Review: Gigabyte X99-Gaming 5

Conclusion

Gigabyte jumps on the Intel X99 and Haswell Extreme bandwagon by releasing a multitude of high-end boards. Taking up the mid-range space is the X99-Gaming 5, available from £200, and it packs quite a punch with a Core i7-5960X in the socket.

Layout is logical and Gigabyte adds in a sensible number of features including SATA Express, more USB 3.0 and upgraded audio, though we'd like to see power buttons and a debug LED make an appearance.

The BIOS feels a little too clever for itself, with the full-HD UEFI mode lacking in fine-grained fan control present on rival motherboards, but there are enough options to keep even the most fussy of enthusiasts happy.

Performance, though, is very competent, spurred on by Gigabyte playing a little fast and loose with Turbo Core frequencies. We come away from our time with the X99-Gaming 5 with mixed feelings. A competitive street price and solid layout is compromised by an overly-elaborate BIOS that auto-clocks the CPU higher than it should. Ultimate DDR4 memory frequency, too, isn't as high as we'd like at this time.

A few well-thought-out touches will turn this board from reasonable to impressive. It would be interesting to see how it stacks up in two months' time, but for now, rivals have a better all-round package.

The Good

Good layout
Competitive street price
Looks the business

The Bad

BIOS seems over elaborate
Fan control not the best

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The Gigabyte X99-Gaming 5 is available to purchase from Scan Computers*.

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