Motherboards News - Page 33

Nearly all motherboards feature PCIe 3.0, but we're going to be seeing more and more about PCIe 4.0 in the coming years, now that the PCI Special Interest Group (PCI SIG) getting closer to the final version of the PCIe 4.0 specification.

The PCI SIG has been developing PCI Express 4.0 for a few years now, with the new standard set to feature a huge 16GT/s per lane, which is double that of the 8GT/s that PCIe 3.0 is capable of. The standard isn't finalized jut yet, as there are quite a few steps to overcome first. One of the first is the interconnect attributes, fabric management, and the programming interface that is used to design and build systems and peripherals that are PCIe 4.0 compliant.

PCIe 4.0 will usher in a new connector, but it is backwards compatible with PCIe 3.0 cards. But, PCIe 4.0-based cards will not work with the old PCIe 3.0 ports. Al Yanes, the President of the PCI SIG explained in an interview with EE Times: "We are getting 16GT/s, something no one thought was possible a few years ago. The base distance is still being validated but it's typically 7 inches or so. Longer channels of 15 inches or so with two connectors will have retimers, but Gen 3 has used retimers - now we will need to use them for shorter long channels".

In reply to some media outlets claiming that ECS is looking to palm off or close its motherboard manufacturing capabilities, ECS Global Channel Marketing Department employee May Chuang reached out to us to clarify that these claims are incorrect with words straight from the the ECS president, Sunny Yang.

The official letter addressed the issue directly, stating that "We [ECS] feel regret to learn the untrue report from DIGITIMES," furthering that ECS would like to "formally clarity that ECS would never give up any opportunity to work on own-band DIY motherboard as what we always commit to our valuable customers."

DIGITIMES claimed that the information it received was from "Taiwan makers," however ECS took this as an opportunity to point out that it continues to progress in research and development in the motherboard industry with no means of escape planned for the immediate future.

Complete with an Intel Celeron N3150 1.6G Quad-core CPU built in to the motherboard, BIOSTAR has enabled its N3150NH model to support up to 8GB of DDR3L-1600 or 16GB DDR3L-1066 memory.

Other features include one PCI-E 2.0 slot, a gigabit Realtek RTL8111H Ethernet controller, Realtek ALC662 6 Channel HD Audio, HDMI and VGA-out.

With gamers in mind, BIOSTAR added in a recent press release that this motherboard features Smart Speed LAN - allowing a program to monitor your "PC's network behavior," meaning you can prioritize what is important and limit whatever is not.

Computex 2015 - Showcasing what ECS has to offer in the Intel Z170 chipset department is the Z170-CLAYMORE and the Z170-BLADE offerings.

The Z170-CLAYMORE boasts four memory ports capable of DDR4 Dual-Channel support up to 32GB, five PCIe x16 slots and a display outputs including HDMI 2.0 and Display Port. Adding to this is 2-Way graphics support for those looking at increasing performance.

Next up is the Z170-BLADE. Also supporting Intel's 6th Generation processors, expect four RAM bays supporting Dual-Channel DDR4 up to 32GB, two PCIe x16 slots, one PCIe x1 slot and further 2-Way video card support. Adding to this is six SATA (6Gb/s) ports and a single M.2 offering. Outputs on this board include HDMI, SVI, D-Sub and Display Port sitting alongside a 6-Channel (5.1) HD audio output by Realtek, two USB 3.1 ports, siz USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 offerings.

Computex 2015 - The red MSI dragon has a strong showing this year in Taipei, seeing motherboards on display across the X99 and Z170A models.

First up is the X99A GODLIKE GAMING motherboard, featuring support for Intel Core i7 LGA 2011-3 socket processors, eight RAM bays supporting Quad-Channel DDR4 RAM at 3300MHz (overclocked) up to 128GB total, five PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots supporting 4-way SLI or Crossfire, one M.2 SATA port (32G/bs) ten SATA ports (6G/bs) and two Killer Gigabit LAN cards coupled with one Killer Wi-Fi module. For the audio lovers there is also added support for a 6.3mm Hi-Fi audio jack.

The other X99 motherboard on display is the X99A GAMING 9 ACK, sporting similar features but with the addition of two USB 3.1 ports and one less Killer LAN card. This model motherboard also took home a BC award thanks to its cool looking design.

Adding to yesterday's exclusive release of the GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming G1 motherboard, our man on the ground Steven Bassiri went for a closer look and this is what he discovered.

Today GIGABYTE showed off its top of the line next generation gaming motherboard, the Z170X-Gaming G1. Off the bat you can tell that the board is totally different than anything GIAGBYTE has done before. To start things off GIGABYTE has added RGB LEDs to the board and through an application you can control them and make them whatever color your heart desires.

A nice mix of white shielding and red slots add to the aesthetic appeal of the product. While we don't know too much about the product, we do know a few things. First off the 20 phase (16+4) VRM is powered by IR components and PowIRstages. The memory also seems to use an IR PWM and powerstages. The heat sink has built in watercooling as well.

Computex 2015 - Straight from the horse's mouth, we have been given an exclusive look into the new GIGABYTE Z170x Gaming G1 motherboard sporting some fantastic new features.

Complete with 20 phases of IR powered VRM (16+4 phases), the new Intel Thunderbolt and USB 3.1 controller as a two in one to provide USB Type-C on the back panel, an amazing new network setup and brand new metal shielding on the PCIe slots.

Delving into the network options, GIGABYTE is offering a unique and brand new setup with this motherboard model, seeing a three-way KILLER NIC setup (the KILLER Double Shot Duo or Pro) with two being wired and one wireless. What's even cooler is that the motherboard will dedicate the fastest connection to the most taxing process (for example, a game) and reserve the other two networks for background tasks like VoIP or downloads.

Computex 2015 - Another fanless PC to add to the growing list is GIGABYTE's GA-N3150M-D3P, boasting an Intel Celeron N3150 Quad Core SoC running at 1.6GHz and Dual-Channel DDR3L UDIMM RAM up to 8GB in capacity across two ports. This motherboard is a sure fire competitor for the new range by ASUS as covered by us today.

Further features include HDMI and D-SUB outputs, humidity protection through a new glass fabric PCB design, GbE LAN with high ESD protection and PCIe plus PCI interface options for expansion card options.

Once again there's nothing AMD on offer.

Computex 2015 - The list is here and the list is long - GIGABYTE has shown off the qualified Thunderbolt device list this week in Taipei and it ranges form displays to HDD's, adapters and more.

Next to a display of a neat SLI-Windforce video card setup featuring Corsair Dominator RAM and a Plextor SSD is the list that some have been waiting for.

Including products from companies like Apple, Promise, Sonnet, Bufflom LaCie, Seagate, Western Digital, Blackmagic, Matrox, AJA, Elgate, Netstor, Sharp, CalDigit, Promise, HighPoint, LG and Dock, there is obviously quite a lot of supported devices ranging from video editing components to hard drives and displays.

Computex 2015 - On display in the suite this year by GIGABYTE is what can only be described as a plethora of Intel motherboards, including Z170 Chipset, H170 Chipset and B150 Chipset models on offer.

The Z170 models begin with the GA-Z170-HR3 dual-channel DDR4 four port product with UEFI DualBIOS technology, two way PCIe support, 3 SATA-Express connectors (16 G/bs) and green GbE LAN with cFos Internet Accelerator Software. There's the GA-Z170M-D3H with four Dual-Channel DDR4 slots, a two way PCIe setup, four M.2 SATA connectors (32 G/bs), three SATA Express connectors (16 G/bs) and GbE LAN with cFos Internet Accelerator Software. Wrapping up the Z170 offerings is the GA-Z170-HD3 which includes four Dual-Channel DDR4 slots, two way PCIe support, four M.2 SATA connectors (32 G/bs), three SATA Express connectors (16 G/bs) and Audio Noise Guard technology with LED trace path lighting.

Up next is the H170 chipset, providing users with the GA-H170-HD3 supporting 6th Generation Intel Core Processors, four Dual-Channel DDR4 slots, two way PCIe connections, four M.2 SATA connections (32Gb/s) and two Sata Express ports (16G/bs). The GA-H170M-DS3H offers much the same but with different audio options and the GA-H170M-D3H offers only one PCIe video card port.