Motherboards - Page 23

Aimed at high-end gamers, ASUS' ROG Maximus VIII motherboard series launched a few weeks ago, and today the latest entry makes its way to retail: the ROG Maximus VIII EXTREME flagship.

Features include Z170 chipset support, quad-GPU setup support, 4x DDR4 (3866 OC, 64GB) slots, thermal backplates, 24-bit ESS Hi-Fi Sabre DAC, HDMI/DisplayPort 1.2 ports (max resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 4096 x 2304 @ 60 Hz), Bluetooth V4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (dual band 2.4/5 GHz), and the ROG SupremeFX 2015 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC, to name several. For the full spec list, head to the product page here.

The board will set you back a whopping $499.99.

ASUS has just unveiled its latest Z170-based motherboard, the new ROG Maximus VIII Impact. The new Maximus Impact motherboard is the best yet, set to make it the centerpiece of new high-powered mini-ITX gaming PCs.

The new ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Impact features Intel's latest Z170 chipset, compatible with the new Skylake-powered processors like the Intel Core i7-6700K. The motherboard itself features two DDR4 slots that will take DDR4 RAM right up to a huge 4133MHz when overclocked. The motherboard features a "full-scale voltage-regulator module (VRM) dubbed Impact Power III vertically-mounted onto the tiny board, allowing you full access to digital power management for ultra-precise and stable overclocks with your processor and memory".

On the audio side of things, ASUS has deployed its SupremeFX Impact III which features beautiful LED-illuminated audio jacks and Sonic SenseAmp technology. Connectivity wise we have the brand new 802.11ac Wi-Fi with MU-MIMO technology which is built-in, so it doesn't take up any additional space. ASUS has also provided USB 3.1 Gen. 2 Type-A and reversible Type-C connectivity, as well as a built-in U.2 connector which provides up to 32Gbit/s of bandwidth.

If you're looking for blisteringly-fast RAM to throw into your next rig, now is the time to open your eyes. DDR4 is hot off the press and it seems each and every company is fighting for that top clock spot.

The latest news from ASRock are some brand new records set during IDF 2015. First up is the 4x Intel XTU category, seeing a score of 1910 marks, followed by the MaXXMEM category at 3894.5 marks. Achieved with the help of overclockers 'Splave' and 'L0ud_sil3nc3', this 1910 4x Intel XTU record was posted at no other time than during a live keynote (see above).

With the help of Kingston DDR4 memory, the MaXXMEM 3894.5 score was achieved on the second day of overclocking, with Intel CEO Brian Krzanichru watching closely, offering the help of an i7-6700K CPU.

Intel is about to press the launch button on its upcoming Skylake processors, a range that will include the new flagship Core i7-6700K processor, and while we've seen some of the GIGABYTE and BIOSTAR boards, now we're getting a sneak peak at one of MSI's enthusiast boards.

The MSI Z170A XPOWER Gaming Titanium Edition is a work of art, sporting a beautiful white and black color scheme that is going to look great with the right components. One of the standout features on the new Z170A XPOWER Gaming Titanium Edition motherboard is the inclusion of the 'MSI OC Dashboard'. This dashboard is located next to the DIMMs, and lets you overclock your system very easily.

The MSI OC Dashboard has a few buttons on it that lets you overclock your CPU, but it also features direct BCLK control from the new tool. You can also do a complete discharge of the motherboard, which is a different touch than we're used to. On the board itself, we have two M.2 slots, 8 x SATA 6Gbps ports, two SATA Express ports, two USB 2.0 connectors, a right-angled USB 3.0 connector, and an internal USB 2.0 port.

If you're a little short on cash or just crazy about overclocking, MSI is offering up some beastly prizes including its new GODLIKE motherboards alongside Intel CPUs and PCIe NVMe drives, HyperX RAM and HyperX SSDs to winners of this newly-announced event.

These high-end prizes will be distributed to top placing competitors in the wide variety of competitions on offer including 2D battle and 3D battles expanding to categories such as ambient and extreme cooling, with limitations on overclocking specifics and CPU frequencies.

If you're interested in learning more about the competition or entering for yourself, you can head to the official event page or check out the press release.

The release of Intel's new processors along with the Z170X chipset is right around the corner, and now we're getting to see what GIGABYTE is preparing for us in the form of the Z170X SOC Force.

GIGABYTE will have a slew of new boards arriving with the Z170X chipset, including: Z170X Gaming G1, Z170X Gaming 7, Z170X Gaming 5, Z170X Gaming 3, Z170X-UD7-TH, Z170X-UD5-TH, Z170X-UD3 and a Mini-ITX Z170X. The GIGABYTE Z170X SOC Force is going to be the flagship motherboard from the company, with an e-ATX design, and the usual orange and black color scheme with silver accents across the board.

GIGABYTE will be providing a 20 Digital Phase Power design with a Gen.4 IR Digital Controller and Gen.3 PoweIRstage ICs. Not only that, but GIGABYTE has provided high-end black capacitors, a Turbo B-Clock chip that provides the ability to push the BCLK frequency between 90-200MHz (instead of 100, 125 and 167MHz). The GIGABYTE Z170X SOC Force features four DDR4 DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB with speeds of up to 3400MHz.

Stacked full of features and capital letters, MSI has recently announced its X99A GODLIKE GAMING motherboard to the public, set out to support X99 platforms with a Killer DoubleShot-X3 PRO network setup, Turbo M.2 connectivity, USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C, fancy LED schemes and more.

RGB is seemingly everywhere right now, with MSI announcing this model to be its first RGB LED motherboard to market, supporting over 2,000 color variations and plenty of style presets including "breathing, flashing and waving." For those looking into extreme and extended LAN options, the Killer DoubleShot-X3 PRO offers two Killer Ethernet connectors and a Killer 1535 Wi-Fi adapter. Complete with a network manager, traffic will be optimized to ensure no lag is experienced.

Designed for Intel LGA 2011-v3 socket processors including the new Intel Core i7 series, this motherboard contains 10 SATA 6Gb/s ports, one Turbo M.2 32Gb/s SATA option and five PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. As for connectivity, you can expect to see one USB 3.1 Type-C port, one USB 3.1 Type-A port, eight USB 3.0 options and six USB 2.0 connectors.

With the launch of Intel's new Skylake processors and chipsets right around the corner, GIGABYTE has begun teasing its new motherboards with a seriously slick new look. GIGABYTE will be kicking off its new Gaming G1 series based on the Z170 chipset, with boards like the one pictured below.

GIGABYTE will include the GA-Z170X Gaming G1, GA-Z170X Gaming 7, GA-Z170X Gaming 5 and the GA-Z170X Gaming 3 motherboards all rocking the Z170 chipset. There will also be other motherboards such as the new GA-Z170X-UD5 TH and GA-Z170X-UD3, which will be joined by the new Z170 SOC Force that will be for the super enthusiasts and overclockers.

The flagship motherboard featuring the Z170 chipset will be the new GA-Z170X Gaming G1, which will feature an E-ATX form factor and the usual arsenal of technologies, features and goodies for enthusiasts and overclockers to enjoy.

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.

Computex 2015 - With the world fighting for USB 3.1 Type-C and Type-A to be integrated into all products, ASUS has taken a different route with one of its motherboard options, producing the world's first reversible USB 2.0 onboard port.

A little weird yes and you might be thinking of it as old technology and useless. However, this could mean amazing applications in budget motherboards and office systems - no longer will you rock up to work, school or university and fiddle around with your presentation for 10 minutes trying to plug your USB key in.

Although I've tried to justify this technology to you, it's really up to the users to decide if they like it or not.

Computex 2015 - For those not interested in the ASUS ROG gaming focus of Computex 2015, this company has also shown off a new range of server and workstation boards as displayed on a product wall.

Featuring the X99-M WS, the X-99 WS/IPMI and the X99-E WS/USB 3.1, there was no AMD to be seen as the drive seems to be for X99 Intel only.

All based on similar architecture, the X99-M WS board lays claim to being "the most powerful X99 mATX board for small form factor gaming and professional market[s]," offering Intel Socket 2011 Core i7 Xeon support and four memory slots holding up to 64GB in total.