GIGABYTE Z270X-Gaming 5 Motherboard Review

Overclocking and Conclusion

Overclocking

To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the Z270X-Gaming 5 motherboard, we attempted to push it to known CPU-supported performance parameters with minimal tweaking. At the stock base clock speed of 100Mhz, we pushed the CPU to 5.0GHz with a 4.5GHz ring bus and 4000MHz memory speeds. This was done at a 1.32V CPU voltage and a 1.35V memory voltage with all other values left at default settings. Unfortunately, the board would not stabilize at any CPU or memory speed with the base clock set above 100MHz. All overclocking sessions remained stable for over 4hrs. System stability was tested running the AIDA64 stability test in conjunction with EVGA's OC Scanner X graphical benchmark running at 1280×1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 8GB (2 x 4GB) of Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4-4000 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.

100MHz Base Clock Stats with 5.0GHZ CPU speed

Note that this is is meant only as a quick preview of the board's performance potential. With more time to tweak the settings to a greater extent, pushing to a higher base clock and ring bus speed may have been achievable, in addition to an overnight stability run without issue.

Performance

The Z270X-Gaming 5 motherboard performed admirably across all tests without any performance oddities encountered. Even though the board was unable to stabilize with a base clock value above 100MHz, its 5.0GHz overlock and full stability with DDR4-4000 memory remains a n within expectations at stock speeds with some performance oddities encountered during the overclocking sessions.

Pricing

As of February 10, the GIGABYTE Z270X-Gaming 5 motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $184.99 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $184.99 and from B&H for $209.89.

Conclusion

The GIGABYTE Z270X-Gaming 5 motherboard is a solid product for GIGABYTE, offering a mix of familiar features with a slew of new features to give the board an edge. Further, the board is among the launch vehicles for GIGABYTE's new AORUS brand, a gamer-friendly brand looking to differentiate itself from the competition. GIGABYTE balances the board design well with a unique aesthetic and a very diverse offering of storage solutions. Its performance falls in-line with other boards of the same class and its overclocking potential leaves nothing to sneer at. Further, GIGABYTE chose wisely in the selection of its integrated GigE network controllers with both offering top level performance at minimal system impact.

Strengths

• Stock performance
• Overclocking performance
• Board aesthetics, layout, and design
• UEFI BIOS design and usability
• Storage offerings – dual M.2 ports, SATA Express ports, and a U.2 port
• Configurable RGB LEDs using RGB Fusion through both UEFI and Window app
• GigE network controller performance
• M.2 port placement

Weaknesses

• CMOS battery placement