GIGABYTE Launches the X170-Extreme ECC Motherboard

[btarunr]

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.

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[Shou Miko]

nice looking board that Gigabyte has created, would look killer in a military build.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Specs look great........board looks a mess.

 

[Jack1n]

What motherboard? i dont see any thing

 

[Caring1]

Designed by a school for the blind? What is up with that shitty color scheme.

 

[Parn]

All these SATAe ports, what a waste of precious PCIe lanes!

 

[Basard]

FINALLY! Something to match those Noctua fans!

 

[Tannhäuser]

Another dust trap on the shelves at Toys'R'Us.

 

[Schmuckley]

I like the features!
The Desert Camo...eh..

 

[TheLostSwede]

All these SATAe ports, what a waste of precious PCIe lanes!

You know they're multiplexed right? I.e. if you don't use them, they don't waste any lanes, as the lanes are shared with something else, like the x1 slots...

Fugly board though.

 

[ironwolf]

Workstation board with G1 Gaming on it? (Seems odd to me)

 

[Parn]

You know they're multiplexed right? I.e. if you don't use them, they don't waste any lanes, as the lanes are shared with something else, like the x1 slots...

Fugly board though.

Yeah, I'm aware on most boards SATAe tends to share lanes with something else. However it doesn't look like this is the case here. The first SATAe port seems to have exclusive access to 2 PCIe lanes according to the user manual.

I'd prefer them to be U.2 ports tbh. They may get ore use in that format.

 

[R-T-B]

Designed by a school for the blind? What is up with that shitty color scheme.

Taking a page from the ASUS Sabertooth book.

 

[ensabrenoir]

.....all these ugly board comments.....congratulation!!!!!! you've become your parents!!!!! Break out the prune juice and suspenders you grumpy old dodgers!!!


.........nope nope nope your right...... the urban desert camo thing is an oxymoron on so many level......

 

[Grings]

looks aside its the nicest c236 board i've seen yet

 

[jaggerwild]

Sabertooth wanna be.

 

[peche]

gigabyte should get back to guerrilla ... killer and assassin boards...
loved those series...

 

[dj-electric]

This board can be many things, it is not a TUF

 

[razzaQ]

So let me ask you this (for the "enthusiasts"): You (most likely not) buy this mobo for aesthetics reasons? If so, you are beyond redemption..

 

[Steven B]

So let me ask you this (for the "enthusiasts"): You (most likely not) buy this mobo for aesthetics reasons? If so, you are beyond redemption..

It's a C236 board, it doesn't support i7s. It supports Skylake LGA1151 Xeons, and i3s. At least there is no iGPU output haha. It does have more native sata ports than a Z170 board though.

 

[R-T-B]

It's a C236 board, it doesn't support i7s. It supports Skylake LGA1151 Xeons, and i3s. At least there is no iGPU output haha. It does have more native sata ports than a Z170 board though.

I thought C236 supported all of 6th gen skylake, just didn't support the igpu? Could be wrong though.

 

[Grings]

The CPU support list (and ram list for that matter) are missing on the gigabyte site at the moment, despite saying "please refer "cpu support list" for more information" in the specifications

It would be interesting to see if this and the asrock c232 board can support i5/7 unofficially...

 

[jabbadap]

The CPU support list (and ram list for that matter) are missing on the gigabyte site at the moment, despite saying "please refer "cpu support list" for more information" in the specifications

It would be interesting to see if this and the asrock c232 board can support i5/7 unofficially...

Don't know about those, but at least asus E3 PRO GAMING V5 with C232 chipset supports all socket 1151 processors. It mainly depends what tdp processors motherboard can take, I would presume that marketed as gaming it should take higher tdp cpus thus i5s and i7s. See supermicro site for starters, normally basic c232 c236 motherboards support cpus tdp up-to 80W, thus there is no higher tdps i5 or i7 listed. But then there are exceptions which have higher tdp cpus supported, like X11SAT, which supports i5s and i7s.

So all in all there's no restrictions on chipsets themselves for supporting all cpus, it's up-to motherboard manufacturer to make vrm solid enough and offer a bios that have support for all 1151 socket cpus.

 

[Caring1]

Not much point trying an i5 or an i7 as the chipset doesn't support overclocking.
Might make a decent crunching rig though.

 

[ypsylon]

One word to describe this board:

Kitsch