Gigabyte z170x gaming 5 review

Gigabyte leader in the manufacture of motherboards, graphics cards and peripherals has filled the market with a wide variety of motherboards of high and mid-range Z170 chipset. On this occasion it has possibly sent us to one of the most interesting motherboards on the market such as the Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 5 compatible with DDR4 RAM, the possibility of installing various graphics cards and an excellent sound card.

Want to know more about her? In this analysis we will explain in detail all its secrets.

We thank Gigabyte Spain for trusting the product for its analysis:

Technical characteristics

GIGABYTE Z170X-GAMING 5 FEATURES
CPU	6th Generation Intel® Socket 1151 Core ™ i7 / i5 i3 Core ™ / Core ™ / Pentium® / Celeron® processors Supports Intel® 14nm CPU Supports Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
Chipset	Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
Memory	4 x DIMM, Max. 64GB, DDR4 3400 (OC) / 3333 (OC) / 3300 (OC) / 3200 (OC) / 3000 (OC) / 2800 (OC) / 2666 (OC) / 2400 (OC) / 2133 MHz for non-ECC, Un -buffered memory Dual Channel memory architecture Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
Multi-GPU Compatible	1 x PCI Express x16 to x16 slot (PCIEX16) 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8) 1 x PCI Express x16, to x4 (PCIEX4) 4 x PCI Express x1 slots (All PCI Express slots conform to the PCI Express 3.0 standard) Support for 3-Way / 2-Way AMD CrossFire ™ and 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI ™ Technologies
Storage	6 SATA 6Gb / s connections RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 are supported. 2 M.2 connections. 3 SATA Express connections.
USB and ports.	Chipset: - 7 x USB 3.0 / 2.0 ports - 6 x USB 2.0 / 1.1 ports Chipset + Intel USB 3.1 Controller: - 1 x USB Type-C. - 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A (red) on the rear panel. Chipset + GENESYS LOGIC USB 2.0 Hub: - 2 x USB 2.0 / 1.1 ports
LAN	1 x Intel GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN1) 1 x Killer E2201 chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN2)
Rear connections	4 x USB 2.0 / 1.1 ports 3 x USB 3.0 / 2.0 ports 1 x S / PDIF Out Optical Connector 1 x USB Type-C ™ Port, with USB 3.1 support 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A port (network) 1 x DisplayPort 1 x HDMI 2 x RJ-45 port 1 x PS / 2 keyboard / mouse port 5 x audio jacks (Central / Subwoofer, Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In / Mic In, Line Out, Headphones)
Audio	Realtek® ALC1150 Codec High definition audio 2/4 / 5.1 / 7.1-channel Support for S / PDIF out
Format	ATX format; 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
BIOS	Supports DualBIOS 2 x 128 Mbit flash License for the use of UEFI BIOS by AMI PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0
Price	195 euros.

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

Gigabyte gives us an excellent presentation of its Z170X-Gaming 3 motherboard . It comes packed in a glossy black base box and engraved with the G1 Gaming seal of this new series. Its interior is divided into two areas, the first where it keeps the motherboard and the second where all the accessories and accessories are.

The bundle is made up of:

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming motherboard 5.Back plate. Instruction manual and quick guide. CD with drivers. SATA cables. SLI bridges. Stickers and poster.

It is a classic ATX motherboard with dimensions of 30.5cm x 24.4cm fully compatible with any box on the market. Being a mid / high range motherboard we visualize a dissipation area with clip hooks instead of fixed hardware, personally knowing the real market value of the board, it seems to me a disadvantage.

The heatsinks are black and this time the PCB is black. It has four DDR4 RAM memory sockets that allow us to install up to 64GB with high frequencies of 3333 Mhz with prior overclocking and compatible with the XMP 1.3 profile.

It has a total of 12 feeding phases, backed by Ultra Durable technology . What components does it incorporate? It comes equipped with 10K Chemi-Con capacitors that offers us the best stability on the market and a gold plated socket to improve stability and higher overclock performance.

In the PCI Express connections it has 3 PCI Express 3.0 ports compatible with 2 Way Nvidia SLI and 3 Way CrossFireX technology. In addition to other cards, we have up to PCI Express x1 connections available, ideal for digital television tuners, disk controllers, and dedicated sound cards.

As we have been seeing in the Gigabyte Z170 series, it incorporates Dual M.2 with a custom bandwidth of up to 32Gb / s each. This allows us to make very good combinations with SSD drives by SATA. Although personally I see this connection very well because it allows us to install on smaller boards without using as much wiring.

I would have liked found a Sound Core 3D sound chip but we found a Realtek ALC 1150 that has worked so well in the previous generation. It includes AMP-UP Audio technology with support for 7.1 channels, Two integrated stereo ADCs, 115 dB amplifier with signal-to-noise-reproduction-suppression (SNR) (DAC) and quality 104dB SNR in recording (ADC). Also highlight its Killer E2200 network card that greatly reduces latency in your gamers games.

In the storage section, it offers 6 SATA 6Gb / s connections with RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 support. It shares 3 SATA Express connections for disks with a bandwidth of up to 16 GB / s.

Finally, I detail the complete rear connections:

2 x USB 2.0.1 x PS / 2.1 xUSB 3.0 Type C.3 x USB 3.0.DisplayportHDMI. 2 x Gigabit LAN.Digital audio output. 7.1.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i7-6700k.
Base plate:	Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5
Memory:	4 × 4 16GB DDR4 @ 3200 MHZ Corsair LPX DDR4
Heatsink	Corsair H100i GTX.
HDD	Samsung 840 EVO 250GB.
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 780.
Power supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2

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To check the stability of the processor and motherboard, we've overclocked up to 4500mhz with Prime 95 Custom and air cooling. The graphics that we have used is an Nvidia GTX780, without further distractions let's see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 × 1080 monitor.

BIOS

Like the Socket 1150 Gigabyte, it has released a very stable BIOS with a large overclocking capacity. Screen freezing or peripheral locking no longer appear. It still maintains all its benefits: fan control, temperature sensor, excellent overclocking ability and customize any parameter to our liking.

As expected Gigabyte maintains the Q-Flash PLUS technology that it used on its X99 motherboards. This application allows us to update our equipment to the latest BIOS without the need to mount a processor or RAM memory. Gigabyte has used the ITE EC 8951E controller, which sends the signal to an LED next to the EC controller, which will warn us that the process has finished and the system can now be started normally.

Final words and conclusion

The Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5 is a mid / high-end motherboard that offers excellent performance with the new Intel Skylake processor. It incorporates the new Z170 chipset that is compatible with up to 64 GB of RAM with frequencies of up to 3333 Mhz, Dual M.2, efficient dissipation, 12 power phases and multi-configurations of SLI and CrossFire graphics cards.

In the testing section we have obtained great performance with a frequency of 4500 Mhz and Corsair LPX memories at 3200 Mhz. For example, in games like Metro Last Light we have obtained up to 68 Fps with a GTX 780 graphics card.

For the most players it will be interesting to know that it incorporates a Killer network card and another one from the Intel brand. In addition to the excellent AMP-UP Audio sound card with encapsulated chip and with the ability to use headphones up to 600 ohms.

We can confirm that it is an excellent motherboard, ideal for work teams without losing aesthetics and for the most playful. The Z170X Gaming 5 can be found in online stores close to 200 euros, which makes us rethink the acquisition of the high-end (Gaming 7) for just 20 euros more.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ COMPONENTS.	- USE FIXED HARDWARE ON HEATSINKS.
+ LAN KILLER.	- AT LEAST 8 SATA CONNECTIONS.
+ DUAL M.2.
+ SOUND CARD WITH AMPLIFIER.
+ PERFORMANCE IN GAMES.
+ STABLE BIOS.