Skylake Lands In Chicago GIGABYTE Unveils Its Z170 Boards

As we were putting the final touches on our August issue, GIGABYTE, Corsair, and Intel invited us out to Chicago for a one-day press event to give us a hands-on preview of all the goodies that we’d be seeing from GIGABYTE’s Z170 motherboards, Intel’s new Skylake processors and chipsets, and the slightly less new DDR4 memory. The morning kicked off with a product deep-dive with GIGABYTE’s new Global Marketing Director, Jonathan Geoffroy. He spoke at length about GIGABYTE’s new Z170 chipset-based motherboards and the features that make them an ideal platform for the enthusiast looking to upgrade. GIGABYTE is releasing numerous 100-series motherboards in three categories that should already be familiar to our readers. They all feature new heatsink designs, reinforced PCIe x16 slots, and familiar color schemes. The red, black, and white G1 Gaming Series is for people who use their computer primarily for gaming. The orange and black Overclocking Series boards are for the performance perfectionists among us. And the black and gold Ultra Durable Series offers a balanced mix of performance and durability features to appeal to professionals and users who tend to perform more varied computing tasks

G1 GAMING 
One of the first innovations we were treated to, and one that is featured on GIGABYTE’s flagship Z170X-GAMING G1 motherboard, was the Intel USB 3.1 controller backed by a quartet of Gen 3 PCIe lanes. This unique chip supports bandwidth up to 32Gbps total, or up to 10Gbps per port. USB 3.1 is of course backward-compatible with USB 2.0/3.0, and a handful of GIGABYTE’s motherboards will come with both the familiar and ubiquitous USB Standard-A connector and the new USB Type-C connector, which is reversible and considerably more compact. Another GIGABYTE-exclusive feature is the USB 3.1 front bay accessory, available with select motherboards, which gives you a more convenient way to plug in your fancy new USB 3.1 devices. The Z170 chipset lets the PCIe controller wear an M.2 hat, with access to the same four lanes described above for per-device bandwidths up to 32Gbps. And because there are two of these M.2 connectors on the GAMING G1, RAID becomes a very enticing option. This board supports both the PCIe and 2.5-inch versions of Intel’s NVMe-capable 750 Series SSD, the latter of which utilizes the included M.2- to-U.2 mini-SAS card adapter. The gamer-centric motherboard also comes with discrete-quality sound processing, courtesy of its quad-core Creative Sound Blaster ZxRi audio components. Features include Burr- Brown High-End 127dB DAC, support for 120 dB+ SNR headphone jack output, and the same high-end Nichicon fine gold and WIMA FKP2 audio capacitors typically found on audiophileclass equipment. In addition to the hardware’s ability to produce richer bass and clearer high frequencies, Creative also lets you take greater control over your audio experience with its SBX Pro Studio software.

Overclocking Series 
GIGABYTE’s SOC (Super Overclock) motherboards are getting the Z170 treatment, as illustrated in the Z170X-SOC FORCE. Highlights of this board include three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots that split a 32Gbps pipeline and support a handful of RAID configurations. Another thing that caught our eye (also available on the Z170X-GAMING G1 board) is the G1/4 fittings that let you add the VRM heatsink to your custom liquid-cooling loop. The board also features plastic shields over the entire I/O side of the board and around the newly redesigned OC Touch buttons, which give you an impressive amount of control over the CPU ratio, BCLK (Base Clock) ratio, BCLK steppings, PCIe slots, CMOS settings, and more without ever having to sift through BIOS screens. Additionally, the Z170X-SOC FORCE features OC Connect USB ports that make it easier to apply BIOS updates and perform other USB-based tasks without having to reach over to the lessaccessible I/O panel. The left side of the board also now sports an OC PEG connector for adding supplemental power to the PCIe slots. GIGABYTE bundles its OC Brace with this board, which gives overclockers the ability to install up to four graphics cards in an open bench without worrying about the PCIe slots snapping off. GIGABYTE’s Q-Flash Plus port is a time-saving feature directed at power users that lets you update the BIOS via USB without having a CPU or memory installed.

Ultra Durable 
The Ultra Durable line of motherboards doesn’t get the same attention regarding new exclusive features, but that’s part of the point. These motherboards are designed to offer the best of all worlds, with features for gamers, casual overclockers, and general PC enthusiasts. Standout features you’ll see on these boards include a dualport Intel GbE LAN controller with support for Teaming, up to three SATA Express ports for up to 16Gbps data rates for compatible storage devices, and multi-GPU support for 2- and 3-way CrossFire and SLI configurations. These boards, in addition to GIGABYTE’s G1 GAMING and SOC boards, all feature the firm’s familiar Ultra Durable components, such as Audio Noise Guard PCB layer separation and discrete digital and analog grounds to reduce EMI, 10,000-hour solid-state black capacitors, and 15μ gold plating on the socket pins for more reliable conductivity. They also come with a handful of onboard buttons for overclocking, clearing the CMOS, debugging, and managing your BIOS mode.

Skylake Sneak Peak 
Following the rundown of GIGABYTE’s latest motherboards, Intel Desktop Chipset Business Operations and Roadmap Manager Eric Ingersoll gave us a brief introduction to the new 14nm Skylake K Series processors that launched on August 5th (but would not become available until August 14th). Intel is keeping many of the architectural specifics under wraps until the Intel Developer Forum on August 18th, but we did glean a few notable facts. The flagship Core i7-6700K ($350 MSRP) features a 4GHz base clock, a 4.2GHz Turbo Boost clock, 8MB of Intel Smart Cache, Hyper-Threading support for processing up to eight threads at once, and a TDP of 91 watts. The more affordable Core i5-6600K ($243 MSRP) lacks its sibling’s Hyper-Threading and makes due with a 3.5GHz base frequency, a 3.9GHz Turbo Boost frequency, and 6MB of Intel Smart Cache. Both chips rely on Intel’s new HD Graphics 530 engine, which sports 24 execution units, a 350MHz base clock, and a 1,150MHz dynamic clock. Both also drive as many as three displays, with the Core i7-6700K supporting resolutions up to 4,096 x 2,304 and the Core i5-6600K supporting up to 3,840 x 2,160.As these are K Series processors, you can bet overclocking is a big part of the appeal of both 6th generation Core processors. Of course the unlocked multiplier is a big hit with us (and likely you), but Intel also adds much more granular clocking capabilities. Systems with either of these processors and a Z170-based motherboard no longer require PEG/DMI ratios, the PEG/DMI domain features an isolated 100MHz clock, and the BCLK has full fine-grain overclocking capabilities. To help you capitalize on these features, GIGABYTE’s motherboards feature a 4th generation International Rectifier digital controller and 3rd generation PowIRStage ICs, up to an impressive 22 phases. That’s enough to ensure your components have all the clean, reliable power they need, whether you’re pushing your system hard, or pushing it even harder to break some OC records.

DDR4 For All 
Colin Brix, the Corsair Technical Marketing and PR Director (formerly with GIGABYTE) spoke about the firm’s Hydro Series liquid coolers and how they make a great team with Intel’s new K Series processors, which won’t ship with CPU coolers of their own. He also talked about the DDR4 and DDR3L memory support on Z170 motherboards. Although the memory controller in Skylake is limited to dual-channel, the platform will benefit greatly from highspeed DDR4. By most early accounts, Skylake overclockers are seeing between 4.5GHz and 4.8GHz overclocks, and a liquid cooler is a must-have for anyone wanting to hit those numbers.

Fun At The Lake 
Intel’s CPU architectures have taken us from Bridges to Canyons and Wells, but the view from the Lake looks to be better than ever. In the coming weeks and months, CPU will be taking a much closer look at Skylake processors and numerous Z170 motherboards, so stay tuned.