Gigabyte Z170-HD3 Motherboard Review

[Crashman]

What is a buyer to do after breaking the budget on a new Intel Skylake CPU? Perhaps Gigabyte’s low-cost Z170-HD3 could solve your financial woes...

Gigabyte Z170-HD3 Motherboard Review : Read more

 

[2Be_or_Not2Be]

I would easily trade the soon-to-be defunct SATA Express port (real estate and/or extra cost for having them) for 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, Type C and/or Type A.

 

[Crashman]

I would easily trade the soon-to-be defunct SATA Express port (real estate and/or extra cost for having them) for 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, Type C and/or Type A.

I don't think SATA-E is going away, for the simple reason that it has two SATA ports built-in. People will continue to use off-board drives for a while, and most of that will not be U.2

 

[Crashman]

so, I noticed that at manual book cover have GA-Z170-HD3 DDR3 naming
could it be that Gigabyte have DDR3 supported on Z170 based mainboard?
it would be nice to see that substantial information in this article !

Asus was first I saw to deliver DDR3 Z170 boards to sellers, but that board costs a little more. The price difference is actually more than the difference between 8GB of DDR3 and 8GB of DDR4.

 

[ykki]

Not that this is a bad mobo but I can almost see it in the medium budget build in the next SBM.

 

[chaosmassive]

so, I noticed that at manual book cover have GA-Z170-HD3 DDR3 naming
could it be that Gigabyte have DDR3 supported on Z170 based mainboard?
it would be nice to see that substantial information in this article !

 

[2Be_or_Not2Be]

I would easily trade the soon-to-be defunct SATA Express port (real estate and/or extra cost for having them) for 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, Type C and/or Type A.

I don't think SATA-E is going away, for the simple reason that it has two SATA ports built-in. People will continue to use off-board drives for a while, and most of that will not be U.2

Yes, but who would get something in a SATA Express version when they would most likely get a regular SATA connection for a 6Gbps SSD or M.2/U.2 for a PCI Express version?

Surely the money spent on incorporating SATA Express - whether its just R&D, firmware, physical connectors, etc. - would be better spent on incorporating something that will actual be useful to the consumer in the future.

 

[Crashman]

I would easily trade the soon-to-be defunct SATA Express port (real estate and/or extra cost for having them) for 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, Type C and/or Type A.

I don't think SATA-E is going away, for the simple reason that it has two SATA ports built-in. People will continue to use off-board drives for a while, and most of that will not be U.2

Yes, but who would get something in a SATA Express version when they would most likely get a regular SATA connection for a 6Gbps SSD or M.2/U.2 for a PCI Express version?

Surely the money spent on incorporating SATA Express - whether its just R&D, firmware, physical connectors, etc. - would be better spent on incorporating something that will actual be useful to the consumer in the future.

ASRock and Asus are implementing the PCIe section for other devices such as front-panel USB 3.1.

U.2 looks like a far-off proposition for onboard connectors due to its consumption of four SATA ports in a market flooded with single-port drives. I expect that M.2 to U.2 adapters will fill that role for quite a while the persistence of single SATA ports leads to the preservation of SATA-E.

 

[juanjostorreshernndez]

Newegg $799.99 G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB DDR4-3600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CRAZY, insane price

 

[zzzxtreme]

hi guys. noob here.

so, I can just get this motherboard, add some Kingston value ram, and those new Samsung ssd (m.2 slot), a dvdrw, skylake cpu, psu, monitor and I'm good to go ?

 

[Crashman]

hi guys. noob here.

so, I can just get this motherboard, add some Kingston value ram, and those new Samsung ssd (m.2 slot), a dvdrw, skylake cpu, psu, monitor and I'm good to go ?

You need a power supply.

 

[ceh4702]

I have a kind of question about something. Is it true that you can get a higher resolution with 4k through a Display Port Video option? I think I read this when looking at some specifications on new monitors. They were also touting the benefits of HDMI with something called MHL? It is supose to carry sound and his powered for plugging in mobile devices like a tablet into a monitor.

 

[ceh4702]

I see no hardware or cables with plugs for SATA Express. What good is it?

 

[Crashman]

I see no hardware or cables with plugs for SATA Express. What good is it?

You're supposed to be able to buy adapter housings that support two M.2 SSDs, but you can't, and now that M.2 is faster than SATA-E it looks almost like a dead end. U.2 replaces it.

That doesn't make it completely worthless though. Some companies are using the PCIe side for front-panel USB 3.1 adapters

 

[juanjostorreshernndez]

Msata, M.2, ultraM.2, all of them getting faster so, my question is: if I buy a M.2 SSD it will be compatible in future chipsets?
I say that cause I see its not backward compatible, for instance Msata is for Z77 only, So Im afraid of buying it(M.2, or UM.2) and when I change the mobo in the future I can not keep it due to incompatibility.

 

[Crashman]

Msata, M.2, ultraM.2, all of them getting faster so, my question is: if I buy a M.2 SSD it will be compatible in future chipsets?
I say that cause I see its not backward compatible, for instance Msata is for Z77 only, So Im afraid of buying it(M.2, or UM.2) and when I change the mobo in the future I can not keep it due to incompatibility.

mSATA works with all SATA chipsets, you can get an adapter box to run it in a bay instead of onboard and I've even seen M.2 to SATA adapters. M.2 has both SATA and PCIe, so even if M.2 went away you could use a PCIe adapter card to host the drive.

 

[hasteveha]

What mobo would the next step up be ? I want usb 3.1 gen 2.

Thanks

 

[Crashman]

What mobo would the next step up be ? I want usb 3.1 gen 2.

Thanks

From Gigabyte? Probably the Z170XP-SLI for around $125

 

[hasteveha]

Thanks. I usually always go ASUS. But I've been reading people are on the their 10th bios update, and they still have issues.

 

[juanjostorreshernndez]

Msata, M.2, ultraM.2, all of them getting faster so, my question is: if I buy a M.2 SSD it will be compatible in future chipsets?
I say that cause I see its not backward compatible, for instance Msata is for Z77 only, So Im afraid of buying it(M.2, or UM.2) and when I change the mobo in the future I can not keep it due to incompatibility.

mSATA works with all SATA chipsets, you can get an adapter box to run it in a bay instead of onboard and I've even seen M.2 to SATA adapters. M.2 has both SATA and PCIe, so even if M.2 went away you could use a PCIe adapter card to host the drive.

Thanks. Tha is a good solution, but I ment native compatibility on future mobos, for instance a PCIe adapter card cost 40 bucks in my contry, also I must carry more stuff with the mobo when the real deal with M.2 SSDs is just plug it in the M.2 slot in order to have more space, easy instalation and confort. So at the end if I dont have native support, I will be lossing some M.2 technology’s adventage(it’s almost hiden at mobo structure).
Of course you may think Im killing the cat when he hasn’t atack me yet(M.2 seems more lasting than MSata).

 

[gkdiamond]

What mobo would the next step up be ? I want usb 3.1 gen 2.

Thanks

The next step up Gigabyte Motherboard you are looking for is the GA-Z170-HD3P. This one has the USB 3.1 ASMedia controller and has one USB 3.1 gen 2 type-A and one USB 3.1 gen 2 type-C port on the rear panel.

 

[sprsk]

What mobo would the next step up be ? I want usb 3.1 gen 2.

Thanks

The next step up Gigabyte Motherboard you are looking for is the GA-Z170-HD3P. This one has the USB 3.1 ASMedia controller and has one USB 3.1 gen 2 type-A and one USB 3.1 gen 2 type-C port on the rear panel.

The Gigabyte Z170-HD3P has all u need . The only downside Its the LAN and AUDIO controller ...
If u can spend some more ... go for GA-Z170XP-SLI
and u get
+ Realtek® ALC1150 codec
+ Intel® GbE LAN chip
+ 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8
+ Support for 3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFire and 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI Technology
+ 1 x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT)

 

[pe6600]

so this mobo supports ddr4 ram? or ddr3? and can a skylake cpu be paired with ddr3 memory? ty

 

[Crashman]

so this mobo supports ddr4 ram? or ddr3? and can a skylake cpu be paired with ddr3 memory? ty

It supports DDR4. If it supported DDR3, that would have been in the title.

Skylake supports low-voltage DDR3 as a secondary option, but the processor's moderately-high voltage tolerance has encouraged most manufactures of consumer DDR3L boards to include standard DDR3 support in firmware.