GIGABYTE GA-Z270N-Gaming 5 LGA1151 Intel Z270 RGB FUSION HDMI DP USB3.1 Type-C Mini-ITX DDR4 Motherboard

Holy shit, where do I begin? This motherboard is fantastic and I've had bad luck with motherboards for this build. The first one I had gotten, the MSI Z170, I had to RMA 'cause it was dead. The second one, an Asus Z170-A, looked like it was handled out of the box but I ended up using it anyways because I really wanted to get my new setup going. It worked but it had issues recognizing my ssd from time to time(a bsod about once a week and no sign of my ssd in the bios), there would be issues with the ethernet port as I would frequently get disconnected from the internet, and the usb ports were loose and I only had the damn thing for under a year. I had gone through as much troubleshooting as I could but I gave up and decided to get a new board and crossed my fingers that this one would be new and not dead. Well, as they say, the 3rd time's the charm. Thoroughly examined the box, the board, EVERYTHING before going ahead with transferring the hardware over.Tested the post before plugging everything in. it worked! Set up my monitors and peripherals, it worked! No issues whatsoever, and to top it all off, the lights! Integrating rgb lights into the motherboard itself is the best thing ever to happen to a motherboard.A little more info:-I've seen some better bios screens(by better I mean fancier) and the bios itself is pretty plain but it's also very easy to navigate through and that's really all that matters. I had no issues setting my new m.2 to boot and removing the older ssd from the boot sequence. Also if you notice your cursor speed in the bios is really slow, there's an option to increase the speed :)-I read one post that rgb lights cannot be changed from red. That is INCORRECT. You can control what color you want in the Gigabyte app center (I have a green theme going on, so mine are green to match). You can also change if you want it to be static, pulse, and change colors among other options.-The installation process was pretty painless, only issue I had was the connectors from the psu to the mobo itself, seems like the socket was upside down from what it should normally be and I had to readjust the cable to plug it in, but nothing to complain about.-The M.2 slot is just below where the CPU is and will be covered by an aftermarket air cooler, so if you plan on having that it'll be a little more awkward to install if you already have the cpu and an aftermarket cooler installed. but it is definitely doable as I ended up installing mine that way.-the IO plate is really nice, the one that came with the Asus board was just your average metal IO plate, but this one is padded and has a black panel for the outside.-Lastly, I looked through the book and looked at the board extensively but I could not find a reset button or switch. I may have missed it and I will definitely double check both, but I as of right now I don't see anyway to reset the board if there are any issues in the future which is kind of a bummer as I had that on my other board. Then again, I might not need it since so far this board is performing perfectly.I couldn't be happier and more relieved. Amazon really needs to work on their quality control, stop sending stuff out that's been opened and say its new. Has happened twice to me already, first with the previous mobo and another time with a pair of glasses. It's not new if it's been opened! Also, always, ALWAYS examine anything you get from Amazon. If it looks like it was handled, don't be like me and use it anyways, send it back.When I get the chance I will post pictures to go along with this review if I can

So I was building a new rig and had tested out three different Mobo's and this was the one I settled on.PROs- BIOS loaded up really easily, even before I had most components hooked up (made sure mobo was functional)- The LED lights can be changed into any RGB combination. Also has three modes for lights (Fade, Blink & Static)- If you're running a water cooling system this mobo has Fan 3 as a dedicated pump connection- Dedicated pump connection allows you to customize pump speed, it's set to "auto" by default which is metered with the CPU fan.- Overclocking is a breeze even if this is a first time getting into all that craziness- Has a lot of growing room for the future as far as connections to the mobo- Has LED strip controller on mobo like we needed more LED's than components have built in lolCONs- BIOS doesn't have much update support going on- The LED patterns are kind of useless. The blink is an annoying flash that will drive anyone crazy, the fade is kind of quick and then we of course have the static which is no pattern at all. I've had RBG LED bracelets with more patterns that cost $2- Fan connection 3 for the pump needs a BIOS update pronto. It has the ability in BIOS to set a PC Speaker alert if the pump goes out. They have it set to monitor like a fan, so when the pump is active but at 0rpm because it's not a fan the alarm goes off. I tested it by connecting a fan and all was well- Leaving the pump on "Auto" will provide lower performance CPU temp issues (at least on my rig) the only acceptable speed for my Rig was full speed all the time- The user manual says Overclocking on the CPU can be raised in 0.10 Ghz increments. I am running a 7th gen i5 7600K unlocked and was only allowed to raise the CPU frequency by set amounts which was okay but I was led to believe otherwiseHere's the important parts of the rig...-This mobo-7th gen i5 7600K unlocked-Lepa 120MM radiator cooling system-16gb (8gb x2) Corsair Vengeance LED 3200mhz RAM- 3 case fans (not including CPU fan for radiator) which are running full speed right from the PSU03/31/2017 UpdateHooked up an LED strip and played around with the onboard controller, it's pretty nice. Also installed a M.2 3.0 x4 SSD which works amazing and played around with running fans from the motherboard instead of directly from the PSU and the amount of control you are able to obtain over everything is really satisfying

The media could not be loaded. This motherboard is a great buy for the price. It has great rgb controllable lighting. The effects on the lighting are a little lacking but I keep it static anyway. One of my small complaints with the motherboard is the fact that the pcie lane didn't work right away. I tried installing 2 graphics cards with no luck. I tried almost everything to get it working. At first I thought it was the graphics card but I bought a second one and still no luck. What ended up fixing it was updating the bios version. It came out of the box at version 0 and after installing version 5 it worked. Why this was the fix? I have no clue. So if you are getting a black screen after installing the GPU, take it out and update the bios version. (Side note, the bios is very easy to work with)The second issue is how close the pcie lane is to the ram. If the clips are open, you will not get a 1080 in there. Easy enough fix but doesn't leave much room for anything else.Lastly, Only one USB 2.0 header. Bought the NZXT hub to solve this issue.One other thing to note (completely my oversight) is this is a mATX. I bought a full ATX case but it still works fine just cuts a little short. Not a fault on the product, just something to note. All in all it's a good motherboard, I just wish I payed attention to the fact that it's mATX.