Jajaran produk dengan label gaming menarik perhatian banyak orang. Jika sebuah produk menyertakan titel tersebut dalam nama produk, biasanya akan mendapat perhatian lebih. Kenyataannya bahwa fitur-fitur yang disematkan ke dalam sebuah motherboard gaming tidak hanya berguna bagi para gamer. Karena jajaran produk dengan label ini mendapat perhatian lebih, maka tak jarang jika mencari sebuah motherboard dengan fitur yang lengkap kita harus mengambil motherboard gaming high end. Sebuah motherboard gaming kelas atas terkadang memiliki fitur yang berguna bagi pengguna seperti designer atau multimedia content creator. Hampir semua motherboard dapat di gunakan untuk gaming, memang terdapat beberapa fitur spesifik yang berkaitan dengan gaming. Umumnya fitur tersebut berkaitan dengan konektivitas jaringan atau dengan pengaturan suara, selebihnya merupakan fitur general. Kali ini kami mencoba mengajak Anda melihat dari sudut pandang yang berbeda. Ulasan berikut ini akan mencoba melihat motherboard berikut sebagai sebuah produk yang tidak sekedar HANYA untuk gaming.
Motherboard yang hadir ke meja pengujian Kami kali ini adalah Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7. Sebelumnya Kami telah pernah mengulas tiga “saudara” dari produk ini, yaitu Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 5, Z170N-Gaming 5 dan Z170X Gaming G1. Posisi Z170X-Gaming 7 sendiri dalam hierarki Gaming Series adalah sebagai produk high end, tetapi bukan yang teratas. Posisi tersebut di berikan kepada Z170X Gaming G1. Walau begitu fitur yang diusung motherboard ini bisa dikatakan berbeda tipis dengan “kakak” tertuanya dan dengan harga yang tentunya lebih murah.
Penasaran apa yang bisa dilakukan oleh “anak kedua” ini? Apakah benar fitur dan performanya tak jauh berbeda dengan Gaming G1? Apakah Z170X-Gaming 7 pantas menjadi motherboard Anda berikutnya? Simak ulasan kami berikut ini!
Intel Z170 adalah chipset unggulan untuk platform PC desktop kelas mainstream terbaru Intel. Motherboard dengan chipset tersebut mendukung prosesor Intel generasi keenam, Skylake, mulai dari prosesor Intel Skylake seri Pentium, Core i3, Core i5, hingga seri unggulannya, Core i7. Chipset ini juga mengalami sejumlah perkembangan dari segi fitur. Kini motherboard dengan Chipset Intel Z170 mengusung sejumlah fitur, seperti; 20 jalur PCI Express 3.0, dual channel memori DDR3L hingga 1600MHz/DDR4 hingga 2133MHz, 6 port SATA III 6Gbps, 10 port USB 3.0, 14 port USB 2.0, dan dukungan tuning untuk komponen prosesor dan juga memori.
CPU
Support for Intel® Core™ i7 processors/Intel® Core™ i5 processors/ Intel® Core™ i3 processors/Intel® Pentium® processors/ Intel®Celeron® processors in the LGA1151 package
L3 cache varies with CPU
(Please refer “CPU Support List” for more information.)
Chipset
Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
Memory
4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 64 GB of system memory
* Due to a Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than the size of the physical memory installed.
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR4 3866(O.C)/3733(O.C)/3666(O.C) /3600(O.C.) /3466(O.C.) /3400(O.C.) /3333(O.C.) /3300(O.C.) /3200(O.C.) /3000(O.C.) /2800(O.C.) /2666(O.C.) /2400(O.C.) /2133 MHz memory modules
Support for ECC UDIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8 memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)
Support for non-ECC UDIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
(Please refer “Memory Support List” for more information.)
Onboard Graphics
Integrated Graphics Processor-Intel® HD Graphics support:
1 x DisplayPort, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096×2304@60 Hz
* Support for DisplayPort 1.2 version.
1 x HDMI 2.0 port
Requires the latest Intel® Graphic Driver from GIGABYTE website.
Maximum shared memory of 512 MB
Audio
Creative® Sound Core 3D chip
Support for Sound Blaster Recon3Di
TI Burr Brown® OPA2134 operational amplifier
High Definition Audio
2/5.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF Out
LAN
1 x Intel® GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)(LAN1)
1 x Killer E2400 chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN2)
* Teaming is not supported.
Multi-Graphics Technology
Support for NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ and 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ technologies
Support for AMD Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ and 3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFire™ technologies
Expansion Slots
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
* The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the M2H_32G connector. The PCIEX4 slot will become unavailable when an SSD is installed in the M2H_32G connector.
3 x PCI Express x1 slots
(All of the PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
Storage Interface
Chipset:
2 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe x4/x2/x1 SSD support)
3 x SATA Express connectors
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0~5)
Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
* Refer to “1-10 Internal Connectors,” for the supported configurations with the M.2, SATA Express, and SATA connectors.
ASMedia® ASM1061 chip:
2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 6~7), supporting AHCI mode only
USB
Chipset:
5 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (available through the internal USB headers)
Chipset+Renesas® USB 3.0 Hub:
4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (available through the internal USB headers)
Chipset+Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 Controller:
1 x USB Type-C™ port on the back panel, with USB 3.1 support
1 x USB 3.1 Type-A port (red) on the back panel
Internal I/O Connectors
1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
2 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors
3 x SATA Express connectors
8 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
1 x I/O shield audio LED power connector
1 x CPU fan header
1 x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT)
3 x system fan headers
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
2 x USB 3.0/2.0 headers
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
1 x serial port header
1 x Clear CMOS jumper
1 x power button
1 x reset button
1 x Clear CMOS button
1 x ECO button
1 x OC button
1 x audio gain control switch
Voltage Measurement Points
1 x BIOS switch
Back Panel Connectors
1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
1 x DisplayPort
1 x HDMI port
1 x USB Type-C™ port, with USB 3.1 support
1 x USB 3.1 Type-A port (red)
5 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
2 x RJ-45 ports
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In/Mic In, Line Out, Headphone)
I/O Controller
iTE® I/O Controller Chip
H/W Monitoring
System voltage detection
CPU/System temperature detection
CPU/System fan speed detection
CPU/System overheating warning
CPU/System fan fail warning
CPU/System fan speed control
* Whether the fan speed control function is supported will depend on the cooler you install.
BIOS
2 x 128 Mbit flash
Use of licensed AMI UEFI BIOS
Support for DualBIOS™
PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0
Unique Features
Support for APP Center
* Available applications in APP Center may vary by motherboard model. Supported functions of each application may also vary depending on motherboard specifications.
3D OSD
@BIOS
AutoGreen
Cloud Station
EasyTune
Easy RAID
Fast Boot
Smart TimeLock
Smart Keyboard
Smart Backup
System Information Viewer
USB Blocker
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Smart Switch
Support for Xpress Install
Bundle Software
Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
Intel® Smart Response Technology
Operating System
Support for Windows 10/8.1 64-bit
Support for Windows 7 32-bit/64-bit
* Please download the “Windows USB Installation Tool” from GIGABYTE’s website and install it before installing Windows 7.