All results were obtained at 4600MHz on an un-optimized Windows7 64-bit. These are our figures; yours may vary, so
only use these as a guideline for a similarly configured system.
Motherboard
Cinebench 11.5
3DMark11
Super Pi 8M
Aida 64 Copy
Aida 64 Latency
INTEL DZ87KLT-75K
10,05
12793
1.26.206
32753
32
1.25.904
33698
41,1
1.25.993
33728
42
Physics: 12724
GIGABYTE Z87X-OC
10,15
14098
Physics: 12677
GIGABYTE Z87X-OC Force
10,15
13899
Physics: 12690
much welcomed feature that
should be on all boards with
such a chip.
The conundrum here
however is that if you’re going
to use one graphics card, then
you would be better served
by the Z87X-OC. If you want
to overclock four graphics
cards, then you should ideally
move to the X79 platform. The
problem here though, is that
GIGABYTE, much like all the
other vendors save for one,
doesn’t necessarily have a
competent board for the X79
platform. Thus, this situation
as a matter of circumstance
necessitates the existence of
the Z87X-OC Force.
It’s one of those situations
where we understand where
the vendor needs to be and
what the user requires.
Those points however, don’t
necessarily intersect.
In what almost seems
a point to compensate for
this, GIGABYTE in addition
to the features mentioned
earlier provides a third
party Marvell controller for
four additional SATA 6Gbps
ports, bringing the total drive
support to 10. For the liquid
cooling enthusiast, GIGABYTE
provides a hybrid liquid/active
fan cooling solution for the
PWM area of the board and the
switching chip.
All these additions and in
some cases subtractions
result in the Z87X-OC Force
which as you’ve seen is
exactly double the price of
the Z87X-OC. Do we believe
that these changes justify the
price premium? On paper they
probably do as every additional
component GIGABYTE places
on the motherboard costs
money, thus there’s no way
this board costs the company
the same as the Z87X-OC.
Does this additional spend on
the user side though
result in a significantly better
motherboard? That answer
for us is not necessarily.
There are cases where this
board will be a must have and
for whatever reason the G1.
Sniper 5 is not an option at
all. In such a situation then
you should definitely buy this
board. However, the G1 Sniper
5 will provide you with better
audio (significantly better
audio) and you’ll get the dual
NIC support (a better solution
via a Killer E2200 controller)
as well. So ultimately the
OC Force’s job is not made
difficult by competing
products from others vendors
but, by its own stable
mates that are thoroughly
featured in very specific ways
causing an overlap with
what the OC Force is offering.
An odd position this
motherboard finds itself
in then. Technically it’s a
sublime. Thoroughly better
than the previous Z77X-UP7
with none of the drawbacks
and all the advances made
by GIGABYTE since then.
It definitely has a place in
GIGABYTE’s pantheon of
motherboards. Overall this
is a solid motherboard that
will serve many to most
overclockers well enough to
warrant its pricing. For the
more discerning competitive
overclocker though, you may
still be better served by the
Z87X-OC.
[The Overclocker]
Summary
The GIGABYTE Z87XOC-Force is something
of a mix between the
G1.Sniper 5 and the
purist Z87X-OC Force.
On paper that is killer
combination to have
but in practice you’re
probably still better off
with buying these two
bards separately. Still,
the Z87X-OC Force is one
feature packed premium
overclocking board.
Would you buy it?
Yes, if we couldn’t get
the Z87X-OC Force or the
G1.Sniper 5
Issue 27 | 2013 The OverClocker 21