Gigabyte G1.Sniper M5 (Z87) Motherboard Review

I’ve always been a fan of when new technologies appear in the market, especially when they are able to harness huge amounts of power, yet have a very small footprint which is exactly what the Sniper M5 does, While it doesn’t offer quad SLI and a full-form factor, its bigger brother more than caters for that market, with the Sniper M5 left to those wanting a powerful board that utilises a Micro-ATX design.

The design of the board is simply amazing and has left me wanting to see what the modding community can do with it, matching up other components and watercooling loops, and this is something that I think will make some of the best looking systems on the market. Now I just wish that BitFenix would make a slightly bigger Prodigy to house Micro-ATX boards, as i’d be the first to have it on my shopping list, especially if they could match up the green perfectly.

No word on pricing as of yet, and we know that at the time of writing this, Gigabyte are still working with their retail channel partners to make sure they have the most competitive products in the market place, and this is certainly a worthy addition to the Z87 lineup, especially with the key features that it delivers. These include the improved audio, the Killer LAN and the overclockability of the board. This was something that shocked everyone in the eTeknix offices, as this board was able to hit the same clock speeds as its big brother, yet using a lower voltage which deserves its recognition as being one of the best Z87 boards for overclocking that we’ve had arrive with us.

Speaking of Z87, Gigabyte have harnessed the chipset to its full potential with plenty of SATA 6Gb/s connectors and enough USB 3.0 ports for all of your high-speed devices, that you’ll never have any connectivity issues and with a little push, you can even increase the overall performance by doing very little.

Pros

• Colour scheme is awesome
• Micro-ATX form factor is a pleasure to see
• Overclocking was effortless and amazing
• Improved audio features
• Great all-round performance
• New matching BIOS

Cons

• Price may be high but can be justified

eTeknix Says: If you are looking for a small form factor board that can punch well above its weight in terms of features, design, performance and overclockability, then the G1.Sniper M5 is made for you, and if you aren’t a fan of the Micro-ATX design, then Gigabyte have that sorted too, with the full-size ATX G1.Sniper 5. Gamers will see small benefits from this board, but its true selling point is that it can be pushed to the limits and back again.

Thanks to Gigabyte for providing this review sample.