Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force 32GB DDR3 Intel Motherboard

Following the success of the GIGABYTE Z87X-OC motherboard, the #1 most overclocked motherboard on HWBOT.org in 2013, GIGABYTE has unleashed 2 new Z97 based overclocking motherboards, the Z97X-SOC FORCE and Z97X-SOC. With a host of unique OC features and bleeding-edge hardware design, GIGABYTE 9 series overclocking motherboards will allow even novice users to Overclock Like a Pro.

FEATURES
Supports 4th and 5th Generation Intel® Core™ processors
Premium 4-way CrossFire™ support with OC Brace
Precise digital CPU power design
SATA Express support for 10 Gb/s data transfer
Exclusive GIGABYTE OC Features
Killer™ E2200 gaming networking
2x copper PCB design
Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD Audio with Built-in rear audio amplifier
New Heatsink design with 8 onboard fan connectors
Long lifespan Durable Black Solid caps
APP Center including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ utilities
GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™

OC Ignition
OC Ignition maintains power to the motherboard and connected components while the system is shut down. This means that system fans will continue to provide airflow in cold bug situations, while i-ram drive users will not lose installed data. OC Ignition also allows users to pre-test water cooling setups, and allows case mod demonstrations without having to turn on the PC.

Fans continue to provide airflow in cold bug situations
Perfect for pre-testing water-cooled system setups
Case mod demonstrations without having to turn on the PC
Retains i-ram dataOC DIMM and OC PCIe Switch

OC DIMM Switch
Manually turn on or off each channel of installed memory DIMMs, allowing users to effortlessly disable memory DIMMs from the system without the hassle of physically removing.

OC PCIe Switch
Overclockers can manually turn on or off each installed PCIe lane of the motherboard, allowing users to disable individual graphics cards without physically removing. This is especially useful when overclocking on LN2 and water cooled systems.

OC Brace
OC Brace allows extreme overclockers and system testers to safely install up to four graphics cards in an open case or test bed without risking PCIe slot damage or preventing cards not showing up in the OS due to poor contact with PCIe slot. OC Brace is a simple and elegant way to give robust installation support to full sized graphics cards in extreme multi-GPU configurations.

OC Touch
GIGABYTE OC Touch includes a range of hardware overclocking buttons directly on the motherboard, making overclocking on the fly extremely fast and easy.

Premium Graphics Support
GIGABYTE 9 series overclocking motherboards feature optimized support for AMD CrossFire™ in 4 way configuration plus support for Nvidia SLI technology in 2-way setups. This extreme design allows a more optimized multiple-card overclocking experience where the first 3 slots have the data bandwidth available from trace paths direct from the CPU and the fourth slot taking PCIe lanes from the Intel® Z97 PCH.

OC PEG
OC PEG adds auxiliary power to the PCIe slots of your motherboard, improving system stability in extreme configurations. This is especially useful in power-hungry 4-way graphics configurations.

OC Connect
OC Connect positions two USB connectors on the near side of the motherboard facing the overclocker. This makes it easier to save data, flash the BIOS or install software in open bench testing platforms whether for extreme overclocking or simply pretesting the PC before final component installation inside a case scenarios where accessing the rear panel I/O can be an inconvenience.

SATA Express Connector
GIGABYTE motherboards feature an onboard SATA Express connector which provides performance far superior to that of current SATA technologies. SATA Express features data transfer rates of up to 10Gb/s, considerably higher than SATA Revision 3 (6Gb/s), which won’t bottleneck faster NAND flash technologies in cutting edge SSDs. SATA Express combines the benefits of PCI-Express and SATA to provide much higher bandwidth, allowing SATA Express based drives to perform at similar speeds as PCI-Express based drives.

Realtek ALC 1150 115dB SNR HD Audio
The ALC1150 is a high-performance multi-channel High Definition Audio Codec that delivers an exceptional audio listening experience with up to 115dB SNR, ensuring users get the best possible audio quality from their PC.

The ALC1150 provides ten DAC channels that simultaneously support 7.1-channel sound playback, plus 2 channels of independent stereo sound output (multiple streaming) through the front panel stereo outputs. Two stereo ADCs are integrated and can support a microphone array with Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), Beam Forming (BF), and Noise Suppression (NS) technologies. The ALC1150 incorporates Realtek proprietary converter technology to achieve Front differential output 115dB Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) playback (DAC) quality and 104dB SNR recording (ADC) quality.

Build-in Rear Audio Amplifier
Specially designed for gamers, GIGABYTE 9 series Ultra Durable™ motherboards utilize a high-capacity amplifier which is able to drive 600Ω loads, giving gamers a fuller range of dynamic sound with crisper details and less distortion when using high quality professional headphones.

Killer Networking

NO LAG, JUST FRAG!
Select GIGABYTE 9 series motherboards feature the Killer™ E2200 from Qualcomm Atheros, a high-performance, adaptive gigabit Ethernet controller that offers better online gaming and online media performance compared to standard solutions. The Killer™ E2200 features Advanced Stream Detect technology, which identifies and prioritizes all network traffic to ensure important applications that require high-speed connectivity are prioritized over less important traffic.

All IR® Digital CPU Power Design
GIGABYTE 9 series overclocking motherboards use an all digital CPU power design from International Rectifier® which include both digital PWM Controller and industry-leading PowIRstage™ controllers. These 100% digital controllers offer incredible precision in delivering power to the motherboard’s most power-hungry and energy-sensitive components, allowing enthusiasts to get the absolute maximum performance from their next generation Intel® Core™ processors.

GIGABYTE OPT Fan Support
Many of today's 3rd party water cooling systems require CPU fan power support for both the cooling fan and the water pump. GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboards feature OPT fan support, an additional CPU fan pin header that can be used to connect a water pump and configured for continuous full speed operation. The OPT Fan is also useful for high performance coolers employing two fans.

10K Durable Black™ Solid Caps
GIGABYTE 9 series motherboards integrate the absolute best quality solid state capacitors that are rated to perform at maximum efficiency for a guaranteed minimum of 10K hours. Not only do they provide ultra-low ESR no matter how high the CPU loading, they also come in customized jet black from Nippon Chemi-Con and Nichicon.

5x (15μ) Gold Plated CPU Socket Design
GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboards come equipped with a gold plated CPU socket, which means that enthusiasts can enjoy absolute reliability and longevity for the CPU socket overtime, without having any concerns about corroded pins and bad contacts.

GIGABYTE App Center Including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ Utilities
GIGABYTE APP Center gives you easy access to wealth of GIGABYTE apps that help you get the most from your GIGABYTE motherboard. Using a simple, unified user interface, GIGABYTE APP Center allows you to launch all GIGABYTE apps installed on your system.

GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™ with Dashboard Mode
GIGABYTE's UEFI DualBIOS™ has a redesigned user interface that offers users the chance to take control of their BIOS environment like never before.
Take control of how your BIOS looks and feels with a fully customizable UI
Adjust overclocking and performance settings in real-time
Smooth mouse control and shortcuts for fast navigation

2x Copper PCB Design (2 oz Copper PCB)
GIGABYTE's exclusive 2X Copper PCBs design provides sufficient power trace paths between components to handle greater than normal power loads and to remove heat from the critical CPU power delivery area. This is essential to ensure the motherboard is able to handle the increased power loading that is necessary when overclocking.

Technical Details

Model

Brand : Gigabyte
Model : GA-Z97X-SOC Force

Specifications

CPU 
Support for Intel® Core™ i7 processors/Intel® Core™ i5 processors/ Intel® Core™ i3 processors/Intel® Pentium® processors/Intel® Celeron® processors in the LGA1150 package
L3 cache varies with CPU

Chipset 
Intel® Z97 Express Chipset

Memory
4 x DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 3300(O.C.) / 3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

Onboard Graphics 

Integrated Graphics Processor
1 x D-Sub port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200@ 60Hz
1 x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200@ 60Hz
1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096x2160@ 24Hz or 2560x1600@ 60Hz
1 x DisplayPort, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096x2160@ 24Hz or 3840x2160@ 60Hz
Support for up to 3 displays at the same time
Maximum shared memory of 512MB

Audio 
Realtek® ALC1150 codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF Out

LAN 
Qualcomm® Atheros Killer E2201 chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Expansion Slots
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x4 (PCIEX4_1, PCIEX4_2)
1 x PCI Express x1 slot
2 x PCI slots

Multi-Graphics Technology 
Support for 4-Way/3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFire™/2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ technology

Storage Interface 

Chipset
1 x SATA Express connector
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

USB 

Chipset
6 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports onboard, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)

Internal I/O Connectors 
1 x 24-pin ATX main power connectorŠ
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x OC PEG power connector
1 x SATA Express connectorŠ
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
1 x CPU fan header
1 x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT)
6 x system fan headers
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1 x S/PDIF Out header
1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header
1 x USB 2.0/1.1 header
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 x serial port header
1 x Clear CMOS jumper
1 x power button
1 x reset button
1 x Clear CMOS button
1 x Gear button
1 x OC Turbo buttonŠ
1 x OC Tag button
1 x OC Trigger switch
1 x CPU BCLK Down button
1 x CPU BCLK Up button
1 x CPU Ratio Down button
1 x CPU Ratio Up button
1 x Memory Safe button
1 x Settings Lock button
1 x Direct to BIOS button
1 x OC DIMM switch
1 x OC PCIe switch
1 x OC Ignition button
1 x Clear Battery button
2 x BIOS switches
1 x onboard voltage measurement module

Back Panel Connectors 
4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
1 x D-Sub port
1 x DVI-D port
1 x HDMI port
1 x DisplayPort
1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
1 x RJ-45 port
6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Side Speaker Out, Line In, Line Out, Mic In)

I/O Controller 
iTE I/O Controller Chip

H/W Monitoring 
System voltage detection
CPU/System/Chipset temperature detection
CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed detection
CPU/System overheating warning
CPU/CPU OPT/System fan fail warning
CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed control

BIOS 
2 x 128 Mbit flash
Use of licensed AMI UEFI BIOS
Support for DualBIOS™
PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0

Unique Features
Support for APP Center
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Smart Switch
Support for Xpress Install

Bundle Software 
Norton® Internet Security (OEM version)
Intel® Rapid Start Technology
Intel® Smart Connect Technology
Intel® Smart Response Technology

Operating System : Support for Windows 8.1/8/7
Form Factor : ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm