Review: Gigabyte X99M Gaming 5

by Tarinder Sandhu on 22 December 2014, 11:00

Tags: Gigabyte (TPE:2376), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacmx5

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Conclusion

Gigabyte realises there's a small but useful market in retailing micro-ATX boards based on this leading-edge chipset, and chooses the mid-pack Gaming 5 as the base blueprint.

Allied to power-efficient graphics cards from AMD and, particularly, Nvidia, small, quiet and massively fast systems can be built around the Intel X99 platform.

Gigabyte realises there's a small but useful market in retailing micro-ATX boards based on this leading-edge chipset, and chooses the mid-pack Gaming 5 as the base blueprint.

Layout is of more importance when the socket is so large, as is definitely the case with X99, and Gigabyte does a good job in working around the massive X99 obstacle for this micro-ATX form factor. Adding a few features of its own, including the ever-useful debug LED, we do miss the upgraded audio present when compared to the full-ATX Gaming 5.

The £175 Gigabyte X99M Gaming 5 is a decent board in most respects. A BIOS with a keener focus on fan control and, perhaps, a minor snip in price would take this board from good to great.

The Good
  
The Bad

Very good layout
SATA Express
Excellent build quality
Decent overclocking potential
Runs memory at 3,000MHz

 
BIOS isn't the best
Downgraded audio



Gigabyte X99M Gaming 5

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The Gigabyte X99M Gaming 5 is available 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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HEXUS Forums :: 2 Comments

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Posted by SHSPVR - Wed 24 Dec 2014 22:19
Don't buy it as it has a Creative Sound Core 3D which use less with under Linux OS
Posted by Ivan_Lazarov - Thu 03 Dec 2015 16:57
Hi can you give more details about your XMP memory settings? How did you manage to get up to 3000MHz?

I have the same board and G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200. I cannot get the system to boot with anything above 2666.. All my settings are at default I updated the BIOS to F4b in hope that it will have memory improvements. So far no joy. Gigabyte were very kind to tell me to buy new memory modules although there is nothing wrong with them. It is purely on Gigabyte's side to at least meet the 2800 specification listed on their website. I am very disappointed with them. This is the first time I have had issues with them. I honestly regret not buying the slightly more expensive EVGA Micro 2 or Asus WS.