Intel is enjoying some of the most successful quarters of their life. They have launched what is arguably the fastest desktop CPU that you can buy and have coupled it with a chipset that is clearly set to perform. We have already shown you what the CPU is capable of on a reference design motherboard and are now ready to dive into what the, more creative, companies have in stock for the X79 and Core i7 3960 combo. Today we are going to dive into the features of the Gigabyte G1.Assassin2. This X79 based board is the follow up to the very popular G1.Assassin (hence the “2” at the end) It features quite a few intriguing new features as well as what you would expect from a G1.Killer motherboard. These include an onboard KillerNIC and also a full CreativeLabs Audio card built right onto the board. Other features include a new “3D” bios improved power management and Bluetooth 4.0. Will these combine to bring about the same level of gaming platform we saw in the G1.Assassin? Or will the youngest member of the G1 family be a disappointment and not get invited to holiday dinner? Let’s find out…
Features -In the current market motherboard (and indeed almost all component) performance is very close. The days of a large performance advantage between boards using the same chipset are long gone. That is unless someone makes a HUGE mistake (like runs traces completely wrong). Now, the thing that differentiates different products is the features. These are things like power management, extra slots, better audio CODECs etc. It is these items that R&D teams work so hard to drop into what are really identical pieces of hardware at their most basic level.The G1.Assassin2 has a ton of features packed into it. Granted not all of them are good enough to get you to buy the board, but there are quite a few that should have you checking this board out very closely. Excellent -Bluetooth and Wireless N moduleQuad Channel RAM Support (somewhat limited by the number of slots)Built in Creative X-Fi Audio with Headphone Amp3D BIOS3D PowerKiller E2100 NPUThis list all on its own is impressive. The Creative Audio and Headphone amp is one of my personal favorites. The 3D power, should allow for better (or at least more controlled) overclocking. You can also not count out the 3D BIOS which really does make configuring the board interesting. The other items are very nice to see as stock and we are pretty sure they would only add to the boards marketability. In the middle (sort of good) -Solid CapsDual BIOS Multiple 4-pin Fan headersThree-Way SLI (using the CPU)CrossfireXThese are nice extras but are not items that are going to push things over the edge for a buying decision. With the possible exception of the three-way SLI feature without the need to use a bridge chip.Floor Mats -Multiple USB 2.0 headersUSB 3.0These are the types of things that are filler; again they are nice, but they do not make the board what it is. Like we said you are not getting loaded up with features here, but you are getting a solid and stable board most of the time.There are also some items that are missing here; we would have liked to have seen onboard power and reset buttons, but for some reason Gigabyte chose to leave them off. Still even without them the G1.Assassin2 has a very nice feature set. We only hope that they can turn these into great performance.
