Gigabyte Z87X OC Overclocking Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Thursday, July 18, 2013
Board Layout and Features
The motherboard features a matte black PCB with orange expansion slots and color accents on the various heatsinks. Like previous 7 series motherboards the Z87X is designed for mutli-GPU applications and features a slot layout to support up to four GPUs at one time.
Looking at the back of the motherboard we can get an indication as to how the PCI Express slots are wired and determine which slots are primary and secondary in terms of bandwidth. You won't find any surface components aside from the backplate for the CPU socket and a few screws for the various heatsinks.
On the Z87X-OC you will find a total of eight power phases for the CPU, Ring and internal graphics. This might be one of the smallest PWMs we have seen on any high-end Gigabyte motherboard but, there is a reason for that. The OC uses the new PowIRstages which can supply more power to the CPU, with less heat and better efficiency. While 32 phases would be pretty impressive the smaller number of traces helps with signal integrity and stability at high frequencies.
On the Z87X-OC you will find a total of eight power phases for the CPU, Ring and internal graphics. This might be one of the smallest PWMs we have seen on any high-end Gigabyte motherboard but, there is a reason for that. The OC uses the new PowIRstages which can supply more power to the CPU, with less heat and better efficiency. While 32 phases would be pretty impressive the smaller number of traces helps with signal integrity and stability at high frequencies.
Behind the PWM cooler you'll find the CPU Power connection made up of a single 8 pin CPU power connector and a secondary 4 pin. Given the location the cables should be easy to hide in any modern chassis and easy to remove given the space between the power plug and I/O panel.
