The Board - A Closer Look

Gigabyte's "G1 Gaming" branding has been around for a while. What they seek to achieve with these products and how they meet the needs of gamers is notable. The aesthetics are one thing, but there is more to their gaming focus than just that.


One of the primary details is having really good audio solutions since good audio is critical to a gaming machine. That involves having decent components that are supported by good circuitry and a capable CODEC.


That CODEC is a Realtek ALC1150, which has proven itself as a capable solution as long as you have the right bits to match. Part of that involves isolating the audio circuitry from the rest of the board, which Gigabyte has done on the Gigabyte X99-Ultra Gaming.


LAN support is also critical since many of those games will be played online. There are both KIllerNIC E2400 and Intel I218V LAN controllers present, so those who are picky about their LAN controller get to choose the one they like no matter which brand they favor.


There is also a huge compliment of I/O circuitry, both to support the abundance of LEDs and to provide the fantastic fan-control and system monitoring that is available on the Gigabyte X99-Ultra Gaming.


Speaking of lighting, there truly is an abundance of RGB LEDs on the Gigabyte X99-Ultra Gaming. I even found a strip under the plastic I/O cover, positioned by an opening in the cover so it beams light over your choice of CPU cooling. Perhaps, these are the LEDS that beamed out at me after I installed the Corsair Carbide Air 540 to my X99-Ultra Gaming!


The PCH heatsink is a large mass of metal that features a similar white and red aesthetic as the I/O cover, and it has a metal cover that spans the gap between the cooler and the SATA ports, aiding with airflow across the cooler and the M.2 drive you might have stuck to the Gigabyte X99-Ultra Gaming, hidden under the VGAs you installed. Obscured from view under that large chunk of metal are yet more surface-mounted controllers, but I did not remove the complex cooling solution to find out what they were. Some things just shouldn't be messed with, and the long heatpipe that goes from the PCH cooler all the way up to the VRM cooler was a bit more than I was willing to tackle.


I found two headers on the Gigabyte X99-Ultra Gaming that caught my attention. One is a header to add more RGB LED lighting to your case (using the provided cable and some LED strips you must purchase separately), and the other is a Thunderbolt header to properly support an add-in Thunderbolt card. Those of you who like to use Gigabyte boards to build "Hackintoshes" will appreciate that for sure.


Power delivery is more than robust enough for those looking to clock their CPU to the limit; and that's why there is an additional CPU power cable in the box. Gigabyte tells me that some PSUs cannot provide as much 12V amperage as is required by some of the high-draw Intel HEDT CPUs when pushed to the limits, and this cable you would plug into the board's 8-pin EPS connector helps overcome that. Although there are only eight CPU phases present on the Gigabyte X99-Ultra Gaming, they have been chosen for being capable enough to meet the needs of even highly-clocked water-cooled systems. The DIMM VRMs are dual channel for both banks, and the board natively supports 3333 MHz XMP profiled memory.


There are some add-in USB controllers here on the Gigabyte X99-Ultra Gaming for additional USB 3.0 plugs and the USB 3.1 connectivity. If you use external USB storage, USB 3.1 is a nice treat since its additional bandwidth over USB 3.0 can add in a decent amount of storage speed "traditional" USB 3.0 ports aren't capable of.