Yeah, I dont get that either, it does not seem like anyone is doing sata express drives, when NVMe is about to come out. Although its only wasting board space as the SateExpress port can double as 2xSATA ports. I was kinda hoping they would have dropped it for this. Maybe on the other chipsets?
I think the reason lies in the marketing departments wanting to tick a box in the marketing materials. When one manufacturer includes it, everyone follows the suit so their products won't look "inferior" compared to competitors'. It's no secret that SATA Express is practically dead (although I would say it's a miscarriage), but to those with less technical knowledge it may sound cool and better than regular SATA, even though they will end up using SATAe as regular SATA.
The design cycle for these boards probably started a good year ago. By the time it became clear that Sata-Express was a dead standard it was too late to make any major design changes for the initial wave of boards.
You can get more sata in less lanes. Once you use up lanes for nvme drives and graphics cards, the smaller groupings won't support more cards or nvme drives (cards need x8 or x16 and nvme drives need x4) the left overs will support usb and sata. Since sata is such lower bandwidth you can still fit a lot of sata in around the fringes, so why not? A sata ssd is still pretty fast.
I'm looking at mITX boards and I saw 3 that are worthwhile (sorry ECS) that has an M.2 port, or a position on the board either stating M.2 or showing the screw positions for it. Only one of them had descriptions about it. (ASUS Z170i Pro Gaming)
What of the Gigabyte Z170N-WIFI? The port is on the underside of the board, but I don't know if it's strictly SATA or not. The EVGA Stinger looks good, but it needs something else before it can be used. Will this be dedicated to a WIFI card like previous versions or can an M.2 drive be used?
Does that mean it has no chance of being used for an M.2 drive then as it is solely an E Keyed M.2 port, is it being converted from a useable key to an e key?
The 20pin socket that's marked M.2 is converted to a M.2 Key E using a daughterboard. I have not seen any drives in the Key E format, so it looks like it's just for something else.
I'm happy with my MSI P67 board but I think I wanna go ASUS this time, that Z170-A looks like a good no nonsense no frills board... And the Z97/X99-A both reviewed pretty well. Kinda light on USB ports but whatever... All I really care for is a decent layout, solid software, and M.2 for an SM951.
"In the previous Z97 chipset, there are a total of 18 Flex-IO ports that can flip between PCIe lanes, USB 3.0 ports or SATA 6 Gbps ports. For Z97, this moves up to 26 and can be used in a variety of configurations:"
Ian, do you think it is possible to supply us with a tabular breakdown of all the motherboards? Not sure about others, but going through page-by-page is a bit overwhelming, and confusing at the very least. Good coverage as usual!
I second this. looking for number of M.2 slots, PCIe slots, USB 3.1 ports w/ type of controller (Alpine or otherwise). I'm shocked so few support 3 M.2 slots.
Well, the SM951 is quite interesting. Also, if the M.2 slots are used, the PCIe slots can be used for 4 GPUs, NICs, or RAID cards. The ASUS workstation board in this article is interesting.
I'm glad to see that Gigabyte is exposing 2x USB 3.0 internal headers on almost all their boards - USB 2.0 needs to die. Now if only they would replace the dual USB 2.0 headers with an additional 3.0, giving 3x USB 3.0 headers, then I would be ecstatic. My Z77X-UD5H is still the only decently-priced motherboard around with a trio of USB 3.0 headers, and it's not getting any newer!
Regardless, I'm probably going to skip Skylake, for the simple reason that I'm not interested in buying a board equipped with the useless SATA Express. By the time Cannonlake rolls around, M.2/NGFF should have killed SATAe and there will be even more USB 3.0 ports from the chipset.
I bought a GB board for a 4790k earlier this year for the dual headers. At least in the medium term though, I think they do need to keep 1 or 2 2.0 headers around. Not everyone buys a new case for their new builds, and older cases have built in 2.0 ports on the front/top panel. The same thing for front panel SD card readers; there are USB 3.0 versions out now, but the SD reader won't benefit from the faster connection so why spend money to replace it. I can't remember who makes it, but there's one OEM who sells some PSUs with an internal USB2 header for monitoring purposes.
Beyond all of that, the chipset itself provides 14USB ports only 10 of which can be 3; so the mobo makers have 2 "free" headers to do something with. Dell/HP/etc will ignore them; but in the box ticking consumer market they're going to get used either for internal headers or a pairs of ports in the back. Anyone clinging to w7 who doesn't have PS2 peripherals in the closet will need those since 7 doesn't have a USB3 class driver; and at least in my case refused to talk to a 2.0 device in a 3.0 port until I got drivers installed.
If you're using an SD reader for a modern camera with modern SD cards then it'll absolutely benefit from USB 3.0... Last 128GB SD I bought for like $58 can read at 150MB/s (or about 3x USB 2.0 speeds), Lexar UHS-II card. Most recent mirrorless bodies can take advantage of it too...
Wow. Remember when motherboards and computer components were ugly? Thos Asrock boards are a work of art. The same with the MSI boards. Not to impressed with what Asus has this time around (in-terms of looks). I've recently built a Haswell-E rig with the X99X from Asrock so I'm not really looking to buy anything but damn those boards make me regret not waiting. Ah well, I needed the extra cores anyway.
Am I the only one that is still ridiculously confused at the next generation of fast storage? m.2/nvMe what's bootable, what's not, what pinout (B/M)....
What the hell is going on with these standards (sic)?
M.2 is a connection standard that can support both SATA and PCIe storage protocols. It is up to the manufacturer to decide which protocol to implement.
SATA drives can use AHCI or IDE, while PCIe drives can be either AHCI or NVMe, but it depends on the controller if NVMe is supported.
Typically NVMe has to be enabled in the BIOS in order to boot from the drive, and you have to install the operating system in UEFI mode - basically Win8.1/10 does this already.
Most Z170 motherboards with M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 should be supporting NVMe devices as boot drives , although I would still refer to the motherboard manufacturers website to confirm this is the case, either on the motherboard's page or in the motherboard's downloadable manual.
As an owner of a PCIe 2.0 x8 RAID card, I'd love to see someone put out a PCIe 3.0 x8 slot controlled by the PCH that's actually x8. I see a lot of slots that are physically x16, with x8 connectors but the text always refers to them as PCIe 3.0 x4 (PCH). As I've 8 drives connected to that, I want the full x8 connection. Now of course using the second physical x16 slot on SLI boards and taking 8 lanes from the CPU ought to work, but that drops the GPU down to an x8 link; it would be great to use x16/x8 instead of x16/x4 or x8/x8 here (GPU/RAID).
Z170 looked so promising, but so far only X99 offers the PCIe configuration described above.
The chipset essentially has five PCIe 3.0 x4 controllers, and you can't combine them into an x8. You could use a PCIe bridge chip like a PLX to convert 4 to 8, but you'll still be limited by the four lanes in into the chip. The only way you will get an 8-lane slot is from the processor, unfortunately (because then it would open up GPU possibilities).
Is there any reason other than market segmenting (protecting LGA2011's 40 CPU lanes) or avoiding a single device being able to max out the DMI link for them not to allow combos bigger than a 4x?
In case anyone else was wondering what LSPCON actually stands for, it's a Level Shifter / Protocol CONverter. I've been trying to parse that ever since the initial Alpine Ridge announcement / slide leaks.
I'm glad to see that Alpine Ridge actually includes an integrated LSPCON, because that wasn't entirely certain based on the earlier reports.
So far, I have only found that ASRock have a workaround for the win7-install-via-USB stick situation. Found it in the z170m pro4s manual on p.41 (Win7 USB Patcher). Out of interest does anyone know if using a USB adapter card in an expansion slot gets around the no-EHCI-in-Z170 problem?
Addition... 2 SATA Express (shared with 2 m.2 which are shared with 2 PCIE x16(x4 electrical)) and obviously 4 more SATA Ports. So you could use 2x 1m.2/or 1PCIEx4/or 1SATA Express/or 2 SATA at time.
The most appealing of all of these is actually the ASUS Z170-WS. No SATA-Express, 8x8x8x8 PCIe, 2 M.2 slots in RAID, a dedicated U.2 slot for a larger external drive, dual NICs, (hopefully) an Alpine Ridge USB 3.1 solution, and no Molex connector for PCIe power; instead a 3x2 12v header.
i watched a review on Asus's youtube channel PCDIY where JJ said that I think the Z170-Deluxe would support thunderbolt with the addon card, which the board has to be designed for, so they must have decided that making people buy the add-on card would be a better option
Any news as to weather Kaby Lake will be supported on these sockets? Trying to decide whether to go all out on a mobo that will last me a long time or get something midrange and upgrade again next year.
That source isn't exactly trustworthy. Don't believe everything you see on the internet, some just post/repost it without verification in 'the interests of discussion'!
As for the Kaby Lane compatibility, we haven't had confirmation but it would follow Intel's strategy.
The details about the 2nd M.2 slot being SATA only on the MSI M7 is incorrect, if I read the manual correctly. 2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD's can be used together with 4 SATA drives.
In the specifications it states: M.2, SATA and SATAe ports maximum support 1x M.2_PCIe + 6x SATAs or 1x M.2_SATA + 1x M.2_PCIe + 4x SATAs. Please refer to page 19 for M.2 slots with examples of various combination possibilities. On page 19 however it gives a lot more configuration options including 2x M.2_PCIe + 4x SATAs
I'm tempted by the Skylake i7 and the Asus Z170-Deluxe, but I need to see some real motherboard reviews first. Obviously that's not exactly feasible for this sort of thing where many motherboards are released all at once - but hopefully those reviews are coming :).
Especially those POST tests, it's silly, but they make a huge impact on my purchasing decisions.
"Super Speed Inter Chip", A standard concerned with low power, and signaling between chips on the motherboard, while still using USB 3.0 drivers. Something for motherboard makers to be concerned with.
Am I the only one here dreaming of a Mini-ATX board with a Xeon ( I know there's none yet for 1151, but think of Xeon-D ) or i5/7 with Iris Pro graphics ( not everyone is a hardcore gamer ) , with at least 2x M.2 (x4) slots ( imagine SM951 in Raid 0 ) and which can take at least 64GB RAM ? It would be my dream machine...what an amazing host that would be. Or even an Intel NUC with 2xM.2...
Asus Z170-A question: If i populate the M.2 slot with pcie ssd would that consume any of the regular sata ports? Manual says m.2 is shared with sata express but what about the 2 sata ports? Can they be used with m.2 at the same time?
Looks like the answer is no. I dug a bit deeper and it seems you lose 2 sata ports when connecting m.2 device, either sata or pcie based. It's a pity with all those extra lanes and ports in the end you can connect less devices than in previous chipsets.
Ian, you repeated almost the same sentance 3 times in a row - on the first page in the "Companion Controllers For Z170" section:
"The most common we expect to see is the ASMedia ASM1142 controller, which is used to provide USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports. This controller uses two PCIe lanes to provide up to two USB 3.1 ports. This controller uses two PCIe lanes to provide up to two USB 3.1 ports, typically on the rear panel. "
Minor note for those in the US: the ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger is not available in the US yet. The info is on the global site and the UK site, but not on the US site. I guess it's coming later.
Couldn't find anywhere offering the ASUS Z170-WS at all atm.
Seems no one is talking about the 800 pound (htpc) gorilla in the room .... Why, with all the skylake motherboards introduced in the last 2 months, not to mention the thorough article on htpc future-proofing by Ganesh back in the Spring, is there no mATX size or smaller hdmi 2.0 capable board? Yeah I know gaming rules, but isn't there a healthy htpc market (read htpc's aren't built with atx) and wouldn't a hdmi 2.0 (alpine ridge) motherboard be a big hit for those wanting to build a 4K capable rig?
I have the mATX board, i like it! my only issues are: The pcie x16 is too close to the cpu, when using air cooling, and something large like the Noctua 15, the radiator fins sit right up against the GPU. When using the Pci-e x16, the pci-e x1 is blocked and the Sata connections are blocked by GPU's so be sure to install your sata devices first
I am confused that which of these motherboards have illuminated msi branding on the heatsink like asus rog motherboards have that eyes which can glow on heatsink
My only beef with the new M.2 tech motherboards is; when using an M.2 drive, it disables a SATA 3 port. On some other brands, one M.2 drive will disable 2 SATA 3 ports. Either the chipset or the board designers need to configure to allow all ports to function. Many users, have several HDD's for storing their documents (user account) on them vs. on the M.2 plus back up needs such as images and file backups.
I'm still wondering why the current boards bother with the 15-D video connector and why some don't use an HDMI video port while opting for the display port. HDMI is the future for anyone who will be looking for BluRay full audio functionality and HDMI is the only interface that supports it via the HDMI v2.0 and HDCP v2.2
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85 Comments
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utmode - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Why so many sata express in so many motherboard?Dahak - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Yeah, I dont get that either, it does not seem like anyone is doing sata express drives, when NVMe is about to come out. Although its only wasting board space as the SateExpress port can double as 2xSATA ports. I was kinda hoping they would have dropped it for this. Maybe on the other chipsets?Kristian Vättö - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
I think the reason lies in the marketing departments wanting to tick a box in the marketing materials. When one manufacturer includes it, everyone follows the suit so their products won't look "inferior" compared to competitors'. It's no secret that SATA Express is practically dead (although I would say it's a miscarriage), but to those with less technical knowledge it may sound cool and better than regular SATA, even though they will end up using SATAe as regular SATA.Ian Cutress - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
ASRock have their USB 3.1 front panel which uses SATA Express, so there's finally some use for it.silenceisgolden - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
It would work better for marketing departments if they market that they "did not bother with the useless standard, SATA Express".DanNeely - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
The design cycle for these boards probably started a good year ago. By the time it became clear that Sata-Express was a dead standard it was too late to make any major design changes for the initial wave of boards.Slash3 - Sunday, August 9, 2015 - link
As someone with 10 SATA devices, I very much appreciate I/O overkill. :)phorgan1 - Monday, December 21, 2015 - link
You can get more sata in less lanes. Once you use up lanes for nvme drives and graphics cards, the smaller groupings won't support more cards or nvme drives (cards need x8 or x16 and nvme drives need x4) the left overs will support usb and sata. Since sata is such lower bandwidth you can still fit a lot of sata in around the fringes, so why not? A sata ssd is still pretty fast.prophet001 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Why no slot for M.2 drives?prophet001 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Nevermind. Hadn't fully read the article.Norseman4 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
I'm looking at mITX boards and I saw 3 that are worthwhile (sorry ECS) that has an M.2 port, or a position on the board either stating M.2 or showing the screw positions for it. Only one of them had descriptions about it. (ASUS Z170i Pro Gaming)What of the Gigabyte Z170N-WIFI? The port is on the underside of the board, but I don't know if it's strictly SATA or not.
The EVGA Stinger looks good, but it needs something else before it can be used. Will this be dedicated to a WIFI card like previous versions or can an M.2 drive be used?
Norseman4 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Follow up: The EVGA Stinger has a daughter card that converts those pins to M.2 Key E configuration, not B or M that seem to be used for drives.Rauwomos - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
Does that mean it has no chance of being used for an M.2 drive then as it is solely an E Keyed M.2 port, is it being converted from a useable key to an e key?Norseman4 - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=111-S...The 20pin socket that's marked M.2 is converted to a M.2 Key E using a daughterboard. I have not seen any drives in the Key E format, so it looks like it's just for something else.
http://www.hwtools.net/PDF/M2%20Adapter%20Selectio...
Norseman4 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
MSI has information for the Z170i Gaming Pro AC, which lists Turbo M.2. I haven't read what that just yet though. (Source: Tom's Hardware)Norseman4 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
From an older post about MSI's X99 boards, Turbo M.2 = M.2 Gen 3.0 x4 (All of their Z170 boards have at least 1)Dahak - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
The USB Gen thing was a result of the USB-IF when they release usb 3.1, apple, msi is technically correct as they are following the proper naming.Yes its confusing to regular customers.
Impulses - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
I'm happy with my MSI P67 board but I think I wanna go ASUS this time, that Z170-A looks like a good no nonsense no frills board... And the Z97/X99-A both reviewed pretty well. Kinda light on USB ports but whatever... All I really care for is a decent layout, solid software, and M.2 for an SM951.vLsL2VnDmWjoTByaVLxb - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
"In the previous Z97 chipset, there are a total of 18 Flex-IO ports that can flip between PCIe lanes, USB 3.0 ports or SATA 6 Gbps ports. For Z97, this moves up to 26 and can be used in a variety of configurations:"I think you mean Z170 in that second paragraph.
Ryan Smith - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Indeed we do. Thanks.Oyster - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Ian, do you think it is possible to supply us with a tabular breakdown of all the motherboards? Not sure about others, but going through page-by-page is a bit overwhelming, and confusing at the very least. Good coverage as usual!Eidigean - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
I second this. looking for number of M.2 slots, PCIe slots, USB 3.1 ports w/ type of controller (Alpine or otherwise). I'm shocked so few support 3 M.2 slots.MrBowmore - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Why not just use the pcie? Is there anything better than a intel 750 and demands M.2? I dont get the need for M.2.Eidigean - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Well, the SM951 is quite interesting. Also, if the M.2 slots are used, the PCIe slots can be used for 4 GPUs, NICs, or RAID cards. The ASUS workstation board in this article is interesting.Gadgety - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Tabular would be great.The_Assimilator - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Z170X-UD5 and Z170X-UD3 galleries are swapped.I'm glad to see that Gigabyte is exposing 2x USB 3.0 internal headers on almost all their boards - USB 2.0 needs to die. Now if only they would replace the dual USB 2.0 headers with an additional 3.0, giving 3x USB 3.0 headers, then I would be ecstatic. My Z77X-UD5H is still the only decently-priced motherboard around with a trio of USB 3.0 headers, and it's not getting any newer!
Regardless, I'm probably going to skip Skylake, for the simple reason that I'm not interested in buying a board equipped with the useless SATA Express. By the time Cannonlake rolls around, M.2/NGFF should have killed SATAe and there will be even more USB 3.0 ports from the chipset.
DanNeely - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
I bought a GB board for a 4790k earlier this year for the dual headers. At least in the medium term though, I think they do need to keep 1 or 2 2.0 headers around. Not everyone buys a new case for their new builds, and older cases have built in 2.0 ports on the front/top panel. The same thing for front panel SD card readers; there are USB 3.0 versions out now, but the SD reader won't benefit from the faster connection so why spend money to replace it. I can't remember who makes it, but there's one OEM who sells some PSUs with an internal USB2 header for monitoring purposes.Beyond all of that, the chipset itself provides 14USB ports only 10 of which can be 3; so the mobo makers have 2 "free" headers to do something with. Dell/HP/etc will ignore them; but in the box ticking consumer market they're going to get used either for internal headers or a pairs of ports in the back. Anyone clinging to w7 who doesn't have PS2 peripherals in the closet will need those since 7 doesn't have a USB3 class driver; and at least in my case refused to talk to a 2.0 device in a 3.0 port until I got drivers installed.
Impulses - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
If you're using an SD reader for a modern camera with modern SD cards then it'll absolutely benefit from USB 3.0... Last 128GB SD I bought for like $58 can read at 150MB/s (or about 3x USB 2.0 speeds), Lexar UHS-II card. Most recent mirrorless bodies can take advantage of it too...8steve8 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
when will these actually be for sale?Ian Cutress - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Depends on the motherboard and what region you are in, but some are listed already: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-...8steve8 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
how about the 6700k CPUs in the USA?Luminair - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
FYI Asus has an alert on BBB for sending people broken products: http://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-...Hundreds of complaints this year, including people with broken motherboard who did an RMA and received in return... a broken motherboard.
DanNeely - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Ugh. Are they only testing RMAs after getting them sent back twice? (Assuming the first time is user error, not a hardware fault?)apoclypse - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Wow. Remember when motherboards and computer components were ugly? Thos Asrock boards are a work of art. The same with the MSI boards. Not to impressed with what Asus has this time around (in-terms of looks). I've recently built a Haswell-E rig with the X99X from Asrock so I'm not really looking to buy anything but damn those boards make me regret not waiting. Ah well, I needed the extra cores anyway.NARC4457 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Am I the only one that is still ridiculously confused at the next generation of fast storage? m.2/nvMe what's bootable, what's not, what pinout (B/M)....What the hell is going on with these standards (sic)?
Ian Cutress - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
M.2 is a connection standard that can support both SATA and PCIe storage protocols. It is up to the manufacturer to decide which protocol to implement.SATA drives can use AHCI or IDE, while PCIe drives can be either AHCI or NVMe, but it depends on the controller if NVMe is supported.
Typically NVMe has to be enabled in the BIOS in order to boot from the drive, and you have to install the operating system in UEFI mode - basically Win8.1/10 does this already.
Most Z170 motherboards with M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 should be supporting NVMe devices as boot drives , although I would still refer to the motherboard manufacturers website to confirm this is the case, either on the motherboard's page or in the motherboard's downloadable manual.
Hope that helps.
NARC4457 - Monday, August 10, 2015 - link
Thanks Ian, that actually helps a lot.joex4444 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
As an owner of a PCIe 2.0 x8 RAID card, I'd love to see someone put out a PCIe 3.0 x8 slot controlled by the PCH that's actually x8. I see a lot of slots that are physically x16, with x8 connectors but the text always refers to them as PCIe 3.0 x4 (PCH). As I've 8 drives connected to that, I want the full x8 connection. Now of course using the second physical x16 slot on SLI boards and taking 8 lanes from the CPU ought to work, but that drops the GPU down to an x8 link; it would be great to use x16/x8 instead of x16/x4 or x8/x8 here (GPU/RAID).Z170 looked so promising, but so far only X99 offers the PCIe configuration described above.
Ian Cutress - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
The chipset essentially has five PCIe 3.0 x4 controllers, and you can't combine them into an x8. You could use a PCIe bridge chip like a PLX to convert 4 to 8, but you'll still be limited by the four lanes in into the chip. The only way you will get an 8-lane slot is from the processor, unfortunately (because then it would open up GPU possibilities).DanNeely - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Is there any reason other than market segmenting (protecting LGA2011's 40 CPU lanes) or avoiding a single device being able to max out the DMI link for them not to allow combos bigger than a 4x?SirKnobsworth - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
The uplink to the CPU is only 32 Gbps, so there's no point in attaching something with more 4 lanes to the chipset.SirKnobsworth - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
x8 isn't going to be a bottleneck for the GPU.repoman27 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
In case anyone else was wondering what LSPCON actually stands for, it's a Level Shifter / Protocol CONverter. I've been trying to parse that ever since the initial Alpine Ridge announcement / slide leaks.I'm glad to see that Alpine Ridge actually includes an integrated LSPCON, because that wasn't entirely certain based on the earlier reports.
MegaChips appears to be first to announce a discrete LSPCON with their MCDP28 family: http://www.megachips.us/products/documents/MCDP28x...
timbotim - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
So far, I have only found that ASRock have a workaround for the win7-install-via-USB stick situation. Found it in the z170m pro4s manual on p.41 (Win7 USB Patcher). Out of interest does anyone know if using a USB adapter card in an expansion slot gets around the no-EHCI-in-Z170 problem?Mithan - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
I want to buy a mITX board and upgrade to one of these babies, only issue is ... which one. I am sick of big cases.Mr Perfect - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Right!
Damn it...
meacupla - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
I think Asrock's mITX board is still better than Gigabyte's, if for only one little detail, which is the presence of a killer branded NIC.Xpl1c1t - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Gamers these days...Look at all the flashy slots, shrouds and heatsinks.
Embarrassing.
dtsavage - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
3/55 = 5%5% of these boards are mATX. What is happening with this form factor?
Diagrafeas - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
I don't like these motherboards.My ideal configuration would be:
1st Slot: PCIE x16(x16)
2nd Slot: none (m.2 PCIE x4)
3rd Slot: PCIE x16(x8 electrical from CPU)
4rth Slot: none (m.2 PCIE x4)
5th Slot: PCIE x16(x4 electrical shared with 1st m.2)
6th Slot: PCIE x16(x4 electrical shared with 1st m.2)
7th Slot: PCIE x16(x4 electrical)
Which leaves
6+4 USB3 (preferably 2 internal)
4 USB2 (preferably 2 internal)
2 SATA3
1 Gigabit LAN
x1 PCIE for wifi ac
mrlithium - Friday, August 7, 2015 - link
I was interested until i read " 2 SATA3" <- not gonna cut it buddy.Diagrafeas - Friday, October 9, 2015 - link
Addition...2 SATA Express (shared with 2 m.2 which are shared with 2 PCIE x16(x4 electrical)) and obviously 4 more SATA Ports.
So you could use 2x 1m.2/or 1PCIEx4/or 1SATA Express/or 2 SATA at time.
Etern205 - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Anyone notice some of those boards have extra pins on their socket.Eidigean - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
The most appealing of all of these is actually the ASUS Z170-WS. No SATA-Express, 8x8x8x8 PCIe, 2 M.2 slots in RAID, a dedicated U.2 slot for a larger external drive, dual NICs, (hopefully) an Alpine Ridge USB 3.1 solution, and no Molex connector for PCIe power; instead a 3x2 12v header.Gigaplex - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
I don't think the Asus has Alpine Ridge. The article mentioned Gigabyte has an exclusive right now.mrlithium - Friday, August 7, 2015 - link
i watched a review on Asus's youtube channel PCDIY where JJ said that I think the Z170-Deluxe would support thunderbolt with the addon card, which the board has to be designed for, so they must have decided that making people buy the add-on card would be a better optionN_rman - Friday, August 7, 2015 - link
Definitely the most appealing, i agree. The only one that's even close is the Asrock 7+, with 3 32gb/s M.2 ports.Deders - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Any news as to weather Kaby Lake will be supported on these sockets? Trying to decide whether to go all out on a mobo that will last me a long time or get something midrange and upgrade again next year.http://www.legitreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/201...
This slide seems to indicate that it will be but has there been any other confirmation?
Ian Cutress - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
That source isn't exactly trustworthy. Don't believe everything you see on the internet, some just post/repost it without verification in 'the interests of discussion'!As for the Kaby Lane compatibility, we haven't had confirmation but it would follow Intel's strategy.
Uxi - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
The details about the 2nd M.2 slot being SATA only on the MSI M7 is incorrect, if I read the manual correctly. 2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD's can be used together with 4 SATA drives.AndyTri - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
In the specifications it states: M.2, SATA and SATAe ports maximum support 1x M.2_PCIe + 6x SATAs or 1x M.2_SATA + 1x M.2_PCIe + 4x SATAs. Please refer to page 19 forM.2 slots with examples of various combination possibilities. On page 19 however it gives a lot more configuration options including 2x M.2_PCIe + 4x SATAs
althaz - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
I'm tempted by the Skylake i7 and the Asus Z170-Deluxe, but I need to see some real motherboard reviews first. Obviously that's not exactly feasible for this sort of thing where many motherboards are released all at once - but hopefully those reviews are coming :).Especially those POST tests, it's silly, but they make a huge impact on my purchasing decisions.
Ian Cutress - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
Hopefully I'll squeeze one or two out before IDF. Pretty sure five or six samples arrived in the run up to launch, I need to open a few boxes.meacupla - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
I guess we're going to be waiting a while for MSI mITX and mATX boards to show up?Currently, there's only one mATX board that supports SLI, and it's a super expensive one from Asus.
sweeper765 - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
Do you still lose sata ports when using m.2?Mikemk - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
What is SSIC?mrlithium - Friday, August 7, 2015 - link
"Super Speed Inter Chip", A standard concerned with low power, and signaling between chips on the motherboard, while still using USB 3.0 drivers. Something for motherboard makers to be concerned with.http://www.design-reuse.com/articles/34710/low-pow...
trsqd - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
Am I the only one here dreaming of a Mini-ATX board with a Xeon ( I know there's none yet for 1151, but think of Xeon-D ) or i5/7 with Iris Pro graphics ( not everyone is a hardcore gamer ) , with at least 2x M.2 (x4) slots ( imagine SM951 in Raid 0 ) and which can take at least 64GB RAM ? It would be my dream machine...what an amazing host that would be. Or even an Intel NUC with 2xM.2...maofthnun - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
Does anyone know if any of these boards support vt-d? Or is it only gonna be Q170?sweeper765 - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
Asus Z170-A question:If i populate the M.2 slot with pcie ssd would that consume any of the regular sata ports?
Manual says m.2 is shared with sata express but what about the 2 sata ports? Can they be used with m.2 at the same time?
LukaP - Sunday, August 9, 2015 - link
Yes.sweeper765 - Monday, August 10, 2015 - link
Looks like the answer is no. I dug a bit deeper and it seems you lose 2 sata ports when connecting m.2 device, either sata or pcie based. It's a pity with all those extra lanes and ports in the end you can connect less devices than in previous chipsets.hurrakan - Friday, August 7, 2015 - link
Ian, you repeated almost the same sentance 3 times in a row - on the first page in the "Companion Controllers For Z170" section:"The most common we expect to see is the ASMedia ASM1142 controller, which is used to provide USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports. This controller uses two PCIe lanes to provide up to two USB 3.1 ports. This controller uses two PCIe lanes to provide up to two USB 3.1 ports, typically on the rear panel. "
okron1k - Friday, August 7, 2015 - link
in the drop down menu, there is an error. "asrock z170L mini-atx and micro-itx" should be micro-atx and mini-itx.stibay - Tuesday, August 11, 2015 - link
Just heard that expected release date for the Z170I GAMING PRO AC isn't untill the end of September :(mapesdhs - Wednesday, August 12, 2015 - link
Minor note for those in the US: the ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger is not available in the US yet. The info is on the global site and the UK site, but not on the US site. I guess it's coming later.Couldn't find anywhere offering the ASUS Z170-WS at all atm.
Vodokotlic - Tuesday, August 18, 2015 - link
Waiting for Supermicro. Yey :)Feliks - Monday, August 24, 2015 - link
"ASRock Z170: Mini-ATX and Micro-ITX" I think you may have those mixed up mates!rknox - Friday, October 9, 2015 - link
Seems no one is talking about the 800 pound (htpc) gorilla in the room .... Why, with all the skylake motherboards introduced in the last 2 months, not to mention the thorough article on htpc future-proofing by Ganesh back in the Spring, is there no mATX size or smaller hdmi 2.0 capable board? Yeah I know gaming rules, but isn't there a healthy htpc market (read htpc's aren't built with atx) and wouldn't a hdmi 2.0 (alpine ridge) motherboard be a big hit for those wanting to build a 4K capable rig?Dcreelma - Friday, October 16, 2015 - link
Hello, sorry if this is a stupid question, but why does it look like every one of these have at least one type of video out?stylinred - Thursday, December 24, 2015 - link
I have the mATX board, i like it! my only issues are:The pcie x16 is too close to the cpu, when using air cooling, and something large like the Noctua 15, the radiator fins sit right up against the GPU.
When using the Pci-e x16, the pci-e x1 is blocked and the Sata connections are blocked by GPU's so be sure to install your sata devices first
ParimalV - Wednesday, February 3, 2016 - link
I am confused that which of these motherboards have illuminated msi branding on the heatsink like asus rog motherboards have that eyes which can glow on heatsinkgsuburban - Friday, February 5, 2016 - link
Not enough SATA 3 ports, only 4, and no display port ?mathiash - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
Asrock should always get extra stability tests, especially their ITX boards. People are reporting nothing but trouble with these.gsuburban - Saturday, July 16, 2016 - link
My only beef with the new M.2 tech motherboards is; when using an M.2 drive, it disables a SATA 3 port. On some other brands, one M.2 drive will disable 2 SATA 3 ports. Either the chipset or the board designers need to configure to allow all ports to function. Many users, have several HDD's for storing their documents (user account) on them vs. on the M.2 plus back up needs such as images and file backups.I'm still wondering why the current boards bother with the 15-D video connector and why some don't use an HDMI video port while opting for the display port. HDMI is the future for anyone who will be looking for BluRay full audio functionality and HDMI is the only interface that supports it via the HDMI v2.0 and HDCP v2.2