Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 TH (LGA 1151) Motherboard Review

Software Overview

The App Center adopts a simple, unified user interface to easily launch Gigabyte applications from the system tray. Overall, Gigabyte includes an impressive array of software to customize your experience and help with system diagnostics.

Gigabyte’s @BIOS functionality outlines key information about the BIOS version and allows you to update to the latest version directly from Windows.

You can also alter the LED audio path’s behavior and choose between Still, Pulse and Beat modes. Please note, the motherboard’s LED path isn’t RGB and can only display in yellow on this particular model.

The USB Blocker is a handy utility which allows you to block USB devices by type. Once a device is blocked, it will be completely ignored by the operating system.

Gigabyte’s Home Cloud is useful to share files between your computer and a number of smart devices.

The EasyTune feature contains three presets to alter the CPU’s frequency to a typical usage scenario. Although, there is AutoTuning capability if you’re unsure which setting applies to your current configuration.

For the more advanced users, you can adjust the Host BLCK frequency and CPU core voltage. I’m also quite fond of the bottom measurements which reminds you of existing settings in real-time.

The Advanced DDR OC tab allows you to manually tweak individual timings and the memory frequency. Although this is only necessary for users trying to record benchmark figures.

The Advanced Power tab only has two options, and I wouldn’t recommend altering the default values.

The Hotkey software is designed to map two overclocking profiles to your keyboard and switch between them during benchmarks.

The Fast Boot option is useful if you wish to skip system initialization and use legacy CMS settings to improve boot times.

Gigabyte also includes a tool which detects your cooling apparatus and adjusts the RPM values of each fan to balance cooling performance with operating noise.

Of course, there are a number of standard presets if you want to prioritize quiet running over performance.

You can even set your own custom fan curve in relation to system workload % and temperatures.

The System Alert tab is designed to monitor and create warning messages for when the exceeds specific safety markers.

The record function monitors CPU, PCH, and System temperatures which provides you with the information to see how stable a manual overclock is.

Gigabyte’s Smart Backup is capable of recovering an entire disk drive or partition from a restore point. This is vital when securing sensitive data and protecting against any system problems.

The Smart TimeLock is a wonderful addition if you have children and gives you the freedom to set an allotted time for using the PC. This piece of software has a great deal of flexibility and makes it incredibly easy to restrict access to the PC at specific times.