With companies finding ways to pack more and more features into Mini-ITX motherboards the small form factor market has flourished over the past few years. We are finally seeing a lot of people running smaller builds at events as LAN rigs and the idea of a higher end build doesn’t require a case that hardly fits in your car and needs a backbelt to pickup anymore. In fact, even when looking past the smallest builds we have been seeing cases designed for Mini-ITX that are still more mid tower designs. This is because most builds only need a single video card these days and built in NICs have improved in quality, ITX boards now sometimes have wireless, and even onboard audio has improved (and some people have moved to USB audio). All of that means most people don’t really need huge builds. I already took a look at MSIs Z170 ITX gaming board and today I’m checking out the Gigabyte Z170N-Gaming 5, Gigabytes highest featured ITX board to see what they have packed into the ITX form factor.
Product Name: Gigabyte Z170N-Gaming 5
Review Sample Provided by: Gigabyte
Written by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
Amazon Link: HERE
Specifications | |
CPU |
-Support for Intel® Core™ i7 processors/Intel® Core™ i5 processors/ Intel® Core™ i3 processors/Intel® Pentium® processors/ Intel® Celeron® processors in the LGA1151 package -L3 cache varies with CPU |
Chipset | Intel® Z170 Express Chipset |
Memory |
2 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory Dual channel memory architecture Support for DDR4 3333(O.C.) /3300(O.C.) /3200(O.C.) /3000(O.C.) /2800(O.C.) /2666(O.C.) /2400(O.C.) /2133 MHz memory modules Support for ECC UDIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8 memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode) Support for non-ECC UDIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 memory modules Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules |
Onboard Graphics |
Integrated Graphics Processor-Intel® HD Graphics support: 1 x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200@60 Hz * The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter. 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096x2160@24 Hz * Support for HDMI 1.4 version. Maximum shared memory of 512 MB |
Audio |
Realtek® ALC1150 codec Support for Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 High Definition Audio 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel Support for S/PDIF Out |
LAN | Killer E2201 chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) |
Wireless Communication module |
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, supporting 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band Bluetooth 4.2, 4.1, BLE, 4.0, 3.0, 2.1+EDR Support for 11ac wireless standard and up to 867 Mbps data rate |
Expansion Slots |
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 3.0 standard.) 1 x M.2 Socket 1 connector for the wireless communication module (M2_WIFI) |
Storage Interface |
Chipset: 1 x M.2 Socket 3 connector on the back of the motherboard (Socket 3, M key, type 2260/2280 SATA & PCIe x4/x2/x1 SSD support) 2 x SATA Express connectors 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 |
USB |
Chipset: 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports available through the internal USB headers 5 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (3 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header) Chipset+Intel® USB 3.1 Controller: 1 x USB Type-C™ port on the back panel, with USB 3.1 support 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A port (red) on the back panel |
Internal I/O Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors 2 x SATA Express connectors 1 x M.2 Socket 3 connector 1 x CPU fan header 1 x system fan header 1 x front panel header 1 x front panel audio header 1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header 1 x USB 2.0/1.1 header 1 x S/PDIF Out header 1 x speaker header 1 x Clear CMOS jumper 1 x chassis intrusion header |
Back Panel Connectors |
1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port 1 x HDMI port 2 SMA antenna connectors 1 x DVI-D port 1 x USB Type-C™ port, with USB 3.1 support 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A port (red) 3 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports 1 x RJ-45 port 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector 5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In, Line Out, Mic In) |
I/O Controller | iTE® I/O Controller Chip |
H/W Monitoring |
System voltage detection CPU/System temperature detection CPU/System fan speed detection CPU/System overheating warning CPU/System fan fail warning CPU/System fan speed control |
BIOS |
2 x 64 Mbit flash Use of licensed AMI UEFI BIOS Support for DualBIOS™ PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0 |
Unique Features |
-Support for APP Center 3D OSD @BIOS AutoGreen Cloud Station EasyTune Easy RAID Fast Boot Smart TimeLock Smart Keyboard Smart Backup System Information Viewer USB Blocker -Support for Q-Flash -Support for Smart Switch -Support for Xpress Install |
Bundle Software |
Norton Internet Security (OEM version) Intel® Smart Response Technology Intel® Wireless Display |
Operating System |
Support for Windows 10/8.1 64-bit Support for Windows 7 32-bit/64-bit |
Form Factor | Mini-ITX Form Factor; 17.0cm x 17.0cm |
Box Contents |
GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 motherboard Motherboard driver disk Two SATA cables User's Manual Quick Installation Guide One antenna I/O Shield Wireless module driver disk |