Pros: I've owned a number of Gigabyte boards recently, both good (Z87, Z97) and bad (X99 at launch), and the Z170X Gaming 6 has has exceeded all of my expectations with both a fantastic looking board that performs great right out of the box while overclocked. +The board LOOKS amazing. Some may not care, but for me I do care how my rig looks. I don't go overboard with the bling, but I like to show my hardware off and look at what's under the hood so I get the acrylic case window and everything. Kind of like a car with a high performance engine, or even an expensive watch that shows you its gears. Its just awesome to look at such marvelous hardware. The Gigabyte Gaming line-up really delivers here, with a great looking black/red/white heatsink, new sharp looking PCIe slot shields (not sure if this helps at all). +Perfect PCIex16 configuration for SLI/CF, allowing triple slot cards or 1 extra space for dual slot coolers. Two cards will give you x8/x8 and still leave 4x lanes for something like M.2 SSDs or other PCIe cards. +2 M.2 slots for SSDs. This is actually more than my X99 board and offers more expandability for M.2 NVMe SSDs which are the future of high performance storage. +Three SATA Express slots, although I am not sure anyone will use this now that M.2 and even PCIe SSDs are widely available. My X99 only had one slot, but keep in mind this eats up your 6 SATA3 slots. +Dual NICs, both Intel and Killer E2200. I personally prefer the reliability of the Intel onboard NIC but the flexibility to test out the software QoS of the Qualcomm Killer NIC is nice. +USB 3.1 and USB Type C!!! Great connectivity and throughput here allowing you to get the max out of your new peripherals and USB 3.1 capable smartphones. +Great build quality, components. The board is thick and sturdy, the matte coating looks super sharp. All the slots, DIMM slots, caps etc. are super high quality and it shows. Comes with SATA cables, front I/O extender similar to Asus to help you connect the front case headers. Various marketing stuff like USB-DAC UP that I'm not sure matter. +BIOS compatibility much better than X99 and simple overclocking as you would expect from Gigabyte. I was able to overclock my 6700K to 4.5GHz at just 1.2V and my Adata RAM runs 2800MHz without a problem. It will only do 2666 on my X99 board. Make sure to get the latest BIOS from Tweaktown forums before you start OC'ing!!!

Cons: None really, this is a great board but be sure to check out the other Gigabyte offerings if you are looking for more or less out of a board.

Overall Review: -Not really Gigabyte's fault, but Intel's i7 6700K has been REALLY hard to find and is REALLY expensive. It took me an extra 2 weeks just to find the 6700K in stock which delayed this build and the price is above MSRP right now which is pretty annoying. -The Gaming 6 is not the highest end board in Gigabyte's line-up, there's the Gaming G1 which is in super premium $400+ range and the Gaming GT which is $300ish. The Gaming 7 is only about $30 more so that is one I will compare to for features for someone who might want slightly better board. Here's the main differences I saw. -RAM speed 3466 vs 3866 -Killer E2200 vs. E2400 -6 SATA3 vs 8 SATA3 -Good heatsink vs. better connected heatsink -Generic ALC1151 sound vs. Sound Blaster Core3D Those are the main differences that I saw, so its up to you if the difference is worth it. Make sure to get fast RAM with this platform, 3000+ if you can afford it and it doesn't cost too much more than lower spec RAM!!! I already had 2800 but reviews I have seen show nice gains with faster RAM.

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)

Overall Review: 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.

Pros: Attractive design with silver, red and black theme that looks nice in any case with clear see-through side panel. Reinforced with metal braces PCI-Express slots reduce chance of damage when replacing or upgrading graphic cards. Removable and upgradeable headphones operational amplifier OPA2134PA with ability to adjust audio level output to your headphones (gain can be adjusted to 2.5 or 6.0 times). Motherboard is equipped with ECO and OC hardware buttons - this lets you quickly switch from lowest power consumption to highest performance with a press of a button. Also motherboard is equipped with debug dual 7-segment LED indicator that displays boot, recovery and error codes. Audio section on this board is insulated from digital section and produces remarkable sound compared to my previous motherboards. Also it is equipped with single COM port header and newest USB Type-C port, as well with 4 USB 2.0/1.1 ports, 3 USB 3.0/2.0 ports and 1 USB 3.1 Type-A port, as well with 2 Ethernet RJ-45 ports.

Cons: I have not found anything that I did not like about this board. It completely satisfies my needs. APP Store I do not find to be of any value and I do not use it.

Overall Review: This motherboard requires use of 6th generation Intel processor with socket LGA1151, and previous generation Intel processors with socket LGA1150 aren’t compatible and one will have to purchase new processors when upgrading system, as well as new memory modules - as this motherboard have DDR4 slots with 288 pins. My recommendation is to purchase this motherboard only if you are building new system.

Pros: • Dual M.2 • Clean layout with ideal spacing for SLI/Crossfire setups • Dual front panel USB 3.0 support • All fan headers are of the 4-pin variety (additional fan header for speed sensing cable used with AIO water cooling setups) • Dual NIC (includes Killer NIC chip for those that care) • Gaming mouse USB support (faster polling) • Reasonable price • Pretty back plate I/O cover • Single-button overclocking • Nice spacing around the CPU socket (for larger air coolers) • 3-year Gigabyte warranty • Support for 64GB RAM/DDR4 3466 (default speed detection is 2133 until you set your sticks manually, or use XMP profiles) • Gigabyte dual-bios support (great for when overclocking experiments go south) • Full size ATX (for those that cringe at the smaller ATX boards that flex along the 24-pin edge)

Cons: • None – layout is ideal; feature-set at the price point is fantastic

Overall Review: If your build is based on a red/black color scheme – look no further – the Z170X is exactly what you’re looking for. This is the second Z170 Gigabyte board I’ve reviewed, and it’s another excellent model that’s loaded with more features than most people would ever need. Layout is excellent, with good spacing for dual-GPU setups. Clean socket orientation allows easy installs for large-scale air cooler models. Dual M.2 support puts storage right on the board, and with the price drops on all SSD’s, one could feasibly stick a pair of 500 GB M.2 drives on the Z170X, and have no SATA cables to hide. I like how the diagnostic LED panel is in the upper right-corner of the board for easy viewing, and the poor-man’s OCing button is right up there too (nice and easy for open-air builds). Default RAM speeds show up at 2133 MHZ. Manual settings for 32GB of GSkill Ripjaws V series DDR4 3000 were no problem from a stability standpoint. Using a 6600K, I was easily able to pull gaming stable 4.46 clocks with respectable voltage/clock bumps. I didn’t bother with true stability testing, instead electing to go with 4 hours of Titanfall instead. No hiccups, reboots, anything weird. Tested with F1 and F2 BIOS – no issues with either revision. Gigabytes App Center issues with Windows 10 seem to have been addressed, as I received no “this driver can’t release to failure” errors. One area that could bother some people is that if you populate the lower M.2 slot, you lose the ability to run 3-way Crossfire, but honestly, who wants to cripple their 290X in a X4 slot, anyway. Bottom line – if you want 3-4 GPU support, much better off going with a 2011 v3 build. The only person I wouldn’t recommend the Z170X to, is somebody that isn’t looking to design a red/black build. The feature-set is there. The OC capability is there. The price is there. The warranty is there. That covers all of my bases -- and I have no problem saying that it should cover most of yours. As well. Highly recommended!

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!

Overall Review: 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: Another super high quality piece from Gigabyte. I’ve come to expect nothing but the best from them as I’ve used their main boards for YEARS and have had almost no issues with them. They have EXCELLENT quality control and it shows with this board. No issues at all POSTing and it detected all of my RAM fine with the correct speeds (I could even over clock if I wanted too, but didn’t feel the need). I had to borrow a CPU from my buddy and (a 4GHz i7) I pretty much built a gamer / cad box (32GB RAM, 500GB Sammy SSD, etc). This mother board is beautiful and built very stout! The layout is excellent for multiple video cards and it has this very minimal look to it, which I really like! This board will look awesome if you have a windowed case! Typical 3 year warranty with Gigabyte is great! Even after all these years they have not skimped out on warranty. That means that they stand behind their products, whether it is a high end board like this, or a SOHO main board, they build a good product. I easily keep them in my top 3 makers of main boards. I almost exclusively use them, since they have been so solid and reliable. I also like that there is a good amount of room by the CPU. I used a water cooler, but if you had a larger tower type air cooler, you would have plenty of room to spare. It was nice to see a detail like this as it gives the end user more options for cooling. The passive heat sinks on the board are also a nice touch. With SSD prices dropping the dual M.2 slots will come in hand for folks that want to build a super clean look inside. You could drop in two SSD’s and never have to bother with cables. Talk about tidy and super fast at the same time. Another thing that I like is how easy it is to see the headers on this board. Some boards are hard to tell what panel cable goes where… And this board is easy to read the polarity and type. I like that. Speaking of easy… The sata connections are all up front which makes for a clean look, just make sure that you have adequate space for the cables to come out. USB C is on this board as well, which will make use of future devices and assure one that it will last for a few years.

Cons: : I really cannot think of too many. The sata cables come out the side, so depending on what kind of case you have, this might be an issue. I tried this board in two Antec cases (an older NSK and Solo) and they both required some maneuvering to get the cables to look right and not get all smashed. The only other thing that I can think of is bandwidth if using more than one video card (think SLI) the PCIe lanes are not all x16, so you’ll lose a little bandwidth if you load up on multiple video cards. Having said that, I believe that 99% of people are not running more than one video card. Even with these cons, I'm not going to knock any eggs off, since this is still a really great main board!

Overall Review: This is a good looking solidly built mother board for a great price. If you have never looked at Gigabyte before, DO SO! You will not be unhappy with your purchase. They make things nice and easy and stable. Their drives install in one fell swoop and they have a solid 3 year warranty. I have some Gigabyte boards that are almost 7 years old and are sill ticking away. If you have a computer case with a window, this board will look fantastic! The mother board is, in my opinion, the most important part of a system build, so do not cheap out, get something good like this one! And, also, do not forget to feed this baby nice clean power! Get a good power supply as well! I am sure that anyone that purchases this board will walk away with a smile and a know that they made a excellent purchase!

Pros: The Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 6 motherboard is a pretty sweet board for a reasonable cost considering what it can do. Casual desktop users should look for a lesser model as this one has more options than you will need. First off pair this board with the latest Intel I7 LGA1151 processor, up to 64GB of DDR4 2133 Dual channel RAM, and your choice of up to 2 M.2 SSD and you have the beginnings of a nice gaming rig. You could also skip the M.2 SSD and go with up to 3 SATA Express drives or up to 6 SATA 6G/s drives all with RAID 0/1/5/10 options. Once you get this machine connected to your LAN party using one or both of the onboard Gigabit LAN ports you are set. If you are not happy with the onboard video chipset that offers 512MB of shared memory for the HDMI and DispayPort video ports and can each support 4096x2304 resolution, you can always upgrade and add up to 2 video cards running SLI or up to 3 video cards running CrossFire (The box only includes 1x 2-Way SLI bridge connector). The BIOS gives you all the options you would expect from a gaming motherboard. You can stick to the defaults, or go crazy overclocking all you want. One thing that I noticed on this board was the ECO and OC button. If you want a casual night of watching movies, save some power and run in ECO mode. If you want a serious night of Gaming use the full potential of the system by hitting the OC button to use your customized Overclocked mode! This board ran Windows 10 nicely. I didn’t have much time to mess around with any gaming prior to this review but will follow up with any notable additions on a further review if necessary.

Cons: There are very few cons to this board. One of the ones I noticed is if you decide to go with dual video cards they will share the PCI Express x16 channel bandwidth and both cards will run at x8. This is a little disappointing for a gaming motherboard. Also if you are using a M.2 SSD’s in the lower slot (Slot M2H_32G) you cannot use the PCIEx4 slot and vice versa. So no 3-Way Crossfire video setup if you want to have 2x M.2 SSD’s. Onboard buttons are nice when you are doing the initial setup of a motherboard, but most of us end up closing our board up in a case and use buttons that are available externally. It would be nice if the OC and ECO buttons were available without having to open the case up every time we want to push them.

Overall Review: Included in the box is the following. The motherboard, the user’s manual, the driver disk, a multilingual install guide, a 2-Way SLI bridge connector, a backer plate for your case, 4x SATA connectors, a quick connector for the front panel plugs, a G1 sticker, and a Do Not Disturb door hanger. The Audio OC chip is interchangeable. I haven’t personally messed with these so I won’t attempt to review it. The Audio line out is also adjustable with a series of DIP switches on the board.

Pros: this motherboard is absolutely beautiful and powerful. to be honest I usually use asus motherboards but I got this one and I think it great...I'm pretty set in my ways when it comes to motherboard manufacturers and components in general. but I'm not so set in my ways that I don't recognize a quality component when I see one, there are so many things on this board. I didn't think I would switch to ddr4 so soon but it works great i got this board and some 16 gb's ddr4 3200 mghz ram i bought an intel I5 6600k and a new gigabyte nividia gtx 970 g1 to match the board and this board installed easy and flawlessly as well as all the components. i swapped an amd rig to this intel so i already had the my ssd with os installed and case and power supply. but i was like a kid in a candy store, this board has the 2 m.2 slots i look forward to using once i get a couple M.2 ssd's to put on it. it also has the new usb 3.1 type c connector, 3 way sli, z170x chipset, gold plated audio connectors all the way around, my h100i fit great and this thing stays real cool. i am really happy i made the switch when i did, if your an intel guy or think you may want a new cpu i totally recommend this board and the asthetics are amazing it looks so good in my gaming rig all lit up and they do a great job of covering up the ugly parts of most boards and this thing just looks great

Cons: i can only think of one thing i wish was different about the board i wish ther were 2 x16 lanes for sli as it stands it goes x16,x8,x4 and i know the board could handle it, but i guess if you want that feature you have to buy the next one up

Overall Review: i have been an amd guy for a long time but with their lack of advancement for awhile now , i decided to switch to intel and this board made it pretty easy and I'm glad i did