At first we would like to thank BIOSTAR for offering their GAMING Z170X motherboard for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About BIOSTAR:

 

“In 1980, the IT industry was growing at a phenomenal rate. With wide experience in buying and selling electronic parts as well as researching on future demands for mainboards and add-on cards , the founder of BIOSTAR GROUP, established BIOSTAR MICROTECH INTERNATIONAL CORP in 1986.

 

In the early years, BIOSTAR concentrated on the manufacture of mainboards built for XT form factor. To maintain steady business growth, BIOSTAR managed to keep a large portion of its capital and manpower invested on the design and development of new products, which at the same time has enabled it to stay competitive in the rapid evolution of the computer industry.

 

BIOSTAR has enriched its competence in the design and manufacture of products such as add-on cards, multi-media and system products to develop the market and meet the demands of customers for more integrated solutions. In order to expand its capacity to meet customer demand globally, BIOSTAR was the first to establish a manufacturing facility in China in 1990. In 1998, its sales revenues exceeded US$130 million and it ranked 227th among the top 1000 enterprises in Taiwan. Furthermore, BIOSTAR obtained an ISO 9001 certification in 1999 and became a publicly listed company in the same year. BIOSTAR’s future has limitless possibilities.”

 

Intel Z170 chipset

 

With the Intel® Z170 chipset and the 6th generation Intel® Core™ processors, you will immediately be at the forefront of the battlefield, fueled by mindblowing power and performance. From content creation to gaming, the Intel Z170 chipset provides you with the power and performance you need.

 

Hi-Fi 3D

 

Hi-Fi 3D Technology enables high definition multi-dimensional sound where it matters the most with height, width and depth in front of the listener. It's based on the physics of reproduced sound and the basic human perception of sound. The high resolution sound reproduction stands above existing sound enhancements or virtualization technologies.

 

Blu-ray Audio

 

Upgrading your Audio performance in the easiest way is choosing BIOSTAR ultimate Motherboard. It does support Blu-ray audio DRM (compatible driver/software) and provide the higher audio output of 24 bit/ 192KHz than the 16 bit/ 48KHz from the normal MB. You will experience the high quality sound effect with pure Blu-Ray Audio.

 

XLouder

 

XLouder button offers players a quicker way to enable the "XLouder" function, it increases the volume from "microphone", allowing players to have a quicker control over the microphone while enjoying the games.

 

Super Hi-Fi Audio Connectors

30uF “Golden” plated audio connectors provide superb signal conductivity, less oxidation, and best possible studio-grade headgears.

Hi-Fi AMP 3D

With the built-in new generation 3D amplifier, Biostar Hi-Fi 3D motherboard can drive major high-end headphones with over 100dB loads and up to 600ohm impedance. It allows you enjoy a fuller range of dynamic sound with crisper details and less distortion when you are using any headphones.

Smart Ear 3D

Smart Ear 3D provides true reproduction of virtual 3D space using any headphones! It delivers the true 3D sounds for music, movies and also games. It's fantastically, especially if you've never experienced this kind of acoustic phenomenon before.

Hi-Fi Pre AMP

Hi-Fi 3D Technology is built-in power amplifier to boost the speaker volume. It will increase double volume level with high-quality HD audio output. Hi-Fi 3D Technology not only improves on the headphone but also enhances your speakers' sound volume.

Hi-Fi preamp can boost the line level audio signals from analog and digital sources to levels that a power amplifier can detect and boost again to successfully power up the loadspeaker.

3D Sound Fields

The six types of 3D Sound Fields are including Hi-Fi Theater, Hi-Fi Hall, Hi-Fi Game spots, Hi-Fi Studio, Hi-Fi Conference and Hi-Fi Bistro for your different applications. Biostar Hi-Fi 3D technology involves the virtual placement of sound sources anywhere in 3 dimensional spaces, including behind, above or below.

Hi-V Caps

Hi-V Caps is "Metalized Polypropylene Film Capacitor" for each audio channel circuit. The customized audio capacitors deliver low noise, low distortion and wide bandwidth to achieve the highest sound resolution and sound expansion.

Hi-Fi Power

Audio power is an important factor in audio quality. Most AV equipment isolates the power supply for each analog and digital signal to gather high-quality sound reproduction. Equipped with BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Power technology, it will utilize audio components with independent power design for a significant reduction in electronic noise and superb sound quality.

Hi-Fi Ground

BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Ground ( Golden Line ) is noise-blocking multi-layer PCB design to isolates analog audio signals from digital sources. Unique PCB layout is ideal for exceptional clarity and high fidelity sound.

Hi-Fi 110dB+

Embrace exceptional sound quality for the win with 110dB SNR and stylish and efficient EMI shield blocks electromagnetic interference to help provide cleaner audio. It has achieved a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 110dB, yielding almost loss-less audio form rear audio connectors.

 

HDMI 2.0

 

HDMI 2.0 supports true 4K resolution- 4096*2160@60hz. A significant increase in bandwidth is up to 18mbps, and significant enhancements are added to support the continued increase consumer demands on video and audio experience.

HDMI 4K2K

The new 4K2K resolution enables high-definition image display with four times the resolution of full HD ,4K2K display is faithfully express bright, highly detailed content that fills the entire screen with lifelike images. Connectivity with PCs via a single HDMI cable for displaying 4K2K data.

 

DisplayPort

 

DisplayPort is a digital display interface developed by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). The interface is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device such as a computer monitor, though it can also be used to carry audio.

 

DX12

 

DirectX 12 introduces the next version of Direct3D, the graphics API at the heart of DirectX. Direct3D is one of the most critical pieces of a game or game engine, and we've redesigned it to be faster and more efficient than ever before. Direct3D 12 enables richer scenes, more objects, and full utilization of modern GPU hardware.

 

Killer E2200 LAN

 

BIOSTAR Gaming series motherboard adopts Killer E2200 LAN, a dedicated LAN chip for gaming network; it is designed to provide the highest performance for online games. Killer E2200 with Advanced Stream Detect feature can automatically detect the game traffic flow and other network traffic to ensure it’s quality of instant messaging, allowing players always in control of the network hardware and enjoy the thrill of games without delay.

 

USB 3.1 Type-C

 

USB 3.1 doubles the data transfer rate from 5Gbps to 10Gbps compared with USB3.0, and also is backward compatible with all existing USB3.0 & USB2.0 devices. The Type-C connector is fully reversible which makes it convenient, and it also can save your charging time on portable devices up to 50% compared with Type-A connector.

 

PCI-e M.2 32Gb/s

 

PCI-e M.2 32Gb/s is the latest storage interface, it delivers the highest bandwidth and lower latency. It's 3 times faster compared with PCI-e M.2 10Gb/s.

 

Dual GbE LAN

 

The primary advantage is the doubling of bandwidth which allows the network bandwidth of 1G to become that of 2G, and with two high-speed gigabit networks plus zero packet delay that provides super high data transmission efficiency. Another major advantage is "Load Balancing", it allows users to attach both network adapters to a single network. It will therefore support the aggregation "teaming" function by merging the two connections to support multiple aggregation modes. In addition, two Gigabit Ethernet lightning protection circuits reducing the probability of damage from lightning or other power surge. So if one connection is disabled the other connection will automatically kick in.

 

 

Charger Booster II

 

Charger booster 2, with maximum voltage up to 2A which provides a quicker charging time on various portable devices.

 

XMP

 

Press XMP key to automatically adjust XMP MEMORY to the best performance and enjoying the extreme pleasure of the stability and speed.

 

SATA Express 16Gb/s

 

New generation SATA Express standard with speed up to 16Gb/s and meets SATA specifications.

 

PCI-E Gen 3.0

 

PCI-E 3.0 is the next evolution of the ubiquitous and general-purpose PCI Express I/O standard. At 8GT/s bit rate, the interconnect performance bandwidth is doubled over PCI-E 2.0, while preserving compatibility with software and mechanical interfaces.

 

USB 3.0

 

Experience Fastest data transfers at 5 Gbps with USB 3.0--the new latest connectivity standard. Built to connect easily with next-generation components and peripherals, USB 3.0 transfers data 10X faster and backward compatible with previous USB 2.0 components.

 

Intel Smart Connect

 

Smart Connect will periodically wake the computer is in sleep state, the things to check for updates and information.

 

Dual DDR4

 

The primary advantages of DDR4 over DDR3, include higher module density, lower voltage requirements, coupled with higher data transfer rate.

 

Super Durable Ferrite Choke

 

Super Durable Ferrite Choke brings the benefits of higher current capacity, lower energy loss and better power stability.

 

Super Durable Solid Caps

 

The best quality solid state capacitors with ultra low ESR design, the Super Durable Solid Caps doubles the lifespan.

 

Moistureproof PCB

 

The popularity of PC usage and working environment is getting deteriorating and moist(rural, coastal, etc.). The PCB will be oxidizing easily by damp or absorbed moisture, and ionic migration or CAF (Conductive Anodic Filament) will be generated. Moisture-proof PCB meets high density and high reliability requirements for moisture proof.

 

Low RdsOn P-Pak MOS

 

Low resistance design can significantly reduce the current out of energy loss.

Low temperature, small size, excellent thermal conductivity.

 

Super Conductive Heatsink Design

 

Massive heatsink design provides super fast heat dissipation, high stability and reliability for extreme performance.

 

100% Solid Caps

 

With armor-plated Biostar Technology, all capacitors are placed with 100% solid capacitors that have a lasting life cycle, durability and stability for crucial components.

 

Super Anti-Surge Protection

 

BIOSTAR exclusive Anti-Surge design provides the best protection of board and extends the product life. Having the latest model of "Transient Voltage Suppressor" on- board can effectively protect the board circuit, reducing the shocks caused by ESD as well as other damages arising from overvoltage transients to enhance system durability.

 

Super LAN Surge Protection

 

Super LAN Surge Protection, providing LAN port with more advanced antistatic protection capabilities by adding an integrated chip to strengthen electrical stability and prevent damage from lightning strikes and electrical surges. SLSP (Super LAN Surge Protection) series motherboard upgrades the existing system protection standards with maximum 4X protection comparing to other board makers.

 

ESD Protection

 

ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) is the major factor to destroy PC by electrical overstress(EOS) condition, ESD occurred by PC users when touch any devices connect to PC, which may result in damage to motherboard or parts .ESD protection is designed to protect the motherboard and equipment from damage by EOS

 

USB Polyswitch

 

On board dedicated power fuse to help prevent USB port failure. It prevents USB Port overcurrent and safegurand your system and device lifespan.

 

OC / OV / OH Protection

 

All BIOSTAR special circuit design detects overvoltage conditions and prevents voltage surges from spreading in real time. It also actively cuts off the overvoltage supply to protect your system. Over current protection, avoid motherboard from damage when doing overclock or an unusual current import. Over heat protection, avoid motherboard & CPU from burning when exceeding the temperature limitation.

 

High Quality ESD

 

BIOSTAR Hi-Fi series motherboards provide high quality ESD (Electro-Static Discharge) solution for its front I/O panel. This function prevents static electricity and reduces the damage to the motherboards when you are plugging or unplugging your headphone.

 

GAMING COMMANDER

 

External GAMING COMMANDER BOX features an independent USB DAC, dedicated MIC_IN and Line-out jacks, Buttons for volume adjustments, Diagnose LED for CPU/ DDR/ VGA temperature indicator, and exclusive XLouder button for quick MIC boost. GAMING COMMANDER software is a user friendly interface with equalizer function which allows users to make his own voice effects while enjoying the games.

 

Touch OC

 

Touch panel design exclusively developed by Biostar, you can easily use a finger touch to operate various functions, including power on/off and CPU/memory overclocking.

 

UEFI BIOS

 

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a brand new framework that provides a revolutionary interface. It is a modern clear and easy-to-use graphical user interface. The UEFI comes with a colorful easy-understand icons leads users into the setup layer directly.

 

Header Zone

 

Users can easily assemble their own computer, a simple-swap data discs and other accessories.

 

BIO-Remote 2

 

BIO-Remote2 Technology is featuring users a better Home Theater environment. Users who own either Android mobile or Apple goods are able to access and control your PC remotely; At this moment, you’re smart device became a intelligent and functional remote controller; more than that, BIO-Remote2 also includes both function of mouse pad and power point presentation mode. more...

 

Super Rapid Debug 3

 

Super Rapid Debug 3 posts critical POST code information on a vivid digital LED display.

 

Super Durable Box Header

 

Super Durable Box Header provides solid, secure and durable connections between motherboard and peripheral cables.

 

LN2 Switch

 

With LN2 mode activated the BIOSTAR motherboard is optimization to remedy the cold boot bug during POST at an extremely low temperature and help the system boot successfully.

 

The Gaming Z170X motherboard from BIOSTAR is following the same design lines for the packaging as the Gaming Z97X we have reviewed before which translates in a dark theme with some of the supported technologies logos on the top cover:

 

 

 

On the back side of the box, the manufacturer has described the main product components in more detail, along with some of the features:

 

 

 

The inside contents are structured on multiple layers:

 

 

 

As documentation, we will receive the User’s Manual, instructions in order to install the Gaming Commander box, but also a leaflet with some words regarding 3D Hi-Fi feature and Smart Ear 3D Utility:

 

 

 

The manual describes with text and drawings each necessary step in order to perform the installation (given we already have the necessary extra components):

 

 

 

As a bundle, we will receive the I/O shield, four SATA cables, the installation USB Flash Drive, necessary screws for mounting the Gaming Commander and, of course, the Gaming Commander box:

 

 

 

In order to aid with the software installation process, the USB flash drive contains all utilities we need which can be installed thanks to an automated process:

 

 

 

 

Since the Gaming Commander BIOSTAR logo was not too visible last time, the manufacturer has now chromed it; all other interfaces remain the same like the diagnostic LEDs on the left side, Volume Up/Down buttons, the XLouder feature On/Off button, one Mute button, the Line-Out and MIC-In jacks, one MIX On/Off button but also a large CPU temperature indicator which changes color depending on the current status:

 

 

 

On the back side of the box we will be able to spot the connection wires which are linked to the internal headers:

 

 

 

The box has a total of three connectors, one which goes to the HD_Audio header, one which occupies a single USB 2.0 header and one which goes straight to the Gaming Commander dedicated header; as before, the cable length has not changed at all, so we will mostly encounter issues if we do own a case bigger than midi-Tower:

 

 

 

The dark color scheme has been preserved for the Gaming Z170X too, with the large plastic shields which cover the CPU VRM area, the middle area but also the chipset:

 

 

 

We will also get to see a shield in the I/O vicinity, with the Commander product logo:

 

 

 

In the top left corner we will find the usual ATX 8-pin power header:

 

 

 

Right under the VRM cooling system we will be able to spot one SYS_Fan header, which can be used for powering up the case fan located in the back for exhaust:

 

 

 

The audio interface components which is composed of the Realtek ALC898 and filtering parts are located under another black plastic shield:

 

 

 

As expansion, the board is equipped with 3x PCI-E x16 3.0 slots but also 3x PCI-E x1 3.0 slots:

 

 

 

Between the first and secondary PCI-E x16 3.0 slots we will get to see one M.2 slot type 2230/3030:

 

 

 

The two other slots have between them the ITE IT8625E monitoring sensor chip:

 

 

 

The bottom area of the PCB holds the F_Audio, Gaming_Panel and SPDIF_OUT headers:

 

 

 

Further to the right we have two F_USB 2.0 headers along with two additional system fan headers:

 

 

 

The USB 3.0 header along with the front panel header are located in the bottom right corner:

 

 

 

In the vicinity we will also get to see the Winbond BIOS chip:

 

 

 

As the Z97X, the chipset is covered by a large heatsink which sports the product logo; for added eye-candy, the manufacturer has also included a LED light this time:

 

 

 

For connecting storage, we have available no less than 3 SATA Express 16Gb/s connectors and some extra SATA ports:

 

 

 

BIOSTAR likes to call its two-digit display Rapid Debug 3 and near it we will also get to see the ATX 24-pin power connector:

 

 

 

Nearby we will get to find the X.M.P. and Clear CMOS buttons:

 

 

 

The added feature for this board is Touch OC, which is composed from a software component and 6 capacitive buttons which give us the ability to Power the board, Reset, adjust the BCLK and CPU multiplier on the fly. The Power and Reset buttons can also operate without any extra software installed; in the vicinity we will also spot the LN2 jumper switch:

 

 

 

Two other M.2 slots are hidden under the central BIOSTAR cover and these are type M so they support M.2 SATA III 6 Gb/s modules and M.2 PCI-E modules up to Gen3 32Gb/s:

 

 

 

The RAM channels are color coded and to the right we will be able to spot two additional fan headers, which are handy for push/pull configurations:

 

 

 

Here is also a look at the back side of the PCB:

 

 

 

On the I/O, we do have no less than six USB 3.0 ports, 1x PS/2 keyboard port, 2x HDMI connectors, 1x DisplayPort connector, 1x USB 3.1 Type-C port, 1x DVI-D connector, 2x RJ45 port, 5x Audio connector and 1x S/PDIF out port:

 

 

 

The UEFI styling for the Gaming Z170X motherboards follows the same design lines as the product itself; on the left side of the GUI we will get to see the live monitoring statistics, while on the bottom we have main menus listed; the Main section is displaying some info regarding the current BIOS version, installed memory and here we can also change the system language or adjust the date/time:

 

 

 

The Advanced section welcomes us with several sub-menus:

 

-ACPI Settings

-Smart Fan Control

-Hardware Monitor

-CPU Configuration

-SATA Configuration

-Network Stack Configuration

-NVMe Configuration

-USB Configuration

 

 

The ACPI settings menu will allow us to alter most power-management related settings:

 

 

The Smart Fan Control menu is in charge of automatic or manual fan tuning:

 

 

From the Hardware Monitor menu, we will be able to set a shutdown temperature, but also see the live monitoring values:

 

 

CPU Configuration menu will allow the user to enable or disable certain CPU-related features like VT, AES but also specify the number of active cores:

 

 

Next we have SATA Configuration menu, which allows us to work with the controller:

 

 

Network Stack has a menu of its own:

 

 

NVMe Configuration menu will show NVMe controllers and drives, when connected:

 

 

The USB Configuration menu is pretty self-explanatory:

 

 

Chipset is another menu with its own sub-sections:

 

-PCH-IO Configuration

-System Agent Configuration

-Onboard Device

 

 

The PCH-IO Configuration area will let us specify the current PCI-E configuration, but also work with the HD Audio interface or enable EuP feature:

 

 

From the System Agent Configuration menu, we can disable Internal Graphics, choose the primary display to initialize or specify the maximum link speed of the PCI-E x16 slots:

 

 

Onboard Device menu will show the LAN MACs of both interfaces and here we can also choose which to leave active and which to disable:

 

 

Inside the Boot menu we will get to see the usual options regarding initialization:

 

 

Boot priorities can be also set here:

 

 

From the Security section we can specify an Administrator or User password, but also work with the Secure Boot feature:

 

 

For system speed tuning, we should always head to O.N.E; here we will be able to adjust the CPU BCLK, multiplier (if we have a K-based CPU), RING multiplier, GT Slice Frequency but also choose one of the available XMP profiles; we will be surely able to customize the timings ourselves if we set everything to manual. We can find separate menus of Memory Timing Configuration, Voltage Configuration, CPU Power Management and Memory Insight:

 

 

Here are the available memory timings we can alter:

 

 

From the voltage configuration we can modify the settings when raising clock speeds; in case of the CPU we have the option to override the value or set an adaptive voltage:

 

 

CPU Power Management has some more advanced power-related settings available like Power Limit Overrides or setting C-states:

 

 

The Memory Insight menu will show us the pre-programmed values in XMP of each memory module:

 

 

The Save&Exit menu will allow us to save, discard or load factory defaults; also, we can save our settings in five different slots but be advised that these will be erased too in case of a BIOS update:

 

 

Test Setup

 

CPU: Intel I5 6600K Retail

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14

Motherboard: BIOSTAR GAMING Z170X

RAM: Patriot Viper 2x4GB DDR4 2400MHz @ 2133MHz (for comparison)

Video: HIS 380X

Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W

SSD: OCZ Vector 150

Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840

 

In this review we did aim to compare the previously tested Devils’ Canyon i5 platform with the new Skylake platform; even if we have a DDR3 VS DDR4 situation, we tried to clock them at the same frequencies, while leaving the default timings. At the moment of the review the voltages shown by CPU-Z are a bit off and because the current UEFI version does not come with LLC levels which we can set, the VDroop is pretty high, as reported by AIDA64:

 

 

 

Inside the UEFI interface, we have set a fixed 1.440V value, but the value read by AIDA64 is 1.297V and PC Heath section of the BIOS reports about 1.378V. The manufacturer said that we should stick for now to the value reported by their own utility, T-Overclocker. which reported about 1.265V in the same conditions In order to test out stability, we did run Prime95:

 

 

 

Validation

 

As you can see, the BCLK value is not fixed at 100MHz, but its more like 100.46MHz so we will see small speed boosts for both CPU clock and memory.

 

We have then fired up AIDA64 utility, for revealing even more information regarding the motherboard, the CPU IMC and the Z170 chipset:

 

Motherboard

 

 

 

Skylake IMC

 

 

Z170 Chipset

 

 

As extra software, we would like to remind of eHot-Line, which helps us submit tickets to the tech team in case something goes wrong with our setup:

 

 

 

The E2201 Killer NIC is accompanied by the Killer Network Manager, besides the drivers which will help us configure our system further:

 

 

 

Next, we could remind of Smart Ear 3D, which helps us reproduce a virtual 3D audio space meant for music, movies or also for games:

 

 

 

The more advanced T-Overclocker application delivers extra information regarding the installed CPU and memory, but also aids overclocking in Windows and is also equipped with an H/W Monitor:

 

 

 

The installed memory details can be found out from the respective tab:

 

 

 

Next, we would remind of the OC Tweaker section, which is split in two sections and allows us to modify important settings like Base Clock, CPU Ratio, Ring Ratio and more:

 

 

 

Voltages need to be adjusted too depending on the selected speed, in order to obtain a fully-stable system:

 

 

 

From the H/W Monitor section, we will be able to read the current values of the voltages:

 

 

A separate section is dedicated to fan speeds and temperature readings:

 

 

 

 

 

The Green Power Utility from BIOSTAR is meant to enhance energy efficiency by disabling extra phases when they are not needed:

 

 

 

The provided Gaming Commander box is accompanied with software, which helps with sound mixing and can also provide an EQ which is fully configurable:

 

 

 

 

If desired, we can always change the boot-up BIOSTAR splash screen with our custom image, by using the supplied utility:

 

 

 

 

Synthetic Benchmarks

 

AIDA64

 

Memory

 

CPU Queen

 

CPU PhotoWorxx

 

CPU Zlib

 

CPU AES

 

CPU Hash

 

FPU VP8

 

FPU Julia

 

FPU Mandel

 

FPU SinJulia

 

Cinebench R11.5

 

Cinebench R15

 

Crystalmark

 

PCMark Vantage

 

PCMark 7

 

PCMark 8

 

SuperPI XS

 

Wprime

 

X264 Benchmark 5.01

 

3DMark 2006

3DMark Vantage

3DMark 11

3DMark 2013

Games

 

Crysis 2

F1 2012

Metro Last Light

 

By using a KingFast E-Drive 2.5'' SATAIII SLC 120GB SSD, we have performed ATTO runs in order to find the performance differences between the motherboards:

 

BIOSTAR GAMING Z97X

BIOSTAR GAMING Z170X

In our RMAA test, the board scores as expected for an on-board CODEC, this time we are talking about the Realtek ALC898 8-channel.

 

BIOSTAR GAMING Z97X 16/44

BIOSTAR GAMING Z170X 16/44

 

 

BIOSTAR GAMING Z97X 24/96

BIOSTAR GAMING Z170X 24/96

 

The Gaming Z170X motherboard from Biostar was built on the strong foundation Z97X had and features plenty of expansion possibilities, including the new USB 3.1 Type-C port, no less than three M.2 slots, two which are hidden under the plastic shroud and one visible, plenty of SATA-Express and SATA ports, three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots for enabling tri-Crossfire support, the Realtek ALC898 8-channel CODEC, dual-LAN (Intel and Killer NIC) and more. We also have a set of touch-sensitive buttons which include BCLK and multiplier modifier on-the-fly, 8-phase VRM for the CPU and DDR4 memory support up to 4000MHz in UEFI.

Speaking about the UEFI, it still needs some issues fixed like the incorrect detection of XMP when set via the automatic feature (so we have to set the timings manually in order to boot the system), but also the lack of LLC which makes the set voltage jump all over the place. The monitoring applications like AIDA64, HWINFO64 or CPU-Z do not seem up to speed either regarding CPU voltage for this motherboard, so I guess that updates will bring things more down to earth. A BETA version of the BIOS is now available, but with it we could not boot the system into Windows, so we have decided to stick with the official one for now. Also, this new BIOS seems to add LLC settings, but via manual values we need to enter, so we have suggested to the manufacturer to simplify things a bit by adding preset levels.

Our G.Skill 3000Mhz review sample kit also worked perfectly fine with the motherboard, so purchasing higher-frequency kits should not be a non-issue.

The second problem we have also seen with the Z97X Gaming Commander is the fact that its wires are quite short and makes installation impossible in full-tower cases.

The Gaming Z170X motherboard can be found online for about 225Euros, so it competes in the mainstream segment. If Biostar manages to fix the UEFI issues quickly (and they usually do), the board will become even more interesting for the potential buyer.

 

BIOSTAR Gaming Z170X Motherboard is Recommended For:

 

 

We would like to thank again to BIOSTAR for making this review possible!