Wednesday, December 12th 2018
Intel Launches B365 Express Chipset on 22nm Process, Possibly a Re-branded Z170
Intel today introduced the B365 Express desktop motherboard chipset as an in-between to its B360 Express and H370 Express chipsets. This model is part of Intel's optical enlargement of its motherboard chipsets to the 22 nm HKMG+ silicon fabrication node, to free up 14 nm++ for processors. Despite this, the TDP of the chipset remains unchanged at 6 Watts. The B365 has a couple of feature additions and subtractions over B360. To begin with it has a wider PCI-Express downstream root-complex, with 20 gen 3.0 lanes, on par with H370 Express. The B360, if you'll recall, only has 12 downstream PCIe lanes. This means B365 motherboards will have additional M.2 and U.2 connectivity.
According to the ARK specifications page for the B365 Express, this chip completely lacks integrated 10 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 2 connectivity. Perhaps the expanded downstream PCIe is really meant for motherboard vendors to use third-party USB 3.1 gen 2 controller chips. You still get eight 5 Gbps USB 3.0 ports (notice we didn't say USB 3.1 gen 1, because don't expect fast-charging features). The chipset also loses the latest generation Wireless AC integrated MAC. All of these point to the possibility of the B365 Express being a re-branded Z170 with locked CPU overclocking. Adding credence to this theory is the fact that while the B360 uses ME version 12, the B365 uses the older ME version 11. Much like the H310C, the B365 could include platform support for Windows 7.
According to the ARK specifications page for the B365 Express, this chip completely lacks integrated 10 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 2 connectivity. Perhaps the expanded downstream PCIe is really meant for motherboard vendors to use third-party USB 3.1 gen 2 controller chips. You still get eight 5 Gbps USB 3.0 ports (notice we didn't say USB 3.1 gen 1, because don't expect fast-charging features). The chipset also loses the latest generation Wireless AC integrated MAC. All of these point to the possibility of the B365 Express being a re-branded Z170 with locked CPU overclocking. Adding credence to this theory is the fact that while the B360 uses ME version 12, the B365 uses the older ME version 11. Much like the H310C, the B365 could include platform support for Windows 7.
8 Comments on Intel Launches B365 Express Chipset on 22nm Process, Possibly a Re-branded Z170
forcing consumers to buy new mother boards even though the chipsets are pretty much the same ones in 4yr old skylake mobos
but i guess it's understandable considering they are just trying to make more profit in a time when they have several competitors in different market segments:
www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/technology/amazon-server-chip-intel.html
(at Ark page, it says Kaby Lake)
It's rather a rebranded 200 series die. At least h310c is.
The igpu lacks drivers but thats not the chipset.
Intel provides the same USB3 driver for 8x/9x/1xx/2xx chipsets, and since the necro-300 series (h310c, z370, and possibly b365 - easy to dermine just by a photo) is still a 200 series, they just work.
...anything else is either optional or meaningless.
That's of course if one does not need the igpu, and is fine with crack-fixes to get system updates. I don't really get why people everywhere (including tech journalists) call that "support".