Thursday, March 24th 2016
GIGABYTE Launches the X170-Extreme ECC Motherboard
GIGABYTE unveiled a new high-end socket LGA1151 motherboard, the X170-Extreme ECC. Positioned as a workstation motherboard for the high-end desktop crowd, this board is based on Intel C236 chipset, and comes with support for Intel Xeon E3-1200 V5 processors in addition to 6th generation Core "Skylake" processors. It also supports DDR4 ECC memory, which partly lends it its name. Built in the standard ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x8 with both populated), a third PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (electrical gen 3.0 x4, wired to the PCH), and three other PCIe 3.0 x1 slots.
A star attraction here is GIGABYTE's choice of an Intel-made 2-port USB 3.1 controller, which connects to the PCH over PCI-Express 3.0 x4, compared to most other USB 3.1 controllers in the market, which connect over PCI-Express 3.0 x2. This ensures consistent 10 Gb/s bandwidth dedicated to each of the two ports, without any bandwidth loss to overhead. The board offers one each of type-A and type-C ports, wired to this controller. The board offers an additional four USB 3.0 ports from the chipset and a Renesas-made hub chip. Also on offer is a 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 port, with DisplayPort 1.2 passthrough.Storage connectivity on the X170-Extreme ECC includes two 32 Gb/s M.2 slots, and four SATA-Express 16 Gb/s connectors, which break out as eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports. There are two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, one driven by an Intel I219-V controller, and another by a Killer E2400. The onboard audio solution is top-of-the-line from GIGABYTE's parts bin, with a Creative SoundCore 3D processor, TI Burr Brown OPA2134 OPAMP (user-replaceable), ground-layer isolation, and Nichicon Muse electrolytic capacitors. The board is driven by GIGABYTE's Dual-UEFI BIOS tech, with auto-switching redundant BIOS chips. The company didn't reveal pricing.
A star attraction here is GIGABYTE's choice of an Intel-made 2-port USB 3.1 controller, which connects to the PCH over PCI-Express 3.0 x4, compared to most other USB 3.1 controllers in the market, which connect over PCI-Express 3.0 x2. This ensures consistent 10 Gb/s bandwidth dedicated to each of the two ports, without any bandwidth loss to overhead. The board offers one each of type-A and type-C ports, wired to this controller. The board offers an additional four USB 3.0 ports from the chipset and a Renesas-made hub chip. Also on offer is a 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 port, with DisplayPort 1.2 passthrough.Storage connectivity on the X170-Extreme ECC includes two 32 Gb/s M.2 slots, and four SATA-Express 16 Gb/s connectors, which break out as eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports. There are two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, one driven by an Intel I219-V controller, and another by a Killer E2400. The onboard audio solution is top-of-the-line from GIGABYTE's parts bin, with a Creative SoundCore 3D processor, TI Burr Brown OPA2134 OPAMP (user-replaceable), ground-layer isolation, and Nichicon Muse electrolytic capacitors. The board is driven by GIGABYTE's Dual-UEFI BIOS tech, with auto-switching redundant BIOS chips. The company didn't reveal pricing.