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GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 mATX Motherboard Unleashed – See Features, Specs and Price

GIGABYTE, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, announced today their new X99 motherboard that comes in a smaller mATX form factor – the Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5. The new X99M-Gaming 5 if the first mATX addition to the company’s X99 lineup based on the Intel® X99 chipset with support for the new Intel® Core™ i7 Extreme Edition (Haswell-E) processor and latest DDR4 memory support. Check out the rest of its features and specifications from the official release below.
UPDATE: This motherboard is available now. I’ve added its current price and where to buy below.

Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 mATX motherboard

GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 mATX Motherboard Features

With the GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard, the ultimate gaming station does not have to be bulky and expensive. With a compact, yet feature rich design, the X99M-Gaming 5 is an affordable solution packed with high-end features including GIGABYTE AMP-UP audio technologies, onboard SATA-Express and M.2 ports for fast data transfers, and a Killer gigabit Lan port from Qualcomm Atheros for better online gaming performance.

2-Way Graphics Support
Gaming is all about getting high quality and responsive graphics; featuring two full x16 Gen. 3 PCI Express slots, the GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard can support 2-way CrossFire or SLI graphics configurations. With a dual GPU setup, you can ensure that your PCI DIY build will cover the system requirements of the most graphics demanding games out there.

GIGABYTE AMP-UP Audio™ Technology
GIGABYTE Gaming motherboards are equipped with the GIGABYTE exclusive AMP-UP Audio Technology, which provides the industry’s highest level of onboard audio features and technologies. With GIGABYTE AMP-UP Audio, gamers and audiophiles are able to experience crisp, ultra realistic sound effects while gaming, and the richest possible sound experience when listening to their favorite music and movies.

Realtek ALC 1150 115dB SNR HD Audio with Built-In Reat Audio Amplifier
GA-X99M-001The Realtek ALC1150 is a high-performance multi-channel High Definition Audio Codec that delivers an exceptional audio listening experience with up to 115dB SNR, ensuring users get the best possible audio quality from their PC.

The ALC1150 provides ten DAC channels that simultaneously support 7.1-channel sound playback, plus 2 channels of independent stereo sound output (multiple streaming) through the front panel stereo outputs. Two stereo ADCs are integrated and can support a microphone array with Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), Beam Forming (BF), and Noise Suppression (NS) technologies. The ALC1150 incorporates Realtek proprietary converter technology to achieve Front differential output 115dB Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) playback (DAC) quality and 104dB SNR recording (ADC) quality.

Upgradeable OP-AMP
GA-X99M-002The GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard feature an onboard OP-AMP socket, allowing enthusiasts to swap out the motherboard’s onboard operational amplifier (OP-AMP) and explore personal audio preferences using a range of nuanced OP-AMPs available on the market. Additional amplifiers can be purchased separately to further expand audio capabilities.

High End Audio Capacitors
GA-X99M-003The GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 is equipped with high end, Japanese branded Nichicon audio capacitors. These professional audio capacitors deliver the highest quality sound resolution and sound expansion to create the most realistic sound effects for professional gamers.

Quad USB DAC-UP
Featuring four USB 2.0 ports, GIGABYTE USB DAC-UP provides clean, noise-free power delivery to your Digital-to-Analog Converter. DACs can be sensitive to fluctuations in power from the other USB ports, which is why GIGABYTE USB DAC-UP takes advantage of an isolated power source that minimizes potential fluctuations and ensures the best audio experience possible.

Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 Rear IO ports

Gold Plated Audio Hardware
For improved connectivity and long lasting durability of some of the most vulnerable I/O, the X99M-Gaming 5 pack top quality gold plated audio connectors. Gold has superb signal conductivity and will not tarnish over extended periods of use.

Ambient LED
The GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 features LED lighting for the audio guard light path, providing a cool, custom look to your rig. These lights are now programmable, so you can have them beat to the rhythm of the music you are listening to, or pulse at a soothing pace to create a great atmosphere to enhance the environment of your game, movie or music.

GA-X99M-004 GA-X99M-005

Killer Networking
The GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard features the Killer™ E2200 from Qualcomm Atheros, a high-performance, adaptive gigabit Ethernet controller that offers better online gaming and online media performance compared to standard solutions. The Killer™ E2200 features Advanced Stream Detect technology, which identifies and prioritizes all network traffic to ensure important applications that require high-speed connectivity are prioritized over less important traffic.

Quad Channel DDR4
GA-X99M-006The next generation of DRAM is here with DDR4. Featuring stock frequencies starting at 2133 MHz, DDR4 delivers up to 20% less energy consumption and twice as much density as the previous generation DDR3. DDR4 can help GIGABYTE X99 users to load their programs faster, increase responsiveness of their system and help them to handle heavy data tasks in a flash. The GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard includes Quad Channel DDR4 memory support, bringing exceptionally fast memory access.

Genuine All Digital Power Design
GA-X99M-007GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 mATX motherboard use an all digital CPU power design from International Rectifier® which includes both digital 4th Generation digital PWM Controller and industry-leading 3rd Generation PowIRstage™ controllers. These 100% digital controllers offer incredible precision in delivering power to the motherboard’s most power-hungry and energy-sensitive components, allowing enthusiasts to get the absolute maximum performance from their next generation Intel® Core™ i7 Extreme processors.

IR Digital PWN and IR PowIRstage® ICs
GA-X99M-008This new generation of IR® digital power controllers and PowIRstage® ICs feature Isense technology, which provides more precise current sensing accuracy. This helps evenly distribute the thermal loading between the PowerIRstage® ICs, preventing the overheating of each individual PowIRstage®, resulting in longer lifespan and better reliability.

Server Level Chokes by Cooper Bussmann
GA-X99M-009GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard feature Server Level Cooper Bussmann Chokes.

  • Server level reliability
  • High current capacity
  • New design reduces heat created by power loss and provides efficient power delivery to CPU VRM area.

Long Lifespan Durable Black™ Solid Caps
The GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 features the absolute best quality solid state capacitors that are rated to perform at the maximum efficiency for extended periods, even in extreme performance configurations. This provides peace of mind for end users who want to push their system hard, yet demand complete stability and reliability.

GA-X99M-010

Dual M.2 Technology for SSD Drive and WIFI Card for Fast Data Transfer and Advanced WIFI Networking
The GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 features Dual M.2 technology which provides users PCI-Express connectivity for SSD devices and 11AC WIFI + Bluetooth 4.0. Delivering up to 10 Gb/s data transfer speeds, M.2 offers considerably faster storage performance than current mSATA and even SATA Revision 3 (6Gb/s) storage devices. GIGABYTE’s stacked design optimizes the PCB real-estate usage, allowing more components to be efficiently added without compromising any space.

GA-X99M-011

Next Generation SATA Express Connector
Featured on the GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard is an onboard SATA Express connector which provides performance far superior to that of current SATA technologies. SATA Express features data transfer rates of up to 10Gb/s, considerably higher than SATA Revision 3 (6Gb/s), which won’t bottleneck faster NAND flash technologies in cutting edge SSDs. SATA Express combines the benefits of PCI-Express and SATA to provide much higher bandwidth, allowing SATA Express based drives to perform at similar speeds as PCI-Express based drives.

Intel® Core™ i7 Extreme Edition CPUs (Haswell-E)
Intel® Core™ i7 Extreme Edition Processors are Intel’s first 8 core desktop CPUs and is the first to support DDR4 memory. These next generation 22nm CPUs delivers greater performance and energy efficiency as well as the industry’s highest level of discrete graphics performance by sporting 40 PCIe Gen.3 lanes, which GIGABYTE X99 motherboards are able to take full advantage of, delivering bandwidth totaling 320 Gb/s for the most demanding gamers or graphics intensive creation tasks such as video editing. On top of that, Intel® Core™ i7 Extreme Edition CPUs deliver 8 core (16 threaded) multitask processing, higher frequencies, as well as larger cache size.

Additionally, GIGABYTE X99M-Gaming 5 users can draw even more performance out of their Extreme Edition CPUs, as they are fully unlocked for overclocking. With enhanced overclocking oriented options available on all GIGABYTE X99 series motherboards, users will be able to take full advantage of all the performance potential of Intel Extreme Edition CPUs.
*CPU core count and PCIe bandwidth varies by CPU model.

Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 Specifications

GIGABYTE GA-X99M-Gaming 5 Specifications

Processor1. Support for Intel® Core™ i7 processors in the LGA2011-3 package
2. L3 cache varies with CPU
Chipset1. Intel® X99 Express Chipset
Memory1. 4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
2. 4 channel memory architecture
3. Support for DDR4 3000(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2133 MHz memory modules
4. Support for non-ECC memory modules
5. Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
6. Support for RDIMM 1Rx8 memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)
Audio1. Realtek® ALC1150 codec
2. High Definition Audio
3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
4. Support for S/PDIF Out
LAN1. Qualcomm® Atheros Killer E2201 chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Expansion Slots1. 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIE_1/PCIE_2)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIE_1 slot; if you are installing two PCI Express graphics cards, it is recommended that you install them in the PCIE_1 and PCIE_2 slots.
2. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIE_3)
* When an i7-5820K CPU is installed, the PCIE_2 slot operates at up to x8 mode and the PCIE_3 operates at up to x4 mode.
(All PCI Express x16 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
3. 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
(The PCI Express x1 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
4. 1 x M.2 Socket 1 connector for the wireless communication module (M2_WIFI)
Multi-Graphics Technology1. Support for 2-Way AMD CrossFire/NVIDIA® SLI technology
Storage InterfaceChipset:
1. 1 x M.2 PCIe connector
(Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe x2/x1 SSD support)
2. 1 x SATA Express connector
3. 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0~5)
4. Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
* Only AHCI mode is supported when an M.2 PCIe SSD or a SATA Express device is installed.
(M2_10G, 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 in the M2_10G connector.)

Chipset:
1. 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (sSATA3 0~3), supporting IDE and AHCI modes only
(An operating system installed on the SATA3 0~5 ports cannot be used on the sSATA3 0~3 ports.)
USBChipset:
1. 4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (available through the internal USB headers)
2. 10 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (6 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers)

Chipset + Renesas® uPD720210 USB 3.0 Hub:
1. 4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
Internal I/O Connectors1x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1x M.2 Socket 3 connector
1x SATA Express connector
10x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
1x CPU fan header
1x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT)
3x system fan headers
1x front panel header
1x front panel audio header
1x S/PDIF Out header
2x USB 3.0/2.0 headers
2x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1x Clear CMOS jumper
1x power button
1x reset button
1x Clear CMOS button
1x audio gain control switch
2x BIOS switches
Back Panel Connectors1x PS/2 keyboard port
1x PS/2 mouse port
6x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
4x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1x RJ-45 port
1x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In, Line Out, Mic In)
2x Wi-Fi antenna connector holes
I/O Controller1. iTE® I/O Controller Chip
H/W MonitoringSystem voltage detection
CPU/System/Chipset temperature detection
CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed detection
CPU/System/Chipset overheating warning
CPU/CPU OPT/System fan fail warning
CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed control
* Whether the fan speed control function is supported will depend on the cooler you install.
BIOS1. 2 x 128 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 FeaturesSupport for APP Center
* Available applications in APP Center may differ by motherboard model. Supported functions of each application may also differ depending on motherboard specifications.
@BIOS
Ambient LED
EasyTune
EZ Setup
Fast Boot
Game Controller
Cloud Station
ON/OFF Charge
Smart TimeLock
Smart Recovery 2
System Information Viewer
USB Blocker
V-Tuner
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Smart Switch
Support for Xpress Install
Bundle Software1. Norton® Internet Security (OEM version)
2. Intel® Smart Response Technology
Operating System1. Support for Windows 8.1/8/7
Form Factor1. Micro-ATX Form Factor; 24.4cm x 24.4cm
Remarks1. Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors' website or 3rd party website.
2. Most hardware/software vendors may no longer offer drivers to support Win9X/ME/2000/XP. If drivers are available from the vendors, we will update them on the GIGABYTE website.

Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5-001 Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5-003

Price and Availability

The Gigabyte GA-X99M Gaming 5 micro ATX high end desktop motherboard is now available. Currently it retails for $264.99 and you can order one here.

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Author
Peter Paul
Peter is a PC enthusiast and avid gamer with several years of hands-on experience in testing and reviewing PC components, audio equipment, and various tech devices. He offers a genuine, no-nonsense perspective, helping consumers make informed choices in the ever-changing world of technology.

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