Gigabyte G1.Sniper

GIGABYTE G1.Sniper

Since the release of the P67 chipset for Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, the interest of the consumer market has shifted away from the X58 chipset. However, the majority of hardcore computer enthusiasts still remain faithful to their older Core i7 systems for several valid reasons. The primary reason is that unless equipped with NF200 chip, the P67 chipset is only able to support up to 16 PCI-E lanes, which can be split into (x8/x8) configuration for SLI/CrossFire. In comparison, the X58 chipset supports 32 lanes, meaning both PCI-E slots can run at x16, providing a sigificantly higher threshold for the bandwidth. While a regular computer user might not notice the difference between 8x and 16x PCI-E performance, those that use SLI or CrossFire set ups with dual GPU graphics will notice a slight drop in performance. In addition, LGA 1366 socket is able support 6-core processors, while the LGA 1155 socket can only support 4-core processors. Certainly at some point, the release of 6-core Sandy Bridge processors may change the outlook on which system can deliver maximum performance, but as of now, the fact remains that the X58 chipset is capable of delivering slightly higher performance for gamers.