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The Gigabyte Ultra Gaming motherboard is a fairly new model which was first released for the Z170 chipset shortly after Computex 2016. Only half a year later and Gigabyte has released a Z270 variant of the Ultra Gaming, the Z270X-Ultra Gaming, to coincide with the launch of Intel's new Kaby Lake platform and CPUs.
You can read our Kaby Lake Core i5-7600K and Core i7-7700K review HERE.
The emphasis of the Z270X-Ultra Gaming is still on the PC gaming audience but this time Gigabyte has rethought some of the hardware features and functionality to deliver a motherboard that meets more gaming motherboard criteria than before.
In a market that is transitioning to RGB lighting being the norm the Z270X-Ultra Gaming is now an RGB-ready product, unlike its predecessor which had red LEDs only. Gigabyte has also upped its game on the audio side of things by implementing the latest Realtek ALC 1220 codec, compared to the relatively archaic ALC 892 found on the Z170 version.
The changes continue with redesigned heatsinks for both the PCH and CPU VRMs, and a new rear plastic shroud. The rear I/O connections have been altered slightly with the two mini DisplayPort connections being replaced by a DVI-D port. Gigabyte has ditched the Intel Thunderbolt 3 controller found on the Z170 model, which was provided over the USB Type-C port, and replaced it with the ASMedia ASM2142 controller.
The Z270X-Ultra Gaming is being positioned between the Gigabyte Z270X-Gaming K3 and Z270X-Gaming K5 with a price point estimated to be around £160. As such the Z270X-Ultra Gaming will compete in the most competitive price segment of the market alongside other cost-competitive models from rival vendors, many of which KitGuru will be reviewing over the coming months.
| Gigabyte Z270X-Ultra Gaming | |
| CPU Socket | LGA 1151, 7 phase VRM |
| Chipset | Intel Z270 |
| Memory | DDR4, 4 DIMMs, up to 64GB and 3866MHz+ with OC |
| Onboard Graphics | Intel HD Graphics (supported CPUs), up to 1024MB of video memory |
| Discrete Graphics | Up to Nvidia 2-way/Quad SLI, AMD 3-way/Quad CrossFireX |
| Expansion Slots | 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16/x0 or x8/x8, from CPU) 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16* (x4 electrical, from PCH) 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 (from PCH) *Shares bandwidth with PCIe x1_2 and PCIe x1_3, operates at 1X when either is populated. |
| Storage | 6 x SATA III 2 x SATA Express (shared with four SATA ports) 1 x M.2 1 x U.2 |
| USB | 6 x USB 2.0 (2 Rear, 4 Front, via PCH) 8 x USB 3.0 (4 Rear, 4 Front, via PCH) 2 x USB 3.1 (2 Rear [Type-A and C], via ASM2142) |
| Networking | Intel I219-V Gigabit LAN |
| Audio | Realtek ALC 1220, 7.1 Channel |
| Fan Headers | 5, all support 3/4 pin fans (2 x CPU, 1 x SYS_PUMP, 2 x SYS) |
| Rear I/O | 1 x PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A 1 x DVI-D 1 x HDMI 1.4b 4 x USB 3.0 2 x USB 2.0 1 x Gigabit LAN RJ45 1 x Optical S/PDIF out 5 x Audio Jacks |
| UEFI | UEFI AMI, DualBIOS, 2 x 64Mbit flash |
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