Intel Skylake Z170 Motherboards: A Quick Look at 55+ New Products
by Ian Cutress on August 5, 2015 7:59 AM ESTSupermicro Z170
When you mention a consumer motherboard, the name Supermicro does not shout loud from the rooftops. Supermicro is more commonly associated in the server industry with a large chunk of market share for providing enterprise platforms that power a number of industries and government departments. Technically they have had consumer motherboard products now for a couple of years, sticking with a low number of models to test the waters. Supermicro relies more on the name of the brand and the engineer expertise in the server space to carry their product forward. For Z170, they have informed me that at this point two models are in the works although there are some final decisions to be made particularly about coloring and style, so the following pictures may not represent final product.
Supermicro C7Z170-SQ
The SQ is the ATX model, with Supermicro using the red and black color scheme of other Gaming lines to apply it to their own brand.
Here is what looks like a mid-range motherboard sporting an x8/x4/x4 PCIe 3.0 layout in red with x4/x1/x1 in the other black slots from the chipset. The PCIe layout is slightly different to other mainstream boards by virtue of the M.2 slot above them which operates in PCIe 3.0 x4 mode. Because of the arrangement, it means we have a sub-optimal PCIe card placement for dual GPU setups, whereby the top two red PCIe lanes are used which does not leave a ventilation gap which is usually important in a consumer design.
In terms of hardware support, we get six SATA ports, a single USB 3.1 Type-C port on the rear panel due to an ASMedia ASM1142 controller, an Intel I219-V network port and a Realtek ALC1150 audio solution. Unlike some other boards we get a couple of server features, such as TPM and SATA DOM, as well as all five fan headers on board being 4-pin. It will be interesting to see how Supermicro has developed its BIOS and software especially in light of the stiff competition of the regular consumer motherboard manufacturers in this area
Supermicro C7Z170-M
The M is for micro-ATX, and it looks like Supermicro is aiming at something more for the cost conscious user here:
For graphics there is a single PCIe 3.0 x16 slot and no second slot like other micro-ATX motherboards for a second card. Instead we get a fixed with PCIe 3.0 x4 slot and a PCIe x1 slot for good measure. Other functionality is similar to that of the full sized motherboard with six SATA ports, an Intel I219-V for network, a Realtek ALC1150 audio codec and an M.2 slot running in PCIe 3.0 x4 mode. Where the micro-ATX differs is in the power delivery heatsinks and this time the USB 3.1 capabilities have shifted from a single Type-C to two Type-A ports.
At this point pricing for these boards is unknown but a sample of the C7Z170-SQ just came in through the door. We will be testing it in due course.
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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-...