Price and Availability
The Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 motherboard is now widely available, both local and online stores. At the time this review was published, the Z170X-Gaming 7 has a retail price of $204.99 USD. You also get a limited 3 year warranty from the manufacturer.
Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 Review: Conclusion
I have been using the Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 since October last year. This review is actually long overdue since I was supposed to publish my review last November or December. These past few months, I have tested the Z170X-Gaming 7 motherboard with different storage drives, graphics cards, DDR4 memory and even some of my audio gear, and to this point it hasn’t disappointed me at all. The motherboard is just as impressive as it is on paper. When it comes to its fresh new design, it’s really a matter of personal preference. Some may not like the white color shroud, but for me I think the new design looks better compared to its predecessors.
There are a few things that I’d like to point out regarding this motherboard, but let me first talk about what I don’t like about the Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 or the features I wish this motherboard had. My first gripe about this motherboard is that there are too few USB ports on the rear I/O ports. Sure it has a USB Type-C connector but it would be nice to have two more USB 3.0 ports at the back. Second, I wish there was more control for the system fan(s) through the BIOS setting. The Gigabyte App Center has a great fan control system, but I wish that kind of control was also present in the BIOS. Not all users would want to install the App Center. And third, not really a deal breaker, but I wish they could have included an on board WiFi and Bluetooth feature.
On the bright side, the Z170X-Gaming 7 is a feature-rich motherboard with good overclocking capability and it’s definitely a gaming-centric motherboard. The packaging is great and I like the transparent-like silver-ish SATA cables; it matches the color scheme of the system. The customizable LEDs path trace separating the audio component and the LEDs on the rear I/O backplate are a welcomed eye candy as well. You can also easily switch from power saving or Eco friendly mode, or high performance (overclocked) mode on the fly by simply pushing the on board buttons. Other features that I like are; dedicated USB 3.1 and Type-C ports, dual BIOS, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a better App Center. I could go on and on with all the great features found in this motherboard. But I have already mentioned them on the first few pages of this review.
The bottom line is that the Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 is an impressive motherboard with great set of features that most enthusiasts and PC gamers, and even desktop-music lovers will look for in a motherboard. If you are ready to ditch your old system or build a new high performance gaming PC, you should definitely consider the Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 on your short list.
