Motherboards - Page 21

During each of the past five Computex I have attended, GIGABYTE has always had a private suite in Taipei 101 to showcase their prime products. Admittance to this suite is by invitation only, and there was just so much to show I have decided to dedicate an entire article to coverage.

The X99-Designare EX is GIGABYTE's top-of-the-line mainstream model. Moving away from the traditional "Ultra Durable" naming scheme and trying some new words, the X99-Designare EX is one of the first GIGABYTE motherboards you will be able to purchase under this new model name. The motherboard fully supports the 6950X Broadwell-E 10 core CPU, and I used it in our review of the new CPU. The motherboard uses a PEX8747 to expand CPU PCI-E 3.0 lanes to support dual U.2 ports, M.2, and a slew of PCI-E lanes. The board also has dual Intel Gbit LAN and build in Wireless AC/BT. GIGABYTE also make sure to include those RGB LEDs for enthusiasts who might want some extra bling.

The Z170X-Designare is one of GIGABYTE's new motherboard, not seen before Computex. It carries all the latest features such as U.2, USB 3.1, dual Intel Gbit LAN, and can support three Intel 750s in RAID 0 (it's written on the PCB). The motherboard also has a secret power converter for 100W USB Power Delivery 2.0 support on the USB Type-C connector. It also carries multiple RGB LEDs.

Computex 2016 - Colorful showed off a very interesting motherboard at its booth in Taipei: a B150 chipset motherboard with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GPU built into the PCB.

Alongside its new iGame GeForce GTX 1080 video card, Colorful showed off a surprise reveal at its Computex booth: a custom B150 chipset motherboard that features an onboard GeForce GTX 1070 GPU. It looks like Colorful is making a console-smashing, ultra-performance mini-PC that's capable of VR support. This PCB fits neatly with Colorful's new partnership with Chinese ISP Shunwang Technology to provide VR-ready solutions to Chinese internet cafes. I think this new PCB would power a compact, high-performance VR-ready mini-PC for internet cafes as well as consumer living rooms.

The motherboard is custom and doesn't confirm to any ATX configurations. Colorful's custom motherboard slots up to an Intel Skylake i7-6700 in the LGA 1151 socket, with two SO-DIMM lanes that support up to 2133MHz DDR4 RAM. There's also two PCI expansion slots for SSDs or Wi-Fi chips.

Computex 2016 - MSI's new alabaster Z170A MPower Gaming Titanium motherboard made an appearance in Taipei, showing off metallic PCI-E slots and reinforced DIMM lanes along with a stylish chrome-and-white PCB.

MSI's Z170A MPower Gaming Titanium motherboard is a small step below from MSI's premium Z170A XPower Titanium model, but retains many of the same features and color scheme. The MPower Titanium is the second socket LGA 1151 motherboard in MSI's Gaming Titanium series, and fits Intel's 6th Gen Skylake CPUs up to the Intel i7-6700K.

Like its bigger brother, the Z170A MPower Titanium Gaming board's metallic flair serves a key purpose: the motherboard's PCI-E x16 slots are reinforced with metal to eliminate bending from the heaviest of video cards. The motherboard's DDR4 RAM-supported DIMM lanes are also braced with metal.

Computex 2016 - Biostar reveals new Z170 Standard ATX and B150 Micro-ATX motherboards in its performance Racing lineup.

Biostar's new Racing Z170GT8 motherboard sports an LGA1151 socket for Intel's Z170 Skylake processors with support for up to 4x DDR4 3200MHz RAM modules. Video slots include 2x HDMI, a DVI-D, and a VGA port--no DisplayPort options seem present. Expansion slots include 4x PCI-E x16 3.0 slots, 3x PCI-E x1 3.0, a single M.2 slot capped at 32gb/s, and a U.2 slot capped at a similar 32Gb/s. As for peripheral slots and storage, the Z170GT8 rocks 7 USB 3.0 slots, a single USB Type-C port, 4x USB 2.0 ports, and 3x SATA Express at 16Gb/s. The board also supports Vivid LED DJ lighting options.

Biostar's Micro-ATX motherboard, the Racing B150GT3, is built on the B150 chipset with 4x DIMM lanes that support up to DDR4-2133 RAM. Expansion slots include 2x PCI-E x16 3.0, 2X PCI-E x1 3.0, and a single M.2 32GB/s slot for 3D NAND SSDs. A single DVI-D and HDMI port offer limited video output, and users have 6x SATA3 ports for storage. USB slots include 6x USB 3.0 and 6x USB 2.0 ports for peripherals. Like its bigger Z170 brother, the Racing B150GT3 supports LED color effects.

Computex 2016 - Asrock's first new board revealed today is a little modest, offering strong features at a mid-range price. The Fatal1ty X99 Pro Gaming 17 board, though, aims to offer more for a higher price, particularly if you're a streamer.

Like its cousin the X99 Taichi, the Fatal1ty features a 12 phase power design, support for dual ultra M.2, dual USB 3.1, dual band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and a water pump header. What makes it stand apart is the included XSplit 3-month license and Creative SoundBlaster Cinema3 Audio card, both of which are great for streaming Overwatch or whatever else you might fancy.

Also featured is a "key master and Fatal1ty mouse port." We're not too clear on what these mean yet, but we'll let you know should we hear more.

Computex 2016 - During our first day at Computex, we've spotted some seriously cool hardware, but one of our world exclusives is that Intel will be releasing their next-gen Skylake-E processors onto a new motherboard, with more pins than ever before.

Right now the HEDT processors slot into an LGA 2011 motherboard, but the next-gen chips will be slotting into LGA 3647 socket. This is an interesting tidbit, as it means there'll be new motherboards next year when Skylake-E launches, with 1636 more pins. The socket itself is absolutely huge, especially when compared to the already large LGA 2011 socket, and positively massive compared to the current LGA 1151 in the mainstream market.

Computex 2016 - Last week we reported Intel was likely to unveil its 200-series chipset at Computex and while that hasn't happened yet, we have a tease from MSI. The motherboard manufacturer was seen showing off what it calls the Z2T0 Anniversary board (speculated to be a typo for Z270 Anniversary), which is believed to be a socket LGA1151 motherboard based on Intel's new technology.

The heat sink design and PCB markings are not finalized, but already the board is described by TechPowerUp as "pretty loaded with features that rival the current Z170A-Gaming M7."

Selling points for the 200-series include increased I/O performance and added PCIe 3.0 lanes, among other features.

Computex 2016 kicks off in just a few days time, with Intel reportedly preparing to unveil its next-gen 200 series chipset. Right now the Z170 chipset is the one responsible for running the current Skylake-based CPUs, including the flagship Core i7-6700K.

Intel is already poised to unveil the new Broadwell-E family, offering processors with up to 10 cores, and 20 threads. The flagship Broadwell-E offering will be the Core i7-6950X, which is expected to be quite the beast, and slot into some exciting new X99-based motherboards from the likes of GIGABYTE. The latest leak on Kaby Lake-S had Intel launching it in Q4 2016, but according to our industry sources, Intel will unveil the 200 series chipset at Computex.

When it comes to the Kaby Lake-S processors, they will arrive in dual- and quad-core designs with 35W/65W/95W parts. Intel's 7th generation platform will continue on with the LGA 1151 socket, with the new 200 series being made up of mostly the same innards of the 100 series, but it'll feature increased I/O performance. This is because Intel will push their exciting new 3D XPoint memory architecture, so we should see the Kaby Lake-S products featuring up to 24 PCIe 3.0 lanes, which is an increase from the 20 lanes availabel on the 100 series chipset. The 200 series chipset should also feature 6 x SATA 6Gbps ports, and 10 x USB 3.0 ports.

With Computex 2016 a little over a week away, GIGABYTE is getting out and ahead of the competitors with a much bigger tease of its beautiful new X99 motherboards, with its new X99 motherboards that will be compatible with Intel's next-gen Broadwell-E processors.

GIGABYTE X99 Designare EX, X99 Ultra Gaming and X99 SLI Phoenix motherboards will have various features and abilities - with the biggest feature of them all being that they'll work with the upcoming Broadwell-E processors from Intel. We'll also have updated I/O connectivity, with the X99 Designare EX motherboard taking the new flagship X99 motherboard spot.

GIGABYTE's new X99 Designare EX motherboard is a larger E-ATX form factor, with 8+1 phase PWM power, that will help power the Broadwell-E processor and its socket through a required 8-pin power connector. There are 8 x DDR4 DIMMs, with the entire motherboard being covered with a large heat sink that will keep those temps low during those all-night gaming or benchmarking/overclocking sessions. GIGABYTE has adopted an awesome-looking blue/white theme on the X99 Designare EX motherboard, with some RGB LEDs and a new feature called Ambient Surround LED that will let users customize colors on specific parts of the motherboard.

ASUS has just unveiled its new X99 motherboards that are ready for the next-gen Intel Core i7 processors, as well as the new ROG-based Strix motherboards.

The new boards include the Signature X99-Deluxe II, X99-A II, and X99-E while the ROG Strix X99 motherboard is the latest to join the ROG motherboard roster. The new boards from ASUS include ASUS Aura, which is onboard RGB lighting and a 4-pin LED strip header to provide users with beautiful illumination effects. There's also ASUS SafeSlot, which is a strengthened PCIe slot that uses a "new insert-molding process to bind the slot to fortifying metal for superior 1.6x retention and 1.8x shearing resistance".

It wouldn't be a high-end ASUS motherboard without dual U.2 and M.2 slots that use the 32Gbps of available bandwidth over the PCIe bus, as well as 3x3 802.11ac Wi-Fi and USB 3.1 Type-A and reversible Type-C connectivity. The X99-Deluxe II motherboard uses ASUS ThunderboltEX 3 technology, which provides speeds of up to 40Gbps for those who don't want to be bottlenecked, ever.

Broadwell-E's release is just around the corner, or so we'd like to think. And in preparation for the day that they release, ASRock has issued out new BIOSs for their entire line of X99 motherbaords so you can upgrade without issue when they do hit the streets.

The new BIOS files add support for the entire line of consumer Broadwell-E chips, from the impressive, deca-core, 6950X, the 6900K, 6850K and the 6800K. There's no need to buy a new motherboard, so while they aren't quite out in the wild just yet, you can at least rest assured that your motherboard is good to go. Just head on over to here to find your specific board to download the new BIOS. Happy updating!

Released in an ATX form-factor format and carrying support for AMD AM3+ processors, GIGABYTE's new 990X-Gaming SLI motherboard is said to be a direct continuation of its AMD 970 motherboard releases, as reported by techPowerUp recently.

Designed to be built with an AMD FX-8370 processor, this new product features support for up to 32GB of dual-channel DDR3 RAM running at 2400MHz speeds, further packing in two PCI-E x16 slots, PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI options. Other ports include two USB 3.1 Type-A, four USB 3.0 ports, an Intel-powered I-218C gigabit Ethernet connection and 10-channel audio thanks to a 115 dbA SNR CODEC. Wrapping up the feature list are storage offerings including a single 20 Gb/s M.2 port and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports.

With this board set for release soon, reports say that it should hit the shelves at around $100.

Sporting support for DDR4 and its paired 'boost technology', MSI has announced its new mATX B150M Gaming Pro motherboard, coming packed with an MSI DS B1 Gaming mouse for free as part of the package - described in a recent press release as a "great and nimble" peripheral.

DDR4 Boost is described by MSI as "fully isolating the memory circuitry from other components" which helps ensure "the purest possible memory signal for maximum performance and stability." Further packed with an LED illuminated LAN connector that comes with 15KV anti-surge protection, this new product also contains an isolated audio PCB for better quality sound.

MSI has not yet announced a release date or pricing.

BIOSTAR has gone completely LED crazy, introducing its VIVID LED DJ technology on multiple RACING series motherboards, including customization and personalization features to allow for maximum control.

BIOSTAR's VIVID LED DJ technology will help users synchronise their case color schemes with RGB onboard motherboard lighting, helping create a uniform lighting experience. Used in unison with BIOSTAR's 5050 LED Fun product, simply plug the strips into your motherboard and control everything through the VIVID software, creating a central place for all users to have maximum control over their color schemes.

This new LED technology is now available across a slew of BIOSTAR motherboard releases, including those from the Z170, B150 and H170 families. If you're interested, these products can be bought through Newegg.

Intel's unreleased Broadwell-EP powered Xeon processor has hit eBay, with the Xeon E5-2600 v4 processor being an 18-core part (36 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading) and priced at a pretty damn decent $999.

The new Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 works on existing X99-based motherboards, with a base clock of 2.2GHz, and Turbo frequency of 3GHz. The new Xeon CPU is based on Intel's 14nm process, with a big note that this particular CPU is an engineering sample with the 'A0' stepping which means it's an early sample.

It features 2.5MB of L3 cache per core, with 45MB LLC cache in total. The Xeon E5-2600 v4 comes with a 145W TDP. Now, this super-awesome 18-core Xeon E5-2600 v4 works with the Supermicro X10SR series with the BIOS R 2.0, while the X10DR series works with the BIOS R 2.0 release.

Quoted in a recently issued press release as a "Reliable motherboard for Intel system builders," BIOSTAR has announced the release of its H110MD PRO motherboard which supports the Intel H110 chipset.

Featuring support for up to 16GB of DDR3L-1600 memory, this mATX motherboard further offers a single PCI-E 3.0 x16 port, two PCI-E 2.0 x1 slots, four SATA 3 ports, four USB 3.0 ports (2+2) and a total of six USB 2.0 ports (4+2). This black and yellow product comes further packed with Realtek GbE LAN, solid capacitors and BIOSTAR features including Watch Dog, Smart Speed LAN and a temperature monitor.

This product is said to be "available soon" from the official BIOSTAR eBay store, here.

While your child or smaller sibling may have no idea what they're used for, BIOSTAR has announced the return of PS/2 ports in its H170GT3 RACING motherboard.

Paired with features such as eight USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports, BIOSTAR further promises four DDR4 slots, two PCI-E x16 3.0 ports, a single M.2 32GB/s port and more on this new model. If you're after a little bling, this product also comes fully optioned with BIOSTAR's Vivid LED DJ feature, further providing LED strips on the motherboard and one-touch mode selection for eco and performance boost profiles.

LAN is provided thanks to Intel's i219V technology and this motherboard operates around a H170 chipset, offering up compatibility with any LGA 1151 processor. If you're looking at graphics grunt, this new release will also support AMD Crossfire configurations, further allowing for extra spacing between the PCI-e X16 slots.

While recently searching GIGABYTE's website for BIOS updates for my X99 motherboard, I came across a new F20 BIOS for the X99-SOC Force, an update that brings support for a new and unreleased Intel processor.

GIGABYTE released BIOS F20 on 1/12/2106 for its entire X99 lineup, which supports a mysterious "2016 Q2 coming new CPU," as quoted from the website. Looking at Intel's roadmap for 2016, the next upcoming X99 CPUs will be based on the Broadwell-E microarchitecture, which has been highly anticipated by those who want 14nm on Intel's high-end platform. GIGABYTE's posting of this new BIOS reaffirms rumors and claims that current X99 motherboards will support Broadwell-E CPUs.

Looking at other motherboard vendor's sites, we could not find any hints of updated microcode for Broadwell-E support, which is not unusual given that Broadwell-E is not due for many months. Broadwell-E CPUs will work with current X99 motherboards as long as the X99 motherboard has been updated with Intel's latest microcode, so it is safe to say that if a motherboard is not shipped with Broadwell-E supporting BIOS versions then users might require Haswell-E CPUs for flashing. Releasing the BIOS so early before launch provides ample time for users to update their BIOS ROMs in anticipation for Broadwell-E CPUs, and so far, GIGABYTE is the only manufacturer providing Broadwell-E BIOS support.

GIGABYTE is always-on top of the overclocking challenges in the world, with the motherboard maker announcing its new GIGABYTE Z170 Winter OC Challenge, which will be hosted by HWBOT.org in February.

Overclockers from around the world are invited to overclock their sixth-generation Intel Core processors on GIGABYTE 100-series motherboards, with 5x motherboards to be won. Starting on January 31, there will be four different rounds for a chance of the big prize. The overclocker with the most ports from all stages of a category wins, which means the competition is super simple. The lucky draw includes a GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming G1 motherboard, which isn't too shabby at all. As for the stages:

Round 1: Enthusiast, Rookie and Novice Overclockers - 2 Cores

CES 2016 - Supermicro is adamant about entering the gaming market. And that's a very good thing for gamers. They're known for producing some of the most reliable motherboards around for the workstation and data-center markets, and now they're taking all that engineering know-how into the gaming macrocosm.

They've had motherboards before that're geared towards gamers, but they haven't quite been too popular due to the association of them strictly with the enterprise segment. But Supermicro is adding a lot more motherboards to their roster in 2016. They're breaking out Z170 boards in micro-ATX and ATX flavors that'll feature some very cool color combinations and be backed by their incredibly strict validation process. They aren't a value brand, and they make equipment that's designed to last in 24/7 operating environments for many years, so they're a safe bet in most respects.

Supermicro will have a new Z170OCE overclocking friendly board in a green motif, as well as a micro-ATX H170 variant that'll carry on the red colors of it's big brother, the Core Gaming Z170. The new Z170OCE will have 6 USB 3.0 ports, 1 USB 3.1 and a Type-C port on the rear. It also has 6 SATA 3.0 ports and a PCIe x4 enabled M.2 slot just waiting for that NVMe enabled Kingston Hyper X Predator shown off at CES.