Features and Motherboard Layout
Features
Courtesy of GIGABYTE
- Supports 7th/ 6th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors
- Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs, DDR4 4133+(OC)
- Intel® USB 3.1 Gen 2 with USB Type-C™ and Type-A
- 3-Way Graphics Support with Dual Armor and Ultra Durable™ Design
- Bitspower G-Chill Hybrid Water Block
- Triple NVMe PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 Support
- Dual NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 U.2 Connectors
- Dual Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA interface
- Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready
- Creative Sound Blaster certified ZxRi 120dB+ Audio
- Killer DoubleShot™ Pro Gaming Network + Intel® Gigabit LAN
- USB DAC-UP 2 with Adjustable Voltage
- RGB FUSION with Multi-Zone LED Light Show design
- Swappable Overlay for Accent LED
- Smart Fan 5 features Multiple Temperature Sensors and Hybrid Fan Headers
- 2 External Thermistors Headers with 2 Included Thermistors
- Extreme 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt™ 3
- Integrated HDMI 2.0 Support
- GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™ with Q-Flash Plus USB Port
- APP Center Including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ Utilities
Motherboard Layout
The Z270X-Gaming 8 motherboard features a black colored PCB with black colored heat sinks cooling various on board components and black plastic overlays sitting over the upper VRM heat sink, rear panel components, and audio components. The AORUS series logo displays on a chrome and white plate covering the upper part of the chipset heat sink with the board series logo on the rear panel cover. The board was designed with an ATX form factor for compatibility with most standard-sized enclosures, while providing more than enough surface area for its integrated components.
The back of the board almost entirely free of sensitive components, reducing the risk of damaging the board during install into a new case. LEDs are integrated directly into the audio PCB separator line and into the lower portion of the board by the DIMM slots to illuminate the Turbo XMP labels on the board front. The area surrounding the CPU is completely free of components, so there should be no issues encountered mounting any using any cooler back plates onto the board.
The Z270X-Gaming 8 board contains the following ports integrated into its rear panel: a PS/2 hybrid keyboard / mouse port, three USB 2.0 ports (yellow / white), two USB 3.0 ports (blue), two USB 3.1 10Gbps ports (red) – one Type A and one Type c, two GigE RJ-45 ports – an Intel I219-V and a Rivet Networks Killer E2500 NIC, dual 802.11ac ports tied to the Rivet Networks Killer E1535 WiFi adapter, an HDMI output, a DisplayPort output, an S/PDIF digital audio output, and five analogue audio outputs.
The Z270X-Gaming 8 motherboard has a total of six PCI-Express device ports – four PCI-Express x16 slots and two PCI-Express x1 slots. All PCIe x16 slots have been reinforced with metal overlays to increase the slot strength and prevent board warping with overly large PCIe video card seated in the board with the board in a vertical orientation. The slots also have LEDs integrated along their outer edge with illumination mode and color matching that of the other board LEDs. The PCIe x16 slots can be used in x16, x8 / x8, x8 / x4 / x4, or x8 / x8 / x4 /x4 modes. Note that PCIe x16 slot 4 shares bandwidth with the secondary U.2 port (the outer U.2 port). The bandwidth for that slot is reduced to x2 speed with a PCIe x2 U.2 device plugged into the port, and is automatically disabled with a PCIe x4 U.2 device plugged in. The CMOS battery is located in between the primary and secondary PCIe x16 slot, just below PCIe x1 slot 1.
The secondary M.2 slot is located just under the secondary PCIe x1 slot with support for devices of up to 80mm in length. The M.2 port is keyed for use with M-key slot devices, supporting standard SSD, PCIe x2, and PCIe x4 type M.2 drives supported. Note that the primary U.2 slot and the secondary M.2 slot share bandwidth and are mutually exclusive if one or the other are used in a RAID array.
The board's integrated audio components live on an isolated PCB to minimize line-noise and distortion caused by other integrated components. The PCB separator line contains embedded RGB LEDs with illumination mode and color matching that of the other board LEDs. GIGABYTE designed the audio subsystem with three removable OP-AMP sockets and dual audio gain switches, in addition to the normal front panel audio and S/PDIF output headers. The dual JRC NJM2114 OP-AMP chips just under the middle of the shield are for the left and right audio channels from the rear audio ports. The TI Burr Brown OPA2134 OP-AMP chip, located along the upper left edge of the board, is used for the front audio output. The inner gain switch controls the audio gain for headphones attached to the front panel header port, while the outer switch controls gain settings for headphones connected to the rear panel audio port. The audio gain switches are set to a 2.5x gain setting by default (1) and a 6x gain setting with the switch in the (2) position.
In the upper left corner of the board (and along the outer edge of the PCIe x16 slot 4) are the audio gain switches, OP-AMP socket, front panel audio header, the SPDIF output header, an LED debug header, the dual RGBW 12V LED header, and the trusted module device header. The inner gain switch controls the audio gain for headphones attached to the front panel header port, while the outer switch controls gain settings for headphones connected to the rear panel audio port. Audio gain is set to 2.5x with the switch set to 1 (up) and 6x with the switch set to 2 (down). The 5-pin LED headers support use of either a 4-wire RGB LED strip or a 5-wire RGBW strip with the board.
Connecting an RGB / RGBW LED strip to the RGBW 12V header synchronizes the LED strip color and activity with that of the motherboard's integrated LEDs. In the screencap, an RGB cable is connected to the RGBW 12V header.
The trusted module header, two USB 2.0 headers, and the 2-digit diagnostic display are located along the lower edge of PCIe x16 slot 4. The diagnostic LED display can be used in conjunction with the table provided in the user manual to identify and troubleshoot board boot-related issues.
In the lower left corner of the board are the BIOS Select (BIOS_SW) and Dual BIOS enable (SB) switches, three system fan headers, the integrated Status LEDs, a temperature sensor header, the CMOS clear jumper, the front panel header, and the Thunderbolt 3 add-in card header. The BIOS Select switch forces the board to boot using the main BIOS (in the 1 position) or the backup BIOS (in the 2 position). The Dual BIOS enable switch enables the board's Dual BIOS functionality in the 1 position, or disables it in the 2 position (forcing the board into single BIOS mode). The Status LEDs give a visual indicator for troubleshooting issues with LEDs illuminating to indicate a malfunctioning device. LEDs show status for the CPU, memory, PCIe x16 slots, and the BIOS.
The Intel Z270 chipset is covered by a low profile black heat sink with a metal overlay stamped with the AORUS brand logo.
In addition to the two PCIe x4 M.2 slots, the board was designed with dual PCIe x4 U.2 ports, four SATA III ports, and two 10Gbps SATA-Express ports. The SATA-Express ports can be broken into two SATA III ports, giving the board support for up to six SATA III ports. The primary U.2 slot (right side U.2 port) and the M.2 slot in the PCIe area share bandwidth and are mutually exclusive if one or the other are used in a RAID array. Further, the PCIe M.2 slot automatically disabled with a PCIe x4 U.2 device plug into the inner U.2 port. Further, the primary M.2 slot (by the CPU socket area) and the upper SATA-Express port share bandwidth. The upper SATA-Express port (SATA ports 4 / 5) are automatically disabled with any M.2 device seated into the primary M.2 slot.
The four on-board DDR4 memory slots are located just below the CPU socket in the lower right quadrant of the board with Dual Channel memory mode active with modules in slots 1 / 3 or 2 / 4. The board supports up to 64GB of memory running at a maximum speed of 4200MHz. Note that memory speeds above 2400MHz are considered overclocked speeds and are outside of the official Intel stock memory speed specifications. In between the slots, GIGABYTE placed RGB LEDs that glow in line with the board settings configured through the BIOS or via the windows app. There are two USB 3.0 headers, the 24-pin ATX power connector, and two 4-pin system fan headers to the lower left of the DIMM slots with a illuminated panel along the lower edge of the board. Like the DIMM slot LEDs, the panel glows in tandem with the RGB board settings. Note that the panel is considered as part of the DIMM area if you choose to configure the board RGB LED sections individually.
To the lower right of the DIMM slots are the OC, ECO, power, reset, and CMOS clear buttons. Pressing the OC button enables BIOS-assisted overclocking, optimized for the CPU currently seated in the board. The ECO button enables BIOS-assisted power-saving features, reducing board power consumption. To the upper right of the DIMM slots are the primary and secondary 4-pin CPU fan headers.
The CPU socket area is clear of obstructions allowing for use of most coolers without issue with the board. GIGABYTE designed the Z270X-Gaming 8 with a total of 11 digital power phases, more than enough to handle any load thrown at the system. The CPU VRMs are cooled by the Bitspower-designed hybrid G-Chill L-shaped cooler that sits above and to the right of the socket. The Bitspower corporate logo sits in the lower right corner of the VRM cooler as well as one both port covers. Bitspower designed the cooler with a copper bottom plate and an acrylic top plate forming the liquid channel and a black plastic overlay to mesh with the board's aesthetic. The hybrid cooler can be used in its default configuration as an air cooler or hooked into a DIY liquid cooling loop using the provided G1/4" inlet and outlet ports.
The primary PCIe x4 M.2 port sits to the upper left of the CPU socket. The M.2 port supports M-Key style M.2 SSDs with PCIe or SATA interfaces with length of up to 110mm. The M.2 port supports PCIe x4, PCIe x2, and SSD style M.2 devices. Note that the M.2 slot shares bandwidth with SATA ports 4 / 5. Those SATA ports are automatically disabled with an M.2 device installed.
To the upper left of the CPU socket and just above the CPU M.2 port in a 4-pin system fan header.
A single 8-pin ATX12V power connector is included for additional CPU power, positioned to the upper right of the CPU socket along the edge of the board.
“GIGABYTE also included an
“GIGABYTE also included an AORUS-branded door hanger.”
Sock not required with your $470 Z270 motherboard…