SFF.Network Many 200-Series Motherboards Leaked ahead of CES

With Intel's Kaby Lake soon to be released, many motherboard manufacturers are gearing up for their Intel chipset 200-series lineup. Although new features over the 100-series are limited, this did not keep board manufacturers from innovating and trying to bring something unique to the table.

Read more here.

 

[iFreilicht]

I expect it to be in the 200+€ range. The Maximum VIII Impact actual retails at 270€.

224€ for me in Germany, so I'd hope it will be below 200. That's still a lot for such a small board, but SFF is not about saving money I guess.

 

[Kmpkt]

New EVGA Stinger just got outed as well. Also has Type C port

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/evga-z270-motherboards-classified-k,33311.html

 

[Therandomness]

And now that the NDA for Kaby Lake has lifted, we can see all the CPUs for it as well as the non-existant IPC improvements
Just need a H210 STX board or something...

 

[3lfk1ng]

as well as the non-existant IPC improvements

Ya, I was really hoping that this wouldn't be the case.
We've seen months of people saying "Clock for clock, it's the same" and so far, all the reviews that I have read reinforce those early statements. Worse yet, Tom's Hardware reports that MSI has informed them that in 30 samples tested on their motherboard, the QC was somewhat poor and the voltages were all over the place. [H]ardOCP confirmed this issue as two of their 3 retail processors offered a large gap.

I think TechPowerUP's review had the best summary.

It looks like we're back to the large-gap silicon lottery like the days of the e8400 processors. Buy 2-3, overclock them all, and return the bad ones.

Overall it looks like anyone that is already on a 6-series processor just saved some money and we have a new stock-clocked king for anyone long overdue for an upgrade. It will be interesting to see how quickly the January 5th prices will be effected by the imminent launch of AMD's Ryzen (if any).

On another note, those that have got their hands on well binned processors are breaking records left and right. http://hwbot.org/

The EVGA Stinger motherboard looks like a minor improvement over the z170. However, that sexy Asus Strix 270 is going to be hard to top, it looks like a fantastic board!

 

[Therandomness]

Ya, I was really hoping that this wouldn't be the case.
We've seen months of people saying "Clock for clock, it's the same" and so far, all the reviews that I have read reinforce those early statements. Worse yet, Tom's Hardware reports that MSI has informed them that in 30 samples tested on their motherboard, the QC was somewhat poor and the voltages were all over the place. [H]ardOCP confirmed this issue as two of their 3 retail processors offered a large gap.

I think TechPowerUP's review had the best summary.

It looks like we're back to the large-gap silicon lottery like the days of the e8400 processors. Buy 2-3, overclock them all, and return the bad ones.

Overall it looks like anyone that is already on a 6-series processor just saved some money and we have a new stock-clocked king for anyone long overdue for an upgrade. It will be interesting to see how quickly the January 5th prices will be effected by the imminent launch of AMD's Ryzen (if any).

On another note, those that have got their hands on well binned processors are breaking records left and right. http://hwbot.org/

The EVGA Stinger motherboard looks like a minor improvement over the z170. However, that sexy Asus Strix 270 is going to be hard to top, it looks like a fantastic board!

All I'm thinking about is dat i3... holy shit Ah well, they have some time now to perfect Cannon Lake before releasing it, and Zen better not be a fuck-up.

 

[Kmpkt]

AMD never disappoints. Don't worry, they got this

 

[Mackan]

The EVGA Stinger motherboard looks like a minor improvement over the z170. However, that sexy Asus Strix 270 is going to be hard to top, it looks like a fantastic board!

Maybe minor in looks, but they actually did a huge upgrade. It now has real M.2 port, even a U.2 port, USB-C, and what looks like a WiFi card out of the box. The Strix one seems more innovative with the M.2 on the top, but EVGA has a very strong contender in this board I think. And it's black... They have been a bit shoddy with their BIOS I think, and unclear if they have editable PWM fan curves there or not.

And for the Strix. How do they use the heatsink for both M.2 and the chipset? Not too clear. But definately looks like they have set a new standard.

Sweet, I didn't notice that at first glance. Now I'm wondering what the Impact will bring to the table, or if we'll even see a Z270 Impact.

Pretty sure an Impact will show up, but for some reason they want people to suffer waiting for it.

What's really missing now are black CPU heatsinks... How about a black Noctua L9i with black fan?

 

[Kmpkt]

It's a pretty massive heatsink. When you consider most M.2s use metallic stickers to radiate heat, I'm sure it's sufficient.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Where I'm impressed is on the 35W CPU end. My Haswell i7-4785T is a 4C/8T, 2.2 GHz base clock (3.2 GHz turbo) and 35W CPU. The i7-7700T is a 4C/8T, 2.2 GHz base clock (unknown turbo) and 35W CPU. This is a 31% base clock improvement while keeping the same TDP.

iGPU is also way faster than the HD4600 with a 41% speed improvement.

 

[Kmpkt]

The 7700T is 2.9 base, 3.8 boost which is pretty awesome. Slight improvement over the 6700T I am running at 2.8/3.6, not enough to upgrade.

 

[jeshikat]

It looks like we're back to the large-gap silicon lottery like the days of the e8400 processors. Buy 2-3, overclock them all, and return the bad ones.

I guess these guys are breathing a sigh of relief then: https://siliconlottery.com/

 

[BirdofPrey]

Thanks!

Also I found a couple more ITX motherboards from the leaked photos as well as a couple better views:

- On the Strix you can clearly see the M.2 card does in fact go under the chipset heatsink
- Looks like the Fatal1ty has the M.2 on the back of the board

The Strix board seriously puts everything else to shame. I don't think another board is going to come close to it this generation unless its the Impact IX

That's a nice board. I already have a skylake, so it'll fit in a 200 series motherboard, but there's not a big reason to upgrade that.
The new USB front panel connectors look neat, but we'll have to wait and see what actually comes of those, if they support USB C and how soon cases start having compatible front panels.

AMD never disappoints. Don't worry, they got this

HAH
Sure it's true when they do good, they do great, but they have also shown they are capable of bombing completely. Bulldozer was the worst boondogle since Netburst. I'm hopeful for Zen, but I am not expecting the second coming.

 

[cmyk78]

Maybe minor in looks, but they actually did a huge upgrade. It now has real M.2 port, even a U.2 port, USB-C, and what looks like a WiFi card out of the box. The Strix one seems more innovative with the M.2 on the top, but EVGA has a very strong contender in this board I think. And it's black... They have been a bit shoddy with their BIOS I think, and unclear if they have editable PWM fan curves there or not.

Where are you seeing a wifi card?

 

[jeshikat]

It's vertical, right behind the audio port stack.

 

[|||]

It's a pretty massive heatsink. When you consider most M.2s use metallic stickers to radiate heat, I'm sure it's sufficient.

The metallic sticker is on the back of the card. The front does not have it...I think it is too close to the maximum Z-dimension to incorporate it (as hard as that is to imagine).

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/10/samsung-960-pro-review-the-fastest-consumer-ssd-you-can-buy/

An intriguing new addition is the sticker on the back. M.2 SSDs pump out a fair bit of heat under heavy load, with some 950 Pro users finding drives could throttle inside particularly hot systems. While Samsung hasn't gone as far as sticking a heatsink on the 960 Pro, it has incorporated a thin sliver of copper into the rear sticker label to help dissipate heat. You can clearly see the thin layer of copper shining out from it when you handle the drive.

 

[1461748123]

Now there is me selling my z170i pro gaming and my 6700.. btw i7 7700 is already available on Taobao.com for like a month now!

 

[Kmpkt]

Why sell the 6700? It'll still work just as well in the Z270 board and the 7700 is a small upgrade at best. Just replace the board for the new chipset features and stuff.

 

[1461748123]

Why sell the 6700? It'll still work just as well in the Z270 board and the 7700 is a small upgrade at best. Just replace the board for the new chipset features and stuff.

I bought my 6700 for around 1800 CNY, which comes to about 260$ (btw it is new). And I sold it for 240$, so I guess that's worth it!

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Taobao prices are in CNY ... I thought it was JPY . Makes a huge difference, but more sense as a 10€ 1150 motherboard felt a bit weird lol.

Never knew JPY and CNY use the same currency symbol.

 

[1461748123]

Taobao prices are in CNY ... I thought it was JPY . Makes a huge difference, but more sense as a 10€ 1150 motherboard felt a bit weird lol.

Never knew JPY and CNY use the same currency symbol.

haha I kinda wonder when I'm browsing the Japan Amazon before as well