With X79 arriving onto the scene, the high-end market has been filled and is something that only the insanely rich can afford. Z68 can still be expensive too, when we look at the likes of the G1 Sniper 2 board which is pricey, but does offer a lot of features that no other board on the market can offer such as X-Fi sound and a Killer NIC onboard chip.

With Christmas just around the corner, we can be sure that a lot of people have a system wish list ready to be palmed off to their family and friends in the hope of having an extreme rig, ready for the new year, but sadly for most, X79 or a high-end Z68 system will be way out of the question, and thus, other options will have to be considered.

These other options include looking at AMD and their AM3+ range of boards and processors, which offer exceptional value, or perhaps even toning down the wants, but sticking with a Z68 platform motherboard. This is where Gigabyte have thought ahead and come up with the Z68AP-D3.

The Z68AP-D3 Z68 motherboard offers the fantastic value needed, without skimping on the features, and actually offers some unique features that other boards don't including the mSATA connector on board, and is the first to implement this onto a standard desktop
motherboard.

Really keen on seeing how this board performs, considering it's lower price point in the market, we're eager to see if it can keep up with the big boys or whether it will fall into the shadows.