At first we would like to thank GIGABYTE for offering us a sample of their Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming LGA1151 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.”

 

Product Highlights:

 

Supports 8th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors

Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs

Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready

ASMedia 3142 USB 3.1 Gen 2 with USB Type-C™ and Type-A

Front USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C™ Header

Multi-Way Graphics Support with Dual Armor and Ultra Durable™ Design

ALC1220 120dB SNR HD Audio with Smart Headphone AMP and WIMA audio capacitors

Intel GbE LAN Gaming Network with cFosSpeed Internet Accelerator Software

RGB FUSION with Multi-Zone Digital LED Light Show design, support digital LED & RGB LED strips

Swappable Overlay for Accent LED

Smart Fan 5 features Multiple Temperature Sensors and Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP

Dual Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA interface

USB DAC-UP 2 with Adjustable Voltage

Anti-Sulfur Resistors Design

Ultra Durable™ 25KV ESD and 15KV Surge LAN Protection

Lightning-Fast Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 AIC Support

APP Center Including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ Utilities

 

Product Specifications:

 

The Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming motherboard from Gigabyte has arrived inside a medium-sized cardboard enclosure, which does feature a large logo on the top cover; besides this, the manufacturer has also included logos of the supported technologies:

 

 

 

A short list of product highlights can be found on the side of the box:

 

 

 

For the list of complete product features such as RGB Fusion, Smart Fan 5, AMP-UP Audio, USB DAC-UP 2 and more, we must look on the bottom layer of the box:

 

 

 

Also here, we will get to see a photo of the I/O interfaces, but also the technical specifications:

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

The bundle can be found right underneath:

 

 

 

This is composed of four black SATA cables, the I/O Shield but also the G-Connector which simplifies mounting the frontal panel interfaces:

 

 

 

As documentation, we are receiving the User’s Manual, the installation disk but also a universal Multilingual Installation Guide:

 

 

 

Inside the manual, we will get detailed explanations regarding the motherboard components, but also on how to perform the installation:

 

 

 

The AORUS Z370 Ultra Gaming motherboard does come with a clean PCB design, thanks to plenty of space between components; we can spot right away the large AORUS logo, the dual-heatsink design in the VRM area, the AORUS plastic cover in the I/O area but also a large heatsink with a plastic shroud for the PCH:

 

 

 

In the top left corner, we will get to see the 8-pin ATX 12V power header, along with a System Fan header:

 

 

 

Right under the CPU socket, we will get to see a M.2 connector, which supports type 2242/2260/2280/22110 PCIe x4/x2 SSDs:

 

 

 

Near the VRM plastic shroud, we’ve got an Intel I219V GbE LAN chip:

 

 

 

The SuperIO chip on this board is an ITE IT8686E controller:

 

 

 

For the audio Interface, Gigabyte has equipped this board with a Realtek ALC1220 CODEC, which features an aluminum cover and additional filtering components:

 

 

 

The secondary M.2 connector does support type 2242/2260/2280 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSDs:

 

 

 

We’ve got plenty of interfaces on the bottom PCB area, but let’s get into more detail!

 

 

 

First, we’ve got the Frontal Audio Panel header, which is accompanied by the SPDIF_O header and two Digital LED Strip headers (5050 standard LED strip); the LED_C1/LED_C2 RGBW headers can be used to connect a standard 5050 RGBW LED strip (12V/G/R/B/W) with a maximum power rating of 2A (12V) and a maximum length of two meters. A TPM header is also available nearby:

 

 

 

Moving on, we’ve got two USB 2.0 headers, two System Fan headers, the Frontal Panel header but also two SATA3 headers which are oriented upwards (this might hurt a bit the cable management look in some setups):

 

 

 

This board is equipped with three PCI-Express x1 slots but also three PCI-Express x16 slots; the top X16 slot is x16 electrical, the middle is x8 electrical while the bottom one is x4 electrical:

 

 

 

The large PCH heatsink does feature an interesting AORUS logo:

 

 

 

On the right side of the PCG, we will find four extra SATA ports, but also a Thunberbolt Add-in Card Connector:

 

 

 

Moving on, we’ve got one USB 3.0 Type C header, but also one regular USB 3.0 two-port header:

 

 

 

The 24-pin ATX power header is accompanied by an extra 4-pin fan connector, but also two LED headers:

 

 

 

As we have seen with other models, the AORUS Ultra Gaming does also come with a swappable overlay for Accent LED:

 

 

 

As we have seen with the top two PCI-Express x16 slots, the RAM slots do also feature shielding:

 

 

 

Two more fan headers can be spotted between the RAM slots and the VRM cooler:

 

 

 

Here is another close-up of the VRM cooling system:

 

 

 

 

On the back side of the PCB we can observe the construction of the slots, but also the PCB separations with LED lighting:

 

 

 

On the I/O, we’ve got the following connectors available:

 

-PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port

-2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (yellow)

-DVI-D port

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

-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port

-2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (blue)

-HDMI port with v2.2 support

-RJ-45 LAN port

-2x USB 2.0 ports (black)

-audio jacks, accompanied by an Optical S/PDIF Out

 

 

 

The UEFI interface o of the Z370 Ultra Gaming motherboard is similar to the ones we have seen in the past from the same manufacturer; the menus are well organized and are easy to navigate between by only using the keyboard; the right side of the interface can be extended in order to reveal live monitoring information. The M.I.T. menu is the area to go to for fine-tuning the system performance and comes with quite a bit of sub-menus:

 

-Advanced Frequency Settings

-Advanced Memory Settings

-Advanced Voltage Settings

-PC Health Status

-Miscellaneous Settings

-Smart Fan 5 Settings

 

 

 

From the Advanced Frequency Settings area, we are able to modify the BCLK, modify the iGPU speed, use an overclocking preset, adjust the CPU multiplier, choose one of the available XMP profiles and more:

 

 

The Advanced CPU Core Settings menu does come with even more customization options:

 

 

The Advanced Memory Settings menu does allow us to run the RAM at the desired speed, but we can also configure the timings in more detail:

 

 

The Advanced Voltage Settings menu does also come with its separate sub-sections:

 

-Advanced Power Settings

-CPU Core Voltage Control

-Chipset Voltage Control

-DRAM Voltage Control

-Internal VR Control

 

 

Advanced Power Settings

 

 

CPU Core Voltage Control

 

 

Chipset Voltage Control

 

 

DRAM Voltage Control

 

 

Internal VR Control

 

 

The PC Health Status area does display the live monitoring voltages:

 

 

From the Miscellaneous Settings menu, we can configure two more options:

 

 

Smart Fan 5 does open up in a different interface and allows the user to set a different fan curve for each header; some other options are, of course available:

 

 

The System menu area does display the currently installed BIOS details and from here we can also customize the GUI language, but also Date/Time:

 

 

The BIOS menu allows the user to set up the NumLock boot-up state, enable/disable the startup splash screen, set boot priorities, adjust the mouse speed inside the interface and more:

 

 

The Peripherals menu does allow us to set the video interface which should be initialized first, configure EZ RAID, run the RGB Fusion LED setup configuration and more; here we will also spot some extra sub-sections:

 

-Intel Ethernet Connection

-Offboard SATA Controller Configuration

-Trusted Computing

-Intel BIOS Guard Technology

-Network Stack Configuration

-NVMe Configuration

-USB Configuration

-SATA and RST Configuration

 

 

Intel Ethernet Connection

 

 

Offboard PCIe SATA Controllers

 

 

Trusted Computing

 

 

Intel BIOS Guard Technology

 

 

Network Stack Configuration

 

 

NVMe Configuration

 

 

USB Configuration

 

 

SATA and RST Configuration

 

 

The Chipset area does allow us to enable/disable VT-d, the iGPU, audio controller, LAN controller but also work with some miscellaneous options such as WOL, HPT and so on:

 

 

The Power menu does house the usual Power Management options:

 

 

From the Save & Exit menu we can Save, Discard, load Optimized Defaults or work with different profile slots:

 

 

Test Setup

 

CPU: Intel I5 8600K Retail

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14

Motherboard: currently tested mobo.

RAM: GEIL PC4 25600 3200MHz CL16 8GBx2 Samsung B-die @ 2133MHz

Video: KFA2 GeForce GTX 1060 6GB OC

Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W

SSD: OCZ Vector 150

Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840

 

After finalizing the first batch of tests while running with all at stock, we did attempt CPU overclocking, while setting the same voltage as we did have on the ECZ Z370-LIGHTSABER, that did not come with LLC adjustment; after we did confirm stability, we went down in 10mV steps and remained quite surprised that the system did remain super stable even at 1.190V!

 

 

 

 

Since the temperatures did remain quite low with Prime95 running at this frequency, we then did attempt to boot and run at 4.9GHz; again, it was quite a surprise for us to see that the board allowed us to run the 8600K at no more than 1.230V!

 

 

 

Running our GEIL PC4 25600 3200MHz CL16 8GBx2 Samsung B-die based kit at XMP was no issue on this motherboard:

 

 

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

 

Motherboard

 

 

IMC

 

 

PCH

 

 

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 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

 

There are tons of customized applications for the Gigabyte board; first, we would like to remind of the Realtek HD Audio Manager, that does sport the Gigabyte Gaming theme, with plenty of options to work with (Realtek ALC1220 CODEC):

 

 

 

For traffic optimization, Gigabyte has went with cFos SPEED, which does also come with a small widget on-screen:

 

 

 

Lots of options are available for configuration in a browser window:

 

 

 

The AORUS App Center is the hub for launching lots of application modules:

 

 

 

The 3D OSD module allows the user to view different system information indicators, as an overlay:

 

 

 

 

 

The OSD can be ran with the specified applications:

 

 

 

Profiles can be exported or imported as needed:

 

 

 

The @BIOS module does allow the user to view the currently flashed version information, update with a new version from one of the available servers or update from a specified pre-downloaded file:

 

 

 

 

 

We can also upload the current board BIOS to a file or change the intro splash screen:

 

 

 

AutoGreen is another interesting module, which does permit PC power saving while you are not at your PC; this feature does also require installation of a 3rd party Bluetooth dongle and a mobile device:

 

 

 

The BIOS Setup module does allow the user to see more information regarding the installed version, set the interface language and more:

 

 

 

A Color Temperature module is available for adjusting the blue glare, in order to protect your eyes:

 

 

 

Certain peripherals can be blocked from a dedicated module, for security purposes:

 

 

 

The Cloud Station solution is composed from a Server and Client and allows several devices to connect to your PC and control it remotely via wireless connection:

 

 

 

 

The EasyTune module does allow system fine tuning (overclocking) right from Windows; the Smart Boost option does allow several presets to be enabled right away or we can access AutoTuning for automatic overclocking:

 

 

 

The Advanced CPU OC tab will allow you to perform manual overclocking, but also adjust the voltages as needed:

 

 

 

The Advanced DDR OC tab does allow in-depth RAM timing configuration, but from here we can also adjust the frequency or work with a preset XMP profile:

 

 

 

LLC options can be accessed from the Advanced Power area:

 

 

 

Certain hotkeys can be also customized:

 

 

 

Fast Boot can be also enabled from a separate module:

 

 

 

Game Boost does allow optimization of different applications, but also allows users to revert the process in case problems do occur:

 

 

 

Power Management options can be also customized:

 

 

 

RGB Fusion is the module to install for customizing the LED lighting system:

 

 

 

If the Basic mode is not enough, we can configure all LED lighting segments separately in the Advanced mode:

 

 

 

An Intelligent mode is also available:

 

 

 

The System Information Viewer module does display general info regarding the setup, but does also integrate Smart Fan 5 settings, System Alerts or we can record Voltage/Temperature/Fan monitoring statistics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gigabyte does also have a Smart Backup utility, which is self-explanatory:

 

 

 

Smart TimeLock does allow computer usage only during the specified schedule:

 

 

 

An interesting feature is Smart HUD, which allow the user to watch YouTube or Twitch simultaneously during gameplay by simply setting the URLs to the UI:

 

 

 

The Smart Keyboard module allows the user to create customized keyboard and mouse hot keys and macros:

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

V-Tuner utility helps with the dedicated GPU overclocking, even when the video card is not manufactured by Gigabyte:

 

 

 

The well-known XSplit Broadcaster application is also included for download on the Gigabyte website:

 

 

 

A trial version of TriDef SmartCam can be also downloaded from the same website:

 

 

 

With the newer ALC CODEC from Realtek and the filtering, the Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming board is able to score better than the ECS Z370-LIGHTSABER at 16/44, but come quite close at 24/96.

GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-SOC FORCE 16/44

GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming K3 16/44

GIGABYTE Z270X-Ultra Gaming 16/44

MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium 16/44

BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7 16/44

BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN 16/44

ECS Z270H4-I 16/44

ECS Z370-LIGHTSABER 16/44

Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming 16/44

 

 

 

 

GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-SOC FORCE 24/96

GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming K3 24/96

GIGABYTE Z270X-Ultra Gaming 24/96

MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium 24/96

BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7 24/96

BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN 24/96

ECS Z270H4-I 24/96

ECS Z370-LIGHTSABER 24/96

Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming 24/96

 

Photos

 

Video

 

 

The AORUS Ultra Gaming Z370 motherboard from Gigabyte does support the latest technologies such as USB 3.1 Gen2, USB DAC-UP 2, the newer Realtek ALC1220 CODEC, shielded slots, plenty of LED headers for extra programmable RGB lighting, a swappable overlay for Accent LED and more! The UEFI interface is really easy to use and we were quite impressed by the overclocking capabilities of this particular model. The board is also accompanied by a ton of extra software, so we can perform most of the system tuning settings without even entering the BIOS.

 

Gigabyte has also released new sets of BIOS versions in order to circumvent the latest vulnerabilities and paired with the latest Windows 10 patches, you might see a small decrease in performance versus the ECS Z370-LIGHTSABER board that we have tested earlier (pre-patch). We do expect most of the boards to score exactly the same after they do get the fixed BIOS versions from the respective manufacturers.

 

This board comes with no less than six temperature sensors and six hybrid fan headers in order to accommodate most system configurations; these can be monitored/controlled from either the UEFI interface, but also from the dedicated Windows application.

 

If the supplied SATA ports are not enough for you, you can always make use of the PCIe M.2 interfaces, which do support transfer speeds up to 32Gb/s.

 

The only negative aspect we are can note about this board is regarding the two SATA ports, in the lower right corner of the PCB, which might hurt cable management in some cases.

 

The Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming LGA1151 Motherboard can be found online for just about 148 Euros!

 

Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming LGA1151 Motherboard is Recommended for:

 

 

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