Intel Z170 boards revealed at Computex 2015, will support Intel sixth-generation processors

With Intel’s sixth-generation of Skylake processors due for a release later this year, it’s no surprise that motherboard manufacturers have seized the opportunity at Computex to unveil motherboards that will support for Intel’s next major microarchitecture change.

The boards feature Intel’s LGA1151 socket for Skylake processors. While some of them are still far from finished products, that hasn’t stopped manufacturers from giving us a tantalizing glimpse of the next generation of hardware that will bring support for things like DDR4 memory.

ASRock

ASRock has come out with two Z170 motherboards, the Z170 Gaming K6 and the Z170 Extreme 7.

According to ASRock, the Z170 Gaming K6 has a focus on performance, stability, graphics and audio quality. This makes sense for a gaming-oriented board, since these are the areas that gamers are most likely to concern themselves with.

The design of the board is quite striking, with black heat sinks and shielding that are complemented by bold accents of red. The PCH heat sink is also adorned by a stylized silver emblem of a praying mantis, and that certainly helps the board stand out. The Fatal1ty branding is stamped on the PCB, so this logo may just be the new face of the Fatal1ty brand. Continued scrutiny of the PCB also reveals that the board features Killer E2200 ethernet.

Finally, the three PCIe 3.0 slots are split electrically in a x16/x8/x4 configuration, with an Ultra M.2 slot in the middle that suggests a PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot.

The ASRock Z170 Extreme 7 boasts a more elegant black-and-gold color scheme with equally beefy looking heat sinks and shielding for the audio components. The images reveal a whopping three Ultra M.2 slots spread out between the PCIe slots, which equates to PCIe 3.0 x4 bandwidth for each slot for a total of 12 lanes.

We don’t yet have further details about the motherboard or the Intel Z170 chipset, so it’s hard to say what this really means for graphics performance in multi-GPU solutions.

And going by the detailing on the EMI shielding on the bottom left corner of the boards, the Gaming 6 and Extreme 7 will both support Purity Sound 3, the successor to the current Purity Sound 2.

ASUS

The ASUS Z170 motherboard is a work-in-progress model that strongly evokes the design of its own Intel X99 motherboards with its white-and-black color scheme.

According to TechPowerUp, the board features a 16-phase CPU VRM, a new high-capacity VRM heat sink design, and four DDR4 DIMM slots that will support up to 64GB of dual-channel DDR4-3000 memory.

There is also support for USB 3.1, dual Intel LAN, and the 802.11ac wireless standard. From the picture, it also looks like the ASUS Z170 board might have three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and four PCI 2.0 x1 slots.

When it comes to storage connectivity options, the board has eight SATA 6Gbps ports – from which two are wired out as a SATA Express 16Gbps port – and an M.2 slot.

EVGA

EVGA has on display three black-and-silver Skylake-ready motherboards – the EVGA Z170 Classified, Z170 FTW, and Z170 Stinger.

The Z170 Classified supposedly features a 10-phase PWM design with components geared toward allowing better overclocking. In addition, it will support up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM at 3400MHz.

EVGA appears to have dispensed with PCIe 2.0 entirely and the board sports five PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and a single PCIe 3.0 x4 slot. In the way of storage connectivity options, the Classified includes eight SATA 6Gbps ports, two SATA Express ports and a single M.2 slot.

While the Classified is quite clearly a high-end board, the EVGA Z170 FTW offers a more cost-effective solution an eight- to 10-phase PWM design. It also features four PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and a single PCIe 3.0 x4 slot.

It also purportedly has six onboard SATA 6Gbps ports and an M.2 slot.

Finally, the EVGA Z170 Stinger is a mini-ITX board that features a six-phase PWM design and two DDR4 DIMM slots with support for 32GB of DDR4 memory. As a smaller board, it also has just four SATA 6Gbps ports and a single PCIe 3.0 x16 slot.

Gigabyte

Gigabyte showcased a total of five Intel Z170 motherboards, comprising two basic-tier boards and three performance-oriented ones:-

• Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3
• Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming G1
• Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming GT
• Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 7

The Gigabyte Z170-HD3 is an entry-level ATX motherboard that offers a basic feature set for PC builds with just a single graphics card. It also has a seven-phase VRM and the standard four DDR4 DIMM slots.

In the way of expansion slots, there is just one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (electrical x4), two PCIe 2.0 x1 and two PCI slots. There’s even a D-Sub display port on the rear I/O, and Gigabyte probably felt that support for legacy devices was important on a basic board like this as users who buy it may very well be upgrading from much older systems.

In addition, the board is equipped with an M.2 slot, two SATA Express ports, and six SATA 6Gbps ports.

At the higher end, the top-tier Gigabyte Z170X Gaming G1 is outfitted in red, white and black. It is targeted at the enthusiast segment and supports up to four-way multi-GPU setups via four PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. 

It also sports a PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 connector and three SATA Express connectors. And as a gaming board, it boasts gaming-oriented features like Killer DoubleShot Pro X3 LAN for a better networking experience and dual BIOS support. Other standout features include onboard USB 3.1 Type-C ports and support for hybrid cooling via water channels integrated into the heat sinks. 

One other nice touch is something called LED Trace Path lighting on the board’s PCB. Users can choose from seven different colors, so they’ll be able to customize the board to their liking.

On the other hand, the Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming GT and GA-Z170X Gaming 7 are more modest offerings with fewer PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. The Gaming 7 is also missing support for hybrid cooling. However, they are by no means sparse and are in fact still fairly feature rich boards with support for dual BIOS and Sound Blaster ZxRi audio.

MSI

The MSI Z170A-G45 Gaming motherboard has a fairly standard feature set, including a 10-phase CPU VRM, four DDR4 DIMM slots and three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots.

When it comes to storage options, there are two M.2 slots (32Gbps and 10Gbps), one SATA Express 16Gbps slot and six SATA 6Gbps ports. As part of MSI’s Gaming series of motherboards, there is also onboard Killer E2205 networking and a beefed up audio circuit with ground-layer isolation and audio-grade capacitors.

Source: WCCF Tech, TechPowerUp (1), (2)

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