Conclusion

This board is honed for those enthusiasts that want looks as much as performance... without breaking the bank.

The new Broadwell-E Core i7 chips breathes a semblance of new life into the Intel high-end desktop platform, and motherboard manufacturers have been keen to launch revised boards aimed at users with eclectic tastes.

Aimed squarely at those who love lighting, the Gigabyte X99 Ultra Gaming is chock-full of LEDs that give off a pleasant glow. The company's requirement to hit a £250 price point means that some usual enthusiast features go by the wayside - debug LED, onboard buttons - while the lack of a WiFi card is conspicuous by its absence. The colour scheme, too, is somewhat Marmite: you'll either love or loathe it.

Gigabyte could charge £300 and put extras in, plus per-zone lighting, yet we feel the overall feature-set and aesthetic bias is a good fit for the price point. And that's the key selling point, really, as this board is honed for those enthusiasts that want looks as much as performance... without breaking the bank.

The Good		The Bad
Attractive lighting Every PCIe x16 slots reinforced USB 3.1, U.2 and M.2 all available Overclocks well		No front USB 3.1 connector Lack of WiFi

Gigabyte X99 Ultra Gaming

HEXUS.where2buy*

The Gigabyte X99 Ultra Gaming is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.

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Isn't this one of the motherboards that qualifies for the free USB 3.1 bay at the moment?

If so should this be taken into consider as part of the review as you mark it down for no front USB 3.1 support but this gives that to you for no extra outlay?

Kanoe
Isn't this one of the motherboards that qualifies for the free USB 3.1 bay at the moment?

If so should this be taken into consider as part of the review as you mark it down for no front USB 3.1 support but this gives that to you for no extra outlay?

In the review they say they like to see a board mounted 3.1. Having an offer on a bay still doesn't give you board mounted 3.1.

It does look nice. I really liked Gigabyte's Z170 Gaming 7 as well.

for cons it say it lacks WiFi… come on… no one that want to game online want to rely on WiFi… anyhow it looks like a really good board though… as for USB 3.1, front or backside, it does not really matter other than it is easier to conceal the cables if it is on the back.

QuorTek
for cons it say it lacks WiFi… come on… no one that want to game online want to rely on WiFi… anyhow it looks like a really good board though… as for USB 3.1, front or backside, it does not really matter other than it is easier to conceal the cables if it is on the back.

I game just fine on wifi thank you! Onboard would save a PCI-E slot :)