Intel's B250 Chipset
Intel's released its 200-series chipsets alongside the company's new Kaby Lake processors to bring mild improvements to the LGA1151 platform. Overall, these chipsets don't have any major improvements, but they do have some notable updates compared to their predecessors; such as support for DDR4 RAM clocked at 2400MHz. The 200-series PCHs are also compatible with Intel's Optane storage technology.
B250's other key changes from B150 include an increase from 18 to 25 HSIO lanes, and B250 also has four additional PCI-E lanes. This will allow OEMs to support a wider array of ports and on-board devices than was possible with B150.
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Intel Consumer Chipsets
| Chipset | X99 | Z270 | Z170 | H270 | H170 | B250 | B150 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU PCI-E 3.0 Config Support | 1 x 16 or 2 x 16 or 2 x 16 + 1 x 8 or 5 x 8 | 1 x 16 or 2 x 8 or 1 x 8 + 2 x 4 | 1 x 16 or 2 x 8 or 1 x 8 + 2 x 4 | 1 x 16 | 1 x 16 | 1 x 16 | 1 x 16 |
| Chipset PCI-E Support | 8 PCI-E 2.0 | 24 PCI-E 3.0 | 20 PCI-E 3.0 | 20 PCI-E 3.0 | 16 PCI-E 3.0 | 12 PCI-E 3.0 | 8 PCI-E 3.0 |
| Maximum HSIO Lanes | 18 | 30 | 26 | 30 | 22 | 25 | 18 |
| Memory Channels/ DIMMs per Channel | 4/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 |
| DMI | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| CPU Overclocking Support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| RAID Support 0/1/5/10 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| SATA 3.0 Ports | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Intel Optane Support | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| USB 2.0 Support (USB 3.0) | 14 (6) | 14 (10) | 14 (10) | 14 (8) | 14 (8) | 12 (6) | 12 (6) |
| Independent Display Support | N/A | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
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