A different take on the best sub-£100 Z170 board. Motherboard manufacturers used to be content in adding a couple of extra features above and beyond a particular chipset and releasing a board quickly, but the last five years has seen the bigger names develop lots of in-house technology, necessary to differentiate their products from competitor boards whose baseline performance is similar.

Opting for, say, a Gigabyte board means that you literally buy into a style and feature set specific to the company. Nowadays certain ranges encompass multiple chipsets, so it's a case of liking the 'Gaming' line-up and then choosing a board to fit your budget.

A clear example of motherboard branding rests with the Gigabyte Gaming line. Usually equipped with striking looks and complemented by gaming features such as improved audio and traffic-prioritising LAN, these Gaming boards have, in the past, offered a very sensible mix of price versus features.