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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sweeper765 - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
"If you want to install a PCIe x4 device, a U.2 drive and a M.2 drive at the same time, the SATA connectors will all be inoperable."I hope that will change with Z270, at least allow a full speed M.2 drive and all sata ports at the
same time.
Otherwise i feel we are moving backwards with these chipsets. Severe lane limitations, fewer and fewer rear usb ports, dual network adapters only on selected few (and expensive) motherboards.
BenJeremy - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
Strange. I have the Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5, and I have both M.2 slots used (RAID-0 nvme with 2 Plextor M8pe sticks), and I still had the use of my SATA slots - though the manual implied I would not.shabby - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
Whats next... please remove 2 dimm's if you want to use sli/crossfire? This lane limitation is annoying.Duncan Macdonald - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
Agreed - even for non-SLI use there are not enough PCIe lanes - 1 high end graphics card uses 16 lanes leaving 4 lanes for everything else. At a minimum a Z170 motherboard should have a setting that just uses 8 lanes for the graphics card and uses the remaining lanes to allow all the motherboard features to work at the same time.DanNeely - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
The 16 lanes from the CPU are independent of the up to 20 lanes from the southbridge. I say "up to 20" because the 20 available high speed io ports that can be used for PCIe are shared with the ones used for sata and ethernet (the later is a mostly nominal factor though since a non-Intel NIC would need a port as a PCIe lane). Effectively this means you've got 13 PCIe lanes left from the chipset to share out among secondary PCIe slots, m.2, u.2, and SATAe ports. Theoretically another 4 could be used up for more USB3 ports; but in practice USB3 hub chips are cheaper than PCIe muxes so mobo makers will use the former to keep PCIe lanes free.http://images.anandtech.com/doci/9485/PCH%20Alloca...
Kraszmyl - Thursday, December 29, 2016 - link
They can add all the lanes they want to the pch and its still pointless. Those 30 lanes share a 4 lane highway back to the cpu, ram, and gpu.DanNeely - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
The 200 series chipsets all offer 30 highspeed io lanes up from 26 or 22 on 100 series ones. The extra 4 will definitely help with this sort of thing on high end boards, but it's mid/low end ones that will benefit the most. Especially since they're the least likely to get any sort of PCI MUX chips to increase the effective number of lanes.The situation there should be improved significantly vs current generation mobos too, PLX chips almost entirely disappeared from consumer boards when the company making them was bought out by a company that wanted to cash in on high end server parts by cranking the cost from $20 to $80ish. The ASM1480 8:16 lane switch shows that at least one company saw an opening to design and sell a much more affordable product (these boards are nowhere near pricey enough to support an $80 component). For the sake of keeping prices competitive, hopefully Asmedia isn't the only company entering the market in the present/near future.
toobluesc - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
Both motherboards have USB Type-C 100W power delivery built-in in and it wasn't even mentioned. Such a rare feature! I would love to charge my laptop from my desktop and skip having to buy another power brick.Any plans for an article testing the output and compatibility of USB Type-C Power Delivery?
Tchamber - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
toolbluescConclusion page, 1st paragraph, last sentence.
"That being said, some of them are nice and fast, if your wallet is deep enough. Both boards also offer USB 3.1 via Intel's Alpine Ridge controller, and claim so support Power Delivery 2.0 up to 100W (unfortunately we don't have the hardware to test this).
May not be what you wanted, but it was mentioned.
MaidoMaido - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - link
Why is it taking so long for desktop motherboard manufacturers to make their USB 3.1 Type C ports compatible with TB3 and DisplayPort?Nice to see the "Ultra Gaming" model has it, but it's still relatively uncommon. Are the royalties too expensive or something? I would have imagined nearly every Type C port being TB3 & DisplayPort compatible by now.