Gigabyte teamed up with EK Water Blocks in order to develop a pair of off-beat motherboards. The GA-X99-Ultra-Gaming-EK and the GA-Z170X-Gaming 7-EK are differentiated from their predecessors by the integration of EK-Supremacy EVO X99 & EK-FB GA-Z170X waterblocks. The latter is sure to cool down not only the CPU and its environment but also key components of the power subsystem.



Gigabyte GA-X99-Ultra Gaming-EK is developed on Intel X99 chipset, targeting Intel Core i7 CPUs for Socket LGA2011-3 platform. The PCB offers 8 DIMM slots for DDR4-3600 MHz memory (up to 128 GB), four PCIe 3.0 x16 expansion slots and a single PCIe 2.0 x1 slot. The ATX motherboard features 305x244 mm dimensions.


Storage subsystem of the model is represented by one M.2 Socket 3 slot, one U.2 slot, one SATA Express port as well as eight SATA III (6 Gb/sec) ports. One more M.2 Socket 1 is occupied by Wi-Fi/Bluetooth adapter. 7-1 channel audio subsystem is based on Realtek ALC1150 controller, whereas …

Up-to-date SSD manufacturers are inclined to employ MLC flash-memory with synchronous interface in their product lines. The implementation of exactly such memory interface allows balancing the advanced performance with moderate price. This is especially vital for SSDs with SATA 3 6Gb/sec interface. Nevertheless, some producers take the challenge to implement flash-memory with asynchronous interface in their drives. As a result, the final products go at more attractive price but with more modest speed characteristics. OCZ dared to overcome this speed drawback by releasing SSD Agility 4 series. The models included in the series are based on asynchronous flash-memory interface and, according to the company's words, prove to show quite decent speed index.



Chief Peculiarities


Despite the prevalence of SandForce controllers implemented in SSDs, OCZ decided to use quite different platform for its new series. Agility 4 employs Indilinx Everest 2 controllers which, in some way, …

Hardware solutions from Fatal1ty series have been enjoying great popularity among gamers and overclockers since the first product came out. ASRock continues gladdening its fastidious devotees by introducing one more representative of Fatal1ty series – motherboard Fatal1ty Z87 Killer. It attracts potential customers by a powerful VRM system, prime-quality hardware base, and the implementation of KillerLane 2200 network chip that eliminates lags in online games.



ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer is designed in ATX form-factor and is based on Intel Z87 chipset, targeted Intel Haswell processors (Core i3/i5/i7, Celeron, Pentium) for Socket LGA1150 platform. Memory subsystem supports up to 32 GB of two-channel DDR3 memory chips that run at the maximal 3050 MHz frequency. Power subsystem is organized according to 8-phase scheme; it consists of special MOSFET-transistors that are characterized by a low TDP level.


To continue, this motherboard accommodates three high-speed PCIe 3.0 x16 …