope Gigabyte's RMA dept. is worth shipping this brick to. This time around. My last Gigabyte board mysteriously developed a lot of bent pins when I RMA'd it back then. I swore off of Gigabyte back then but, unfortunately, waivered on that vow. It's really quite a beautiful brick.
I now have a new ASUS Maximus V Formula waiting on me to install it. Time's at a premium right now.
BTW, if you get a working board, EasyTune 6 does NOT open when you click the desktop icon. All it does is cause another icon to appear in your toolbar. When it does, you have to right click it and then click Open in the context menu. It isn't in the manual, Gigabyte didn't mention it when I created a ticket telling them the program wouldn't load. I lost count of how many times I erased and reinstalled that program before I stumbled on the solution with no help from Gigabyte at all. I'm really expecting none from the RMA but I have to try.
Maybe I need to have my own Review Site so I can get cherry picked motherboards and other components as you people obviously do.

[Drdeath]

Not a very good board at all by my experience.
It completely died after just a couple of weeks. I did every check I could with every component on a working board and this one is just plain dead.
No POST. No beep code. Not even any code showing on the LED.
The battery checks out fine as does the psu. All the jumpers are in the right places. The cpu works just fine, except a lot cooler, on another board (an ASUS, not that it matters).
When it was still running it was just plain buggy. Even when flashed with the latest BIOS it failed to recognize GSkill memory. Wildly varying voltages using its own monitor and the same using CPU-Z, CPUID, SANDRA and AIDA 64.
You say it recognizes an SSD? If so, then they aren't on speaking terms. I had to dig out a spare hdd I was saving for extra storage. It never saw my mSATA, either.
Warm running you say? How about 95C after just a few seconds of Prime 95? I immediately shut it down when that happened. My Corsair H100 was reseated several times just to be sure, and it did the same each time. There's nothing wrong with the H100 cooling my other boards, either.
I just hope Gigabyte's RMA dept. is worth shipping this brick to. This time around. My last Gigabyte board mysteriously developed a lot of bent pins when I RMA'd it back then. I swore off of Gigabyte back then but, unfortunately, waivered on that vow. It's really quite a beautiful brick.
I now have a new ASUS Maximus V Formula waiting on me to install it. Time's at a premium right now.
BTW, if you get a working board, EasyTune 6 does NOT open when you click the desktop icon. All it does is cause another icon to appear in your toolbar. When it does, you have to right click it and then click Open in the context menu. It isn't in the manual, Gigabyte didn't mention it when I created a ticket telling them the program wouldn't load. I lost count of how many times I erased and reinstalled that program before I stumbled on the solution with no help from Gigabyte at all. I'm really expecting none from the RMA but I have to try.
Maybe I need to have my own Review Site so I can get cherry picked motherboards and other components as you people obviously do.

With all do respect, I did the review and did not experience any problems like you had. The board was not buggy and did not have one problem with it. EasyTune does open and your problem is with your system. This site and thread is not intended to rant over a product that you may have an isolated problem. We do however respect that you have issues and thats what Gigabyte's service department is for. I review boards on this site and we occasionally have problems with all manufacturers boards including ASUS. Thes issues tend to be isolated and just because you incurred a problem, does not mean the product is bad whatsover.


As for your H100, if you read any review on Z77 motherboards with Ivybridge, the processors run MUCH hotter than SandyBridge. The motherboard has NO correlation wioth your CPU running hot. This issue is due to the new 3D Tri Gate Transistors and the 22nm die shrink and if you would have done research, you would have simply known the issue. It is not a sniper issue at all. If your running stock with those temps, I hate to say, it is a USER issue.

On a side note, I did have an issue with G.Skill Tridents. If you take a step back and you know something about memory and motherboards, sometimes the bios needs to mature and certain ram can have issues. Companies like Gigabyte collect all the issues and update the bios to remedy these issues. Unfortunately, when boards are releases, some issues do notr come to a head until they are used. Engineers cannot identify every issue prior to the release. On that note, G.Skill Ares workes with out any issues. The G.Skill Tridents were released AFTER the Sniper so this is not unordinary.


As for your bent pins: pins do not bend mysteriously. THIS IS YOU FAULT and none other. Sockets are not different on any board. Socket 1155 is exactly the same on ever Z77 motherboard so on this issue, it is on yourself.

[vinman]

Really Nice kick ass looking board Jim and a great review bud

[kzinti1]

This was a mere description. Not a rant. I'm awaiting a response to a new ticket with them now.
If the board they send me is any different I'll let you know.
Just because someone doesn't agree with your review is no reason to accuse them of ranting.
I'm a real world user that is just warning others of my own experience.
My concern is for the readers/consumers. Not an author with zero investment in this product. Just paid time.

[Drdeath]

This was a mere description. Not a rant. I'm awaiting a response to a new ticket with them now.
If the board they send me is any different I'll let you know.
Just because someone doesn't agree with your review is no reason to accuse them of ranting.
I'm a real world user that is just warning others of my own experience.
My concern is for the readers/consumers. Not an author with zero investment in this product. Just paid time.

Lets get one thing straight. Our sponsors send us hardware and we very objectively review them. If there is a problem, we note it in the review. With that said, our members should not use the review thread to start a complaint ticket plus your tact is not proper seeingf all the issues are not the boards fault (not saying the board does not have a problem). You are welcome to start a thread about your unhappiness. it is not a point of agreeing or disagreeing but I see at least 2 USERS ISSUES and it is not fair to potential members and current members that you are adding some false statements about the board like your bent pins. in the history of motherboards and sockets, pins do not mysteriously bend and this is 100% your fault. Like mentioned, make a thread about your issues and we can help you. Thank you.

[Drdeath]

Really Nice kick ass looking board Jim and a great review bud

Thanks Vinnie, the board had NO faults.

[Drdeath]

I review motherboards here at Pure Overclock and have had every issue you could possibly imagine over my time building computers. If you have a problem with Gigabyte, Stan can contact them and get the issue(s) resolved. Every product made to mankind can have issues and we have to rely on the manufactrurer to make it right. if they don't, then you can be upset. Just because one product may have a problem or a bug does not spell out bad overall product. Multiple users having the same issues then denotes a problem with the product and as of now, i googled issues and found nothing from others. BTW, I am trying to help not start a flame war over this.........

[PC_User]

this is interesting "My last Gigabyte board mysteriously developed a lot of bent pins" only way I know of this happing is either you cooked the board and they melt or mishandled it in some way. if you think ASUS is better by all means try it and pray you have no issues due to the lack of support and 4 month RMAs,
you very well may have got a bad board it does happen, but bent pins don't just happen.

[Doctor_Death]

Where did you buy the board, and how long have you owed it ?