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.
 

1461748123

Master of Cramming
Nov 5, 2016
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Btw seems like they cancelled the ROG Maximus IX series's itx motherboard? Didn't see any mention on ROG Maximus IX Impact.
 

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
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Feb 22, 2015
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The Impact is always late, but they've also skipped a chipset with the Gene before so they may do the same since Kaby Lake is such a minor update.
 
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CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
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Yup, that new ASUS Z270i STRIX Gaming is my next motherboard for sure. I've bought everything else, just waiting for this motherboard to be available for purchase. Oh, and I'm waiting on my S4-Mini as well. :D HYPE!
 

jtd871

SFF Guru
Jun 22, 2015
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Well, crap. No H270 mITXs.

Sorry, y'all, but I have no need (or desire) to OC, so Z270 is way overkill for me. Hopefully, the non-K Skylake CPU and non-Z mobo markets are headed for modest discounts in the short term.
 
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Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
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Well, crap. No H270 mITXs.

Sorry, y'all, but I have no need (or desire) to OC, so Z270 is way overkill for me. Hopefully, the non-K Skylake CPU and non-Z mobo markets are headed for modest discounts in the short term.

Second board/photo on the SFF Network news article this thread is based upon is the ASRock H270M-ITX/ac. It is quite possible that you were gobsmacked after looking at the ASUS Strix immediately above it and couldn't recover until you'd scrolled past the H270 board.

There are also the MSI B250i Gaming Pro AC and Gigabyte H270N-WIFI in the same article. Non-overclockers rejoice!
 
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alamilla

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Feb 11, 2016
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Yep, that Strix board is a big step up from Asus Z170 offerings. I'd prefer having the M.2 in the back, but on the front isn't too bad. The icing on the cake would be if it supported Thunderbolt 3.
Official specs are now up on the ASUS website and both mATX and ITX z270 boards are using Asmedia controllers unfortunately.
Gigabyte have an mATX offering however that's compatible with their Thunderbolt 3 AIC.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=6130#kf
 
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jtd871

SFF Guru
Jun 22, 2015
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Thanks for pointing out my error, @Phuncz and @ilovelampshade .

Also, MSI has apparently listed a H270I Gaming AC board, but I have not seen any images (yet). I feel a little better that I'm not going to have to pay a premium for a H170, which seem to be going out of stock all over.
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
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I'd be surprised if it didn't. Most of AsRock's higher end boards seem to include it. (including the Z97 ITX-AC which I believe is the predecessor to this board)
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
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Best RAM for Strix?

 

GuilleAcoustic

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Jun 29, 2015
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Waiting for Ryzen to show up, but not impressed by Kaby lake from the tests I saw yesterday.

No IPC gain, marginal iGPU gains (will wait for Iris Plus reviews), lotery-like quality if you intend for OC...

Already skipped Skylake, will skip Kaby lake too.
 

Sean Crees

Airflow Optimizer
Jan 1, 2017
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It looks like the Asus Z270i Strix has an M.2 slot on the top and bottom of the motherboard. The one on top will do both SATA and PCI-e, while the one on the back is PCI-e only.
 

CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
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That ASUS Z270i is up for preorder in the UK https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...1151-ddr4-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-69d-as.html

ASUS ROG UK's twitter says it should be available late Jan/Early Feb, as it's not part of the z270 "launch series".
It looks like the Asus Z270i Strix has an M.2 slot on the top and bottom of the motherboard. The one on top will do both SATA and PCI-e, while the one on the back is PCI-e only.
Whats the downside of a PCIE-only M.2 slot?
 

BirdofPrey

Standards Guru
Sep 3, 2015
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Waiting for Ryzen to show up, but not impressed by Kaby lake from the tests I saw yesterday.

No IPC gain, marginal iGPU gains (will wait for Iris Plus reviews), lotery-like quality if you intend for OC...

Already skipped Skylake, will skip Kaby lake too.
Well to be fair, nobody should have expected any major improvements. Intel has stopped their tick-tock development cycle, replacing it with a three part cycle of node shrink, new microarchitecture, and optimization, and Kaby Lake is the optimization step. It's otherwise the same thing as Skylake which is also why both processors use the same socket and can both use both the 100 and 200 series chipsets.

Whats the downside of a PCIE-only M.2 slot?
Many of the cheaper/slower SSDs are SATA M.2, though it's becoming less of an issue now since the price of NAND Flash fast enough to warrant the use of PCIe has dropped to where you can get a decently fast SSD for a reasonable price.