Pros: Just sort by "Most Helpful" A couple people have already done a fantastic job reviewing this board. I am just confirming that it worked wonderfully well for me with no problems.

Cons: Not a con, but just ensure you read up on which Sata Ports will get knocked out if you use the M.2 drive slots. Here is my experience that I had a very hard time finding any details about elsewhere on Forums since this is more of a new dilemma it seems:

Note: when I had my M.2 drive connected to the M2D_32G M.2 Connector - NONE of my Sata Ports worked for me. However, the other slot...

(excerpt from the forum I worked this out on )
I switched the Samsung 950 M.2 Drive from the M2D_32G M.2 Connector to the M2H_32G M.2 Connector and it enabled (at least some of) my sata ports! I can say for certain now from this config that at least Sata port 0 and 1 work. I haven't tested the other 4 yet. But I am one happy puppy right now!

Other Thoughts: Don't forget to get the latest drivers for the board ;)

Pros: No other way to say this: the Gaming 6 is awesome! Here's what I liked about it:
- Fantastic USB port selection, including USB 3.1 and USB 3.1 Type-C
- Booted up instantly with my 6700K. I used the EasyTune application to set a 4.4GHz/1.24V overclock, which is simply exceptional and far better than I was able to achieve on a competing board.
- the matte black finish, with very limited visible circuitry, is simply breathtaking. It looks so much sleeker and future-gen than competing Z170 board. I'm really not sure how Gigabyte did this!

Cons: - The AutoTune extreme setting came up with a 4.6GHz overclock at 1.31V, which was OK, but it tuned by 3000MHz memory down to 2133MHz. I passed on that and stuck with the pre-set EasyTune 4.4GHz overclock on my 6700K.
- The only difference between this board and the Gaming 5 is the additional shroud over the I/O ports. Not sure that's actually worth the price premium, but it does look a whole lot better!

Other Thoughts: I've been sitting on this board for a while, waiting for the chance to upgrade from a similarly-priced board from a very big competitor of Gigabyte's (the biggest, actually). Seeing a highly-negative review of the Gaming 6 on a reputable review site ([H]OCP) gave me the push I needed. They said they actually had trouble booting the board, and I just couldn't believe it could be that bad. Sure enough, they were wrong. This board booted instantly, is packed with features, is well built, and frankly looks better than any board I've ever used, and I've used a lot!

Pros: It is a very stable board, at least since I upgraded the BIOS to version F3. Before the BIOS update, it wasn't that stable. I have an external USB DAC on my desktop that uses the Gigabyte USB DAC UP 2.0 port on the back. The Audio quality sounds impressive. More clear and a fuller sound stage than compared to my previous board. I like that this board has USB 2.0 since I have three items that don't work on USB 3.0 ports.

Cons: My HDD activity light doesn't work since I installed this board.

Other Thoughts: My system specs:
Gigabyte Z170x Gaming 6 MOBO
Intel I7-6700k CPU
R9 295x2 GPU
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32gb DDR4 RAM 3000ghz
Samsung 850 Pro 256 gb SSD for Windows 10 Home 64bit OS
Samsung 850 EVO 1tb SSD for my games.
Corsair RM1000 PSU

Pros: Great board if it worked!

Cons: The board came with bent pins, did not noticed this till after trying to troubleshoot why 2 memory slots were not work and I was forced to use 2 memory on single channel mode.

I been e mailing gigabyte back and forth till finally decided to take out the cpu and found bent pins. There was no way the pins could of been bent by me putting in the cpu as I done this countless of times and I am always careful and slow with putting it in and it is keyed anyways so, I never latch down the holder till i am sure it is fitted in the right direction and laying flat.

The computer is running enough to do internet and e mail which i need for my business so, cannot have down time and I want to do an advanced RMA but their hours is impossible to deal with as I work in middle of those hours at my job that I do also work at from 7am to 6pm. but they are only open 8:30 to 5:30. There is other game board makers that has much better hours and will bend over backwards to make things right.

Other Thoughts: Gigabyte use to be really good but, I am thinking they are losing touch with the gaming community on their gaming line of stuff. There is other manufacturers out there that can better relate to gamers and their needs.

I do understand defects happen but be better responsive about it.

After this I am no longer buy Gigabyte any more.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your comments. We apologize for your difficulty with your GIGABYTE product.
If there is any difficulty to contact GIGABYTE RMA department over the phone during its office hour, please contact GIGABYTE RMA department through email at services@gigabyte-usa.com for further assistance about RMA service.

GIGABYTE VIP Support Team

Pros: - Lot of slots for expansion PCI-Express for video cards
- Not a ton of annoying thermal armor.
- Easy installation of CPU and heat sink. Did not feel like board was going to bend.
- Overall construction appears to be good. This will probably last for some time.

Cons: Have to buy aftermarket TPM unit to attach to board. Would have been nice to have it come with one for bit locker or other drive encryption. Not an issue for most users.

Other Thoughts: - Do we really need PS2 connections
- Had to flash to BIOS version F-03 to get XMP profiles to work with GSKIll 27200 RAM otherwise board would not clear POST with ram running at 3400.
- XMP settings for BIOS before F-03 were non-compliant with GSKIll RAM although the memory compatibility list was honest when I bought the board.

Pros: Has 2 M2 slots for when I am ready to upgrade to m2 drives and the xmp is working without any issues. Have my 6600k overclocked to 4.3 ghz and it does not ever go above 32 degrees celcius. Lay out of the PCI lanes are perfect and as for my sound I have never heard better quality.

Cons: Took a while to get it set up to where I wanted it. Somewhere around a month but as soon as I got it where I wanted it (mounted) it has worked like a dream.

Other Thoughts: I would recommend this motherboard to a friend and I would purchase again if I need too. Plays my games all @ max settings. Wondering what I would need a dedicated graphics card for.

Pros: Not sure as the board was no good.

Cons: Received this board a few days ago. Put the CPU/fan in, memory, and graphics card. Booted with no beeps and just went into a loop of restarting every 5 seconds. I took the graphics card out same thing. Then swapped with a good power supply; same thing. Then I took out the memory; same. Then the CPU/fan; same. Promptly returned to Newegg.

I've been with Gigabyte for a long time and I do own many great boards that have been running steady for years. I'm hoping this was a fluke and I did get a replacement. The problem is there is nothing worse than paying good money for a product and getting a lemon and having to go through the hassle of RMAs. If I'd go through Gigabyte directly it would probably be a good 2 weeks or more before I have a replacement. Really hoping they get their QA improved.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your comments. We apologize for your difficulty with your GIGABYTE product. Please contact us at
newegg-support@gigabyteusa.com with the case number 133848 in the e-mail subject line. We will provide personalized service and analysis to help solve your issue ASAP. If the matter is urgent, please send us your contact number, and we will contact you.

GIGABYTE VIP Support Team

Pros: Aesthetically one of the nicest looking motherboards I've seen.
Audio is fantastic.
The layout is great.
M.2 is amazing.
Posted.

Cons: The issues...
Like many others have claimed, the UEFI is very wonky. A lot of settings don't stick half the time, fan settings are bad. It won't allow my memory to use the XMP profile for whatever reason, despite getting tech support from the memory manufacturer.

ALL of the SATA ports on this board are dead. Not a single one works. This is super frustrating to say the least. I bought a SATA expansion card to compensate just to use my storage drives.

Other Thoughts: I bought this board simply for the aesthetics, it fit my scheme and seemed to be feature rich. I didn't like any of the boards from the Manufacturer I built the last 2 PC's with. (Still fully functional to this day). I won't be making that mistake again. Couldn't recommend it based my experience.

Pros: Turned on and worked for a month.
Has a warranty longer than 30 days.

Cons: Turned on and then only worked for a month before crapping out on me. For Gigabyte to talk about how great their components are and how much testing goes into them, they sure know how to make a terrible product. Barely a month went by and the thing won't even get to the boot menu without restarting, which becomes an endless loop.

Other Thoughts: Save yourself and buy from a company that actually tests their products, like ASUS, and doesn't just tell you they do.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your comments. We apologize for your difficulty with your GIGABYTE product. Please contact us at newegg-support@gigabyteusa.com with the case number 133046 in the e-mail subject line. We will provide personalized service and analysis to help solve your issue ASAP. If the matter is urgent, please send us your contact number, and we will contact you.

GIGABYTE VIP Support Team

Pros: 2 M.2 slots, great onboard audio with dynamic lighting. Two things about this board are real stand outs. The first is the
two M.2 slots, where you can install the fastest SSD's available. The second is the onboard audio, driven by Burr Brown OPA 2134.

First about the M.2 slots. While they can be use by both Sata and PCIE type ssd cards, you will only use them if you get a PCIE card. Why? Sata SSD's are still cheapest when bought in 2.5 inch form factor. There are 6 sata connectors on this board, and a maximum of 6 sata devices can be connected, so if you use one or both of the M.2 slots for Sata, you lose one or two of the sata conectors.

The onboard audio is great out of the box, plenty loud to drive even the toughest headphones. Two of the amplifier channels (presumably for L-R) are powered by an OPA 2134 operational aplifier, a darling of the head-fi geeks. Sound is pretty darned good, and can save you a bundle on an external audiophile amplifier.

Also cool about this board: 3 sata express, 2 digital video (displayport and hdmi), USB 3.1, Dual NIC (although they cannot be teamed)

Cons: 6 sata ports might be limiting for some. The removable OP amp only covers 2 channels -- Both of these limitations are removed in the higher end version of this board.

Gigabyte APPS are typical, so I would not recommend installing them unless there are specific ones that you'd like (system monitor or the automatic overclocking). Most of the apps are conveniences better found elsewhere (timers, usb blockers, etc). Also, most folk recommend not using the windows based BIOS update (prefer to do it from the BIOS settings for reliability)

Other Thoughts: Why you want this board? Plain and simple, for the two M.2 Slots and the audio. While PCIe x4 SSD's are still a bit pricey, its looking like this will be the form factor of the future, so even if you aren't ready to shell out for one now, you'll be ready. As for the audio, if you want great sound without buying expensive inboard or outboard DAC/amplifiers, this is a great option.

Buy this now for your skylake build, so you can expand and upgrade into the future when M.2 PCIe becomes cheap.

Rock on and groove to the pulsing lights.