GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming 7 Review

Tackling the mid-range Intel Z170 arena, the GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 is a feature-packed motherboard which brings Thunderbolt 3, dual M.2 slots and much more.

Product on Review: Z170X-GAMING 7 Motherboard
Manufacturer & Sponsor: GIGABYTE
Street Price: £159.99 GBP / $220 USD

So far on our Intel Z170 quest we’ve looked at a wide-range of motherboards from ASUS, MSI and ASRock but have yet to examine the expertise of GIGABYTE; until today.

In our hands today is GIGABYTE’s Z170X-Gaming 7; an Intel Z170 motherboard from the G1 Gaming lineup which seeks to provide gamers and enthusiasts with a whole host of cutting-edge features such as Thunderbolt 3, dual-M.2 slots, Creative Sound Core3D and much more. Join us as we explore this new offering and see how it matches up to the rest of the competition.

About GIGABYTE

GIGABYTE was founded in 1986, establishing our uncontested position in continuous technological innovation. By focusing on key technologies and achieving strict quality standards, GIGABYTE has been regarded as an innovative and trusted motherboard leader in the globe. To keep pace in a rapidly changing world, we have offered a comprehensive product line covering Motherboards, Graphics Cards, PC Components, PC Peripherals, Laptops, Slate Devices, Desktop PCs, Network Communications, Servers and Mobile Phones. We are dedicated to building up a full-range digital life, responding promptly and sonorously to consumer needs and desires.

Technical 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
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR4 3866(O.C)/3733(O.C)/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 4096×2304@60 Hz

Integrated Graphics Processor+MegaChips MCDP2800 chip:
1 x HDMI 2.0 port

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 Killer E2400 chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN2)
* Teaming is not supported.

Expansion Slots
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
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 (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe x4/x2/x1 SSD support)
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

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® Thunderbolt™ 3 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
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 Type-A port (red)
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
* Whether the fan speed control function is supported will depend on the cooler you install.

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
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

Packaging & First Look

The Gaming 7 arrives in an attractively designed box which highlights some of the critical standards incorporated across the motherboard. The reverse of this box provides detailed information on the significant features for those wishing to understand what this motherboard brings to the table.

Inside the box there are an assortment of bundled accessories which accompany the Gaming 7 motherboard. These items include the following:

• GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 motherboard
• Motherboard driver disk
• User’s Manual
• Quick Installation Guide
• Four SATA cables
• I/O Shield
• One 2-Way SLI bridge connector
• One G Connector
• One pack of back I/O dust covers

It’s worth noting that the rear IO shield is LED ready – helping you identify specific ports in the dark.

Unpacking Gaming 7 from the box we have a rather distinct looking motherboard. GIGABYTE’s entire portfolio of gaming motherboard has had a cosmetic overhaul and we have to admit the design looks very eye-catching.

Having unique style is certainly a bonus in the motherboard sector; white and red is a good combo to opt for since the motherboard is able to be paired up with respective components using a similar theme. The design here looks strong, professional and aggressive.

Gaming 7 conforms to the ATX form factor measuring: 30.5cm x 24.4cm.

Closer Look

Gaming 7 is designed to work with Intel’s 6th Generation of processors – Skylake. We therefore have the LGA1151 socket, around the socket there are mounting holes for LGA115X so if you have a cooler that has been used on another socket such as LGA1150/55 then it will work fine here too. Immediately next to the memory slots GIGABYTE has placed twin-CPU fan headers.

GIGABYTE has employed an all-digital phase power design with Gaming 7 – using 16+4+2. Covering the VRMs is a dual-heatsink design. These heatsinks make use of the white/red theme which GIGABYTE has used on other aspects of Gaming 7 – this style works really well and looks rather sleek. Both heatsinks are interconnected with a thin copper heatpipe.

Dotted around the motherboard and in the socket area are black solid CAPs which provide up to 10K hours of usage.

On the top-edge of the motherboard, behind the heatsinks is an 8-pin CPU power socket.

Moving to the memory there is support for dual-channel DDR4 – up to 64GB and up to DDR4 3866MHz (OC).

This region also lends itself to having some advanced features for those wishing to make use of them. On the right-side there are voltage check-points which pair up with a multimetre. Running along the bottom-edge we have an LED panel for POST debug, ECO and OC buttons, reset switch and reset CMOS switch and two USB 3.1 headers.

The ECO button enables a power efficiency mode taking the CPU while the OC button applies a

For storage there are three SATA Express ports and up to six SATA ports (borrowing from those SATA Express). This should be sufficient for most user’s needs – if you do have more than two SATA drives you’ll need to borrow from those SATA Express ports but with this standard being premature it’s unlikely all three ports will be used simultaneously.

Behind these SATA ports sits a large heatsink which covers the Intel Z170 chip.

In the PCI Express region there are a whole host of features available. First of all we have the expansion slots which consist of:

• 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
• 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
• 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
• 3 x PCI Express 3.0 x1 slots

Each of the x16 slots feature a stainless steel shield to reinforce the connectors.

At the top of the PCI Express stack there is a Turbo B-Clock IC. Having this on the motherboard allows the BCLK to operate from a range of 90MHz to 500MHz. traditionally this is limited to much shorter ranges.

In between the PCI Express slots there are two M.2 slots which are Gen3 x4. This allows bandwidth of up to 32GB/s and allows drives like Samsung’s 950 PRO to be installed, which uses NVMe technology.

Running along the bottom-edge of the motherboard there are two switches – SB and CAP_SW. SB enables or disables the dual-BIOS feature while CAP_SW modifies the audio gain control (2.5x or 6x).

Over on the far-edge we have the audio components. Gaming 7 uses Creative’s Sound Core3D with the world’s first quad-core audio processor. This work hand-in-hand with SBX Pro Studio Suite offering users a plethora of audio control.

Underneath the plastic shroud are a handful of Japanese Nichicon audio CAPs – these capacitors are well-known for delivering high-quality sound resolution. Another interesting feature which GIGABYTE has implanted (which we’ve seen before) is the “Upgradable OP-AMP”. This allows the user to modify the audio quality and preference by swapping out the OP-AMP.

Further to this, the EMI shielding line has an active LED which can be adjusted via the software to fit in with the colour-scheme and preference of the system. GIGABYTE has produced a video demonstrating this.

Lastly, we arrive at the rear IO section of Gaming 7 which has a nice selection of ports. Available in this area are the following:

• 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 Type-A port (red)
• 5 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
• 2 x RJ-45 ports (via Killer E2400)
• 1 x Optical S/PDIF Out connector
• 5 x Audio Jacks

Interestingly, Gaming 7 is Thunderbolt 3 ready which supplies astounding bandwidth. This is what GIGABYTE has to say:

Powered by Intel’s own Thunderbolt controller the new Thunderbolt™ 3 protocol, which is available over a USB Type-C™ connector on the back I/O of the GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming 7, brings an unprecedented single-wire bandwidth of up to 40 Gb/s — twice more than the previous generation of Thunderbolt! This incredible increase in bandwidth is also accompanied with support for different protocols such as DisplayPort 1.2 and USB 3.1, which is backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0, opening up a world of new possibilities. [/qiuote]

Furthermore to this, Gaming 7 also utilises the Extreme Intel USB 3.1 Controller which offers up to 32GB/s compared to 10GB/s from rival motherboards. This Extreme controller uses PCI Express Gen3 x4 lanes to offer this bandwidth.

Intel Z170 Features

Intel’s initial release schedule for Skylake was planned well in advance, long before Microsoft officially announced the launch date of Windows 10. Most of August was set aside for conferences and seminars including the Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco, all with the aim of taking the wraps off and going deep into the technology within this new CPU architecture. Unfortunately bringing forward the release date of ‘K-series’ SKUs has meant that they’re unable to furnish detailed technical info to reviewers and members of the press, and won’t be releasing this information until IDF. The following is information which has been released thus far.

Developed under the codename Sunrise Point, Intel’s 100-series chipset is designed to operate hand-in-hand with an Intel ‘Skylake’ 6th Generation core processor. It utilises an LGA 1151 socket, underscoring the fact that neither CPU nor motherboard are backwards compatible with any of the previous generation hardware. As a result Sunrise Point is free to add additional features not present in x90-series and earlier chipsets.

Memory and Overclocking

Most notably from a consumer perspective Sunrise Point is the first Intel mainstream computing platform to be compatible with DDR4, and most Z170 and H170 designs are indeed likely to feature this memory technology rather than continue with DDR3L (a memory spec which Skylake CPUs can also handle). Default support is at DDR4-2133, however speeds above this are possible if a Z170 motherboard and K-Series CPU are used in tandem. One year on from the release of Haswell-E DDR4 pricing is quickly becoming more bearable, and so whilst it’s an additional expense to swallow compared with Haswell/Z97 it may not be quite the price premium you expect.

With Skylake Intel are, for the first time in many generations of Core architectures, once again re-enabling fine grade overclocking of memory at the Base Clock (BCLK) level. The PCI subsystem clock is now independent of BCLK, allowing for robust overclocking support which dispenses with coarse ratios in favour of a MHz by MHz stepping to far higher levels. Pre-launch testing by board partners have ascertained that stable BCLK’s of up to 400MHz are possible (with a stepping down of CPU multiplier), a far cry from even last year’s Haswell Refresh.

It should be noted that overclocking support has also been improved through greater control over individual CPU voltage inputs. Haswell made use of a Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator on the CPU itself; in essence, the motherboard supplied one input voltage and the FIVR divided this into individual on-board component inputs. With Skylake/Z170 the motherboard chipset controls each of these voltages individually, allowing direct adjustment for greater stability where necessary. This could theoretically be a great boon to enthusiast overclockers eager to get every last smidgen of performance out of a system.

Chipset and PCH Features

As we noted in our review of the two launched Skylake CPUs, up to 16 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes exist as a direct low-latency connection between CPU and 3rd party hardware such as graphics cards. These can operate in a 1×16 lane, 2×8 lane or 1×8 lane and 2×4 lane setup for multi-GPU configurations depending on the hardware implementation chosen by the board partners, but aren’t sufficient alone to support additional hardware options such as PCI-Express storage. The Platform Controller Hub therefore provides additional PCI-Express lanes to peripheral controllers.

In contrast to Intel’s 9-series motherboards Sunrise Point can supply up to an additional 20 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes, potentially resulting in double the bandwidth compared with the 20 PCIe 2.0 lanes of the previous generation. These new lanes augment the chipset storage options, most notably in respect to PCIe storage with many designs now featuring multiple next-generation storage options rather than a singular M.2 or SATA-Express port. Whilst not the low-latency connection you require for effective graphics processing, they will be more than suitable for new high-speed storage options including RAID for PCI-Express thanks to an upgraded DMI connection between PCH and CPU.

Further augmenting the platform’s storage capabilities is the adoption of new Intel Rapid Storage Technology protocols allowing PCI-Express storage to be used as caching drives for slower media. Potentially still a niche technology, the stark benefits of next-generation SSDs over mechanical drives as well as future SSDs could be just the breakthrough Intel RST needs to capture mainstream adoption.

In an additional change from the 9-series motherboards support has been added for up to 10 native USB 3.0 ports and 14 USB 2.0 ports, with a maximum of 16 ports in some combination thereof. It should be noted that so far as we can tell USB 3.1 isn’t actually native to the Sunrise Point chipset. Implementation is up to motherboard vendors through 3rd party controllers, and it’s to their credit that many have adopted the new high-speed standard without any fuss. For some both USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C connectors are available, with Type-C the most common otherwise.

Those who make use of on-board CPU graphics can now enjoy support for up to three digital display outputs, or make use of the Intel 530 Graphics capabilities in tandem with discrete graphics. Microsoft Windows 10 (via DirectX 12) includes new options which allow disparate graphics hardware to be used in tandem, making best use of processing power where possible. Even without this, the transcoding capabilities of Intel QuickSync make it a tempting proposition for fast and efficient h.265 encoding and decoding, even if your discrete graphics hardware is formidable.

With unchanged support for six conventional SATA III storage ports, Intel 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet, Intel Audio options and comprehensive UEFI BIOS options, Sunrise Point (and by extension all Z170 motherboards) are choc-full of features. That’s not to say that there aren’t some omissions – lack of native USB 3.1 support being the most obvious, whilst native U.2 connectors are a premium feature supplied by board partners – but as a whole the platform is a significant step forward overall.

Test Setup & Methodology & Overclocking

Test Setup

CPU Intel Core i7-6700K
Cooling Corsair H100i GTX
Motherboard GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming 7
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz
Graphics XFX R7970 Black Edition
Storage OCZ Vector 180
PSU Corsair HX1050 80 Plus Gold Certified PSU

Benchmarks

Cinebench R15 – CPU/OpenGL Score
x264 HD 4.0 – 1st and 2nd pass encoding
SiSoftware SANDRA 2014 – CPU & Memory benchmarks
AIDA64 – CPU benchmarks
PCMark 8 – Home Suite
3DMark FireStrike – DX11 3D Benchmark
Games – Tomb Raider, THIEF

Other Software

Temperature Analysis: Real Temp
Stress Testing Software: AIDA64 Stability Test
CPU Specification Monitoring: CPU-Z

Overclocking

Overclocking with Skylake is now fully flexible since we can adjust many variables including BCLK and ratio/multiplier.

Our current milestone is 4.8GHz with the Intel Core i7-6700K and we managed to achieve this 4.8GHz. We achieved this by using 100×48 with core voltage set to 1.40v – this is within the realms of longevity and still retains reasonable CPU temperatures.

GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming 7 BIOS Video Tour

Below is a video tour showing the interface of the Gaming 7 and the options which are available. GIGABYTE has made quite a dramatic overhaul of their UEFI BIOS and as you can see the GUI is much more simple and refined. Advanced tweaking and customisation options are available from a variety of different menus:

Benchmarks: Power Consumption

It’s interesting to note the power consumption across all motherboards. Although they are using the Z170 chipset, energy results can fluctuate between manufacturers due to the features and specifications that are integrated. First of all, for the idle tests the system is cold booted into Windows and no additional applications are executed – the watts are noted on the external energy monitor we use and then the system is loaded with 3DMark FireStrike – watts are again monitored for the duration of the test and the highest rated wattage result is then noted down. Below are the results of this energy test.

Benchmarks: X264 HD

Simply put, this test measures how fast your machine can encode a short, DVD quality MPEG-2 video clip into a high-quality x264 video clip. What’s x264, you ask? It’s more or less the next-generation Xvid/DivX codec. I think it’s ideal for a benchmark because the application (x264.exe) reports fairly accurate compression results (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encoding process, and it uses multi-core processors very efficiently.

Benchmarks: AIDA64

AIDA64 Product Page

This simple integer benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and the misprediction penalties of the CPU. It finds the solutions for the classic “Queens problem” on a 10 by 10 sized chessboard. At the same clock speed theoretically the processor with the shorter pipeline and smaller misprediction penalties will attain higher benchmark scores. For example — with HyperThreading disabled — the Intel Northwood core processors get higher scores than the Intel Prescott core based ones due to the 20-step vs 31-step long pipeline. CPU Queen test uses integer MMX, SSE2 and SSSE3 optimizations.

Benchmarks: Cinebench R15

CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Iron Man 3, Oblivion, Life of Pi or Prometheus and many more.

Benchmarks: SiSoftware SANDRA

SANDRA isn’t always a benchmark that is included in hardware reviews but I believe it shouldn’t be ignored. SANDRA provides a vigorous package that tests your system in a rather large array of benchmarks. There are many aspects of benchmark that can be executed. We will be considering – CPU and memory tests.

Benchmarks: 3DMark

3DMark FireStrike Product Page

Fire Strike is our new showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today. Fire Strike will only be available in the Windows editions of 3DMark initially.

Benchmarks: PCMark 8

PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 8 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. It’s the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.

Benchmarks: Tomb Raider & THIEF

It’s important for us to perform a number of game benchmarks as well as the synthetic tests because gamers will want to know if there are any significant benefits. So here we have two popular and recent gaming titles which feature a dedicated benchmark tool within them to display results.

Conclusion

Arriving with a new theme for their G1 Gaming motherboards, GIGABYTE has managed to diversify the range with a stunning new aesthetic. The overall design of Gaming 7 is attractive and we regard it as a breath of fresh air.

GIGABYTE has given Gaming 7 a varied number of features which are nicely arranged through the entirety of the motherboard. There are advanced features such as v-check points, LED debug and valuable inclusions such as dual-M.2 slots and stainless steel reinforced PCI Express slots.

Putting Gaming 7 through our series of benchmark tests revealed a capable Intel Z170 motherboard. The results were good – with some tests placing GIGABYTE’s offering ahead of the competition and some slightly behind. Applying a substantial overclock to the Intel Core i7-6700K with this motherboard presents no problems at all. Thanks to the simplified BIOS, finding the relevant settings is easy and we managed to nudge the CPU up to an impressive 4.8GHz.

In terms of pricing, Gaming 7 costs in the region of £160 GBP / $220 USD; which, given the included features isn’t anything to complain about. This motherboard brings a lot of functionality to the table, offers good performance and overclocks well.

GIGABYTE offers up a striking Intel Z170 in the Z170X-Gaming 7. This motherboard oozes finesse and while doing so brings a wealth of functionality to the table.

Pros
+ Eye-catching, attractive styling
+ Packed with features
+ Overclocks very well
+ Good performance
+ Flexible storage options inc. dual M.2

Cons
– None!

Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.