If your mission is to build a kick-ass Skylake gaming PC at a price that doesn’t put a hole in your pocket, then the Gigabyte Z170X Ultra is one motherboard you need to own. It ain’t the newest motherboard on the market but it still competes very well.
Nowadays, the latest and greatest PC gaming parts can sometimes be hard to come by. Hardcore PC gamers and new builders alike are forced to dig up the “oldie but goodie” components of the not-so-distant past.
Build a solid foundation for your rig on this mother . . . (board) and you’ll be happy for years ahead.
It packs a punch with top-notch features, whether you’re a new PC gamer or an experienced gaming PC “rig” builder. It’s perfect for new PC gamers because the price point is pretty good, and it offers a 6th generation Intel processor with fast DDR4 RAM.
Best of all, the price point comes in less than other motherboards equipped with the X99 chipset.
Never thought you would be able to build a high-performing Skylake rig?
Well, today you can. And, it’s all possible now with the Gigabyte Z170X Ultra motherboard because it will save you some cheddar.
Don’t believe me?
Gigabyte Z170X Ultra Build Quality and Design
The build quality is excellent on the Gigabyte Z170X Ultra motherboard. It’s definitely solid and a great foundation for your PC gaming build.
Personally, we really like the way it looks too. The color is matte black and has bright red LED accents throughout the board. It screams . . . “look at me”!
Gigabyte Z170X Ultra BIOS
Gigabyte updated the Z170X Ultra BIOS. The menus are different looking than on previous releases and look good.
Honestly, we’re not impressed with the navigation though. It’s not intuitive, so it may take you just a little bit of time to get used to it and find what you need but it’s all there . . . somewhere. Joking aside, we found everything we needed and it didn’t take too long.
One cool feature is that Gigabyte includes preset cooling options on the Z170X Ultra. New and hardcore PC gamers alike will benefit from this.
As usual, all the frequencies and voltages are right there and can be adjusted.
Gigabyte Z170X Ultra Sound Quality
At Building A Gaming PC Site, we consider ourselves audiophiles, so we’re always curious about the motherboard sound quality.
I mean, with a wide range of connectors, it’s gotta be good, right?
Looks can be deceiving but we’re happy to report that the sound quality coming out of the Gigabyte Z170X Ultra is nice and clean.
Enjoy DVD audio, Blu-ray DVD or HD DVD discs.
That’s because it simultaneously supports 7.1 channel sound playback plus two channels of stereo sound output. Pair this with some premium gaming headphones and your ears will love you for it!
In addition, the Gigabyte Z170X Ultra comes equipped with premium gold capacitors. Most importantly, the audio circuitry is placed in a section of the motherboard that is separated electronically which minimizes the sound interference.
As a result, it delivers great audio whether you’re listening to your favorite tracks, gaming or watching the latest movie.
Gigabyte Z170X Ultra Tech Specs
This motherboard is built to support 1151 socket processors, which supports the heavy-hitting sixth-generation Intel CPU processors. Pretty much anything ranging from Intel’s i3-6100 processor to the i7-6700K processor. But that’s just the beginning . . . because it also supports seventh, eighth and ninth-generation Intel CPU processors.
Talk about flexibility.
The Gigabyte Z170X Ultra motherboard also comes with four memory slots and supports DDR4 RAM modules up to 3866MHz and a maximum of 64GB.
If that isn’t enough to convince you, it comes with all of the following as well:
- Gigabyte Dual BIOS Technology
- Intel Thunderbolt 3 Certified and USB 3.1 Support
- Two-way CrossFire and SLI multi-GPU setups
- Dedicated NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 22110 M.2 Interface
- U.2 Interface for Intel SSD 750
- Realtek ALC892 High-Performance Multi-Channel High-Definition Audio Codec
What’s the big deal about Thunderbolt 3?
Well, simply, it uses USB-C technology which allows it to deliver ultra-fast performance, combine video, data and power signals from one hardware interface.
And, what about the U.2 Interface?
Basically, it allows PC gamers the ability to install lighting-fast storage devices.
Conclusion
Would we buy this motherboard for one of our PC builds?
The answer is heck yeah . . .
It packs a nice punch with awesome features but also comes at an affordable price. We could see hardcore enthusiasts and new PC gamers picking this one up because it strikes a perfect balance and is ultra-flexible, allowing you to pair it with a wide range of Intel CPU processors. Four generations worth to be exact.
Not convinced?