Gigabyte Announces H170, B150 Motherboards
With the release of Intel's 100 series chipsets, OEMs are hard at work rolling out the next generation of motherboards. Gigabyte announced a total of 14 new motherboards based on the H170 and B150 chipsets to compete against the likes of Asus and ASRock.
Of Gigabyte's new motherboards, the GA-H170-D3HP and the GA-H170N-WIFI stand above the rest. Based on the H170 chipset, both of these motherboards lack the ability to overclock, but pack in plenty of features to keep enthusiasts on a budget satisfied.
The full ATX GA-H170-D3HP is the only board released by Gigabyte to feature a USB Type-C port tied to an Intel USB 3.1 controller. Gigabyte didn't state if this controller uses USB 3.1 Gen 1 or USB 3.1 Gen 2 protocols, however, so it is unclear what this USB Type-C port is capable of. The motherboard also sports an M.2 Key M, two SATA Express connectors, and six SATA 3 ports, and it's capable of supporting RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 configurations. The board also has a high-end Realtek ALC1150 audio codec.
The other motherboard to host a USB Type-C port is the GA-H170N-WIFI, a mini-ITX board. This board lacks the Intel USB 3.1 controller featured on the GA-H170-D3HP, but keeps the USB Type-C port, which runs USB 3.0 only. This is still a helpful feature, as USB Type-C devices are becoming increasingly common and users will need devices to which they can easily connect.
As the board name suggests, it includes an 802.11ac wireless adapter for easy network connections. The board also features RAID support over the same M.2 and SATA connections as the larger full ATX board above, and takes advantage of the same high-end Realtek audio codec.
| Gigabyte 100 Series Motherboards | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | Form Factor | Memory Support | M.2 Support | SATA Support | LAN | Audio | USB Type-C |
| GA-H170-D3HP | ATX | 4 x DDR4 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 2 x SATA Express6 x SATA 3 | Intel LAN | Realtek ALC1150 | 1 x USB 3.1 |
| GA-H170-D3H | ATX | 4 x DDR4 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 2 x SATA Express6 x SATA 3 | Intel LAN | Realtek ALC1150 | None |
| GA-H170-HD3 DDR3 | ATX | 4 x DDR3 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 2 x SATA Express6 x SATA 3 | Realtek LAN | Realtek ALC887 | None |
| GA-H170-HD3 | ATX | 4 x DDR4 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 2 x SATA Express6 x SATA 3 | Realtek LAN | Realtek ALC887 | None |
| GA-H170M-D3H | mATX | 4 x DDR4 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 2 x SATA Express6 x SATA 3 | Intel LAN | Realtek ALC892 | None |
| GA-H170M-D3H DDR3 | mATX | 4 x DDR3 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 2 x SATA Express6 x SATA 3 | Intel LAN | Realtek ALC892 | None |
| GA-H170N-WIFI | mini-ITX | x DDR4 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 2 x SATA Express6 x SATA 3 | 2 x Intel LAN | Realtek ALC1150 | 1 x USB 3.0 |
| GA-B150M-D3H | mATX | 4 x DDR4 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 1 x SATA Express6 x SATA 3 | Intel LAN | Realtek ALC892 | None |
| GA-B150M-D3H DDR3 | mATX | 4 x DDR3 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 1 x SATA Express6 x SATA 3 | Intel LAN | Realtek ALC892 | None |
| GA-B150M-HD3 DDR3 | mATX | 2 x DDR3 | 1 x M.2 Key M | 6 x SATA 3 | Realtek LAN | Realtek ALC887 | None |
Although Gigabyte gave us the names of 14 motherboards coming out, we currently only have specs on ten. The reason Gigabyte didn't list the other four motherboards isn't clear at this time, but it is possible they won't be released in North America. Pricing and availability is not currently available.
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