Is Gigabyte going to release any Z68's that don't require discrete graphics?

[ensign_lee]

It seems like Gigabyte's entire Z68 lineup requires discreet graphics. Will they ever produce any that don't?

Also, why are Gigabyte's Z68 mobo's different than everyone else's? Seems like the main benefit of Z68 was the ability to use your onboard graphics card if you wanted it. Why are Gigabye's different?

 

[moriz]

It all broils down to whether the onboard video is active or not. If not, then the only benefit is smart response.

If yes, then the idea is to just utilize the onboard for quicksync. I don't know if quicksync requires memory or not. If not, then it's actually quite smart, since there won't be a hit to system memory.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

They probably figured it would be unused by people buying these types of boards and honestly it makes sense.

 

[aphelion02]

But it makes no sense not to license Virtu on it. I am getting the UD4 on Monday, going to see if i can just install Virtu from the Gigabyte website.

 

[moriz]

The only useful feature of the onboard gpu for enthusiasts is quicksync, and even then, not often.it remains a niche feature, and definitely not worth losing a bunch of ram for.

Which is why I'd go for the P67 chipset instead, since I have no use for neither quicksync nor SRT.

 

[aphelion02]

I doubt quicksync takes much memory bandwidth at all. Consider that its a task that you would use your CPU for otherwise.

 

[moriz]

You still have to assign system memory for it though. I really don't feel like losing even 128mb for a feature that I won't use that often.

 

[MrTransistorm]

It seems like Gigabyte's entire Z68 lineup requires discreet graphics. Will they ever produce any that don't?

There are several Gigabyte Z68 boards with integrated video outputs. All of the ones that end in H (i.e. UD3H, UD2H, etc.) don't require a discrete GPU.

That said, it is kinda crappy that only the low end of the range have integrated video outputs. I was really hoping that they would make a UD4H (I could have sworn that they displayed one at a convention somewhere).

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Is Gigabyte the only vendor that is doing this so far?

 

[MrTransistorm]

Is Gigabyte the only vendor that is doing this so far?

Nope. The Asus P8Z68 Deluxe has no integrated video outputs. However, to their credit, it still has Virtu (unlike the high-end Gigabyte boards).

 

[Mem]

It seems like Gigabyte's entire Z68 lineup requires discreet graphics. Will they ever produce any that don't?

Also, why are Gigabyte's Z68 mobo's different than everyone else's? Seems like the main benefit of Z68 was the ability to use your onboard graphics card if you wanted it. Why are Gigabye's different?

They do have a few Z68 boards with onboard graphics port ie http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3853#ov ,http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3854#ov ,http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3855#ov ,http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3856#ov

 

[aphelion02]

There was rumors of a GA-Z68-UD4H at Cebit, but I haven't heard anything about it since.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I'm still waiting on Gigabyte releasing a Z68 with enough PCI-e lanes to drive the slots and with 2 GOOD network ports, unlike the crap Realtek ones they have on their current list of boards (same goes with Asus, MSI, and Asrock... first one to release a board with dual network connected with teaming support using something like the Intel 82576EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller and something like the older Nvidia nForce 200 chip).

And they do have boards for on-board graphics only:
GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3
GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3