GIGABYTE Z170X-SOC FORCE
RRP: $399.99 | Website: www.gigabyte.com
Test Machine
• INTEL Core i7 6700K
• CORSAIR Vengeance LPX
DDR4 3600 C18
• EVGA GTX 980Ti K|NGP|N
Edition
• SAMSUNG PX941 512GB
• CORSAIR AX1500i
• Windows 10 x64
• (F5cBIOS)
I
t should come as no
surprise to anyone that
GIGABYTE followed up its
seriously impressive high end
G1.Gaming Z170 board with
the overclocking model. The
boards are clearly built around
the same principal and in
many ways share, a common
DNA. However, this here is for
26 The OverClocker Issue 37 | 2016
the more serious overclocker,
in fact one could even argue
that LN2 overclocking isn’t
really something to attempt
with the G1.Gaming board, if
only because it lacks basic
overclocking functionality
such as an LN2 mode.
Fortunately this particular
motherboard does have this
feature amongst many that
are specifically catering to
the overclocking market,
if not specifically the most
competitive overclockers on
the scene.
To that end, you’ll notice
that the re-vamped OC Touch
panel. It has a plethora
of options which make
xtreme overclocking ever so
convenient in addition to the
other buttons within the area
that simplify tremendously,
the overclocking process.
For anyone buying this
motherboard, perhaps the
least useful function is the
OC-Turbo button, which as one
might have guessed attempts
to automatically overclock the
system for you. A suggestion
here is that, if you need this
automatically done for you,
you’ve perhaps picked the
wrong motherboard or rather
you’d overextended yourself,
as it is undoubtedly the least
useful function on the panel.
The real winners here are
the Memory Safe buttons,
which is identical to the
MemOK feature on competitor
boards. OC Trigger switch,
again identical to the “Slow
mode” jumper setting on the
same competing board, Direct
to BIOS (DTB) and settings lock