Gigabyte Z68X UD5 B3 Motherboard Review
Andy Ruffell / 14 years ago
An Even Closer Look
Taking the board apart so you don’t have to, sees the passive cooling come apart in one piece. The previous P67 boards saw this style of cooler and how effective it is, therefore it seemed logical to continue to use the tried and tested method.
Turning the cooler over reveals the heatpads which assist on keeping the phases and MOSFETS nice and cool, especially under presure. The cooler also reveals the lack of Northbridge after Sandy Bridge dropped it from the boards and instead only sees a small amount of thermal paste towards the end of the cooler.
Once the board is laid bare, it reveals the Z68 controller chip which allows for all of the new features and technolgy is one simple component. Due to the way that technology has moved forward, Intel have managed to squeeze in plenty of features whilst maintaning a small design and low heat output. This is why only a passive cooling design is needed instead of an active fan design.
