FRONTPAGE GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming 7 Motherboard Review

[Overclockers.com]

In our continuing series of reviews on Z170 based motherboards (got to love when new CPUs are released!), GIGABYTE has kindly sent us a board for the masses in their Z170X Gaming 7. The Gaming 7 motherboard falls second in line of their G1 Gaming lineup with the G1 being the flagship, and the Gaming 5 and Gaming 3 below it. The G1 Gaming series (it's a popular trend now to group motherboards for their intended use) uses a unique theme of black, red and white to set it apart from their overclocking SOC series (typically orange and black), and their regular line.

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[ATMINSIDE]

Nice review Joe!

 

[dudleycpa]

Great review. I'm starting to think that the best thing about Skylake is the motherboards.

Anyone have something "midrange" in the works? Extreme 6 level?

 

[Woomack]

Nice review - *ppsst* ... fix links under the OC results ( see , I actually checked the review instead of writing that's good whatever is inside )

@dudleycpa ... I'm not sure what is so great about these new motherboards. Not much better than last gen but cost more ? They're better in theory than in real. If anyone is considering Z170 with 6700K then maybe better idea is X99+5820K what cost not so much more.

Regarding CPU OC, most boards will make the same CPU clock as I said some time earlier. I've seen results like 5.2GHz on LN2 too on the best boards so 4.9GHz is already good result in HyperPi 32M on ambient cooling.
The main difference between motherboards will be higher memory clock support. Memory performance in this case is little tricky as best performance is mix of higher cache and memory clock but also balanced timings. Cache and memory clocks are not scalling good above some point.

 

[dudleycpa]

Nice review - *ppsst* ... fix links under the OC results ( see , I actually checked the review instead of writing that's good whatever is inside )

Regarding CPU OC, most boards will make the same CPU clock as I said some time earlier. I've seen results like 5.2GHz on LN2 too on the best boards so 4.9GHz is already good result in HyperPi 32M on ambient cooling.
The main difference between motherboards will be higher memory clock support. Memory performance in this case is little tricky as best performance is mix of higher cache and memory clock but also balanced timings. Cache and memory clocks are not scalling good above some point.

I don't recall any Haswell hitting 4.9 on ambient cooling. I'm starting to wonder if 8G vs 16G matters or not. Shouldn't be about the same (on the overclock)?

Totally agree that X99+5820K may be a better choice than Skylake at this point in time. I can't find a Skylake at the local computer store (Microcenter). They usually have a good bundle on motherboards and CPUs.

 

[EarthDog]

That is one thing I really haven't played with on this platform is the cache. I need to really put some deeper dives in..

Ive been waiting to purchase one myself and haven;t seen it available immediately at a decent price. Im hoping at the end of the month or beginning we will see it.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I don't recall any Haswell hitting 4.9 on ambient cooling. I'm starting to wonder if 8G vs 16G matters or not. Shouldn't be about the same (on the overclock)?

Totally agree that X99+5820K may be a better choice than Skylake at this point in time. I can't find a Skylake at the local computer store (Microcenter). They usually have a good bundle on motherboards and CPUs.

My 4790K will do [email protected], I could easily do 4.9 (maybe 5.0) on ambient.

Global shortage of 6700K, that's why you can't find them.

 

[dudleycpa]

My 4790K will do [email protected], I could easily do 4.9 (maybe 5.0) on ambient.

Global shortage of 6700K, that's why you can't find them.

You must have a golden ticket. I remember the Haswell results thread and it was about 4.5 on 1.3V. I'm trying to figure out that on Skylake. Where will the mean average (arithmetic mean) for the O/C and the voltage.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

You must have a golden ticket. I remember the Haswell results thread and it was about 4.5 on 1.3V. I'm trying to figure out that on Skylake. Where will the mean average (arithmetic mean) for the O/C and the voltage.

I'm sure 4.9 on ambient (if it's Prime stable) is a golden chip on Skylake too.

That said, yes my chip is well above average. I've benched it over 5.2 on ambient.

 

[Woomack]

All my 4790K could make 4.8GHz 1.25-1.3V ( 3 of them ). 2 of my G3258 could make 4.8GHz 1.4V. None of my 4670K/4770K could make 4.8GHz+ stable. All depends from luck but many chips can make 4.9GHz stable.

Regarding Skylake, most chips in reviews make 4.5-4.8GHz 1.35-1.40V. Only some will make 4.8GHz+ on ambient cooling. That's why I mentioned that there are results about 5.2GHz on LN2. My 6600K on ss cooling made 5.4GHz max and 5.2GHz for XTU. 2 of my 5820K made 5.3GHz in XTU and max 5.8GHz in other tests on similar cooling ... and that's on 6 cores, not 4.

Regarding memory overclocking, I already said a lot but big part was in benching section.
2x4GB is overclocking much better = up to 3600-4200 depends from used slot and memory IC.
2x8GB won't make much more than 3400 and most boards won't support more than 3200.

For higher clocks you need good overclocking motherboard as standard boards are not supporting much more above 3200.

Simply these magical 4000+ results are available on 1-2 memory sticks and only on 4GB modules. Motherboard manufacturers were not testing their boards with higher kits than 2x8GB 3400 or tests failed. Usually 2x8GB 3200+ kits on the approved memory list are based on single rank modules - single sided ( which are probably overclocking better ).

I also tested that double sided kits are slightly faster than single sided but since single sided can OC higher then at the end will be faster.

 

[Alaric]

I just discovered we have a review of this board. I'm glad to see it should be a solid gamer. And it will look good in my new case. Nice review, too. ED covered a lot of info. I'm looking forward to unboxing it soon.

 

[Leegit]

Regarding memory overclocking, I already said a lot but big part was in benching section.
2x4GB is overclocking much better = up to 3600-4200 depends from used slot and memory IC.
2x8GB won't make much more than 3400 and most boards won't support more than 3200.

For higher clocks you need good overclocking motherboard as standard boards are not supporting much more above 3200.

Simply these magical 4000+ results are available on 1-2 memory sticks and only on 4GB modules. Motherboard manufacturers were not testing their boards with higher kits than 2x8GB 3400 or tests failed. Usually 2x8GB 3200+ kits on the approved memory list are based on single rank modules - single sided ( which are probably overclocking better ).

I also tested that double sided kits are slightly faster than single sided but since single sided can OC higher then at the end will be faster.

I'm gonna start overclocking my new 6700k + EVGA Z170 Stinger + 2x8GB 3200MHz RAM this weekend. Stinger says its 3200+, was wondering what that meant. Glad I know what to expect now.

 

[Alaric]

I finally found a motherboard audio section that doesn't make me want to throw rocks at my computer. Gigabyte did a nice job on this.