Published: August 4, 2017 |
Source:
Tech Report |
Author:
Mark Campbell
Gigabyte launches a Kaby Lake-X only X299 motherboard
Gigabyte launches a Kaby Lake-X only X299 motherboard
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Kaby Lake-X is a strange product, offering what is an almost identical CPU architecture as Kaby Lake-S (Z270 Desktop variant) while coming on a more expensive motherboard platform, lacking an integrated GPU or the ability to fully utilise all of X299’s features.Â
Now it looks like motherboard makers are aiming to address this imbalance by offering X299 motherboards that only support Kaby Lake-X, releasing with no unnecessary features like unusable PCIe lanes and DIMM slots and only bringing the bare essentials that are required to support Kaby Lake-X.
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Below we can see Gigabyte’s new X299 Aorus Gaming, which offers exclusive support for Kaby Lake-X and lacks support for Skylake-X, which means that higher-core count X299 CPUs are unusable with this motherboard. This should allow Gigabyte to offer an X299 motherboard at a lower pricepoint than others, though at the cost of Skylake-X compatibility. Â
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The question that is raised here is why? Given the similarities of Kaby Lake-S and Kaby Lake-X there is no real reason why users should go for the more expensive model, aside from slightly better overclocking potential. When Z270 motherboards and Kaby Lake-S already exist this new motherboard socket combo makes little sense.Â
What buyers trade away when using this motherboard is upgrade headroom, as these motherboards are unable to use higher core count Skylake-X CPUs, leaving users with what is effectively Z270 on a larger socket.Â
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You can join the discussion on Gigabyte’s Kaby Lake-X exclusive X299 Aorus Gaming motherboard on the OC3D Forums.Â
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