First of all, I love Gigabyte boards. This is not my first Gigabyte board, and I have religiously stuck with purchasing Gigabyte motherboards since the Pentium III, although I have extensive experience building computers around various other manufacturers that I will not name here.
The board in question here is the new H170M-D3H. (Keep in mind there are two models of this motherboard, one supporting DDR3, and the other supporting DDR4) This is among the newer boards, with the ability to ROCK Intel's new Skylake CPU architecture as well as new DDR4 RAM. (Up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM, I might add!) This is an H170-designated board, not a Z170-designated board, which means this board is not designed for overclocking enthusiasts.
First impressions and physical overview;
Right out of the box, we have your standard accessories. We get a standard silver I/O shield, a driver installation disk that includes a lot of optional programs such as Google Chrome and Norton Internet Security, we get a couple of SATA cables, (One of which is a right angle connector.) a very detailed and simple motherboard manual, and of course the actual motherboard.
Removing the board from the anti-static bag, I immediately notice the quality. It is not thin, it's got some weight to it, and the styling of the board, though simplistic, is tasteful. There are two Gigabyte heatsinks on the board, as well as a neat amber light trail near the PCI expansion area that you can see when the board is powered on.
Speaking of PCI expansion area, we get a nod to older legacy devices with the inclusion of two standard PCI slots. (Not PCI x1. I do wish there was at least one x1 slot, however.) You also have the ability to take advantage of new PCI-express based storage with the included M.2 32gb/s slot if you choose to do so. Everything on the motherboard is labeled on the board itself meticulously.
Building on the motherboard;
Easy peazy lemon squeezy. It was a breeze. It should also be noted that this board is designed PERFECTLY for those of us who are obsessed with cable management. There were no inconvenient ports, slots or power sockets. (typically the 8-pin CPU power socket is inconveniently located on many boards.) If you run into any trouble, the detailed manual will save you if you give it a quick reference.
Installing Windows and driver software;
No issues to be reported here. The drivers loaded off of the CD without a hitch, but I will be updating to the latest drivers on Gigabyte's website later. On the CD, be sure to uncheck the installation of any software you may not want. The express installation is quick and works great.
No problem loading Windows 7 x64, or Windows 10 (Which I upgraded to from Windows 7 since Microsoft insists that Intel's Skylake architecture is best paired with Windows 10.)
Bottom line;
This motherboard is aggressively priced to compete, it is built well, it offers AWESOME expansion for the NOW and the FUTURE, including PCI legacy devices, Gigabyte's support website is great, and it's all coated in user-friendly greatness. In addition, I had no problems with Amazon's transaction, and I got the CORRECT board in two days.
This is exactly what I have come to expect from Gigabyte all these years. I am, as usual, thoroughly impressed. There is a lot of bang for the buck here, and if you've been thinking about pulling the trigger on this one, do yourself the favor and do it already.
if you were wondering what I've built with this motherboard, here is the specification for the budget PC I've built myself with it:
Motherboard: Gigabyte H170M-D3H
CPU: Intel Core i3 6100 @ 3.70GHz
RAM: 16GB HyperX 2133MHz
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB
Removable Storage: LG DVD Burner
PSU: EVGA 430w 80+
Case: Fractal Core 1300 Micro (PERFECT CASE FOR THIS BOARD.)
Operating System: Windows 7 x64, upgraded to Windows 10 x64.
Good luck with your build! I'll answer any questions that are posted on my review. I've included a picture of my running fresh PC build with this boardboard. Zip ties hadn't been cut yet, but the cable management was all there!
| RAM | DDR4 |
|---|---|
| Memory Speed | 2133 MHz |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
