We talked about the new line of Gigabyte motherboards with Z270 chipset, designed for the new Intel Kaby Lake processors.

The arrival of Intel's Kaby Lake processors requires, if we want it to offer us its full potential, new motherboards. Gigabyte has not wanted to be left behind in this field and with the new motherboards for Kaby Lake has introduced the new AORUS line, some very high quality motherboards with features and high performance. AORUS at the moment is a line of motherboards, but according to Gigabyte itself it will become a whole line of high-end products.

Kaby Lake

Intel has broken with its Tick-Tock system, based on the generation of a new family of processors with a new architecture and the refinement of this in an output family. Here we find an update to the output family, which indicates that we have a new family of processors that breaks with this system. The arrival of these new processors, despite having the same LGA 1151 socket as the Skylake, has some differences with respect to them. If we update the BIOS of a Z170 motherboard, we could mount a Kaby Lake processor, the problem is that some improvements we could not enjoy.

Z270 chipset

The new line of processors requires the new Z270 chipset. This chipset offers us some improvements over the Z170 (for Skylake), although they are not as big as we could imagine. The big difference between the Z270 and Z170 chipset is that this new chipset offers support for the new Intel Optane storage units. Optane is not yet marketed, but is expected to hit the market this year, high-performance storage units that can also be used as RAM.

The Z170 chipset has twenty-six lanes for high-speed connectivity and twenty PCIe 3.0 lanes, while the Z270 chipset has thirty lanes for high-speed connectivity and twenty-four PCIe 3.0 lanes. Both chipsets support a maximum of six USB 6.0Gbps ports and have support for fourteen USB ports, of which ten of them can be used for USB 3.0 ports. Both chipsets support a maximum of three storage units through PCIe lanes, supporting M.2 x2 and M.2 x4, in both cases.

Gigabyte

New processors, as we have said, require new motherboards. Gigabyte has released motherboards for the entry-level, mid-range, and high-end. Gigabyte's new Z270 chipset motherboards support Kaby Lake and Skylake processors and also support new Intel Optane memory units. These motherboards offer great connectivity, but in all cases, they have USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A and Type-C ports, also having M.2 SSD ports that support 22110 units. They also have Dual BIOS and also have improved audio.

Input range

Z270X-UD3

We start with the simplest motherboard, but no less powerful than any other motherboard. It does not have LED lighting or it will have the ports for DDR4 RAM or PCIe 3.0 x16 ports, but despite this this motherboard has three PCIe 3.0 x16 ports that support 2-Way SLI and 3-Way CrossFireX configuration. It has high speed ESATA ports and ALC1220 120dB SNR HD enhanced audio.

Mid-range

Z270 Gaming K3

La first of the mid-range offers us high-end features. It has three PCIe 3.0 x16 ports, the first of which is shielded, supporting 2-Way CrossFireX configurations. Gigabyte has arranged lighting by means of red LEDs, in an Ambient Light configuration. Another interesting feature of this motherboard is that it has ESATA ports and a Killer E2500 network card, which improves lag significantly. The audio on this motherboard is ALC1220 120dB SNR HD.

Z270X-Ultra Gaming

We move a little further towards the high-end Gigabyte with this board, which has illumination by red LEDs. Gigabyte has wanted to make this motherboard have many of the typical characteristics of what we would call high-end, such as two shielded PCIe 3.0 x16 ports, supporting 3-Way CrossFireX and 2-Way SLI configurations and the RAM memory slots also shielded. . Regarding connectivity, this motherboard offers ESATA ports, a U.2 SSD port and a Thunderbolt 3 On Board port. Regarding the sound, this motherboard has ALC1220 120dB SNR HD audio.

Z270MX-Gaming 5

The most powerful of this line of motherboards is characterized by being the first to offer RGB LED lighting, allowing the lighting color to be customized using software. Thanks to the three shielded PCIe 3.0 x16 ports, we can use 3-Way CrossFireX and 2-Way SLI configurations, in addition to the four shielded DDR4 RAM memory slots. This motherboard does not have Extreme SATA ports, but it does have a U.2 SSD port, in addition to having Killer E2500 network cards. The sound of this motherboard is based on the ALC1220 120dB SNR HD.

AORUS

Gigabyte with the Kaby Lake introduces the Gigabyte AORUS product range, in this case motherboards with superior features and performance, but the product range is expanding. Right now, in addition to the motherboards, there is an AORUS GTX 1080 graphics card with two internal HDMIs designed for virtual reality. All the motherboards of the AORUS line are with RGB LED lighting, they have a connection for LED strips, which allow them to be configured according to the lighting of the motherboard itself.

Z270X-Gaming K5

The first motherboard in the Aorus family has RGB LED lighting, controllable by software, it also has three shielded PCIe 3.0 x16 ports and shielded DDR4 RAM memory slots. The PCIe 3.0 x16 ports support 2-Way SLI and 3-Way CrossFireX configurations. This motherboard, regarding connectivity, has SATA Express and U.2 SSD ports, as well as an improved Killer E2500 network card. Regarding the sound card, this is a SoundBlaster X-FI MB5 + ALC1220 120dB SNR HD.

Z270X-Gaming 5

We raised the bar a bit, in this case with a nameplate similar to the version before this one, but with slight improvements. It shares the look of shielded PCIe 3.0 x16 ports with support for 2-Way SLI and 3-Way CrossFireX graphics configurations, as well as DDR4 RAM memory slots, which are also shielded. Regarding connectivity, it has a U.2 SSD port, two M.2 SSD ports and SATA Express ports. The sound card is also of quality, the same as the previous one, which is SoundBlaster X-FI MB5 + ALC1220 120dB SNR HD. The important news is the Killer E2500 network card combined with the integrated Intel network card and overclocking buttons.

 Z270X-Gaming K7

We go a bit more within the high range of Gigabyte, offering a solution that is also very complete. It has RGB LED lighting. It has three shielded PCIe 3.0 x16 ports, with 2-Way SLI and 3-Way CrossFireX configurations, as well as shielded DDR4 RAM memory slots. The motherboard has two M.2 SSD connectors and one U.2 SSD connector, plus SATA Express ports. Gigabyte wants us to have quality audio and that is why it has integrated this SoundBlaster X-FI MB5 + ALC1220 120dB SNR HD sound card and also has buttons for overclocking.

Z270X-Gaming 7

The Gaming 7 offers us an important leap. Not only is it based on overclocking buttons and RGB LED lighting, it offers us SATA Extreme connectivity, two M.2 SSD ports and a U.2 SSD port. It features three shielded PCIe 3.0 x16 ports that support 2-Way SLI and 3-Way CrossFireX configurations, plus the DDR4 RAM memory slots are shielded as well. The most interesting thing is that it has a Thunderbolt 3 port on the motherboard itself, a network card with two Ethernet ports, one controlled by the Intel controller and the other by the Killer E2500 card. The audio has been enhanced with the Creative SoundCore 3D chip with SBX PRO.

Z270X-Gaming 8

We take an important leap with high-quality services. This motherboard has different customizable zones using RGB LEDs. This motherboard features four shielded PCIe 3.0 x16 ports with 2-Way SLI and 3-Way CrossFireX configurations, plus shielded DDR4 RAM memory slots. The connectivity is of high quality, since it has two M.2 SSD ports, two U.2 SSD ports, Thunderbolt 3 port, SATA Extreme connectivity, in addition, having a dual card, consisting of the integrated Intel and the Killer DoubleShot Pro, in addition to having WiFi thanks to the Killer Wireless-AC 1535 network card, which supports 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1. Among the most interesting features we have the complete overclocking buttons, Creative SoundBlaster ZxRi 120 + dB sound card and the VRMs are protected by a double heatsink, which supports liquid cooling, the BitsPower G-Chill Hybrid Water Block.

Z270X-Gaming 9

This is without doubt the most powerful motherboard in the AORUS line. This motherboard features multi-zone RGB LED lighting. The connectivity of this motherboard is the most complete, having two M.2 SSD ports and two U.2 SSD ports, in addition to having SATA Express ports and Thunderbolt 3 port. It has overclocking buttons with numeric display and has a Creative sound card SoundBlaster ZxRi 120 + dB. For the network, it has a Killer DoubleShot-X3 PRO network card and the integrated one from Intel, in addition to having the Killer Wireless-AC 1535 network card, which provides 802.11AC WiFi connectivity and Bluetooth 4.1.

The most interesting aspects of this motherboard are the hybrid block for the VRM, which has an EKWB G-Frost liquid cooling system. The motherboard has shielded DDR4 RAM memory slots and the four shielded PCIe 3.0 x16 ports. These PCIe 3.0 x16 ports, supporting 4-Way SLI and 4-Way CrossFireX configurations. The 2-Way setting is x16 / x16 and the 4-Way setting is x8 / x8 / x8 / x8. This allows more power, for the amount of lines of work.