Packaging and Closer Look – Continued
The Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7’s rear I/O shroud can be removed simply by unscrewing the screws holding it. The shroud is made of plastic (except for the MOSFET heatsink and chipset heatsink). The white plastic shroud is actually composed of two parts: the larger shroud for the rear I/O ports, where the G1 Gaming logo is embossed, and a smaller shroud covering the audio capacitors.
The first photo on the left hand side is how the Gaming 7 looks like without the white shroud covering the rear I/O ports. The next photo, onward, shows the Gaming 7 without the shroud and heatsinks.
Okay, let’s put all the stuff back on the motherboard and fire it up. The Z170X Gaming 7 has customizable on board LED path trace “separating” the audio components. This is nothing new since we have seen this kind of eye candy on the previous Z97 motherboards. What’s new here is that you can now customize the color and choose from 8 different color themes, and three different LED behaviors (still, pulse and beat). In still mode, the LED stay lit; in pulse mode the LED goes on breathing on/off effect; and in beat mode the LEDs synchronizes with the audio output which is a pretty cool effect.
The backplate of the rear I/O ports also has LEDs in it. The colors and effects can also be customized via the App Center; and whatever color theme or effect you choose for the audio LED path will also be the color theme for the rear backplate. However, you can choose whether to turn on or off the LEDs on the rear backplate.
On the next page, let’s have a tour on its UEFI BIOS as well as some of the app included with the Gaming 7.
