Skylake Z170 Motherboard Round-Up

[frankpc]

The alpine ridge is only really there for Thunderbolt, the USB performance is great on my board with asmedia. I'm getting the constant full 100MB/s+ speed of my external drive instead of having it slow down to 60MB/s like it did with my old add in card.

WOW! That's amazing. You are first owner of a z170 I have heard from. That sounds truly encouraging.

I would like for the ASUS to have HDMI 2.0 & HDCP 2.2 for HTPC.

 

[utahraptor]

I think these are the only ones:

'GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0)'
'GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 (rev. 1.0)'

It looks like the 7 has one killer and one Intel. The G1 just has 2 killer.

 

[frankpc]

It looks like the 7 has one killer and one Intel. The G1 just has 2 killer.

Is the Intel better than the Killer? The G1 board costs twice that of the 7.

 

[Deders]

Is the Intel better than the Killer? The G1 board costs twice that of the 7.

Intel is far superior:

http://www.pcgamer.com/motherboards-with-killer-network-adapters-arent-worth-your-money/

 

[frankpc]

Intel is far superior:

http://www.pcgamer.com/motherboards-with-killer-network-adapters-arent-worth-your-money/

Good to know. Like the article says, I was one of those people: "you don't care much about its Ethernet ports, so long as it has them"

So far the 7 is the MB I want. I just need to confirm its DHCP version is 2.2.

 

[utahraptor]

Good to know. Like the article says, I was one of those people: "you don't care much about its Ethernet ports, so long as it has them"

So far the 7 is the MB I want. I just need to confirm its DHCP version is 2.2.

I am holding out for the Gaming GT to be released later this month as long as it has Alpine and one Intel NIC.

 

[frankpc]

I am holding out for the Gaming GT to be released later this month as long as it has Alpine and one Intel NIC.

The specs indicate it does have Alpine and one Intel NIC. Not much information out on that MB. Has HDMI 2.0.

No mention of DHCP. And evidently not HDMI 2.0a.

 

[CakeMonster]

I believe only two of Gigabyte's boards use Alpine Ridge One is the G1 and the other is Gaming 7.

From what I've read earlier and a few searches, this is what I'm coming up with:

http://techreport.com/news/28758/gigabyte-z170-motherboards-are-built-enthusiast-tough

Gigabyte uses Intel's own USB 3.1 controller, code-named Alpine Ridge, across all of its Z170 boards

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/9485/Thunderbolt 3 - Docking.png
Gigabyte marketing slider from AT Skylake review

http://www.kitguru.net/components/m...ke-to-integrate-thunderbolt-3-usb-3-1-type-c/

The decision of the company to use “Alpine Ridge” controller on its motherboards represents a major success for the chip. Thanks to adoption of the controller by Gigabyte, its rivals will likely follow and release their platforms with “Alpine Ridge”, Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1.

Everything I can find seems to state that Gigabyte is using Alpine Ridge on every board.

 

[frankpc]

Everything I can find seems to state that Gigabyte is using Alpine Ridge on every board.

Good to know! Thanks.

So just the two MBs, the G1 and the 7 (and maybe the GT) use the MegaChip to get the HDMI 2.0 and some version of HDCP.

it seems odd they didn't bother to take advantage of AR's capability to provide HDMI 2.0 for all the boards.

 

[pupin]

Good to know! Thanks.

So just the two MBs, the G1 and the 7 (and maybe the GT) use the MegaChip to get the HDMI 2.0 and some version of HDCP.

it seems odd they didn't bother to take advantage of AR's capability to provide HDMI 2.0 for all the boards.

Yes, this is very strange.
From my understanding, MegaChip would not be needed at all, as Alpine Ridge provides an LPCon.
Can anyone shed light on this issue?

Another strange issue:
Gigabyte Motherboard specs don't mention at all ThunderBolt 3.0. Just USB 3.1.

Is the Alpine ridge used solely as a USB 3.1 controller on these boards?