Gigabyte z170x gaming k3 review

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3 technical features

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3 unboxing and design

The Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3 is presented in a black and red box where we see large letters with the name of the product and an image of the area of the heatsinks. Once we are in the back we have all the most important technical characteristics.

When we open the box we find two sections, the first where the motherboard is and the second all its accessories. What is inside? Patience, this is what includes:

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3 motherboard. Back plate. Instruction manual and quick guide. CD disk with drivers. 2 x SATA Cable Set. Screw to connect M.2 disk. Poster for the door knob "G1 Gaming Enter". Advertising poster.

The Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3 is an ATX format motherboard with dimensions of 30.4 cm x 22.4 cm for the recent LGA 1151 socket for Skylake processors. As we can see the design of the motherboard is very pleasing to the eye, by combining the black color and small details in red (memory, heatsink and PCI Express sockets), while the PCB is brown and includes in the right area an LED strip to offer more lighting.

Rear view of the Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3. Brown PCB and excellent solders.

As with the entire Gigabyte Z170 series, it features two refrigerated zones. The first one located in the power supply phases and the other in its chipset. It has 8 power phases supported by Ultra Durable Gigabyte technology.

What does Ultra Durable offer us? Mainly the best components such as power phases, CHOKES, resistors, solders and a special shield for PCI express. Another of its innovations is the incorporation of a 15μ (micron thick) gold plating, improving conductivity and offering greater transfer and stability.

It has available 4 DDR4 RAM memory sockets compatible with up to 64 GB with speed from 2133 MHz to 3466 MHz with overclocking.

In our tests we have been able to insert 3000 and 3200 MHz speed modules without any problem.

The Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3 has a fairly basic layout and that has several nuances. It has two PCIe 3.0 to x16 sockets and up to four PCIe 3.0 x1 connections. One of its possible handicaps is that it only allows you to connect 2 AMD CrossFireX graphics cards while with Nvidia only one . This should be taken into account by users for possible updates.

As expected we have an M.2 connection to install any disk of this interface with its 32 GB / s bandwidth. Compatible models are 2242/2260/2280/22110 with x4 / x2 and x1 speed.

As usual in the Gigabyte Gaming series we find an AMP-UP sound card signed by Realtek ALC1150. What benefits does it offer us? It allows us 7.1 reproduction, an SNR of up to 115dB that offers us an improved experience and guarantees the maximum fidelity of integrated sound. It also has an acoustic echo cancellation system, Beam Forming and compatibility with high impedance headphones.

It's time to talk about storage options . The Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3 features six 6GB / s SATA III connections with RAID 0.1, 5, and 10 support. and two shared SATA Express connections. We start with a good connection base that will cover the needs of any consumer.

It seems that you have all the powers to enter the TOP of our guide to the best motherboards on the market .

Once we look at the lower right area we have a control panel, several connectors for fans and internal USB connections.

The rear connections come to meet the needs of most users. It has:

6 x USB 3.0.PS/2.HDMI.DVI. 1 x Network card. 7.1 sound outputs.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i5-6600k.
Base plate:	Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3
Memory:	2 × 8 16GB DDR4 @ 3000 MHZ Kingston Savage
Heatsink	Corsair H80i GT.
HDD	Samsung 840 EVO 250GB.
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 780.
Power supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2

WE RECOMMEND YOU Corsair H100i RGB Platinum SE + Corsair LL120 RGB Review in Spanish (Full Review)

To check the stability of the i5-6600k processor at 4500 MHZ and the motherboard we have stressed with Prime 95 Custom and air cooling. The graphics we have used is an Nvidia GTX780, without further delay, let's see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 × 1080 monitor.

BIOS

Gigabyte has done a great job on this Z170 platform again. Since the Z68 we have seen a great evolution in all its options, offering great stability and great overclocking possibilities. Good job!

Final words and conclusion

The Gigabyte Z170X Gaming K3 motherboard meets all the requirements that a mid-range product can be asked to achieve at a high level: features, premium components, design and performance. It has 8 power phases, allows you to connect up to 64GB of 3400 MHz DDR4 memory and is compatible with 2 Way CrossFireX.

In our tests it has proven to live up to much more expensive motherboards with an i5-6600k processor and an Nvidia GTX780 graphics card. But we really did not understand the launch of the K3 version , when we found the Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 3 on the market that has the same performance, with more connections, multiGPU system possibilities and double M.2 slot for only 2 euros more.

Currently we can find it already in online stores for 144 euros. That seeing all its characteristics it becomes a highly recommended motherboard for tight pockets. Congratulate Gigabyte on another excellent motherboard for this socket. Chapó!

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ NICE DESIGN.	- DOES NOT BRING DOUBLE SLOT M.2.
+ EXCELLENT ULTRA DURABLE COMPONENTS.	- COULD INCLUDE 8 SATA III CONNECTIONS.
+ FIRST SOUND.	- MAY BE COMPATIBLE WITH NVIDIA SLI.
+ PERFORMANCE.
+ GOOD PRICE.