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Published: May 19, 2014 | Source: Gigabyte | Author: Tom Logan

Gigabyte Z97X G1 Gaming 5 Motherboard Review

Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 5 Review

Introduction

We’re all waiting patiently for the new 18nm Intel CPUs and, like you, we’re growing impatient as the days tick by. We know that many of you are holding off getting one of the new Z97 motherboards until those CPUs are upon us. However, it is perfectly possible that many of you are taking the opportunity of the new hardware to upgrade to a Haswell CPU. There is never a better time to buy and it brings great value too. So perhaps you’re interested in a motherboard that will support your current CPU and, in time, still be capable of slipping a new one into it.

Enter the Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 5.

“But OC3D, all the Z97 motherboards support the current generation of Intel CPUs” we can hear you cry, and certainly they do. However the Gigabyte Gaming 5 is, through the combination of the specifications and pricing, the perfect bridge between the old and the new. It isn’t so bristling with the latest technologies that you’ll have to start your whole build from scratch, yet neither is it such a dinosaur that you’ll be crippled once the 5th Generation CPUs are upon us.

Did we mention that amazing price tag?

Technical Specifications

The Gaming 5 is somewhat of an inbetween motherboard. It has all of the new features available with the Z97 chipset, including the enormous XMP Memory speeds, but at the same time it has plenty of hardware which is probably part of your system already. So there are 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports, an M.2 socket and SATA Express support, but on the other hand we have a VGA port and more USB 2.0 ports than USB 3.0. There is a fan header dedicated to water cooling, but two PS2 ports for keyboard and mouse. It’s a little schizophrenic.

 

CPU
  1. Support for Intel® Core™ i7 processors/Intel® Core™ i5 processors/ Intel® Core™ i3 processors/Intel® Pentium® processors/Intel® Celeron® processors in the LGA1150 package
  2. L3 cache varies with CPU
Chipset
  1. Intel® Z97 Express Chipset
Memory
  1. 4 x DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
  2. Dual channel memory architecture
  3. Support for DDR3 3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules
  4. Support for non-ECC memory modules
  5. Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
Onboard Graphics Integrated Graphics Processor:

  1. 1 x D-Sub port, supporting a maximum resolution of [email protected]
  2. 1 x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of [email protected]
    * The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter.
  3. 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of [email protected] or [email protected]
    * Support for HDMI 1.4a version.
  4. Support for up to 3 displays at the same time
  5. Maximum shared memory of 1 GB
Audio
  1. Realtek® ALC1150 codec
  2. Support for Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3
  3. High Definition Audio
  4. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
  5. Support for S/PDIF Out
LAN
  1. Qualcomm® Atheros Killer E2201 LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Expansion Slots
    1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
      * For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.

      2. ??

    1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
      * The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.

    1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
      * The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with all PCI Express x1 slots. All PCI Express x1 slots will become unavailable when a PCIe x4 expansion card is installed.

    1. 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
      (The PCIEX4 and PCI Express x1 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)

  1. 1 x PCI slot
Multi-Graphics Technology
  1. Support for 3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFire™/2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology
Storage Interface Chipset:

  1. 1 x M.2 PCIe connector
    (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe SSD support)
  2. 1 x SATA Express connector
  3. 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
    (M.2, SATA Express, and SATA3 4/5 connectors can only be used one at a time. The SATA3 4/5 connectors will become unavailable when an M.2 SSD is installed.)
  4. Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
USB Chipset:

  1. 6 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)
  2. 8 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers)
Internal I/O Connectors
  1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
  2. 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
  3. 1 x M.2 PCIe connector
  4. 1 x SATA Express connector
  5. 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
  6. 1 x CPU fan header
  7. 1 x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT)
  8. 3 x system fan headers
  9. 1 x front panel header
  10. 1 x front panel audio header
  11. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
  12. 1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header
  13. 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
  14. 1 x serial port header
  15. 1 x Clear CMOS jumper
  16. 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
Back Panel Connectors
  1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
  2. 1 x PS/2 mouse port
  3. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
  4. 1 x D-Sub port
  5. 1 x DVI-D port
  6. 1 x HDMI port
  7. 4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
  8. 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
  9. 1 x RJ-45 port
  10. 5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In, Line Out, Mic In)
I/O Controller
  1. iTE® I/O Controller Chip
H/W Monitoring
  1. System voltage detection
  2. CPU/System/Chipset temperature detection
  3. CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed detection
  4. CPU/System overheating warning
  5. CPU/CPU OPT/System fan fail warning
  6. CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed control
    * Whether the fan speed control function is supported will depend on the cooler you install.
BIOS
  1. 2 x 64 Mbit flash
  2. Use of licensed AMI UEFI BIOS
  3. Support for DualBIOS™
  4. PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0
Unique Features
  1. Support for APP Center
    @BIOS
    EasyTune
    EZ Setup
    Fast Boot
    Game Controller
    ON/OFF Charge
    Smart TimeLock
    Smart Recovery 2
    System Information Viewer
    USB Blocker
  2. Support for Q-Flash
  3. Support for Smart Switch
  4. Support for Xpress Install
Bundle Software
  1. Norton® Internet Security (OEM version)
  2. Intel® Rapid Start Technology
  3. Intel® Smart Connect Technology
  4. Intel® Smart Response Technology
Operating System
  1. Support for Windows 8.1/8/7
Form Factor
  1. ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 22.5cm