Gigabyte Z97N-Gaming 5 (LGA 1150) Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Gigabyte’s Z97N-Gaming 5 motherboard costs $153.99 at Amazon and Newegg in the USA. Here in the UK Overclockers stock this motherboard for £115.99. A 3 year warranty is provided by Gigabyte.

Summary

With the Z97N-Gaming 5 motherboard, Gigabyte have managed to showcase the value for money they can offer. This motherboard is cheaper than MSI’s equivalent gaming Z97 mini-ITX motherboard and better spec’d than the equivalently priced ASUS mini-ITX Z97 motherboard. On the other hand ASRock’s equivalent offering, the Z97E-ITX/ac, is significantly cheaper and offers a wider array of storage connectivity. The Gigabyte Z97N-Gaming 5 is an interesting proposition for a small form factor system but isn’t necessarily the best choice, as I will now try to explain.

Firstly, I am not sure how useful the “gaming” branding is on a motherboard that doesn’t feel like it has anything particularly “gaming” about it. I am becoming fatigued with the excessive use of “gaming” marketing terms that are thrown onto motherboards simply when they feature Killer NIC’s and some form of high quality audio. The Z97N-Gaming does feature good quality networking and good quality audio: but so does just about every Z97 motherboard on the market that has a decent networking chip (Killer E2200, Intel I218V) or audio package (SoundCore 3D, ALC892, ALC1150). The question that I am left pondering is this: what makes the Z97N-Gaming 5 motherboard gaming? That’s a question for which my only answer is the audio and networking hardware used, but as we’ve already established that just about every Z97 motherboard makes use of these. In the past, such as with Gigabyte’s Z97X-Gaming 5 or Gaming 7, I have been able to accept these gaming credentials mainly because of the incredibly attractive pricing. However, in the enduring time I’ve spent testing motherboards my criteria for a gaming product has become tougher.

To conclude the Gigabyte Z97N-Gaming 5 is in an awkward place in my mind for a number of reasons. Firstly, for less money ASRock offer a motherboard equipping identical quality audio and networking (albeit an Intel NIC instead of Killer) and they’ve managed to preserve all of the SATA ports, SATA Express AND M.2. The Z97N-Gaming 5 loses a SATA port, SATA Express and M.2 connectors while having a higher price tag. The fact that this board has a red colour scheme and red LEDs isn’t enough to make up for the loss of storage connectivity and extra cost versus ASRock’s offering. Secondly, for a “Gaming” motherboard it just isn’t that different to something like the ASUS Z97I-PLUS which isn’t marketed as a gaming product. I think Gigabyte need to go back to the drawing board on what it means to be a Gaming motherboard, if it’s just audio and networking then by definition any Z97 motherboard classifies as gaming. The feature set needs to be tailored to a gaming audience and what they need and want, as just providing high quality hardware isn’t enough to get that gaming status. I still want to make it clear that I do like this motherboard, there is nothing inherently wrong with it: it offers great performance, a clean layout and excellent audio performance. My only issue is for the price and considering what else is available on the market, I’m left feeling uninspired. If you can get a good deal on this motherboard it is still worth strong consideration.

Pros

• DualBIOS
• High quality audio
• Excellent networking options: Killer NIC and Intel 802.11AC
• No performance penalty for its size

Cons

• No SATA Express or M.2
• Cheaper rival products offer similar spec & experience
• Software is fragmented and a bit clunky

“Gigabyte’s Z97N-Gaming 5 is a decent attempt at creating a high-performance mini-ITX motherboard in what is an increasingly competitive market segment.”

Thank you to Gigabyte for providing this review sample.