GIGABYTE GA-H270N-WIFI LGA1151 Intel H270 Mini ITX DDR4 Motherboard

My order came slightly defective, yet to liaise with Amazon's amazing customer service yet, but I bought the same board from my local store as a replacement, so I definitely can review this board.If you need a powerful mini ITX system along with 7.1 audio, this board is a good place to start.Below are my system specs:Obsidian 250D casei5-75002X8GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM1 SSD2 HDDRadeon 7850This system is more than capable in handling gaming, web browsing, applications. Anything you throw at it, it'll handle. Multitasking is a breeze. I've never hit 100% CPU utilisation apart from rendering videos.But back to the motherboard. It comes with a wifi module and since almost nobody has an optical drive anymore, do note to download the wifi drivers from gigabyte's website to activate the wifi. Then download the latest realtek audio drivers, and you can reassign the line-out (blue) jack into a side speaker out jack to get 7.1 audio.The 2 RAM slots is more than enough for the average user. I have 16GB of RAM and never even hit 6GB of use as I am gaming while playing youtube videos or doing other things.I am not too sure with using custom CPU coolers as I am using the stock heatsink fan, but I know you need to take dimensions into consideration as the USB 3 header is near the CPU socket.

I have been using Gigabyte boards for 20 years now. As expected this one has been working good right from the start. Here is a tip. Make sure you don't have any foreign material in the different slots (PCI, PCIe, DDR, etc). It's always a good idea to blow them out with canned air just in case. Then pay attention to the CPU socket pins and make sure they are all straight or lined up. I had to tweak a few on a used board I got from the Amazon warehouse. Finally, you want to be gentle setting the board into the case. The standoffs can actually land on a circuit path and scratch/screw up the board! Be gentle.

I gave a poor review at first simply because things didn't work OOTB (Out of the Box). When in fact, it wasn't Gigabyte's fault at all, it was Microsoft's doing. There's a Windows 10 update that has to be installed before the drivers would even be detected. I'm thankful I got my Intel X540-T2 CNA to work, otherwise I'd have left that nastygram review for Gigabyte. I ran all the Windows updates, and it's detected everything now. Faith has been restored! :) 5 Stars to Gigabyte for another solid board, my desktop before has an LGA775 Socket, 5 years old. Still runs like a champ.

Finally, after months of exchanging motherboards back and forth with Amazon sellers and other online retailers, I actually got one that works. I don't know what else to say really. I guess I'm just so relieved that this one issue is now behind me. I've had Linux installed in the system it was built for, but I have another purpose in mind in the end. But hey, I have to give it 5 stars because I don't have to buy a single additional motherboard now.

Gigabyte GA-H270-HD3P motherboard is a great match for my needs. I needed a motherboard that had all new USB external connectors and had at least one PCI slot for a peripheral board from my old PC. It also needed to run Microsoft (MS) Windows 10, 8 and 7 for my tri-boot PC. The GA-H270-HD3P turned out to be a great choice. It’s a great board for those needing a general purpose board and one that can be used for gaming and over clocking as well. With its USB 3.1 Type C and A connectors this board is ready to support the next level of new USB devices.Since I was upgrading from a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS31S3, a MS Windows Vista board, I was able to reuse the case and the LGA 775 cooler. I also purchased a USB 3 and HD audio hub to update my case as well.All went fairly smooth except for a misaligned LGA 1151 socket pin or finger. I was able to re-align the socket pin with a toothpick. The misaligned pin was causing the motherboard to fail when a second memory module was installed to complete a dual channel memory bank. The lesson learned here was to always visually inspect the LGA 1151 pins before inserting a processor.Overall, I can recommend the GA-H270-HD3P. I especially like the fact that it can support the Intel HD graphics 530 capability of the Intel i7-6700 Skylake processor. This gives me the option of running games and playing HD videos now while I save money for a NVIDIA 1070 graphic card. If you plan to use the Intel HD 530 onboard graphics used the BIOS to increase the amount of memory it uses for best results. Here is my bare bones equipment list:Gigabyte GA-H270-HD3P motherboardIntel Core i7-6700 3.4 GHz processor (locked)Samsung V-NAND SSD 850 EVO 500GBCrucial Ballistix 8 GB Kit (suggested minimum to run games) BLS2K4G4D240FSE2 - Arctic F12 PWM 250mm Revision 2 fans (fairly quiet case fan as to compared to the Intel stock fan)I did reuse my case, cpu cooler and WD Raptor Sata II 10K RPM hard drives. Unfortunately, contacting Gigabyte via email to resolve issues as directed in the included manual is slow and unreliable. Better to contact Gigabyte’s California office. Just search for it on the Internet or go to Gigabyte's U.S. warranty page.

I always worry when I order a used motherboard. This was to replace an exact unit. I mounted the board, connected components, processor and power supply and it booted up fine. Been using it daily and so far it works great. Product was received on time and was as advertised.