The GIGABYTE Z170X-Ultra Gaming & Z170X-Designare Motherboard Review
by E. Fylladitakis on December 28, 2016 10:00 AM ESTGaming Performance
The issue of FCLK settings might play a big role here. At launch, the default setting for the communication buffer between the CPU and PCIe stack was 800 MHz, even though Intel suggested 1000 MHz, but this was because of firmware limitations from Intel. Since then, there is firmware to enable 1000 MHz, and most motherboard manufacturers have this - but it is unclear if the motherboard will default to 1000 MHz and it might vary from BIOS version to BIOS version. As we test at default settings, our numbers are only ever snapshots in time, but it leads to some interesting differences in discrete GPU performance.
(A side note from Ian: This is Tracy's [E. Fylladitakis] first motherboard review, and we supplied him with a single GPU to get started. This may change in the future. But ultimately the gaming tests have been more of a checkbox for abnormal behaviour, as with the CPU tests, to make sure nothing fishy is going on.)
Total War: Attila
The Total War franchise moves on to Attila, another The Creative Assembly development, and is a stand-alone strategy title set in 395AD where the main story line lets the gamer take control of the leader of the Huns in order to conquer parts of the world. Graphically the game can render hundreds/thousands of units on screen at once, all with their individual actions and can put some of the big cards to task.
For low end graphics, we test at 720p with performance settings, recording the average frame rate. With mid and high range graphics, we test at 1080p with the quality setting. In both circumstances, unlimited video memory is enabled and the in-game scripted benchmark is used.
GRID: Autosport
No graphics tests are complete without some input from Codemasters and the EGO engine, which means for this round of testing we point towards GRID: Autosport, the next iteration in the GRID and racing genre. As with our previous racing testing, each update to the engine aims to add in effects, reflections, detail and realism, with Codemasters making ‘authenticity’ a main focal point for this version.
GRID’s benchmark mode is very flexible, and as a result we created a test race using a shortened version of the Red Bull Ring with twelve cars doing two laps. The car is focus starts last and is quite fast, but usually finishes second or third. For low end graphics we test at 1080p medium settings, whereas mid and high end graphics get the full 1080p maximum. Both the average and minimum frame rates are recorded.
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DanNeely - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
Lack of a good way to get video from the GPU to the TB controller probably. The displayport in connectors on these boards work; but are a serious kludge. An elegant option would either require pumping the video out of the GPU over PCIe or putting TB on the GPU itself. Both options would probably require a lot of driver work on the GPU vendors at a minimum; at the moment I suspect both are much more concerned with working on their DX12 support and can't afford to divert enough manpower to the task. Pumping the video over PCIe would almost certainly require support on the TB controller from Intel; and would probably require both the GPU and TB controller to be connected to CPU PCIe lanes (A single 4k steam would eat a big chunk of the DMI busses total bandwidth.)MaidoMaido - Thursday, December 29, 2016 - link
thanks, very helpful explanation!DanNeely - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
"Both of the boards are strongly based on storage solutions that are either dead (SATA Express)"While it's dead as a storage standard, and I'll shed no tears for its pending demise, it has been used to power USB 3.1g2 front panel devices that tapped into its pair of PCIe lanes to give the controller sufficient bandwidth to operate at full speed. If 200 series chipsets add native support for USB3.1 its value as an IO kludge will go away; but the assorted rumor sites have been posting conflicting claims on what version of USB3.x will be natively supported all year. I guess we'll know soon enough...
Gothmoth - Thursday, December 29, 2016 - link
yawn.... a little late.The_Assimilator - Friday, December 30, 2016 - link
"A little late" should be AnandTech's new motto.The_Assimilator - Friday, December 30, 2016 - link
It's not a full review if there's no overclocking results. That's kinda the whole point of Z170...uklio - Friday, December 30, 2016 - link
Review was boring and basically an extended ad rather than anything in depth. I own the Designare and there are many issues that need fixing for enthusiasts which is who these boards are aimed at. For example, the F20 bios causes my 6700k to run at a much higher voltage than normal and when overclocking, the lowest power saving state causes the CPU to run with a 9x multiplier instead of an 8x one. Considering this is the only "review" that is using the F20 bios it is such a missed opportunity..nadileya - Wednesday, July 8, 2020 - link
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