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The model under consideration will be the first Gigabyte product in our laboratory since the announcement of the 200th series of chipsets. It has basic capabilities, of the additional controllers there is only ASM2142, which brings two latest-generation USB sockets to the rear panel, which means that today it will be possible to fully concentrate on the manufacturer’s innovations. The “K” in the model name helps identify the network controller as the latest version of the Qualcomm Atheros Killer adapter.
Of the bright features, I will highlight the presence of two SATA-E sockets and only one compact type M.2. Building NVIDIA SLI configurations is not provided here. Other characteristics can be studied in the table.
| Model | Gigabyte GA-Z270-Gaming K3 (rev. 1.0) |
|---|---|
| Official product page on the Web | gigabyte.ua |
| Chipset | Intel Z270 |
| Processor socket | Socket 1151 |
| Processors | Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, Pentium, Celeron (Skylake-S, Kaby Lake-S) |
| Memory | 4 DIMM DDR4 SDRAM 2133/2400*/2666*/2800*/3000*/3200*/3300*/3333*/3400*/3466*/3600*/3666*/3733*/3800*/3866*(OC) , maximum 64 GB |
| PCI slots | 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 (x16) 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 (x4) 3 x PCI Express 3.0 x1 |
| M.2 | 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x4 (Key M, 2242/2260/2280/22110) |
| Integrated video core (in the processor) | Intel HD 510/530/610/630 |
| Video connectors | HDMI 1.4, DVI-D |
| Number of connected fans | 5x 4pin |
| PS/2 ports | 1 (keyboard/mouse) |
| The port is USB | 2 x 3.1 Gen2 (2 connectors on the rear panel (A and C), ASM2142) 8 x 3.1 Gen1 (4 connectors on the rear panel, Z270) 6 x 2.0 (2 connectors on the rear panel, Z270) |
| Serial ATA | 6 x SATA 6Gb/s (Z270) |
| RAID | 0, 1, 5, 10 (SATA, Z270) 0 (PCI-E, Z270) |
| Built-in sound | Codec — Realtek ALC1220 (7.1, HDA) |
| S/PDIF | Connector on the board (output) |
| Networking | Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2500 (Gigabit Ethernet) |
| COM | – |
| TPM | + |
| UEFI | AMI UEFI |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Dimensions, mm | 305 x 244 |
| Additional features | Two SATA-E sockets, Thunderbolt header, dedicated USB (DAC-UP 2) for connecting an external DAC, AMD 2-Way CrossFireX support |
| Retail price, $ | 174 |
Packaging and equipment
The small box contains the board and a set of accessories. Gone are the advertising motifs present on a similar product of the previous generation. I note the presence of a red backlight, as indicated by the inscription Ambient Led.
Behind you can find a lot more information. Here they announced the development of a new Smart Fan 5 complex to pacify coolers. The sound subsystem was not left without attention. You can look at the photo of the device and a small table with characteristics.
The support set included:
- user manual, which illustrates and describes the UEFI sub-items in detail (in English);
- multilingual quick installation guide;
- a sticker with the Gaming logo;
- disk with drivers and proprietary software;
- “holster” for convenient connection of body connectors G Connector;
- a plug for the housing, complete with a black sticker with color and symbol designation of all sockets;
- four SATA 6Gb / s cables, two of which have an L-shaped connector on one end.
Appearance
The dimensions of the board will allow you to fix it in the case with nine screws. Empty spaces were noticed on the surface, but the power stabilizer is the opposite – you can see a greater presence of electronic elements relative to products of the previous generation. The long right end is equipped with a pair of strips, bringing them together, as well as on the side, will emit a glow from a considerable number of red LEDs.
The audio codec area is another place for a group of miniature indicators. It is unlikely that anything will prevent the installation of the device in the case.
In this model, a traditional radiator was used – without any designer overlays, there is no backlight either. The heat dissipation area does not cause concern, a reliable screw fastening is used.
Two longitudinal SATA-E, which rapidly lost supporters among end equipment manufacturers, combined resources with four classic-type SATA sockets. There are also two conventional transverse seats, which will come in handy for owners of cramped cases. Four LEDs are wired in the lower corner, indicating the progress of the POST procedure.
The only M.2 will allow you to install a device of any size.
For case USB interface cables, two blocks of each (second and third) generations are prepared. All of them are transverse.
The reinforced PCI-E x16 socket uses sixteen lines from the processor, and the rest work with the hub.
Three more bright red LEDs are soldered here.
The sound codec is hidden under a shielding cap, and the placement of the op amp was not noticed next to it, although before it was even possible to replace it due to the soldering of the DIP8 crib. The status of a non-ordinary product is reinforced by a large group of special capacitors.
There are no assistants for hardware overclocking here. But there are conspicuous inscriptions “XMP” and “TURBO”. The active XMP status for the memory test kit successfully brought the corresponding inscription into working condition. The neighboring “GAMING” glows in all conditions (together with all the main lighting).
The profiles of the radiators are not too complex and bulky, I was able to install the cooling system without any problems.
The stabilizer has been noticeably strengthened. If earlier there were only two power elements in each “phase”, now only a trio of integrated GPUs use such a scheme. And the four channels of the CPU cores have three elements each (12 pieces in total). We used the new Intersil Corporation ISL95866 PWM controller. It has three built-in drivers, four more can be counted on the board itself. As assemblies, we used ON Semiconductor NTMFS4C10N (everywhere one element) and NTMFS4C06N (two for the CPU, one for each GPU channel).
The radiators are fixed by means of spring-loaded plastic clips. They did not save on the area of the gasket that transfers heat.
At the back, eight USB outputs of various types are successfully located, with a sufficient distance relative to neighboring elements. There are two digital video outputs and six audio outputs. It can upset, perhaps, the lack of S / PDIF. A pair of USB 3.0 is marked in yellow, here the output voltage can be increased manually, more on this in the next part of the review.
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