Motherboards - Page 20

We've all been waiting for mini-ITX motherboards ready for AMD's new Ryzen CPUs, and here we are: BIOSTAR has finally announced the world's first mini-ITX motherboards for AMD's new AM4 platform.

BIOSTAR has announced the BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN and RACING B350GTN mini-ITX motherboards, both falling into the RACING Series family, with both of the AM4-capable boards featuring BIOSTAR's second-gen RACING features like 5050 LED Fun Zones with dual 5050 LED headers for DIY customization, and their exclusive VIVID LED DJ with full RGB LED control.

BIOSTAR's new mITX motherboards are perfect for your monster-fast Ryzen gaming PC, especially if you throw in a Ryzen 5 1600X (6C/12T) or the Ryzen 7 1800X (8C/16T). Better yet, the new motherboards are pretty cheap, at $129 for the higher-end RACING X370GTN, while it's just $109 for the upcoming RACING B350GTN.

AMD is already offering performance improvements on its new Ryzen 7 1800X processor for games like Ashes of the Singularity and DOTA 2 - but there are some big surprises coming soon with a new AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture (AGESA) point release 1.0.0.4 to motherboard partners.

The new AGESA-powered BIOS pushed out in April will offer some great improvements, including:

Better yet, that super cool guy Robert Hallock from AMD teased that this is just the beginning of Ryzen improvements - as there'll be an update in May that will push for better overclocking of DDR4 RAM on Ryzen motherboards.

GIGABYTE has been owning with its new AORUS push, and now we have the upcoming Z270X-Designare motherboard, and a slick silver/black/blue look which has me salivating all over my keyboard.

The new Z270-powered Designare motherboard has been fully validated and optimized for NVIDIA's high-end Quadro workstation and high-end graphics cards, so if you're looking for performance without limits - GIGABYTE's new Z270X-Designare motherboard is what you should be looking at.

VP of GIGABYTE's Motherboard Business Unit, Henry Kao, explains: "Content creators need a high-performance platform that can keep up with the inventive minds as they craft their masterpieces".

AMD launched its new Ryzen 7 family of CPUs, and while there were a bunch of different AM4 ready motherboards released, there weren't any mITX boards for super-small, yet super-powerful Ryzen-based gaming PCs.

That will end with Biostar's upcoming X370GTN, a new mITX motherboard based on the X370 chipset. Biostar has included everything you'll want and need on the X370GTN, with PCIe 3.0 x16, an M.2 slot, USB 3.1, and more. Here's what I/O you've got on the board:

And on the back, the Biostar X370GTN has:

ASUS has just revealed its new high-end monster motherboard, the ASUS ROG Maximus IX Extreme, which is their "seriously powerful new Z270 gaming motherboard that's expertly tooled to be totally cooled, with an integrated monoblock for water-cooled performance right out of the box" - awesome, right?!

The new ROG Maximus IX Extreme is based on the Kaby Lake compatible Z270 chipset, ready for the latest Core i7-7700K processor - and of course, ASUS' awesome Aura Sync technology. There's built-in support for insanely fast DDR4 4133MHz RAM, the latest SupremeFX S1220 codec with 113dB SNR, and so much more.

We have dual M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slots, a USB 3.1 front panel connector, the latest 802.11ac with MU-MIMO and 40Gbps speeds through Thunderbolt 3.

We all know that fully decked out gaming PCs with RGB LEDs are all the rage right now - ASUS has a big following as it is with its hugely popular lineup of motherboards, graphics cards, and more - now has Aura Sync.

ASUS Aura Sync can take control of all of your Aura-enabled ASUS products, so if you have the new ROG Maximus IX Formula alongside the new ROG STRIX-GTX1080-A8G-GAMING graphics card - and RGB LED strips, Aura Sync handles it in one easy spot.

AMD is days away from the huge launch of its next-gen Ryzen processors, but there is another big event happening simultaneously - motherboard makers are preparing their new Ryzen capable motherboards - and they look amazing.

As you can see, ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, GIGABYTE, and MSI all have motherboards ready for Ryzen - with a slew of boards that start with flagship motherboards, mid-range boards, down to the lower-end variety if you don't want to spend $150-$200+ on a new Ryzen motherboard.

What will the different chipsets offer? The enthusiast X370 chipset is where you'll want to be, as it provides everything - USB 3.1 Gen 2 support, overclocking, and CF/SLI support.

ASRock looks like its ready to impress AMD Ryzen CPU owners with their upcoming motherboards, led by the flagship ASRock X370 Killer SLI/ac motherboard.

The new ASRock X370 Killer SLI/ac motherboard has two reinforced PCIe 3.0 x16 slots that are ready for SLI and CrossFire setups, but it also features 2 x M.2 slots for super-fast storage solutions. It will also rock 802.11ac wireless connectivity, with a very slick black and white color scheme.

Next up, we have the ASRock AB350 Gaming K4 which also features 2 x M.2 slots - showing us that ASRock is serious about providing high-end features on cheaper motherboards. This board is a mid-range board with the B350 chipset, but it also has 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots - but no SLI/CF support.

Can you believe we are so close to one of the most important launches from AMD in over half a decade with their next-gen Ryzen CPUs? As we get closer, we're learning more and more about them, and now we're getting some full frontal shots and details on the motherboards from ASUS and GIGABYTE.

Starting with GIGABYTE, we have their upcoming AORUS AX370-Gaming 5 board - which looks slick as hell with its black, silver and orange theme. Both boards are based on the X370 chipset, ready for any Ryzen CPU you throw at it - right up to the flagship Ryzen 7 1800X processor.

ASUS will have its Crosshair VI Hero motherboard, as well as the Prime X370-PRO, which doesn't look as flash as GIGABYTE's offering - but it does feature their Aura Sync technology for some LED goodness.

AMD is so, so very close to the unveiling of its next-gen Ryzen CPUs and now we're finally hearing about what I've personally said is the most important part of Ryzen's success: motherboard prices.

ASUS will have 4 motherboards ready for Ryzen processors on February 24, with the ASUS Prime B350M-A priced at $69, the Prime B350-PLUS at $89, the Prime X370-PRO at $149, and finally, the higher-end Crosshair VI Hero priced at just $209.

Doubled with the fact that you can pick up a 6C/12T Ryzen 5 1600X for $259, or the higher-end 8C/16T Ryzen 7 1700X for $389... these motherboard prices are great. It's going to open up a world of enthusiast gaming for people who don't have the money to sink into an expensive X99-based platform from Intel for the 10C/20T processors.

So, you have a Z170 motherboard, and Intel Kaby Lake is the CPU you want? OK, first of all, you must know that even though Kaby Lake is compatible with Intel's Z170 Skylake chipset, the CPU is designed for Intel's Z270 Kaby Lake chipset to use its new features.

As an overclocker, tester, and reviewer, I always move to the latest chipset if I decide to upgrade my CPU, and of course not an H/B or something chipset, I go to the root chipset - that means Z170/Z270. But, if you still want to stay on Z170, here's a comparison of the two designs and a must-do List to make your shiny new Kaby Lake CPU work on it.

It's clear you have more things on Z270 - 2x M.2 SSD, more USB, more SATA ports, etc.

I've been excited for AMD's next-gen Zen CPU architecture since day one, and that excitement has built up over the last 12 months into the official Ryzen CPU architecture AMD teased earlier this month.

Ryzen will rock up to 16 threads of CPU performance with an 8-core processor starting at 3.4GHz, and performance in the levels of the Core i7-6800K and 6900K from Intel. Now we're hearing that motherboard makers have been "rather aggressive about placing orders" for Ryzen-capable motherboards, as they "believe demand for the new platform will increase AMD's share in the worldwide desktop processor market in the second quarter of 2017", reports DigitTimes.

Better yet, we're getting an idea of how far along the Ryzen CPU and compatible motherboards are, with DigiTimes' report continuing: "The sources pointed out that they have started receiving high-end X370, mainstream B350 and entry-level A320 chipsets from AMD and are now in the final stage of finishing related testing and motherboard designing".

Specs and details ASRock's new Fatal1ty and Extreme4 Z270 motherboards have surfaced, giving us a good look at the boards ahead of their CES 2017 showcase.

With Intel's seventh-gen Kaby Lake CPUs on their way, hardware-makers are busy readying their fleets of new 200-series motherboards, giving consumers lots of possible upgrade mobo paths to Z270 chipset adoption. ASRock's new Fatal1ty Gaming K6 and Extreme4 mobos use the LGA1151 socket and support both 7th-gen Kaby Lake and 6th-gen Skylake processors, and also have native support for Intel's new high-end Optane 3DXpoint 3D NAND SSD storage lineup.

Let's start with ASRock's Extreme4 Z270 motherboard. This is a standard ATX motherboard that features HDMI, DVI-D, and D-Sub display slots (no DisplayPort), three PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes (two of which are outfitted with steel bracing) that support up to three AMD GPUs in CrossFireX or two NVIDIA GPUs in SLI.

'Tis the season for Kaby Lake leaks, with MSI ready to unleash their Z270 and H270 motherboards during CES 2017 - but the leaks are here, and MSI's new boards are looking mighty fine. MSI's 200-series motherboards include the GAMING, Tomahawk, Bazooka, and Pro brands - making me want to build a new gaming PC with a "Bazooka" themed motherboard.

MSI's next-gen 200-series motherboard lineup:

Now, onto the motherboards that piqued my interest. Starting with the MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon, which rocks some beautiful Mystic Light RGB goodness, we have 4 x DDR4 DIMM slots that support 4000MHz+ RAM in OC mode. The DDR4 DIMM slots are protected by MSI's steel armor which will protect the PCB of the motherboard when installing your RAM.

Intel is poised to unleash its next-gen Kaby Lake family of processors at CES 2017 in January, and now we're getting a glimpse of Colorful's incredible stack of 200-series motherboards.

Colorful's upcoming 200-series motherboards will use both the Z270 and B250 chipsets, and will fall into the iGame and Tomahawk series. Colorful's iGame Gamer Customization is their high-end motherboard that sports a slick red and black color scheme, and armor plating that is placed across the entire board.

The board will include an 8-pin power connector, 14-phase IPP digital power supply for overclocking, VRMs are found under large heat sinks for heat load management, 4 x DDR4 DIMMs that support up to 64GB, 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 ports, 4 x PCIe x1 ports, 1 x M.2/U.2 port, and 6 x SATA 6Gbps ports. There's also Killer LAN, HDMI/DisplayPort outputs, USB 3.1, 6 x USB 3.0, and 8 x USB 2.0 ports. We should expect a price of $250 or so.

Intel is ramping up towards their release of Kaby Lake, led by the enthusiast Core i7-7700K processor (which runs at 100C under load) - and now, we have leaked details on the entire Z270-based line up from ASUS.

ASUS's next-gen Maximus, Strix, and TUF series products are on their way, and they look delicious. ASUS will be revealing 8 motherboards based on the Z270 chipset, but there will be other H170-based boards released, aimed at mid- and budget-minded consumers. All of the ASUS Z270-based boards will be enthusiast/overclocker/gaming boards, and we are beyond excited.

The best of the best from the Z270 series by ASUS will be the ROG Maximus IX Formula, with the usual upgrades over the Z170-based motherboards, but it rocks an awesome integrated I/O and backplate.

Intel will be launching its Kaby Lake architecture and flagship Core i7-7700K processor in early 2017, with 200-series chipsets to launch alongside the CPU, with Z270 and H270 motherboards now spotted from Supermicro.

Supermicro is branding their new motherboards under their SuperO brand, designed for gamers and enthusiasts. There are four motherboards listed on SuperO website, with pictures and features listed, as for the four new motherboards, we're looking at:

This is the C7Z270-CG, which has a NVIDIA-ready black and green theme, with a huge PWM supply that is cooled by a heat pipe. There's 4 x DDR4 DIMMs, ready for up to 64GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM. 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 ports and 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Storage enthusiasts won't be left out, with 2 x M.2 slots that will support next-gen M.2-based SSDs for blistering 2GB/sec+ speeds, and we also have 6 x SATA 6 ports.

Intel will soon introduce their next-generation CPU architecture, and now we know that 100-series motherboards from ASUS will support the upcoming Kaby Lake processors - while the impending release of the 200 series will support them from day one.

ASUS series100 motherboards can be updated with Kaby Lake support through a BIOS update, using either a USB drive in the UEFI, or within Windows. You can get the new BIOS update on the ASUS website.

Here's a list of the ASUS 100-series motherboards that will support Kaby Lake CPUs after the BIOS update:

Intel's next-gen Kaby Lake architecture is around the corner, with a tease of the Core i7-7700K processor and it packing a massive 40% improvement over the Skylake architecture in single-threaded performance - but now, we're seeing Z270-based motherboards from ASRock teased.

The two motherboards from ASRock are in the Z270 Gaming K6 and Z270 Pro 4, with the Gaming K6 featuring a red and black theme, and will be aimed at the - uh, hmm - gaming market.

ASRock will most likely aim its Z270 Pro 4 at the mainstream market, and as for when we'll see the new Z270-based boards from ASRock, we should be aiming for CES 2017.

Update: It appears this post from WCCFTech has to be taken with a rather large grain of salt, as @null1ng on Twitter tweeted us, directing us to these images - showing that the photos used in the article aren't right. Ugh.

AMD's next-gen AM4 socket is still on its way, with a new look at a high-end AM4 motherboard from ASUS and their ROG brand. The ROG Crosshair VI Impact motherboard supports the AM4 socket, bringing support for the upcoming Summit Ridge and Bristol Ridge processors, which will be released later this year.

ASUS is set to add all of the features that AMD's next-gen processors will offer, with the Bristol Ridge-based range of APUs to hit the next few months, and the new Summit Ridge-based FX processors in Q4 2016 - both of which will be powered by AMD's new Zen architecture. What will the ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Impact motherboard bring to the table? Not only will the AM4 socket appear, but we will be able to use existing AM3+ coolers on the board, as well an external VRM PCB that connects to the motherboard.