Unboxing & Review Archive

Gigabyte Z87N-Wifi Socket 1150 Mini-ITX Motherboard Written Review

1/11/2013

Mini-ITX, Matte black, Socket 1150, Z87, PCIe 3.0, Wifi, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabyte.

Here's the spec:

Form Factor:

CPU Socket:

Chipset:

Memory:

Storage:

Expansion:

Internal Headers:

External I/O:

Mini-ITX

Intel Socket 1150

Z87

2x 1.5V DDR3 sockets supporting up to 16GB of non-ecc dual channel memory at 1333/1600Mhz Natively with XMP support

4x Sata 6Gb/s connectors
With raid support for Raid 0, 1, 5 & 10

1x 16x PCI Express slot (at full 16x),
1x mini-PCI Express slot (occupied by the Wifi & Bluetooth Module)

1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, 2x 4 Pin fan headers, 1x Serial, 1x S/PDIF, 1x Clear CMOS jumper, 1x Front Panel audio and power headers.

1x PS2, 2x USB 2.0, 4x USB 3.0, 2x HDMI, 1x DVI-I, 2x Antenna headers, 2x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x Optical S/PDIF, 5x 3.5mm Audio jacks

Link to Gigabyte's product page for full details and technical specifications

The Motherboard's Features & Layout:

Gigabyte's top of the line Z87 Mini-ITX board is definitely refreshing the line up for the new socket but they clearly know what the customer does and doesn't want. Starting with the motherboard as a whole we get a gorgeous matte black pcb complimented perfectly with black connectors and both and black/dark silver socket and Z87 chipset heatsink.

The Z87 chipset is located up in the very crowded top left corner of the board. Not only the shape but the finish on the chipsets cooler is outstanding. Surrounding this cooler we have almost all of you mother board connectors such as Sata, CPU 4 pin, USB 3.0, USB 2.0 and front panel power headers. This location in opinion is the most optimal location when used with newer ITX cases.

The board features four Sata III 6Gb/s connectors which is the absolute minimum I would want from a motherboard regardless of size. While I feel that for a Mini-ITX board the 'standard six' is not always necessary, with larger ITX cases appearing such as BitFenix's Prodigy, sometimes even six isn't enough! Gigabyte should have updated this from the 4 they had on the Z77 board. As for the location of the connectors, this IS the perfect location because and I will use the prodigy again as an example, the cabling is away from the other components and fits perfectly with the cable management holes.

As for other features we find in the top portion of the board, The Z87N-Wifi does have a mini PCIe port that is populated by the Wifi/ Bluetooth module, namely the Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230. While other manufacturers have implimented the same features onto their boards via bespoke pcbs and add-on cards, I am not bothered with this route as long as it keeps the cost of the motherboard down which I would hazard a guess that it has with the Gigabyte Z87N-Wifi.

Moving down to the CPU socket is where we find our biggest and for me the only real let down on the Z87N-Wifi and this is it's location. It's located way to close to the expansion slot for you to fit any sort of powerful air cooler on it in conjunction with an expansion card. If you plan on getting this board my recommendations would be to either go with a water cooling solution or if you aren't going for a very powerful CPU, the Noctua NH-L9i.

Below the socket as I said before is the 16x PCIe 3.0 Slot which I feel I might not be alone in saying that for what is a very standing PCIe slot, it does look very nice.

As for fan connections you get two, the CPU header is located above and right of the socket and the case fan header is just to the left. Lets move on to the rear I/O

AS shown above, the board comes with a very well balanced I/O. So balanced that I would say for me it's not far off perfect for a few reasons.

The first is the choice to go with two HDMI ports as opposed to one HDMI and one Display Port. THe reason I like this so much is that Display Port has received a lot of support since it's conception but only from one side of the market. Monitors and displays have kept DP as a high-end premium feature when it really shouldn't be at this stage. Having two HDMI ports allows for consistency between displays if you are going to be using a multiple monitor set up.

My second reason is the choice to include dual Gigabit Ethernet connections. While only one is using the Intel chip and the other is using an Atheros meaning Ethernet teaming won't be supported, I do prefer the extra port over a few measly USB ports instead.