Gigabyte announced six new Z270 motherboards as part of its Aorus product line. Targeted at gamers, all of them feature RGB LED lighting and swappable LED overlays.
Gigabyte standardized several features across the six boards announced today, but the one that sticks out the most is RGB Fusion LED lighting. All of the boards have at least two areas that are RGB LED backlit, including a space on the right edge beside the RAM slots. This section of lights is special, as it can be removed and replaced with a different overlay that has a unique light pattern. Each board is also equipped with an LED strip header.
To increase the system’s durability, Gigabyte reinforced all of the RAM slots and PCI-E x16 slots on these boards with steel plating.
From here, the boards start to differ from each other. All of the motherboards sport two BIOS chips and support large VRM heatsinks, but the Gigabyte’s Z270X-Gaming 9 flagship motherboard and the slightly lower-end Z270X-Gaming 8 stand tall above the company’s other Z270 boards thanks to built-in liquid cooling systems. They cover the board’s power regulation circuitry for the board’s power regulation circuitry, and it should give them an advantage while overclocking.
The Z270X-Gaming 9 also comes with a PEX8747 PLX chip capable of supporting up to 32 PCI-E 3.0 lanes. This can help to more evenly divide the CPU’s 16 PCI-E 3.0 lanes to achieve better results while gaming with multiple graphics cards. It also has two Killer E2500 NICs and a Killer 802.11ac 1535 Wi-Fi chip to give you plenty of bandwidth for gaming online.
Gigabyte’s top three motherboards also have superior audio thanks to the use of Creative audio codecs, extra EMI shielding, and additional Nichicon capacitors. Lower-end models should have quality audio still, however, as they also have some degree of EMI shielding and they use Realtek’s new ALC 1220 audio codec.
These motherboards are expected to be released on January 5. Gigabyte did not disclose pricing information.
| Gigabyte 200-Series Motherboards | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model/Spec | Z270X-Gaming 9 | Z270X-Gaming 8 | Z270X-Gaming 7 | Z270X-Gaming K7 | Z270X-Gaming 5 | Z270X-Gaming K5 |
| Form Factor | E-ATX | ATX | ATX | ATX | ATX | ATX |
| Memory Support | 4 x DDR4 DIMMs Up To 4000MHz | 4 x DDR4 DIMMs | 4 x DDR4 DIMMs | 4 x DDR4 DIMMs | 4 x DDR4 DIMMs | 4 x DDR4 DIMMs |
| Integrated Liquid Cooling Solution | EKWB | Bitspower | None | None | None | None |
| PCI/PCI-E | -2 x PCI-E x1-4 x PCI-E x 16 | -2 x PCI-E x1-4 x PCI-E x16 | -3 x PCI-E x1-3 x PCI-E x16 | -3 x PCI-E x1-3 x PCI-E x16 | -3 x PCI-E x1-3 x PCI-E x16 | -3 x PCI-E x1-3 x PCI-E x16 |
| Networking | -Killer DoubleShot X3 Pro-2 x Killer Ethernet E2500 Gigabit LAN-Killer 802.11ac 1535 Wi-Fi | -Intel Gigabit LAN-Killer E2500 Gigabit LAN-Killer 802.11ac 1535 Wi-Fi | -Intel Gigabit LAN-Killer E2500 Gigabit LAN | -Intel Gigabit LAN-Killer E2500 Gigabit LAN | -Intel Gigabit LAN-Killer Gigabit LAN | Killer E2500 Gigabit LAN |
| Audio | Creative Sound Core 3D ZxRi | Creative Sound Core 3D ZxRi | Creative Sound Core 3DSBX Pro Studio Audio Suite | Realtek ALC 1220Sound Blaster X-Fi MB5 | Realtek ALC 1220 | Realtek ALC 1220 |
| Ports | -8 x SATA-III-3 x SATA Express-2 x M.2 Key M-2 x U.2USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A | -6 x SATA-III-3 x SATA Express-2 x M.2 Key M-2 x U.2-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A | -6 x SATA-III-3 x SATA Express-2 x M.2 Key M-U.2-USB 3.1 Gen 2 -Type-CUSB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A | -6 x SATA-III-3 x SATA Express-2 x M.2 Key M-U.2-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A | -6 x SATA-III-3 x SATA Express-2 x M.2 Key M-U.2-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A | -6 x SATA-III-3 x SATA Express-2 x M.2 Key M-U.2-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C-USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A |
