H170 vs Z170 Motherboards

[josejones]

H170 vs Z170 Motherboards

I've never had an H mobo before and wonder what the differences are between the H and Z versions? I was considering an H170 for a Skylake build when it comes out.

What are the pros and cons of going with an H170 Skylake motherboard vs a Z170 mobo?

 

[DeltaBravo]

The initial specs look fairly even except it appears with the Z line you will be able to overclock:
http://hexus.net/tech/news/mainboard/80342-intels-skylake-100-series-chipset-revealed/

I always thought the Z and the X series chipset/motherboards offered more performance/enthusiast features - not sure if this will be the same with Skylake or not. Hope this helps.

 

[josejones]

Well crap. The new Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming G1 Motherboard may change my mind:

http://vr-zone.com/articles/gigabyte-shows-z170-gaming-g1-motherboard-at-computex/93059.html

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/45684/breaking-more-info-gigabytes-impressive-z170x-gaming-g1/index.html

 

[Feliks]

With an H170 motherboard, you can't overclock your CPU. However because you're going the Intel route anyways, check your CPU beforehand because if it's locked, you can't overclock it anyways in which case a H170 motherboard will probably suffice.

 

[rhysiam]

Sorry to post in an old thread, but it's currently the 1st hit on Google for "H170 vs Z170" and it's missing a key bit of info...

H170 does *not* allow you to split the CPU PCIe lanes. So on H170 boards you'll get 1xPCIe 3.0 x16, and any further PCIe slots will be using lanes from chipset which are limited to a maximum of x4 lanes. That means NO SLI. Although CFX will technically work, it's not ideal and with high end hardware not a good idea.

Z170 on the other hand allows boards to split CPU PCIe lanes, providing two x8 slots, enabling multi-GPU options. To be clear, not all Z170 boards will actually implement this, but the fact is they can, whereas H170 boards cannot.

H170 boards can still offer great value for money as long as they're recognised as single-GPU only boards. Sorry again for reviving this thread, just felt it was an important bit of info for people trying to get their heads around these sometimes confusing chipset implementations.

 

[MeatPopsycle]

Sorry to post in an old thread, but it's currently the 1st hit on Google for "H170 vs Z170" and it's missing a key bit of info...

H170 does *not* allow you to split the CPU PCIe lanes. So on H170 boards you'll get 1xPCIe 3.0 x16, and any further PCIe slots will be using lanes from chipset which are limited to a maximum of x4 lanes. That means NO SLI. Although CFX will technically work, it's not ideal and with high end hardware not a good idea.

Z170 on the other hand allows boards to split CPU PCIe lanes, providing two x8 slots, enabling multi-GPU options. To be clear, not all Z170 boards will actually implement this, but the fact is they can, whereas H170 boards cannot.

H170 boards can still offer great value for money as long as they're recognised as single-GPU only boards. Sorry again for reviving this thread, just felt it was an important bit of info for people trying to get their heads around these sometimes confusing chipset implementations.

This is good info. Thanks for resuscitating the thread.

 

[matt4x4]

That clears a lot up for me. If the Z170 has 20 x 3.0 and the H170 has 16 x 3.0, what does that mean?

 

[rhysiam]

That clears a lot up for me. If the Z170 has 20 x 3.0 and the H170 has 16 x 3.0, what does that mean?

Yeah, so this involves an extra layer of complexity...

Skylake and preceding Intel CPUs offer two sources of PCIe Lanes, one set from the CPU itself, and a second set from the chipset (can be Z170, H170, H110, B150, etc).

CPU Lanes: With Skylake Desktop (the standard LGA 1151 models, not any future HEDT ones that go in future LGA 3647 mobos) the CPU provides 16 x PCIe 3.0 lanes. To add to confusion, the chipset determines whether these lanes can be split into two x8 lanes, or even a x8 and 2 x4 lanes (for Z170 & Q170), or whether all 16 lanes are tied to a single x16 slot (H110, B150, Q150, H170).

Chipset Lanes: Are totally dependent on the chipset. So Z170/Q170 provide a full 20 x PCIe 3.0 lanes from the chipset, H170 drops four to offer 16 lanes, B150 and Q150 drop these further to 8 and 10 lanes respectively, and H110 drops this to a lowly 6 lanes of PCIe 2.0 (not 3.0... half the bandwidth).

The only other things worth mentioning are that the chipset lanes have slightly higher latency, so for ultra latency dependent hardware (i.e. GPUs), CPU lanes are preferred.
Further, all motherboards will already use a bunch of those Chipset PCIe lanes for SATA ports, USB ports, onboard audio, LAN, M.2 slots, etc, etc... just about every "onboard" piece of hardware runs of those chipset PCIe lanes. So you don't have access to all of them, and only a few would actually be left over for PCIe slots.
Finally, and probably most significantly, with all Skylake Chipsets the chipset PCIe lanes cannot be "combined" into any more than x4 lanes. So you can't get a x8 or x16 slot (or device) from the chipset lanes.
There are a load of other random limitations/associations too, but I've rambled on enough already... check out this from Anandtech if you want more info on HSIO Ports and Chipset PCIe lanes in Skylake: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/5

 

[Samer1970]

H170 vs Z170 Motherboards

I've never had an H mobo before and wonder what the differences are between the H and Z versions? I was considering an H170 for a Skylake build when it comes out.

What are the pros and cons of going with an H170 Skylake motherboard vs a Z170 mobo?

The problem is not in the difference between them , The Problem is in the Extras The mobo makers put in the motherboard of Z chipsets ... you will hardly find similar specs ..

That is , Better sound , Better LAN , more M2 slots , better USB3.1 chip , better cooling , LEDS , Thunderbolt 3 you will find those better on Z motherboards ... H and B are made Economical.

And I Agree , Gigabyte z170X gaming 5 is a very good series

be sure to pick rev 1.1 and not 1.0

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5835#ov