Introduction and Technical Specifications

The Z270X-Gaming 8 features a Bitspower designed chipset block, offering superior performance and support for Intel’s Kaby Lake processor line…

Introduction

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

With the release of Intel Z270 chipset, GIGABYTE unveiled its AORUS line of products. The AORUS branding differentiates the enthusiast and gamer friendly products from other GIGABYTE product lines, similar to how ASUS uses the ROG branding to differentiate their high performance product line. The Z270X-Gaming 8 is one of two "enhanced" boards in the AORUS, factory-customized with a Bitspower designed VRM hybrid water block. The board features the black and white branding common to the AORUS product line, with the rear panel cover and chipset featuring the brand logos. The board is designed around the Intel Z270 chipset with in-built support for the latest Intel LGA1151 Kaby Lake processor line (as well as support for Skylake processors) and Dual Channel DDR4 memory running at a 2400MHz speed. The Z270X-Gaming 8 can be found in retail with an MRSP of $399.99.

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

GIGABYTE integrated the following features into the Z270X-Gaming 8 motherboard: four SATA III 6Gbps ports; two SATA-Express 10Gbps ports; two U.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 32Gbps ports; two M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 32Gbps capable ports with Intel Optane support built-in; two RJ-45 GigE ports – an Intel I219-V Gigabit NIC and a Rivet Networks Killer E2500 NIC; a Rivet Networks Killer 802.11ac 2×2 Wireless adapter; four PCI-Express x16 slots; two PCI-Express x1 slots; Creative® Sound Core 3D 8-Channel audio subsystem; integrated DisplayPort and HDMI video ports; Intel Thunderbolt 40Gbps support; G-Chill hybrid VRM water block (designed by Bitspower); and USB 2.0, 3.0, and 3.1 Type-A and Type-C port support.

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

GIGABYTE partnered with Bitspower in designing the integrated cooling solution for the Z270X-Gaming 8 motherboard. The integrated VRM hybrid block, dubbed G-Chill by GIGABYTE, can operate with or without coolant. The block itself consists of a nickel-plated copper base plate, an acrylic top plate, a metal overplate, and a plastic cover to give it a unified appearance with the rest of the board components. The inlet and outlet ports are sealed with port covers by default, and are G1/4" threaded for use with any after-market water fittings currently available.

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

GIGABYTE integrated six zones of RGB LEDs into the surface of the Z270X-Gaming 8, including integrated into the rear panel guard, around the CPU socket, around the memory slots, into the audio chipset guard, around the primary and secondary PCIe x16 slots, and into the chipset cooler. The LEDs can be configured in up to eight pre-configured operation modes or configured for independent operation using the Advanced mode. GIGABYTE supports LED configuration via the UEFI or the RGB Fusion windows applet.

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

Dubbed as Smart Fan 5, GIGABYTE included a variety of fan headers and temperature sensors on the Z270X-Gaming 8 motherboard. They integrated temperature sensors into the CPU socket, VRMs, and chipset. Additionally, there are monitored fan headers spread throughout the board's surface, all supporting high current devices (fans or water pumps) of up to 2A per header (24W).

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

Technical Specifications (taken from the GIGABYTE website)

CPU Support for 7th and 6th generation Intel® Core™ i7 processors / Intel® Core™ i5 processors / Intel® Core™ i3 processors / Intel® Pentium® processors / Intel® Celeron® processors in the LGA1151 package
L3 cache varies with CPU

(Please refer "CPU Support List" for more information.)
Chipset Intel® Z270 Express Chipset
Memory 4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 64 GB of system memory
* Due to a Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than the size of the physical memory installed.

Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR4 4133(O.C.) / 4000(O.C.) / 3866(O.C.) / 3800(O.C.) / 3733(O.C.) / 3666(O.C.) / 3600(O.C.) / 3466(O.C.) / 3400(O.C.) / 3333(O.C.) / 3300(O.C.) / 3200(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2400 / 2133 MHz memory modules
Support for ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8 memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)
Support for non-ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

(Please refer "Memory Support List" for more information.)
Onboard Graphics Integrated Graphics Processor+Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 Controller:
1 x Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 connector, supporting DisplayPort and Thunderbolt™ video outputs and a maximum resolution of 4096×2304@60 Hz
* Because of the limited I/O resources of the PC architecture, the number of Thunderbolt™ devices that can be used is dependent on the number of the PCI Express devices being installed. (Refer to Chapter 1-7, "Back Panel Connectors," for more information.)
* Support for DisplayPort 1.2 version.


Integrated Graphics Processor-Intel® HD Graphics support:
1 x DisplayPort, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096×2304@60 Hz
* Support for DisplayPort 1.2 version.

Integrated Graphics Processor+MegaChips MCDP2800 chip:
1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@60 Hz
* Support for HDMI 2.0 version. (Requires the latest Intel® graphics driver from the GIGABYTE website.)

Support for up to 3 displays at the same time
Maximum shared memory of 1 GB
Audio Creative® Sound Core 3D chip
2 x JRC NJM2114 and 1 x TI Burr Brown® OPA2134 operational amplifiers
Support for Sound Blaster ZxRi
High Definition Audio
2/5.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF Out
LAN 1 x Intel® GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN1)
1 x Killer™ E2500 LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN2)
Wireless Communication module Killer™ Wireless-AC 1535
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, supporting 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band
Bluetooth 4.1
Support for 11ac wireless standard and up to 867 Mbps data rate

* Actual data rate may vary depending on environment and equipment.
Expansion Slots 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
* The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x8 mode.

2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x4 (PCIEX4_1, PCIEX4_2)
* The PCIEX4_1 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX8 slot. When the PCIEX4_1 slot is populated, the PCIEX8 slot will operate at up to x4 mode.

2 x PCI Express x1 slots

(All of the PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
Storage Interface Chipset:
1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242 / 2260 / 2280 / 22110 SATA and PCIe x4 / x2 SSD support) (M2M_32G)
1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242 / 2260 / 2280 SATA and PCIe x4 / x2 SSD support) (M2P_32G)
2 x U.2 connectors
2 x SATA Express connectors
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0~5)
Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
* Refer to "1-11 Internal Connectors," for the installation notices for the PCI Express, U.2, M.2, and SATA connectors.

ASMedia® ASM1061 chip:
2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 6, 7), supporting AHCI mode only
Multi-Graphics Technology Support for NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ and 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ technologies
Support for AMD Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ and 3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFire™ technologies
USB Chipset+Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 Controller:
1 x USB Type-C™ port on the back panel, with USB 3.1 Gen 2 support
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port (red) on the back panel

Chipset+Realtek® USB 3.1 Gen 1 Hub:
4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports available through the internal USB headers

Chipset:
5 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports on the back panel
4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports available through the internal USB headers
Internal I/O Connectors 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x CPU fan header
1 x water cooling CPU fan header
4 x system fan headers
2 x system fan/water cooling pump headers
1 x I/O shield audio LED power connector
2 x RGB (RGBW) LED strip extension cable headers
2 x SATA Express connectors
8 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
2 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors
2 x U.2 connectors
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 headers
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
1 x Thunderbolt™ add-in card connector
1 x Clear CMOS jumper
2 x temperature sensor headers
1 x power button
1 x reset button
1 x Clear CMOS button
1 x ECO button
1 x OC button
2 x audio gain control switches
2 x BIOS switches
Voltage Measurement Points
Back Panel Connectors 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
2 x MMCX antenna connectors (2T2R)
1 x HDMI port
1 x DisplayPort
1 x Thunderbolt™ 3 connector (USB Type-C™ port, with USB 3.1 Gen 2 support)
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port (red)
5 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports
2 x RJ-45 ports
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In/Mic In, Line Out, Headphone)
I/O Controller iTE® I/O Controller Chip
H/W Monitoring Voltage detection
Temperature detection
Fan speed detection
Overheating warning
Fan fail warning
Fan speed control* Whether the fan (pump) speed control function is supported will depend on the fan (pump) you install.
BIOS 2 x 128 Mbit flash
Use of licensed AMI UEFI BIOS
Support for DualBIOS™
Support for Q-Flash Plus
* The USB flash drive used must be a USB 2.0 flash drive.

PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0
Unique Features Support for APP Center
* Available applications in APP Center may vary by motherboard model. Supported functions of each application may also vary depending on motherboard specifications.
  • 3D OSD
  • @BIOS
  • AutoGreen
  • BIOS Setup
  • Color Temperature
  • Cloud Station
  • EasyTune
  • Easy RAID
  • Fast Boot
  • Game Boost
  • GIGABYTE HW OC APP
  • ON/OFF Charge
  • Platform Power Management
  • RGB Fusion
  • Smart Backup
  • Smart Keyboard
  • Smart TimeLock
  • System Information Viewer
  • USB Blocker
  • USB DAC-UP 2
  • V-Tuner
Support for 3TB+ Unlock
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Xpress Instal
Bundle Software Norton® Internet Security (OEM version)
Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready
Operating System Windows® 10 64-bit (for 7th Generation Intel® Processors)
Windows® 10 64-bit / Windows® 8.1 64-bit / Windows® 7 32-bit / 64-bits (for 6th Generation Intel® Processors)

* Operating systems supported may vary depending on your processor model.
* Please download the "Windows USB Installation Tool" from GIGABYTE's website and install it before installing Windows 7
Form Factor ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm
Box Contents GA-Z270X-Gaming 8 motherboard
Motherboard driver disk
User's Manual
Quick Installation Guide
Four SATA cables
I/O Shield
One Wi-Fi antenna
One Wi-Fi antenna retention cover
One GC-SLI2P SLI bridge connector
Two RGB (RGBW) LED strip extension cables
Two thermistor cables
One G Connector
Two Velcro Cable Ties
One pack of back I/O dust covers
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