With the launch of Intel’s latest chipset and the i7-6700 CPU it’s no surprise that they brought along with them a long list of new motherboards from every manufacture. At the launch I took a look at one of MSIs boards. After the launch though we jumped into GPU mode and covered the latest budget cards. Past that I slipped in a vacation and then of course our 17th LAN event. With all of that past us I can finally revisit Z170 and take a look at the Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 7. I’m excited to see what Gigabyte has packed into the board as far as features go and to find out how it compares to the MSI. So today I’m going to dig through the Gaming 7s features then put it to the test, let’s get to it!

Product Name: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming-7

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

4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 64 GB of system memory

* Due to a Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than the size of the physical memory installed.

Dual channel memory architecture

Support for DDR4 3666(O.C) /3600(O.C.) /3466(O.C.) /3400(O.C.) /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 DisplayPort, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096x2160@24 Hz or 3840x2160@60 Hz

* Support for DisplayPort 1.2 version.

ŠŠ Integrated Graphics Processor+MegaChips MCDP2800 chip:

1 x HDMI port

* HDMI feature is currently limited. Visit GIGABYTE website for future updates.ŠŠ

Maximum shared memory of 512 MB

Audio

Creative® Sound Core 3D chip

Support for Sound Blaster Recon3Di

TI Burr Brown® OPA2134 operational amplifier

High Definition Audio

2/5.1-channel

Support for S/PDIF Out

LAN

1 x Intel® GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)(LAN1)

1 x Qualcomm® Atheros Killer E2400 chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN2)

* Teaming is not supported.

Expansion Slots

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)

* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)

* The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)

* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the M2H_32G connector. The PCIEX4 slot will become unavailable when an SSD is installed in the M2H_32G connector.

3 x PCI Express x1 slots

(All of the PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)

Multi-Graphics Technology Support for 3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFire™ and 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology
Storage Interface

Chipset:

2 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors

3 x SATA Express connectors

6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0~5)

Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

* Refer to "1-10 Internal Connectors," for the supported configurations with the M.2, SATA Express, and SATA connectors.

ASMedia® ASM1061 chip:

2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 6~7), supporting AHCI mode only

USB

Chipset:

5 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel

4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (available through the internal USB headers)

Chipset+Renesas® USB 3.0 Hub:

4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (available through the internal USB headers)

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 port on the back panel

Internal I/O Connectors

1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector

1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector

2 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors

3 x SATA Express connectors

8 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors

1 x I/O shield audio LED power connector

1 x CPU fan header

1 x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT)

3 x system fan headers

1 x front panel header

1 x front panel audio header

2 x USB 3.0/2.0 headers

2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers

1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header

1 x serial port header

1 x Clear CMOS jumper

1 x power button

1 x reset button

1 x Clear CMOS button

1 x ECO button

1 x OC button

1 x audio gain control switch

Voltage Measurement Points

1 x BIOS switch

Back Panel Connectors

1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port

1 x DisplayPort

1 x HDMI port

1 x USB Type-C™ port, with USB 3.1 support

1 x USB 3.1 port

5 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports

2 x RJ-45 ports

1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector

5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In/Mic In, Line Out, Headphone)

I/O Controller iTE® I/O Controller Chip
H/W Monitoring

System voltage detection

CPU/System/Chipset temperature detection

CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed detection

CPU/System/Chipset overheating warning

CPU/CPU OPT/System fan fail warning

CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed control

BIOS

2 x 128 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

* Available applications in APP Center may vary by motherboard model. Supported functions of each application may also vary depending on motherboard specifications.

3D OSD

@BIOS

Ambient LED

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

Operating System Support for Windows 10/8.1/7
Form Factor ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm

 

 

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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #37254 23 Sep 2015 23:29
The LAN hangover is over, I've finished up all of my post event work and its finally time to start cranking out my writing again. To start things off I take a look at another Z170 motherboard, this time from Gigabyte. Check it out!

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