GIGABYTE 970-Gaming SLI (AMD 970) Motherboard Review

970-Gaming SLI Circuit Analysis Continued

The Northbridge is the AMD 970, and the Southbridge is the SB950.

The audio solution on this motherboard is quite good. A Realtek ALC1150 is used as the codec, and a Texas Instruments OP1652 is used as the headphone amplifier. GIGABYTE is also using Nichicon Gold series electrolytic audio capacitors to improve audio quality. There is also a PCB divide to separate the analog audio domain from the motherboard's digital domain.

You don't see Intel NICs on AMD motherboards every day, and today is an exception. The motherboard uses the Intel i211AT for the 1Gbit NIC on the rear IO panel. The two USB 3.1 ports on the IO panel are from an ASMedia ASM1143 USB 3.1 controller.

Neither the Northbridge nor Southbridge provides USB 3.0, so GIGABYTE added a VLI VL805 to provide two USB 3.0 to the rear IO panel and two more for the internal header. An ICS 9LPRS477DKL is used as a clock buffer.

The main SuperIO is the IT8620E, which provides system monitoring, fan control, COM, and PS/2 on the rear IO. The motherboard does employee GIGABYTE's DualBIOS technology to safeguard motherboard operation in case of BIOS corruption.

There are 15 red LEDs that line the audio divide on the back of the PCB and ten more surround the G1 Gaming logo under the SATA area. You do have the option to disable these LEDs in case you aren't a fan.