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Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3 vs Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

Product Comparison: Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3 vs Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

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Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX DDR4 Motherboard

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Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX Motherboard ATX DDR4

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General Specifications

Brand

Gigabyte

Model

Z170X Gaming 3

Z170X Gaming 5

Origin

Taiwan

About the Product

The Intel® USB 3.1 controller utilizes 2 PCIe Gen3 lanes, offering a total of up to 16Gb/s, which means you have extra bandwidth to take full control of the 10Gb/s USB 3.1 ports. With twice the bandwidth compared to its previous generation, and backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 and 3.0, the much improved USB 3.1 protocol is available over the new reversible USB Type-C™ and the traditional USB Standard-A connector for better compatibility over a wider range of devices.

The Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 5 ATX Motherboard provides you with a vast amount of features for building a reliable gaming system, utilizing high-performance components. It comes with an LGA 1151 socket and an Intel Z170 chipset to support Intel's 6th-generation line of processors. Gigabyte has equipped this motherboard with four DIMM slots that support DDR4 technologies so you can populate these slots with up to 64GB of 2133 MHz memory modules. To deliver data quickly to the processor and RAM, this motherboard provides two 32 Gb/s PCIe x4 M.2 slots and allows you to configure them into a RAID array. If you want to use your existing drives, it comes with six SATA III 6 Gb/s connectors and three SATA Express 16 Gb/s connectors. It also comes with two USB 3.1 ports that transfer data to your system at a rate of up to 10 GB/s. One of these ports is built using a type-C form factor, which has a reversible design and is smaller than the other type-A USB 3.1 port.

Key Specs

Form Factor

ATX

Socket

LGA1151

Chipset

Intel® Z170 Express

Supported Processors

7th/6th Generation Core™ i7 Processor, 7th/6th Core™ i5 Processor, 7th/6th Core™ i3 Processor, 7th/6th Pentium® Processor, 7th/6th Celeron® Processor

Memory Slot Type

288 pin

What customers say about "Key Specs"

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX DDR4 Motherboard

Overall though, it's a nice Socket 1151 ATX motherboard for the price with all the bells and whistles you'd expect for an Intel Z170 chipset board.
This board has a DualBIOS setup, which means there's a backup stable BIOS version that allows you to restore your main BIOS from a this backup in the event of a corruption.
I had no problems overclocking an I7-6700K 4.00 GHz to 4.5 GHz. It could go to 4.6 but it's already blistering fast with 32 GB of G.Skill Trident DDR4, a Samsung 960 Pro PCIe M.2 and Samsung 840 EVO SATA SSD.
I have no complaints about the BIOS, and all the necessary drivers and some useful start-up software (like a few months of Norton Antivirus) are packaged with it, as well. To see some of GIGABYTE's proprietary software which you have the option of using, look up GIGABYTE's APP Center.
Don't flash the BIOS w/F20 or F21. I had a stable OC at 4.5 GHz w/F2 BIOS but CPU power management for overclocks is almost non-existent and you can't disable adaptive mode, meaning you have to set an offset.
The kicker is that you can't back-rev the BIOS to F2. Trying to roll back to F2, gets a prompt that the BIOS is outdated. Gigabyte support has been unresponsive so far.

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX Motherboard ATX DDR4

Overclocking is a little clunky but effective with the included app suite and the BIOS is straightforward.
This motherboard is great and really deserves a much longer review than I am able to give right now. I just want to say that although it's a Z170 board, it can be upgraded to use the 7th gen Intel processors and it's just been a great motherboard.
I have absolutely no complaints at all. I like Gigabyte motherboards in general and this one has just been a breeze to set up and work with. I mainly use it with Windows 10, but I also had no trouble installing Mac OS 10 Sierra and running that on another hard drive.
My ambient temerature is 29 degrees celcius and under normal load my processor cores run at just under 40 degrees celcius in this setup with no noise coming out of the case ( corsair 330R titanium edition)
I really, really like this motherboard. The software that comes with it, Easy Tune, makes overclocking the CPU very simple and boosts my i5 from 3.5 GHz to 4.1 GHz with one click.
This is my first Gigabyte motherboard purchase and it may be my last. It would not boot with Kingston HyperX DDR4 2666 memory, that was listed as compatible in the Gigabyte Qualified Vendors Support List 05 May 2016 (QVL).
DONT BUY THE NEWEST CPU... IT WONT WORK (Code 62) you will need a Skylake 1151 processor (e.g. G4X series FCLGA1151). In theory this board will work with the newer generations i5,i7 but if you haven't booted it before and updated the BIOS it wont work.

Size & Weight

Height

12 in.

Width

9.6 in.

Depth

1 in.

Weight

2.9 lbs.

3 lbs.

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

Memory

Memory Type

DDR4

Maximum Speed

3466 MHz

Number Of Memory Slots

Max. Memory Supported

64 GB

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5

What customers say about "Memory"

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX DDR4 Motherboard

DDR4 RAM is initially locked at 2133MHz unless you enable the extreme memory profile, which unlocks the listed memory speeds.
I had no problems with X.M.P recognized the 3200 MHz memory...just needed to manually set the timing. Nice board!
Of course, it also includes 4 DDR4 slots (socket 1151), and you can dual-channel between the associated slots (1 and 3, and 2 and 4). If you're looking to use an M.2 SSD, it sports a 32 Gb/s M.2 header. Also, since it is a Z170X chipset, it is overclock-ready.
The BIOS problem has occurred twice now. After contacting Gigabyte customer support, it was recommended that I remove the XMP overclock on the RAM and run it at the default 2133MHz.
The system seems to be stable now, but this completely defeats the purpose of having the faster DDR4 memory kit. i need overclock I'm hoping to find a solution to the RAM speeds, but in the meantime, it doesn't appear to be directly related to the board.

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX Motherboard ATX DDR4

The overall performance is beyong anything I expected. Boot time into windows 10 is 16 seconds !!
This Gygabyte Z170N MoBo is good and reliable within the months of having it. Wifi, SATA speeds, USB 3.0, and bluetooth have all been fine within specs.
MOSFET ( VRM ) have heatsinks. M.2 SATA / PCIe NVMe support. I like 3.1 USB type-C connector
The motherboard functions perfectly, supports Ubuntu 16.04 LTS without any issues. The GigE network controller works at full speed, as do the USB3 ports.
At the moment I'm trying to diagnose a flaky problem with the system. Integrated the parts last weekend and now it sporadically reported memory problems
It looks as if half of the DDR4 slots in this board are flaky. If my system comes up with 16 GB dual channel mode it will eventually hang in some ugly way.

Connectivity

PCI-E

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16), 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8), 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4, 3 x PCI Express x1 slots

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16), 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8), 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4), 4 x PCI Express x1 slots

HDMI

USB

7 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (3 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers), 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers), 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

7 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (3 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers), 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header), 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (available through the internal USB header), 1 x USB Type-C™ port on the back panel, with USB 3.1 support, 1x USB 3.1 Type-A port (red) on the back panel

SATA

Other Interfaces

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, 2 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors, 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, 1 x S/PDIF Out 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 Thunderbolt™ add-in card connector, 1 x serial port header, 1 x Clear CMOS jumper, 1 x audio gain control switch, 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, D-Sub port, DVI-D port, RJ-45 port, Optical S/PDIF OUT connector, 5 x audio jacks

2 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors, 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, 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header, 1 x Thunderbolt™ add-in card connector, 1 x serial port header, 1 x Clear CMOS jumper, 1 x ECO button, 1 x OC button, 1 x audio gain control switch, 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, 1 x DisplayPort, 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, Line Out, Mic In)

What customers say about "Connectivity"

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX DDR4 Motherboard

Out of the box, this board is fairly well equipped, with 2 M.2 slots being a nice touch. The board was easy to set up with clear indications on the board itself, and easy to navigate BIOS
I've had this board a few months running at stock settings. Recently, I upgraded the graphics card to a GTX 1080, added an M.2 chip and overclocked the motherboard.
As expected for a modern MOBO of this caliber, it is PCIe x16-compatible. Perhaps not a distinct "pro", but important nevertheless. However, there is only one x16 slot; there is also an x8 and x4 slot, and 3 extension card slots (e.g., for WiFi adapters or whatever).
The fan headers (basically, where you'll route your system's fans to) are located fairly conveniently, I suppose. There's one right below where the CPU is mounted, so it works well with Intel's fairly short fan cables.
In addition to the CPU fan slot, there are 3 additional fan slots for the case's intake fan, exhaust fan, and front panel fan. If you want to mount extra fans, you'll run them through one of the USB headers on the MOBO, if you run all of the case fans from the MOBO.
If you plan to use M.2 then some SATA ports will be disabled. In my case I installed a x4 which disables all but 2 SATA ports. I'm ordering a pci sata controller in order to connect my bluray drive.
Only 4 fan headers, this could be problem, for people who want to go overboard on fans.

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX Motherboard ATX DDR4

Built in Wi-fi is good, with a good range of other back-panel outputs and interfaces.
I am a fan of this motherboard, all of the connectors are in great locations and it really helps when your doing a micro water cooled build. This motherboard is manufactured very well.
I really like that it has the additional, configurable network adapter which allows you set priority to incoming traffic (though it automatically raises games to the highest priority).
Audio works fine and even the on-board GPU is pretty good, though if you're a gamer, you're going to ignore that for a much more expensive GPU anyway.
Only one system fan connector. Tell me why?
I would have liked to have two pwm chassis fan connectors, but a splitter worked well enough. In all, there were a few minor issues with my case selection, but nothing that couldn't be resolved.

Features

Native Audio

Realtek® ALC1150 Codec

Additional Accessories Included

4 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s), Drivers & Utilities Disc, I/O Shield, User's manual, One 2-Way SLI bridge connector, Quick Installation Guide, One G Connector

User's manual, I/O Shield, 4 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s), Drivers & Utilities Disc, One 2-Way SLI bridge connector, One G Connector

Extras

Additional Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3, GIGABYTE Exclusive : Upgradable OP-AMP, High End Audio Capacitors, Killer™ E2200 Gaming Network, Industry Leading Ultra Durable™ PCIe Metal Shielding, Turbo B-Clock, 15μ Gold Plated CPU Socket Design, 4K Ultra HD Support

Connecting the Future - USB Type-C™, Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD Audio, Additional Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3, GIGABYTE Exclusive : Upgradable OP-AMP, High End Audio Capacitors, Killer™ E2200 Gaming Network / Intel® Gigabit LAN, 2-Way SLI™/3-Way CrossFire™ Multi-Graphics, Turbo B-Clock

What customers say about "Features"

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX DDR4 Motherboard

As far as aesthetics go, the MOBO is quite nice. It is predominantly black, but there's a red LED strip that runs along the "back" of it, along the PCIe slots. It extends about halfway up the board.
Some software that comes with the board allows you to turn the LED on or off, or have it slowly strobe. The PCIes are red, and the DDR4RAM slots are alternating red/black/red/black. The 4 SATA cables it ships with are a nice silver
I love the onboard sound features like swapable op-amp and specially the toslink out and the DAC-minded USB ports. Also found convenient that it have 2 USB 3 connectors. I have the front ports of the case and a card reader.
Speaking of audio, the motherboard has high quality audio capacitors, Could tell the difference between my old pc and my new one.
Includes a plastic adapter that makes it easier to plug in case headers. This can be good or bad, their is a red LED along the audio capacitors
The software for windows (app center) is all garbage. Lower your expectations.
The included software is nothing to run home about. The Killer LAN software is pointless. The drivers is all you really need.

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX Motherboard ATX DDR4

I llike the fact when I play my music, the on board LEDs lights up and pulses to the beats of the music,if you turn the volume down.The on board LEDs turn off, or up the the LEDs come on
This is one impressive board ,future proof features beating out MSI on price and features !
Audio is fine, fan control is minimal, with only two headers, CPU and case, with the case not PWM managed - I bridged front and rear case fans to the same header with a splitter cable, and it works fine.
As for the "gaming" aspect of this motherboard, I guess the main feature would be the color scheme and the red lights that can be turned off in settings if desired.
The board looks great if you are doing a red theme case, and it's just another excellent Gigabyte motherboard so I can't see why I would rate it less than 5 stars.
I did however have one small annoyance with this board. The audio card on this board has the tendency to produce high pitch buzzing sounds from my high end Z-5500 speaker system.
I wish the board was a bit sleaker in color scheme and design, but then again no one will ever really see it and its surrounded by lovely beige noctua fans.

Power

Power Connectors

1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector

What customers say about "Power"

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX DDR4 Motherboard

Great board, in feature set and design. The board is rock solid from a build quality persective, with lots of nice additions like the plastic connector you can fit your case pins (power switch, reset, etc.)
After about a month of use, I encountered a strange problem where my computer rebooted 3 times after powering on, then displayed a screen informing me to reboot with the proper boot order.
It doesn't matter what upper limit is set to, the MB gives it a higher voltage. With F2 I had a 4.5 GHz overclock that could be limited to 1.38v but w/F20 it seems you can't limit the voltage and it spikes as high as 1.46v.
Not sure if this is bad, but it makes the cable management harder: The 24pin Motherboard power header is straight up rather than facing the right to allow better cable management.
Ordered board but would not power up. Returned board & tried another of same board, just in case a fluke. Board powers up but no display. Used on-board HDMI & VGA outputs, along with a known working video card, with the same results. With tech support being in Taiwan, no help there.

Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5 LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX Motherboard ATX DDR4

Gigabyte is a good company great products at low prices. Also the insert they have for the power switch and such is so amazing. It not only makes life easy, but it also makes your board look much cleaner.
Works as intended. It did take two more screws than my old mobo, not really an issue since the new power supply I got came with it's own screws.
extremely easy. this motherboard is the reason why I switched from using the other brand. very well laid out. if this one had the lighted I/O shield it would be absolutely perfect.
The front bottom position of the power supply also blocked all the side facing sata3 connectors. This wasn't an issue because the two sata3 connectors on the motherboard front face met my needs.
The board arrived today and it was even worse. It only accepted power as long as the power button is pressed and it never even began to boot into the BIOS.

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

3 year(s)

Certifications

FCC, CE