At first we would like to thank GIGABYTE for offering us a sample of their GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming Motherboard for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About Gigabyte:

 

“Founded in 1986, GIGABYTE is committed to providing top-notch solutions that “upgrade your life”. We are regarded as a pioneer in innovation with groundbreaking excitements such as Ultra Durable™ — a revolutionary technology that redefines the industry, WINDFORCE™ — exclusive heat dissipation design that builds for extreme performance, G1™ Gaming series and XTREME GAMING series—the perfect solutions for gamers and enthusiasts, P series — a powerful gaming laptop less than an inch thick, and BRIX series—a versatile mini-PC in the palm of your hand. GIGABYTE has continuously brought unique new ways of digital world and created marvelous products that empower you with meaningful and charming experiences.”

 

RGB FUSION - Set the Color that Matches Your Style

 

GIGABYTE's 200 series motherboards boast the most advanced LED system in the market today. With more customizability than ever and a convenient and intuitive UI thanks to the RGB Fusion App, you’ll have a blast making your GIGABYTE your own. LED enthusiasts now have even more options with the ability to customize multiple zones independently. For a more functional use, the bright and vibrant LEDs can be configured to display the PC’s temperature or load. For even more LED goodness RGBW strips are now supported for more true and vibrant whites.

 

Multi-Zone Light Show Design

 

• 16.8M RGB Colors

• 2 Programmable Sections

• 7 Different Lighting Effects

• 1 RGBW Light Strip Pin Header

• Accent LED with Interchangeable Overlay

• Advanced Mode for Extreme Customizability

 

GIGABYTE RGB Fusion APP

 

Don't just make your PC shine, make it a work of art that friends will envy. With the GIGABYTE RGB Fusion mobile app users can watch as they control the lighting within their gaming PC. This gives users ease of access as they try and adjust colors and speeds for different modes, all this can be done away from the keyboard and monitor of their PC.

 

Surround Lighting

 

Now offering more LED customizations than ever, users can truly adapt their PC to represent their lifestyle. With full RGB support and a redesigned RGB Fusion application, the user has complete control over the LEDs that surround the motherboard.

 

Swappable Overlay for Accent LED

 

GIGABYTE brings even more color and life to your system with an Accent LED Overlay. This overlay complements the RGB Fusion technology in GIGABYTE Motherboards adding more flare and style to your gaming machine. With the swappable overlay users can utilize different patterns and designs to make their system their own.

 

Supports RGBW Light Strips - Independently Programmable Onboard Pin Header for RGBW LED Strips

 

Not bright enough? You can install standard 12V external RGB or RGBW light strips on the RGBW pin header and control its color from the RGB Fusion software. With RGBW light strips that have a dedicated white color LED, you can have brighter and more vibrant colors.

 

No need to worry when choosing light strips as the GIGABYTE motherboards support a wide variety of RGBW light strips on the market thanks to the RGB Fusion software that allows users to redefine the pin location for the R/G/B Signal.

 

RGB Fusion (Advanced mode)

 

With the all new RGB Fusion software, users have access to different preset LED lighting configurations with choice of colors. You can even set the LEDs to synchronize with your favorite music or have them change colors to indicate the CPU temperature.

 

For true lighting experts there is an Advanced Mode, which can be fully customized by individual area with its own effects and color transitions, along with specific duration and transition times.

 

Once done, it’s simple to save and share your lighting profile with others.

 

Smart Fan 5

 

With Smart Fan 5 users can ensure that their gaming PC can maintain its performance while staying cool. Smart Fan 5 allows users to interchange their fan headers to reflect different thermal sensors at different locations on the motherboard. Not only that, with Smart Fan 5 more hybrid fan headers that support both PWM and Voltage mode fans have been introduced to make the motherboard more liquid cooling friendly.

 

All Hybrid Fan Pin Headers

 

• All Hybrid Fan Headers can automatically detect the type of cooling device whether it be fan or pump with different PWM or Voltage mode.

• Supports up to 2 amps with built-in overcurrent protection—a must for high-end high current fans.

 

Customize fan curves based on specific temperatures with the intuitive graphical UI.

 

Choose from different modes, Quiet to Full Speed, to match your system usage scenario. For each fan or pump, you can use the intuitive fan curve to define trigger thresholds and corresponding fan speeds.

 

Enhanced BIOS Interface

 

The enhanced BIOS interface also has the advanced features seen in the Smart Fan 5 UI, such as: the ability to set triggers based on different temperature sensors on the board, fan curve definition and the temperature interval setting, which can prevent fan rotation noise caused by sudden temperature change—all without having to load Windows.

 

ALC 1220 120dB SNR HD Audio

 

The ALC1220 is a high-performance multi-channel High Definition Audio Codec with up to 120dB SNR for crystal clear audio and features such as Smart Headphone Amp, 114dB SNR recording for precise voice chats and hardware decoding of DSD128, ensuring users get the best possible audio quality from their PC.

 

Smart Headphone Amp

 

Automatically detects impedance of your head-worn audio device, whether earbuds or high-end headphones to provide optimal audio dynamics—preventing issues such as low volume and distortion.

 

High-End Audio Capacitors

 

GIGABYTE Gaming motherboards use high-end Chemicon audio capacitors. These high quality capacitors help deliver high resolution and high fidelity audio to provide the most realistic sound effects for gamers.

 

USB DAC-UP 2- Adjustable Voltage USB Port with Dedicated Power Design

 

GIGABYTE improves upon USB DAC-UP technologies with USB DAC-UP 2.

 

USB DAC-UP 2 continues to provide clean, isolated and low-noise power while adding the ability to compensate for voltage drop.

Virtual reality pioneers and gamers alike can rest assured that their expensive accessories and peripherals will not encounter connectivity or power deficiency issues with the GIGABYTE USB DAC-UP 2. With Gaming Gear drawing large amounts of power and having firm specification requirements USB DAC-UP 2 is up for the challenge.

 

Immersive VR - Gaming Experience

 

> VR requires more performance than Full HD graphics for a steady 90FPS or greater.

> Only Gaming PCs can provide the best VR experience.

 

To create a seamless VR experience GIGABYTE Motherboards offer the best features to make your virtual reality feel like your actual reality. With technologies such as NVMe support via M.2 or U.2 and a one piece metal shielding to brace for heavier discrete graphics cards it's obvious that GIGABYTE has the tools you need to start your journey in VR. To set the mood GIGABYTE Motherboards include RGB Fusion to put you in the center of action.

 

Any copyrighted images or trademarks displayed are the property of their respective owners and are shown for reference purposes only. Reference herein does not constitute or imply affiliation or endorsement of Gigabyte products by the respective trademark owners. VR Gaming photo for reference only.

 

Intel® GbE LAN with cFosSpeed Internet Accelerator Networking

 

Intel® GbE LAN features cFosSpeed, a network traffic management application which helps to improve network latency and maintain low ping times to deliver better responsiveness in crowded LAN environments.

 

U.2 Onboard (NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4) - NVMe Performance for PCIe SSDs

 

The new Intel 750 series SSDs offer an incredible increase in performance over SATA drives. Using the NVMe protocol which takes advantage of the fast bandwidth of PCIe Gen3 x4 lanes (32 Gb/s), the drives are a clear advantage for users looking to boot their OS faster, load their games in a flash and access large files without waiting. By implementing the U.2 port onboard to support the 2.5” Intel 750 Series drive, GIGABYTE ensures that the users can benefit from the best performance.

 

Fast Onboard Storage with NVMe - PCIe Gen3 x4 110mm M.2 (Up to 32 Gb/s)

 

GIGABYTE's M.2 solution offers considerably faster storage performance and support for both PCIe and SATA interfaces for M.2 SSD devices.

PURE SPEED

GIGABYTE Extreme USB 3.1 Motherboards

 

The ASMEDIA 2142 USB 3.1 controller utilizes 2 PCIe Gen3 lanes, offering a total of up to 16 Gb/s, which means you have extra bandwidth to take full control of the 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 ports. With twice the bandwidth compared to its previous generation, and backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 and 3.0, the much improved USB 3.1 protocol is available over the new reversible USB Type-C™ and the traditional USB Type-A connector for better compatibility over a wider range of devices.

 

Connecting the Future - USB Type-C™

• The World's Next Universal Connector

• Reversible USB Type-C™ with USB 3.1 Gen 2

 

Diagnostic LEDs

 

Hardware Troubleshooting at a Glance

Onboard LEDs controlled by the system BIOS indicate if a malfunction is occurring, allowing users to quickly diagnose which major component (CPU/DDR/VGA/HDD) is malfunctioning so they may take action promptly.

 

Support for DDR4 XMP Up to 3866MHz and Beyond

 

GIGABYTE is offering a tested and proven platform that ensures proper compatibility with profiles up to 3866MHz and beyond. All users need to do to attain this performance boost is to ensure that their memory module is XMP capable and that the XMP function is activated and enabled on their GIGABYTE motherboard.

 

GIGABYTE Patented Double Locking Bracket - Dual Armor DIMM and PCIe Metal Shielding

 

Never worry about your heavy graphics card damaging your motherboard again. GIGABYTE's proprietary Ultra Durable PCIe Metal Shielding reinforces the PCIe connector to prevent slot damage due to heavy graphics card. The DIMM and PCIe metal shield also provides extra strength for when you forget to release the lock while replacing your component, adding a foolproof option that can save your PC's life.

 

Ultra Durable™ PCIe Armor - Enhanced Strength PCIe Design, Support for Heavy Graphics Cards For Extreme / VR Gaming Station

 

Ultra Durable™ Memory Armor

 

GIGABYTE's exclusive one piece stainless steel shielding design prevents against PCB distortion and twist, plate bending, in addition to preventing any possible ESD interference.

 

Anti-Sulfur Resistor Design

 

Sulfur compounds in the air can penetrate tiny onboard resistors creating chemical change and causing these resistors to open or short. If either of these occurs the motherboard will fail to function. By equipping resistors with an Anti-Sulfur Design GIGABYTE gives Ultra Durable Motherboards a whole new meaning.

 

Refreshed BIOS Easy, Smart, and Friendly

 

The BIOS is essential for users during initial setup to allow for the most optimal settings. With a new GUI and easier to use functionalities, GIGABYTE has been able to reinvent the BIOS to give users a better experience while setting up their new system.

 

GIGABYTE APP Center

 

The GIGABYTE APP Center gives you easy access to a wealth of GIGABYTE apps that help you get the most from your GIGABYTE motherboard. Using a simple, unified user interface, GIGABYTE APP Center allows you to easily launch all GIGABYTE apps installed on your system, check related updates online, and download the latest apps, drivers, and BIOS.

 

EasyTune™

 

GIGABYTE's EasyTune™ is a simple and easy-to-use interface that allows users to fine-tune their system settings or adjust system and memory clocks and voltages in a Windows environment. With Smart Quick Boost, one click is all it takes to automatically overclock your system, giving an added performance boost when you need it the most.

 

Overclocking to Boost Your Frame Rates

 

Get the highest levels of performance from your PC with easy-to-use GIGABYTE overclocking features.

 

System Information Viewer

 

GIGABYTE System Information Viewer is a central location that gives you access to your current system status. Monitor components such as the clocks and processor, set your preferred fan speed profile, create alerts when temperatures get too high or record your system’s behavior; these are the possibilities of the System Information Viewer.

 

@BIOS

 

The GIGABYTE @BIOS app allows you to update your system’s BIOS from within Windows using a simple and slick graphical user interface. @BIOS can automatically download the latest version from the GIGABYTE servers or you can update your BIOS from a file on your computer. @BIOS also allows you to save your current BIOS to a file, recover your previous BIOS from an image and backup your BIOS to an image.

 

3D OSD

 

3D OSD automatically detects and displays your system information during games, allowing you to easily get a hold of your system information without switching between screens.

 

GIGABYTE Patented DualBIOS™ (UEFI) Design

 

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards feature GIGABYTE DualBIOS™, an exclusive technology from GIGABYTE that protects arguably one of your PC's most crucial components, the BIOS. GIGABYTE DualBIOS™ means that your motherboard has both a 'Main BIOS' and a 'Backup BIOS', protecting users from BIOS failure due to virus, hardware malfunction, improper OC settings or power failure during the update process.

 

Long Lifespan Durable Black™ Solid Caps

 

GIGABYTE motherboards integrate the absolute best quality solid state capacitors that are rated to perform at maximum efficiency for extended periods, even in extreme performance configurations. With ultra-low ESR no matter how high the CPU load, this provides peace of mind for end users who want to push their system hard, yet demand absolute reliability and stability. These exclusive capacitors also come in customized jet black, exclusively on GIGABYTE motherboards.

 

Easy to Install "G-Connector" Design

 

The tiny cables of the front panel connectors can be hard to manipulate as space is restricted and indicators being tiny. With the G-Connector, you can connect all the FP cables at once, simplifying the process of building your next PC and saving you some frustrations.

 

Supports High-Performance EK Monoblock

 

Designed and engineered in co-operation with EK Water Blocks, this monoblock uses the award winning EK-Supremacy EVO cooling engine to ensure the best possible CPU cooling. It directly cools the CPU and power regulation (MOSFET) module as water flows directly over all critical areas. It is a very high flow water block that can be easily used with a system using weaker water pumps.

 

4K Ultra HD Support

 

4K resolution is the next technological milestone in high-definition content delivery, utilizing approximately 4,000 pixels on the horizontal axis, more than four times today's standard HD pixel density. GIGABYTE motherboards provide native 4K support with integrated Intel® HD Graphics via HDMI.

 

HDMI™ - The Next Generation Multimedia Interface

 

HDMI™ is a High-Definition Multimedia Interface that provides up to 5Gb/s video transmitting bandwidth and 8-channel high quality audio all through a single cable. Able to transmit superior, uncompressed digital video and audio, HDMI™ ensures the crispest rendering of digital content up to 1080p without the quality losses associated with analog interfaces and their digital-to-analog conversion. In addition, HDMI™ is compatible with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection), allowing the playback of Blu-ray/HD DVD and other protected media content.

 

XSplit Gamecaster + Broadcaster: Cast Your Game Anytime, Anywhere

 

Now set up your stage and share the greatest gaming moments with XSplit Gamecaster + Broadcaster! Fully optimized social media integration is ready for real-time chats—keeping you notified yet focused in the game. It takes just one click to stream your gameplay to Twitch. Host your game like a pro!

 

TriDef® SmartCam | Custom Stream Modding

 

To facilitate being the full streaming solution each GIGABYTE motherboard includes TriDef® SmartCam software, you are now able to remove backgrounds without the hassle of using a green screen. Through the SmartCam application you can now apply live filters, and fully control your background, not only while streaming, but also through other video applications such as Skype.

 

 

In this article, we will take a look on another Z270 chipset board, the GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming coming from Gigabyte! Even if this is not really a flagship model, the manufacturer has filled it up with lots of bells and whistles so even people which cannot invest a lot of money in hardware would benefit from the latest technologies.

The product is shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard box, which does sport the usual “Gaming” color scheme:

 

 

 

Pictograms of the supported technologies can be also spotted here:

 

 

 

On one of the box sides, Gigabyte is showing a summary of the board highlights:

 

 

 

If we would like to learn more details regarding the board, the bottom box part is the place to look at; here we will get to see technologies such as RGB Fusion, Smart Fan 5, but also interfaces like the ALC1220 Realtek CODEC, the USB 3.1 Gen 2 solutions and so on:

 

 

 

Also here we did spot a more complete list of technical specifications:

 

 

 

After lifting the top box cover, we will get to see the main product, which is also wrapped inside an anti-static bag:

 

 

 

The bottom layer of the box does contain the bundle:

 

 

 

We will receive four black SATA cables, the I/O shield, one G Connector adapter, a case sticker, the installation disk but also the User’s Manual:

 

 

 

The manufacturer has also included a Multilingual Installation Guide with standard installation instructions, for any system:

 

 

 

The supplied I/O shield does follow the exact design of the Z270X-Ultra Gaming layout, but also features a padding on the back side:

 

 

 

The User Manual describes in detail the installation procedure:

 

 

 

Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming does feature an all-black professional color scheme, while the interfaces are placed in such a way in order to permit a clean cable management:

 

 

 

In the top left corner of the board, we will get to see the usual 8-pin ATX 12V header along with a system fan header:

 

 

 

Right under the CPU socket, we’ve got a M.2 Socket 3 connector for additional storage:

 

 

 

Near the VRM area, we will be able to easily spot the Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet Controller:

 

 

 

For system monitoring, the board is equipped with the ITE IT8686E chipset:

 

 

 

Regarding the audio interface, we could remind of the latest generation Realtek ALC1220 High Definition audio codec; when using the board, make sure to download the latest driver that improves ADC to 114dB SNR!

 

 

 

The board does come with three PCI Express x1 slots, and also three PCI Express x16 (first one is x16 electrical, second one x8 electrical and the third one is x4 electrical). The first two x16 slots are reinforced with a stainless shield in order to provide the extra strength required to support heavier high-end graphics cards:

 

 

 

This detail can be also checked out when looking at the back side of the board:

 

 

 

On the bottom area of the PCB, we will be able to spot the F_Audio header, the SPDIF_O header, the LED strip header connector, a TPM header but also two very handy USB 2.0 headers (for water pumps and for extra frontal USB connectors):

 

 

 

Moving on to the right, we’ve got a header for the water pump which can also act as a system fan header, the frontal panel header, but also two SATA connectors. To the right of the SATA connectors, Gigabyte has also placed an extra set of SMD LEDs that do tell us if there is an issue with one of the components (VGA/Boot process/CPU/DRAM):

 

 

 

Near the SATA Express headers, we can also spot the U.2 connector:

 

 

 

A THB_C header can be also spotted here; this is practically a Thunderbolt Add-In Card Connector (for the Gigabyte Thunderbolt add-in accessory):

 

 

 

Two USB 3.0 headers can be spotted near the memory slot area:

 

 

 

Moving on, we will get to see the 24-pin ATX power connector, an extra system fan header but also a swappable overlay (which is a part of the Accent LED Overlay function from Gigabyte). If we do possess the right equipment, we can produce ourselves different designs in order to further customize our gaming system:

 

 

 

The XMP and Turbo function areas do also light up when activated:

 

 

 

Two extra fan headers are placed between the VRM heatsink and the memory slots:

 

 

 

The memory slots do also have stainless shielding that prevents PCB distortion; RGB LEDs are also present here, so the system will look awesome even if you do not have a memory kits with LEDs of its own:

 

 

 

The I/O area does come with a plastic shielding, which blends in with the black aluminum sinks of the VRM components:

 

 

 

 

A similar heatsink styling can be seen on the PCH:

 

 

 

The I/O connectors are as following:

 

-PS/2 combo mouse/keyboard port

-USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (yellow color) – also available for USB DACs

-DVI-D port

-USB Type-C 3.1 port

-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port (red color)

-USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (blue color)

-HDMI port

-USB 2.0 ports (black color)

-RJ-45 LAN Port

-audio jacks (including an optical S/PDIF Out Connector)

 

 

 

The CPU can be installed in just a snap inside the LGA1151 socket:

 

 

 

We will use the Deepcool Captain 240 EX White CPU cooler with this motherboard, so we have attached the mounting system before actually installing the motherboard inside the case:

 

 

 

The Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming motherboard can deliver quite a light show as soon as it is turned on!

 

Memory Area

Swappable Overlay

SATA Express Area

VRM Area

PCI-Express/Audio CODEC

 

People that have checked out our Gigabyte Z170-Gaming K3 motherboard are already familiar with the new UEFI design; we do have the main sections on the top area, while additional widgets/menus can be accessed from the bottom and also right sections of the GUI. The M.I.T. area of the UEFI allows us to fine-tune the system performance and settings via several sub-sections:

 

-Advanced Frequency Settings

-Advanced Memory Settings

-Advanced Voltage Settings

-PC Health Status

-Miscellaneous Settings

-Smart Fan 5 Settings

 

 

 

The Advanced Frequency Settings menu does allow us to work with the BCLK, iGP and CPU ratios, more advanced CPU Core settings, enable X.M.P. and so on:

 

 

The Advanced Memory Settings area does allow us to configure the memory settings in more detail, even if we do have the X.M.P. option enabled:

 

 

The Advanced Voltage Settings Area does come with its own sub-sections:

 

-Advanced Power Settings

-CPU Core Voltage Control

-Chipset Voltage Control

-DRAM Voltage Control

 

 

The Advanced Power Settings menu does allow the user to select one of the LLC options:

 

 

When navigating to the CPU Core Voltage Control area, we can adjust besides VCore many other indicators such as VAXG, VCCIO, SA and so on:

 

 

The Chipset Voltage Control area does only have one setting available:

 

 

DRAM Voltage Control menu allows the user to alter the DRAM Voltage setting, set a Training Voltage upon boot-up, adjust the DDRVPP Voltage or the DRAM Termination voltage:

 

 

Moving on to the PC Health Status area, we can monitor the live voltages:

 

 

Miscellaneous Settings menu does allow us to work with the “Max Link Speed” and “3DMark01 Enhancement” menus for benchmarking purposes:

 

 

Smart Fan 5 section opens up in a new interface in order to allow adjustment of the fan profiles per each header:

 

 

The System menu area does allow the user to set the system language along with the date/time:

 

 

From the BIOS menu, we can adjust the usual settings, including boot devices priority:

 

 

The Peripherals menu houses quite a few settings regarding the RGB Fusion feature, USB 3.0 DAC-UP 2 and more. Here we do have quite a few sub-sections available:

 

-OffBoard SATA Controller Configuration

-Trusted Computing

-Intel BIOS Guard Technology

-Network Stack Configuration

-NVMe Configuration

-USB Configuration

-SATA & RST Configuration

 

 

The OffBoard SATA Controller Configuration menu gets populated only when suitable hardware is installed:

 

 

Trusted Computing menu is similar:

 

 

Intel BIOS Guard can be enabled or disabled from the respective area:

 

 

Network Stack offers only one configuration option, while the NVMe Configuration menu does populate when suitable devices are connected:

 

 

The USB Configuration menu does show several options regarding the controllers:

 

 

SATA & RST Configuration allows us to work with the connected storage options:

 

 

The Chipset menu inside the UEFI does allow the user to enable or disable several other interfaces from the motherboard like LAN, audio, and so on:

 

 

Power Management options are next:

 

 

From the Save & Exit menu, we can save, discard, load factory defaults or access the different save slots:

 

 

The widgets are available on the right side of the screen, which shows live details regarding the CPU, RAM and PSU voltages:

 

 

The UEFI interface is also equipped with an Easy Mode:

 

 

Test Setup

 

CPU: Intel I5 7600K Retail

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-SOC FORCE LGA1151

RAM: Patriot Viper 2x4GB DDR4 2400MHz @ 2133MHz

Video: KFA2 GeForce GTX 1060 6GB OC

Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W

SSD: OCZ Vector 150

Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840

 

With the GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming motherboard, we have attempted overclocking and succeeded at 4.8GHz:

 

(click to enlarge)

 

Here is also the validation:

 

(click to enlarge)

 

High speed memory is also no problem for this board since we have tested the G.SKILL TridentZ 32GB 3200MHz DDR4 (F4-3200C15D-32GTZ) kit with it; no issues were encountered, which is something we could not say when we have tested the Z170-Gaming K3 (that board needed a bit of SA voltage increase):

 

 

Here are some other info we have extracted from the system thanks to the AIDA64 utility:

Motherboard

 

IMC

 

PCH

 

 

The Gigabyte motherboard is accompanied by a lot of application modules, all which are accessible from the APP Center hub, which must be installed first:

 

 

 

3D OSD application can show us system monitoring details in real time and its settings can be configured via the different available tabs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AutoGreen utility gives the user a little more options regarding the power management options, when the system is paired with a Bluetooth device:

 

 

 

Some BIOS Setup options can be altered via the separate application module:

 

 

 

Unrelated to the motherboard features, Gigabyte also offers a screen Color Temperature option:

 

 

 

USB Blocker password application for USB-connected peripherals is also available here and we have seen it before when reviewing older Gigabyte motherboards:

 

 

 

RGB Fusion feature does have an application module of its own, from where we can customize the LED lighting effects on the board; several presets are available in the “Basic” menu area and the LED brightness can be also adjusted from here:

 

 

 

The “Advanced” menu area does allow the user to set a different effect for each segment:

 

 

 

Gigabyte Cloud Station communicates with the Cloud Station mobile application on our tablet/smartphone so we can control our system from a distance with modules like HomeCloud, Remote Control, Remote OC, AutoGreen and so on:

 

 

 

EasyTune is a fully-fledged system tuning application, which allows us to increase the system performance easily, or let AutoTuning feature work its magic:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIOS Fast Boot can be also enabled via a separate application:

 

 

 

The USB DAC-UP 2 stabilized ports can be configured with a separate module:

 

 

 

Power Management features can be further configured via the respective application:

 

 

 

We have also got a System Information viewer, which gives us in-depth information about the running system, without the need of having a separate application from a 3rd party for getting the same info. This is also the place for configuring the fan speeds:

 

 

 

 

 

 

System backups can be also performed via a separate module:

 

 

 

Access to the computer can be restricted on a schedule thanks to the Smart TimeLock feature:

 

 

GIGABYTE Smart Keyboard allows the user to define own commands/hotkeys, change the mouse sensitivity, and create shortcut and password to open a web page or document file, helping him/her make the most out of your keyboard and mouse:

 

 

V-Tuner also takes care of the GPU side, permitting overclocking even when a non-Gigabyte video card is involved:

 

 

When the Realtek audio drivers detect the Gigabyte motherboard, a special skin will be applied:

 

 

Gigabyte does also have your back when it comes to streaming, so you can pick up a 90-day trial from their website but also a 14-month license of the well-known XSplit Broadcaster:

 

 

 

 

 

AIDA64

Memory

CPU Queen

CPU PhotoWorxx

CPU Zlib

CPU AES

CPU Hash

FPU VP8

FPU Julia

FPU Mandel

FPU SinJulia

FP32 Ray-Trace

FP64 Ray-Trace

CineBench R11.5

CineBench R15

Blender Ryzen Render

PCMark Vantage

PCMark 7

PCMark 8

 

SuperPI XS 32M

X265 Benchmark (HWBOT)

1080P 64-bit Normal

3DMark Vantage

3DMark 11

3DMark 2013

Unigine Valley

Ultra AA Off DX11 1920X1080

Ashes of the Singularity DX12

CPU Focused

 

In our RMAA test, the Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming has scored really well in both 16/44 and 24/96 tests; the new CODEC from Realtek along with good filtering thanks to the manufacturer seem to do wonders.

 

BIOSTAR RACING B150GT5 16/44

BIOSTAR RACING Z170GT7 16/44

Supermicro C7Z170-OCE 16/44

GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-SOC FORCE 16/44

GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming K3 16/44

GIGABYTE Z270X-Ultra Gaming 16/44

 

 

BIOSTAR RACING B150GT5 24/96

BIOSTAR RACING Z170GT7 24/96

Supermicro C7Z170-OCE 24/96

GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-SOC FORCE 24/96

GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming K3 24/96

GIGABYTE Z270X-Ultra Gaming 24/96

 

The GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming board comes with quite a bit of features also found on the high-end offerings of Gigabyte with the same chipset such as: UEFI DualBIOS, support for Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 interface, Smart Fan 5 with Hybrid Fan Headers, the Swappable LED Overlay for more customization, RGB Fusion, USB DAC-UP 2 with adjustable voltage settings, support for Intel’s Optane technology, the latest Realtek ALC1220 CODEC with 120dB SNR HD Audio and many more.

The board does also incorporate a M.2 interface for connecting even more storage, an U.2 connector (we still need to see more storage devices of this type on the market), support for dual NVMe PCIe SSDs in RAID0 but also 3-way graphics support or USB 3.1 Gen 2 interfaces.

 

The new UEFI interface is easy to navigate on and does contain only useful settings which are organized optimally so the regular user/overclocker would find the ones needed as quickly as possible. The RGB era we live in now has its impact on this product too with plenty of configurable LED segments that do have options in both the UEFI interface but also via a separate “RGB Fusion” application module.

 

 

 

The GA-270X-Ultra Gaming board also works well with XMP of higher-clocked RAM modules and by using our G.SKILL TridentZ 32GB 3200MHz DDR4 kit we did not need to make any other adjustments in order to get a fully stable system. Some other boards such as the GA-Z170-Gaming K3 needed some System Agent voltage adjustments in order to boot at the same RAM frequency.

 

CPU overclocking is also an easy task by either using the board UEFI interface or the EasyTune Windows software. Versus some other board models we have tested in the past, we would also like to mention that the boot times are fast, which is a nice feature to have when optimizing the system performance, which would require a lot of reboots!

 

The GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming board can be found online for about 154 Euros.

 

Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming Motherboard is Recommended for:

 

 

 

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