The Z68 has been touted as “cougar point done right” and many other things. I have been asked if the Z68 is going to replace the X58 and many other things beside that ever since it came onto the scene. We have taken a theoretical and design look at one Z68 and now we are going to take a look at another. This one is from Gigabyte; the Z68X-UD3H-B3 (we are getting back to the long names again). This board has a more than its share of selling points. It features the new TouchBIOS (also called Hybrid EFI), the usual compliment USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports and of course SLI and crossfire. But there is more to the Z68X-UD3H than just this. We also see that it comes complete with the new VirtuGPU technology from Lucid Driver MOSFETs, and much more. So let’s see what we can find digging into the design and features before we get to the performance numbers in part II.

When people think about cases many different things come to mind. To some the best case is a simple black box (or beige) that they put their components into and that is that. Others want more style to the box that holds all of their expensive hardware. But that raises a question, what is style to one person might not be to another. We also have to consider that what I may think is a great feature is a useless add-on to someone else. It is with this in mind that we take a look at a rather unusual case. This is the V9 BlackX Edition. This mid tower enclosure has a very interesting feature in that it has dual SATA HDD docks on the top of the case. This is along with the usual features that you would expect to find in any PC case.  So let’s see if the V9 BlackX is a great device, or is it just a giant drive dock.

At the request of some of our readers we are going to start splitting up the way we do our reviews. However, instead of the normal “unboxings” that we find out on the Internet we are going to break up our normal review into two distinct parts. There will be the first part that will cover design choices, board layout, and features. This will be followed up with our normal performance section. We feel that this will give everyone the pieces and parts they are looking for. You can still read both (they will be crosslinked) and also discuss them on our new forum, but this way we can cover things quicker and in a more complete fashion without making each review too long. For our first dive into this new style we have the MSI Z68A-GD80B3 up on the test bench and behind the camera lens.  This board follows the same trend as most of MIS’s recent product, but now they are into their second generation; you get Military Class II and OC Genie II.  So let’s dive into the more theoretical part of our review and take a look at the packaging, board layout and the features for the MSI Z68A-GD80B3.

OK I have been promising this for some time now and it is about time that I got moving on it. Decryptedtech is having another giveaway. After the response we got from the 6950 giveaway (where we made you work for it). We decided to add something to this one. In the next three reviews you will find words that are in bold. When you put these words together they will form a question; that is one question for each review. The questions should not be too hard but will vary in topic (Cake or Death?). Once you have all three answers just be the first to email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Oh yeah, I suppose you would like to know what I am giving away huh? Well I am giving away an Asus P6X58D Premium brand new still in the box. This contest is open North American residents only due to export taxes and restrictions. Keep checking here, our facebook page and also twitter for when these reviews hit the net. Good luck!