GIGABYTE Launches 5 New Greenlow-Based HEDT Motherboards

GIGABYTE launched a complete new series of High-End Desktop (HEDT) motherboards with the new X170 and X150 series motherboards that are based on Intel’s C236 and C232 chipsets and with support for Intel’s Xeon E3-1200 v5 processors as well as ECC memory. Besides the Xeon compatibility, you can also use 6th generation Core, Pentium, and Celeron processors in these new boards.

The Xeon CPUs come with quite a bit more power than the ordinary desktop CPUs and they are perfect for photographers, designers, and video editors where the software can take a real advantage of the underlying architecture. GIGABYTE is so sure of these products that Henry Kao, the Vice President of GIGABYTE’s motherboard business commented it as “the best HEDT experience” [sic]. The new Intel generation brings some great improvements. Not only are the new Skylake based Xeon’s built on the 14nm technology, the new C230 series chipsets bring along support for faster, better, and more memory. The boards support up to 64GB DDR4 memory with 2133MHz compared to the max of 32GB at 1866MHz on the previous generation. There are also the added bonuses of improved manageability, increased I/O bandwidth, and enhanced processor graphics to name a few.

In the new GIGABYTE series are boards with ECC support and some without, depending on what you need. The X170-Extreme ECC, X150-PRO ECC, and X150M-PRO ECC boards all support it and it can be a useful feature as it can eliminate small data discrepancies and prevent data corruption to ensure reliability for critical applications while also helping to reduce system crashes. Another thing that can help your productivity a lot is how GIGABYTE designed the motherboard. The first PCIe lane on these motherboards is a direct x16 Gen.3 lane to the processor that offers 128Gb/s unrestricted bandwidth to your graphics card.

The new boards also come with all other modern features such as USB 3.1, M.2, and PCI-Express connections. U.2 drives can also be used through an M.2 adapter to give you the fastest possible storage solutions available. On the flagship X170-Extreme ECC motherboard, you’ll also find the Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller which is classified as the world’s most advanced networking detection and prioritization technology for consumer and enthusiast users. The adapter delivers industry-leading latency performance, offering more powerful network control, improved latency, reduced jitter and virtually eliminates video freezes so users can play, watch and stream games all at the same time. At least on the paper.

At the time of writing, not all product pages have gone online yet, so we can’t provide details on all of the boards. The X170-Extreme ECC and X150-PRO ECC are still missing. The X150-Plus WS, X150M-Plus WS, and X150M-PRO ECC are online and you can find the highlights for those below.

X150-Plus WS

• Supports the Intel® Xeon® E3-1200 v5 processor and 6th Gen. Intel® Core™ i3/ Pentium®/ Celeron® Processor
• Dual Channel DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• 2-Way Graphics with Premium PCIe Lane
• PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 Connector with up to 32Gb/s Data Transfer (PCIe & SATA SSD support)
• SATA Express Connector for up to 16Gb/s Data Transfer
• 8-channel HD Audio with High-Quality Audio Capacitors
• Audio Noise Guard with LED Trace Path Lighting
• Intel® GbE LAN with cFosSpeed Internet Accelerator Software
• APP Center Including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ Utilities
• GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™ Technology

X150M-PRO ECC

• Supports Intel® Xeon E3-1200 v5 and 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors
• Dual Channel DDR4, 4 DIMMs with ECC support
• 2-Way Graphics with Premium PCIe Lane
• PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 Connector with up to 32Gb/s Data Transfer (PCIe NVMe & SATA SSD support)
• SATA Express Connectors for up to 16Gb/s Data Transfer
• Intel® GbE LAN with cFosSpeed Internet Accelerator Software
• 8-channel HD Audio with High Quality Audio Capacitors
• Audio Noise Guard with LED Trace Path Lighting
• APP Center Including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ Utilities
• GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™ Technology

X150M-PLUS WS

• Supports the Intel® Xeon® E3-1200 v5 processor and 6th Gen. Intel® Core™ i3/ Pentium®/ Celeron® Processor
• Dual Channel DDR4, 2 DIMMs
• 8-channel HD Audio with High Quality Audio Capacitors
• Audio Noise Guard with LED Trace Path Lighting
• Realtek® GbE LAN with cFosSpeed Internet Accelerator Software
• APP Center Including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ Utilities
• Support Intel® Small Business Basics