Normally, motherboards go on shelves at the same time as processors do. In this occasion, Intel has confirmed that their Coffee Lake processors will launch on October 5. As per tradition, images of some of the upcoming motherboards from various brands have been leaked on the web. Meanwhile, we know that many of you are already planning your future Z370 builds or deciding on which motherboard to accompany your PC upgrade. If you're a fan of ASUS products, we have a treat for you. From what VideoCardz have gathered so far, ASUS plans to release sixteen different models from their Republic of Gamers (ROG), The Ultimate Force (TUF), Strix and Prime series.

The ROG line will father five Maximus X models: Apex, Formula, Code, Hero with Wi-Fi AC, and Hero. There is no mention of an Extreme model, but our experience tells us that model usually comes at a later date. It's also possible that it may never see the light of day for this generation. From what we can make of the images, the Maximus X Hero will employ a 10-phase digital VRM design. The motherboard retains the black and grey theme with RGB illuminated heatsinks just like its predecessor. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality were present on the Code models and above in the previous generation. We're happy to see ASUS offering a Hero variant this time with those two functionalities.

BIOSTAR RACING series continues to be at the forefront of gaming motherboards and is set to offer the 3rd generation of BIOSTAR RACING series motherboards with Z370 chipset. These motherboards will feature a new gold theme design, strong and powerful hardware design, elevated HiFi sound quality, easy-to-control software control and new advanced VIVID LED DJ for more RGB lighting customization fun. This will be available October 5th for enthusiasts such as gamers, content creators and overclockers who plan to upgrade to the recently announced 8th Gen Intel Core desktop processors: Intel Core i7, 6-core Intel Core i5 and 4-core Intel Core i3.

Fans will be pleased with BIOSTAR's 3rd generation motherboards performance and flexibility, thanks to Intel's performance options with unlocked "K" processors. The brand new BIOS and driver UI design will make this more intuitive and fun. There is also BIOSTAR's brand new A.I. FAN to fully customize fan modes or auto-detect along with an easy-to-use software interface to monitor the temperature situations.

BIOSTAR continues to lead the way in Crypto Mining with an estimated installation of 1 in every 5 mining systems around the world; thanks to its comprehensive line-up of Intel and AMD dedicated mining motherboards, price-performance positioning and ease-of-use. BIOSTAR now makes it even easier for miners by partnering with ethOS to create a total-solution with its Crypto Mining series motherboards and the ethOS USB flash drive preloaded with ethOS system. With the Plug-and-Mine solution, BIOSTAR brings miners an easy-to-follow, simple to set-up package, welcoming more people to join the crypto mining community.

The ethOS Mining System is one of the most straight-forward operating systems for mining ZCash, Monero, Ethereum and other GPU-minable coins. The setup is simple Plug-and-Mine, without needing a SSD. When paired with BIOSTAR mining boards, building a heavy yet stable mining rig of up to 12 GPUs can be done with ease. These have been tried and tested by both BIOSTAR and ethOS.

BIOSTAR recently released the RADEON RX VEGA 56, which is a must-have for miners with the ability to crank out crazy hash rates for mining, while gamers can expect high performance graphics processor power with the same graphics card. Combined with the BIOSTAR RACING B350 series, which continues to be popular amongst gamers with its price-performance and gaming features, these make up for a great solution for mining during the day and gaming at night.

The Vega 56 has hash rate/power draw ratio that puts it in a class by its own, surpassing that of the RX 580, which was previously the graphics card of choice for mining. With the hype surrounding its mining capabilities, lets not forget that Vega 56 is a top-of-the-line graphics card that includes 56 compute units, 21/10.5 TFLOPS with 8GB of 2048-bit High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2) for performance gaming that gives you the best graphics possible.

BIOSTAR releases the H110M-BTC, the first Intel H110 chipset micro ATX motherboard dedicated for crypto mining systems; a great choice for newbies. Even with a compact design, the engineers at BIOSTAR have managed to squeeze 6 x PCI-E native support (1 x PCI-E x16 3.0, 5 x PCI-E x1 2.0) onto the H110M-BTC, while most motherboards normally provide up to 3-4 PCI-E slots. The H110M-BTC also supports all the essentials in optimizing your mining rig: 7th generation Intel Core processors, 2-DIMM DDR4-2400/ 2133/ 1866 up to 32 GB, HDMI and USB 3.0.

The BIOSTAR H110M-BTC is built from the ground up for mining, be eliminating features that are not enhanced for mining performance. It focuses on providing a high return on investment in making sure there is native support for up to 6 X PCI-E. The 4-pin 12V AUX power connector ensures enough power to keep up to 6 graphics card running stable. And it has 100% solid capacitors making the motherboard extremely durable. The monitor output supports HDMI KVM for easy management of multi-mining setups or D-Sub KVM for more conventional multi-monitor setups. All these power packed features on a micro ATX design, makes this a great choice for compact mining rigs.

BIOSTAR proudly announces an exclusive partnership with ethOS, a 64-bit Linux OS; giving miners the simplest possible way to set up a mining rig. This comes as great news for anyone who wanted to dabble with mining, but was not sure how. With the ethOS mining OS, there is no need to install drivers, configure Windows or compile software, while BIOSTAR crypto mining motherboards are tried and tested with the ethOS mining OS, making it as simple as boot and mine. Get ready to collect your Ethereum, Zcash, Monero and many other gpu-minable coins.

BIOSTAR Mining Boards with Intel B250, B85 and H81 Chipsets
BIOSTAR crypto mining motherboards (including previous generation chipsets in B85 and H81) continue to win high praises for easy-to-use, long-term stability under heavy usage and high return on investment. BIOSTAR mining boards with Intel chipsets supports 12 to 6 graphics cards, the models currently available are: BIOSTAR TB250-BTC PRO, BIOSTAR TB250-BTC+, BIOSTAR TB250-BTC, BIOSTAR TB85 and BIOSTAR H81A. Whether you are a pro, mainstream or newbie to mining, one of these will fit the bill.

BIOSTAR RACING and PRO series motherboards offer one of the widest selection of AM4 motherboards for Ryzen 3, 5, 7, Bristol Ridge and 7th Generation A-series. Gamers looking to take full advantage of the affordable AMD quad-core CPUs can select from BIOSTAR's RACING X370 series: RACING X370GTN, RACING X370GT7, RACING X370GT5 or RACING X370GT3. While anyone aiming to build a value and performance system can select from BIOSTAR's RACING B350 series: RACING B350GTN, RACING B350GT5, RACING B350GT3 and RACING B350ET2 and PRO B350 and A320 series: TB350-BTC, TA320-BTC, A320MH PRO and A320MD PRO.

AMD has announced full and immediate retail availability of their Wraith Max cooler through retail channels. The 140 W TDP Wraith Max cooler was previously only available through a bundle with AMD's top of the line Ryzen 7 1700X and 1800X. However, through popular demand, AMD have decided to make that cooler available solo. Ease of installation through AMD's Spring-Screw mechanism, jolly good looks, LED lighting, relatively silent performance (38 dBa) and respectable performance seem to have been enough to convince AMD users.

The Wraith Max cooler is compatible with AMD AM4, AM3+, and FM2 motherboards. The RGB ring's color can be customized through a myriad of RGB control apps from various manufacturers, such as Asus' Aura Sync, Gigabyte's RGB Fusion, MSI's Mystic Light, Biostar's Vivid LED DJ, and ASRock's RGB LED tools. AMD also offers the AMD Wraith Max RGB lighting control software (powered by Cooler Master) as a free download. The Wraith Max comes with both a USB header cable and an RGB LED header to control the lighting feature. A copper base plate and heatpipes, along with pre-applied thermal paste and a 92mm Cooler Master fan. The down-blowing fan also provides an extra bit of cooling for the socket area and VRMs. Perhaps the $59 price-tag will turn some prospective buyers off, but still, this remains the best stock cooler option in the market, and for someone who wants to keep an AMD cooling identity, is the best available option.

In this issue of the Ryzen BIOS update digest, we have the latest updates. Our BIOS update digest lets you keep track of crucial BIOS updates that improve stability of your AMD Ryzen machine. As per usual, only updated BIOSes from the last digest are listed. Changes are listed after each BIOS, sans beta BIOSes which do not always include change logs. You can find it all below.

In this release, we have several new betas, mostly all consisting of fresh AGESA 1.0.0.6a code.

BIOSTAR posted technical specifications of its first graphics card designed for crypto-currency mining, bearing the model number "VA47D5RV42." This card, which is based on the design of its RX 470/480 graphics cards; is built around the Radeon RX 470D chip, and endowed with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory. The RX 470D is a "lite edition" or LE variant of the Polaris 10 silicon, which never made it to the DIY channel market, but occasionally reared its head in the pre-built OEM market. It features fewer stream processors than the RX 470, at 1,792 vs. 2,048. The chip is clocked at 1200 MHz (boost), with 7.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory. Interestingly, unlike most "mining" graphics cards we've seen so far, this card appears to feature a full complement of display outputs, which includes three DisplayPorts and one each of HDMI and DVI. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Cryptocurrency mining has once again found revitalized value thanks to skyrocketing cryptocurrency prices now reaching record highs. GPU-based mining has long-been the most cost-effective and most accessible way of entering this field and BIOSTAR has been one of the foundations that helped many enthusiasts as well as investors in creating platforms for this industry. BIOSTAR since the H81A and TB85 series have been favorites by miners for its balance of price and scalability offering support up to six graphics cards for maximum board utilization.

Thanks to years of professional experience in mining backed by feedback from customers as well as internal R&D, BIOSTAR has debuted its most innovative mining platform yet. Making its debut during COMPUTEX 2017, motherboards that support up to 8 graphics cards were showcased by BIOSTAR in its booth receiving positive feedback from the people present. Today BIOSTAR has just up the ante with the announcement of it's the world's first motherboard that can support up to 12 graphics cards simultaneously with the global announcement of the TB250-BTC PRO specialized cryptocurrency mining motherboard.

BIOSTAR is proud to announce its latest motherboard designed for the perfect balance of performance and value for small form factor (SFF) and home theatre PCs with its latest motherboard featuring AMD A10-4655M SoC solution. BIOSTAR has created the A68N-5600 in line with its SoC motherboard offerings that bring together the essence of the ultimate home-entertainment or office PC that offer low-power, small footprint whilst still bringing excellent performance for its intended tasks The BIOSTAR A68N-5600 has an MSRP of USD 64.99.

Featuring a built-in AMD A10-4655M quad-core processor capable of Turbo clocks of 2.8GHz with a base clock of 2GHz, the motherboard delivers modern-day multitasking performance for day-to-day task as well as decoding task for entertainment use, enough to play HD content. The motherboard supports DDR3-1333MHz memory up to 32GB for excellent compatibility and all comes in the compact mini-ITX form factor perfect for SFF.

BIOSTAR has consistently improved its motherboard product design back to the standards of its TPower glory-days, and unveiled this stunning looking flagship LGA2066 motherboard, the Racing X299GT9. Built in the E-ATX form-factor, the board features a well-spaced out layout, and draws power from a pair of 8-pin EPS power connectors, and a 6-pin PCIe, besides 24-pin ATX. It conditions it for the CPU with a 14-phase VRM. The CPU is wired to eight DDR4 DIMM slots, and seven PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/x16/x8/x4/x4/x4/x4).

Storage connectivity on the BIOSTAR Racing X299GT9 includes two 32 Gb/s M.2 slots (stacked), two 32 Gb/s U.2 ports, and four SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Connectivity includes a 10 GbE connection driven by Intel X550AT processor), a second 1 GbE driven by Intel i219-V, USB connectivity includes two 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 ports (one each type-A and type-C), and six 5 Gb/s USB 3.0. The onboard audio features a Hi-Fi circuit. The board is peppered with RGB LEDs and additional headers.

BIOSTAR is proud to introduce the first ever Crypto Mining Card for graphics card expansion to fully convert your gaming PC to a professional cryptocurrency mining rig that can handle up to 8 graphics cards (the motherboard requires 6 PCI-e slots). The new BIOSTAR Crypto Mining Card allows BIOSTAR's hot selling gaming motherboards, like RACING H170GT3, GAMING H170T, Hi-Fi H170S3H, Hi-Fi B150S1, Hi-Fi B150S1 D4, or TB150 PRO to be used for crypto mining applications and expand on its primary function as an entertainment, workstation or gaming machine.

This makes it easy to explore the growing market of cryptocurrency mining and avail of your existing gaming system. By extending support for 8 graphics cards to the max (the motherboard requires 6 PCI-e slots), the Crypto Mining Card can return your investment on your system by giving you the flexibility to create a mining rig to generate income from mining popular cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, Ethereum or Zcash.

BIOSTAR introduced its first custom-design Radeon RX 580 graphics card, the RX 580 8 GB Dual Cooling (model: VA5805RV82). The company had announced its foray into AMD Radeon graphics cards with a reference-design RX 580, in April. The new RX 580 Dual Cooling combines an AMD-reference design PCB with a custom-design cooling solution. This cooler features an aluminium heatsink with a copper core over the GPU; ventilated by a pair of 80 mm fans, which stay off when the GPU is idling.

The card sticks to AMD reference clock speeds of 1257 MHz core, 1340 MHz boost, and 8.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory. It features 8 GB of memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface. Based on the 14 nm "Lexa" (Polaris 20) silicon, the Radeon RX 580 features 2,304 stream processors, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The card draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.4, one HDMI 2.0, and a dual-link DVI. The company didn't reveal pricing.

BIOSTAR expanded its niche line of motherboards for Bitcoin-mining rigs, with two boards for the socket AM4 platform, the TA320-BTC, and the TB350-BTC. These boards feature a minimalist layout so you can drop in as many PCI-Express GPU or ASIC Bitcoin-mining cards as possible. As their names suggest, the TA320-BTC is based on the entry-level AMD A320 chipset, and the TB350-BTC the mid-range AMD B350. Both boards share an identical PCB, and barring for some chipset-level features, their feature-sets are largely identical.

The boards are built in the narrow ATX form-factor, and draw power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 4-pin Molex (optional), and 8-pin EPS power connectors. A 6-phase VRM conditions power to the SoC, which is wired to two DDR4 DIMM slots, besides a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, and six other PCI-Express 3.0 x1 slots. Storage options are limited to four SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Connectivity includes 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, DVI and D-Sub display outputs, six 5 Gbps USB 3.0 ports, and two USB 2.0 high-power ports (1.5 A current). Both boards support Ryzen processors (up to 95W TDP), and 7th gen A-Series "Bristol Ridge" APUs. Available now, the TB350-BTC is priced at USD $84.99.

BIOSTAR has announced an evolution of their G300 SSDs that it introduced in August 2016. The new, revised G330 series maintains the overall design from the series it supersedes, but upgrades the controller to an SMI 2258 (from an SMI 2256). They're built on Micron's 3D TLC NAND, with a DRAM cache that boosts performance, and come in three different capacities (128, 256 and 512 GB) in a 2.5-inch form factor, with a 6.8 mm height.

The drives feature read speeds up to 565MB/s and write speeds up to 515MB/s over a SATA 6Gb/s interface, and come with a MSRP of $59 for the 128GB model (G330-128GB), $99 for the 256GB model (G330-256GB), and $169 for the 512GB model (G330-512GB).

BIOSTAR is thrilled to announce its latest lineup of graphics card for gamers featuring the 2nd-generation Polaris architecture from AMD coupled with excellent gaming performance and higher clock speeds. Introducing the new BIOSTAR RADEON RX 500 series GPUs designed to be the perfect graphics upgrade for those looking to play modern games and experience VR at compelling prices and the prodcuts will be exclusively for Asia Pacific and China region.

The new BIOSTAR RADEON RX 500 series GPUs include the latest flagship RX 580, together with the mainstream RX 570 and RX 550. The new GPUs feature support for DX12 and Vulkan API. Combined with technologies to help improve visual performance and display technologies to improve the overall gaming experience, gamers will fully enjoy their gaming experience with the new RADEON RX 500 series.

BIOSTAR is thrilled to announce the latest addition to the growing mini-ITX family of BIOSTAR motherboards with the introduction of the world's first mini-ITX motherboards for AMD AM4 platform and the first mini-ITX RGB LED-capable motherboards with AMD X370 and AMD B350 chipsets. BIOSTAR is pleased to welcome the new BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN and RACING B350GTN mini-ITX motherboards into the RACING Series family. Both motherboards aim to deliver the best balance of form and function, delivering the full potential that the AMD AM4 platform offers especially with AMD RYZEN CPUs, all in a small package.

The BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN and RACING B350GTN comes equipped with BIOSTAR 2nd-gen RACING features like 5050 LED Fun Zone with dual 5050 LED header for DIY customization, the BIOSTAR exclusive VIVID LED DJ with full RGB LED control that lets enthusiasts design their own system lighting with precise control. Together with that, BIOSTAR also adds performance and quality features for maximum system performance and stability.

BIOSTAR is thrilled to present the latest addition to its AM4 product line-up with the debut of the 2nd-generation of the highly-acclaimed BIOSTAR PRO Series motherboards. The new BIOSTAR A320 PRO series features new and improved features that focus on reliability, stability whilst providing top-of-the-line performance. The 2nd-generation PRO Series motherboards featuring A320 chipset supports AMD RYZEN CPU and upcoming APUs for the AM4 socket. The board will support up to DDR4-2667 memory up to 32GB in capacity.

BIOSTAR today introduced the first AMD X370 chipset based socket AM4 motherboard to the market, with the X370GTN. The board comes with out of the box support for AMD Ryzen processors, with TDP of up to 95W. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 4-pin ATX power connectors, and conditions it for the AM4 SoC using a 7-phase VRM. The socket is wired to two full-length DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 memory; and the lone PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, besides some of the I/O ports.

Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gb/s ports from which two are directly wired to the AM4 SoC, and one 32 Gb/s M.2-2280 slot with NVMe booting support (reverse side). USB connectivity includes two 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 ports (including a type-C port), and six USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, two via headers). The board features BIOSTAR's Hi-Fi onboard audio solution, and a gigabit Ethernet connection driven by Realtek DragonLAN controller. Display outputs include DVI and HDMI.

BIOSTAR is thrilled to announce its latest addition to its great line-up of products with its newest offering from its storage family of products with the new BIOSTAR M200 Series solid-state drives. Designed for high-performance, low-profile applications, the BIOSTAR M200 Series SSD is intended for systems that require high-speed storage in a low-profile form factor like notebooks, SFF PCs and HTPCs. Available in 120GB and 240GB capacity, the BIOSTAR M200 SSD is perfect for those looking to upgrade their system with a new SSD or speed-up their mobile device for better performance and battery life.

New-generation systems come with M.2 slots that utilize high-speed connection to your system which is the best interface when you want the most from your system. M.2 form factor storage like the BIOSTAR M200 M.2 SSD come in low-profile designs which allow users to insert them in most devices that support M.2 2280. M.2 also has the benefit of zero noise, low heat output and low power draw making them an ideal upgrade for the power user looking to step-up their system performance while gaining the advantage of M.2 storage.

Following the successful introduction of AMD Ryzen 7 desktop processors including record pre-orders and award-winning performance, AMD today announced Ryzen 5 desktop processors will launch worldwide on April 11, 2017, offering disruptive price-to-performance for gamers and creators. With end users at the heart of everything AMD does, the new Ryzen 5 processors feature the powerful and efficient "Zen" architecture in 6-core,12-thread as well as 4-core, 8-thread options, to deliver enhanced performance, immersive experiences and high performance innovation to gamers and consumers worldwide with a price range of $169 to $249 USD SEP.

"Ryzen will ultimately bring innovation and competition to virtually every segment of the PC market, and Ryzen 5 is the next big step on that journey, designed to achieve new levels of compute performance for millions of PC users," said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics Group, AMD. "AMD reinvigorated the high-performance desktop market with Ryzen 7 earlier this month, and AMD Ryzen 5 now brings the power and efficiency of the 'Zen' core to users in the highly popular sub-$300 segment of the market."

BIOSTAR is proud to introduce new additions to its growing AMD RYZEN motherboard lineup designed with the perfect balance of cost and performance with the new RACING B350GT3 and RACING B350ET2 motherboards, the first micro-ATX motherboards for AMD RYZEN. Featuring support for AM4 socket processors including AMD RYZEN which deliver incredible multithreaded performance at less price than its competitor, the BIOSTAR RACING B350GT3 and RACING B350ET2 allows users who want to unleash the power of AMD RYZEN without spending too much.

BIOSTAR sets the stage for the micro-ATX AM4 market as the pioneer in including RGB LED function in its micro-ATX B350 motherboards. The BIOSTAR RACING B350GT3 is ideal for system builders and gamers that want an RGB lighting-capable system with the latest AMD B350 chipset. In addition to this, the BIOSTAR RACING B350ET2 sets itself apart from the competition by introducing 1.5V USB charger functionality and SATA POWER characteristics, perfect for iCafe owners who want to feature LED-equipped gaming headphones from the USB.

Here are the winners of the TechPowerUp and BIOSTAR Racing GT giveaway. Three lucky winners from the United States and Mexico, win one of BIOSTAR's finest socket LGA1151 Racing GT series motherboards, which includes one winner for the Racing Z270GT6 and two winners that get a Racing B250GT5, each. These motherboards feature powerful CPU VRM, RGB LED lighting preparation, and BIOSTAR's Puro Hi-Fi onboard audio solutions. Without further ado, the winners:

• Daniel from the United States, wins a Racing Z270GT6
• William and John, both from the United States, win a Racing B250GT5, each

TechPowerUp will return with more such interesting giveaways.