
Following the success of the GIGABYTE Z87X-OC motherboard, which was the #1 most often overclocked motherboard (on hwbot.org) in 2013, GIGABYTE has unleashed this new Z97 based overclocking motherboard; the Z97X-SOC.
With a host of unique OC features and bleeding-edge hardware design where no possible advantage is left on the table, GIGABYTE 9 series overclocking motherboards will allow even novice users to Overclock Like a Pro.

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.
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.

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 SupportGIGABYTE 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 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 ConnectOC 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; accessing the rear panel I/O can be an inconvenience, but not on this Motherboard.
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.

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 AmplifierSpecially designed for gamers, GIGABYTE 9 series Ultra Durable™ motherboards utilize a high-capacity amplifier which is able to drive 600Ω loads used by many popular headsets. This 600Ω load feature gives gamers a fuller range of dynamic sound with crisper details and less distortion when using high quality professional headphones to hear the most accurate music, sound effects and explosions.
Intel® Gigabit LANIntel® Gigabit LAN networking, a popular choice with gamers, delivers several performance-enhancing features such as advanced interrupt handling to help reduce CPU overhead and Jumbo Frame support for extra large data packets.
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.

4K Ultra HD Support
4K resolution is the next technological milestone in high-definition content delivery, utilizing approximately 4,000 pixels on the horizontal axis, more than four times today's standard HD pixel density. GIGABYTE motherboards provide native 4K support with integrated Intel® HD Graphics via HDMI.
| CPU | Supports all Intel® 4th and 5th Gen Intel® Core™, Pentium® and Celeron® processors that fit Socket LGA1150, including the newer Haswell Refresh CPUs. |
|---|---|
| Chipset | Intel® Z97 Express Chipset |
| Memory | 4x DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32GB (4x 8GB) non-ECC, un-buffered Dual Channel SD-RAM Support for DDR3-1600 and 1333 RAMSupport for Overclocked DDR3-3300, 3200, 3100, 3000, 2933, 2800, 2666, 2600, 2500, 2400, 2200, 2133, 2000 and 1866MHz memory modules Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) |
| Storage | 6x SATA 6Gb/s connectors and devices 1x SATA EXPRESS connector (shares SATA3 ports 4 & 5) Supports Intel Smart Response, Intel® Rapid Start, Intel® Rapid Storage and Intel Smart Connect Technologies |
| RAID | Supports RAID 0, 1, 5 & 10 |
| Audio | Realtek® ALC1150 codec: 2.0, 4.0, 5.1 & 7.1 Ch High Def Audio w/ jack sensing 1x S/PDIF Out |
| LAN | 1x Intel® Gigabit LAN port |
| USB | 1x USB 3.0 Internal connector (2 ports) 2x USB 3.0 Rear I/O ports 1x USB 2.0 Internal connector (2 ports) |
| Wi-Fi | N/A |
| Bluetooth | N/A |
| Integrated Graphics (with CPU support) |
1x VGA port, up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60Hz 1x DVI-D port, up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60Hz 1x HDMI v1.4a port, up to 4096 x 2160 @ 24Hz, including 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz and 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz 1x DisplayPort v 1.2, up to 4096 x 2160 @ 24Hz and 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz Shared RAM: up to 1GB |
| Multi GPU Support | 2, 3 and 4 way AMD® CrossFire™ 2 way NVIDIA® SLI™Supports Multiple GPUs in Windows® 8.1, 8 and 7 |
| Expansion Slots | 1x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, running at x16 1x PCIe 2.0 x1 slot 2x PCI slots 1 Video Card: x16 |
| Internal I/O Connectors | 1x 24-pin ATX main power connector 1x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector 1x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector 1x OC PEG power connector 1x SATA Express connector 6x SATA 6Gb/s connectors 1x CPU fan header 1x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT) 6x system fan headers 1x front panel header 1x front panel audio header 1x S/PDIF Out header 1x USB 3.0/2.0 header 1x USB 2.0/1.1 header 2x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 1x serial port header 1x Clear CMOS jumper 1x power button 1x reset button 1x Clear CMOS button 1x Gear button 1x OC Turbo button 1x OC Tag button 1x OC Trigger switch 1x CPU BCLK Down button 1x CPU BCLK Up button 1x CPU Ratio Down button 1x CPU Ratio Up button 1x Memory Safe button 1x Settings Lock button 1x Direct to BIOS button 1x OC DIMM switch 1x OC PCIe switch 1x OC Ignition button 1x Clear Battery button 2x BIOS switches 1x onboard voltage measurement module |
| Back Panel I/O Ports | 4x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 4x USB 3.0/2.0 ports 1x optical S/PDIF Out connector 1x D-Sub port 1x DVI-D port 1x HDMI port 1x DisplayPort 1x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port 1x RJ-45 port 6x audio jacks |
| Unique Features | Q-Flash Smart Switch Xpress InstallAPP Center: |
| Hardware 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 Fan Speed Control support is CPU Cooler dependent |
| BIOS | 2x 128 Mbit flash units for DualBIOS™ Licensed AMI UEFI BIOS |
| Manageability | PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0 |
| Form Factor | ATX Motherboard, 305 x 244mm (12.0 x 9.6") |