GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 or GA-Z170N-WiFi?

[Abe Frohman]

So I have an i7-6700K burning a hole in my pocket (metaphorically), it's sitting in it's still unopened box. Now I just need a mini-ITX motherboard to pair with it.

I'm currently leaning toward either a GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 or GA-Z170N-WiFi. The GA-Z170N-WiFi seems to be the better of the two spec-wise. The only thing the Gaming 5 has over the GA-Z170N-WiFi, as far as I can tell, is USB 3.1 support.

Any thoughts on these boards? I'll be using Ethernet so the built-in wifi compatibility isn't an issue. Is the Killer E2201 chipset supported on hacks or am I better off with the Intel GbE lan chipset?

 

[jmain]

I am using Gigabyte z170n Wifi Gaming 5 and got everything working very good. I will likely be getting a Dedicated Graphics card soon (GTX 960) since Dual Monitor support on HD530 doesn't work.

Although I didn't really use the guide located here http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/f...byte-z170n-wifi-gaming-5-itx-i7-6700k.192711/ I have posted what I did to get my Audio working. Everything else worked out of the box. I don't use the Wifi/Bluetooth card.

 

[Abe Frohman]

Do you have full USB 3.0/3.1 support working? I know El Cap has been a bit wonky with USB 3 functionality.

 

[jmain]

Do you have full USB 3.0/3.1 support working? I know El Cap has been a bit wonky with USB 3 functionality.

USB 3 works no problem. I don't have any USB 3.1 or USB C devices so can't comment on that.

 

[aztlan78]

I am using Gigabyte z170n Wifi Gaming 5 and got everything working very good. I will likely be getting a Dedicated Graphics card soon (GTX 960) since Dual Monitor support on HD530 doesn't work.

Although I didn't really use the guide located here http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/f...byte-z170n-wifi-gaming-5-itx-i7-6700k.192711/ I have posted what I did to get my Audio working. Everything else worked out of the box. I don't use the Wifi/Bluetooth card.

Hello,
Did you get shutdown and sleep/wake to work? Can I ask which hard drive you are using for your Boot Drive?

 

[aztlan78]

So I have an i7-6700K burning a hole in my pocket (metaphorically), it's sitting in it's still unopened box. Now I just need a mini-ITX motherboard to pair with it.

I'm currently leaning toward either a GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 or GA-Z170N-WiFi. The GA-Z170N-WiFi seems to be the better of the two spec-wise. The only thing the Gaming 5 has over the GA-Z170N-WiFi, as far as I can tell, is USB 3.1 support.

Any thoughts on these boards? I'll be using Ethernet so the built-in wifi compatibility isn't an issue. Is the Killer E2201 chipset supported on hacks or am I better off with the Intel GbE lan chipset?

Hello,
I actually have both these MBs and decided to use the Gaming 5 to start my build. I have almost everything working except shutdown and sleep/wake. I believe the issue is with my boot drive( it's a m.2 NMVe). I got it to work with a SATA SSD. I can tell you that Ethernet work OOB. So I have Internet after installing El Capitan. My USB 3.1 port does not work at all. It will not detect any USB.

 

[jmain]

No Since I am using HD530 currently Sleep doesn't work. However, I never use sleep on a desktop and since the SSD is so fast booting is only like 10 seconds.

 

[aztlan78]

No Since I am using HD530 currently Sleep doesn't work. However, I never use sleep on a desktop and since the SSD is so fast booting is only like 10 seconds.

Thanks. You do have a very good point on that. If booting is very quick what is the point of sleep? How about Shutdown? Any problems?

 

[jmain]

no issues at all for shutdown.