When your gaming rig is so small that it won’t hold 0.9 litres of liquid, then what are the chances that you can upgrade? Having taken us around the outside of his company’s latest foray into the world of micro-gaming-on-steroids, Gigabyte’s Andrew Ditchburn now opens up the Brix for a bit of internal reconstruction. We had our HD aperture wide open for this one.

If you put an Intel Core i5/i7 processor into a tiny chassis with loads of memory, M.2 SSD and a GTX760, then you can’t expect it to be cool and quiet.

But that’s like Lewis Hamilton complaining that he can’t fit enough shopping into an F1 car. It wasn’t designed for your weekly shop, so don’t drive it to Tesco.

It doesn’t mean you can’t get (a little more tech) junk in the trunk.

When Gigabyte’s Andrew Ditchburn told us that you can upgrade the Brix, in seconds, we were intrigued and made sure that there was a screwdriver handy.

Discuss on our Facebook page over HERE.

Buy at CCL over here for £642.62 inc vat.

KitGuru says: With a 240GB SSD setting you back less than £80 in some cases and the whopping 480GB drives now under £170 from some stores, adding a sizeable SSD to this unit is a smart choice.  We’re still looking forward to see what Gigabyte’s R&D team can do with Maxwell in the house.

As the dust starts to settle from the launch of Intel’s X99 platform and the latest GTX9xx cards from nVidia, level heads are looking at the benefits being offered by the new technologies, and beginning to think about making the investment. With prices varying so much, which mainboard is right for your project? KitGuru gets up close and personal with Andrew Ditchburn, technology guru for Gigabyte.

Intel’s initial Haswell processors left everyone feeling a bit wet. Like buying a really expensive firework, but not getting anywhere near as much bang as you had hoped for. That was followed up by the Z97 mainboard, which will still have features added to it in the future. In comparison, X99 really felt like an Intel launch of old.

New boards, new features, news CPUs. What’s not to like?  But it’s definitely not a budget option – with all of the key components carrying a premium. You need to NEED an X99 solution for it to make sense. So let’s say you are a regular KitGuru reader and X99 suits you perfectly, that leaves one question: Which Gigabyte board is perfect for your needs?

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

KitGuru says: All of the top manufacturers will have X99 options, but we hope that Andrew’s guide to the Gigabyte offering has been useful.

In an attempt to remain on top positions on the market of PC components, Asustek Computer recently started to cut prices on certain mainboards and plans promotions to sell bundles containing mainboards and graphics cards. In addition, the company plans to spend rather whopping amount of money to strengthen its marketing efforts in a bid to improve sales of its own-brand motherboards.

Although the amount of mainboard makers has declined significantly in the recent years, the competition on the market of motherboards remains extremely fierce. In a bid to remain the world’s largest supplier of own-brand mainboards, Asustek recently lowered prices on its products and plans to offer bundles containing graphics cards and mainboards going forward, something which is expected to boost sales of both types of products.

While there are no details about Asustek’s efforts, one in the market for new hardware should keep in mind that soon stores may start offering discounts on Asus motherboards as well as bundles containing the company’s graphics cards and mainboards.

Asustek’s mainboards and graphics cards. Image for illustrative purposes only.

Asus also plans to spend $32.88 – $65.75 million on various marketing efforts, reports DigiTimes. While it is not completely clear whether Asus intends to spend that amount over the course of 2015 or a shorter period, the sum is comparable to marketing budgets spent by companies like Intel Corp.

Asustek’s actions are reportedly aimed to strengthen its positions against the arch-rival Gigabyte Technology, which sells comparable amount of own-brand mainboards per year (around 20 – 21 million units).

Asustek Computer did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Keeping in mind that the end of the year is near, expect discounts not only from Asustek Computer, but from other suppliers as well. They need to hit their sales targets, so, they should be pretty flexible in terms of prices these days…

Gigabyte is set to start offering free upgrades on Z97 Black Edition motherboards. Starting from today, those who register the purchase of a Z97X-UD5H-BK, Z97X-UD3H-BK or a Z97X-Gaming G1 Black Edition motherboard within four weeks of purchase will be able to take part in the ‘Take One, Get Two’ promotion, entitling buyers to a free upgrade to a ‘next gen’ motherboard.

This upgrade warranty allows you to upgrade to one new motherboard within three years of buying your old one, essentially giving you two products for the price of one. This new deal will also extend your Gigabyte warranty by 60 months, covering buyers for a total of five years.

This upgrade plan only entitles you to a free upgrade to the direct equivalent of the board you purchased, for example, you wouldn’t get a free upgrade from the Z97X-UD3H-BK to the next generation Gaming G1 board. However, if you did want to upgrade, registered buyers would only have to pay the retail price difference between the two boards, rather than full price.

You can buy one of the three qualifying Gigabyte Black Edition motherboards from Overclockers UK, HERE. This promotion is not retailer specific, if you have a preferred place of purchase, you will still be eligible. You can register your motherboard for this promotion, HERE.

Gigabyte has also released a small FAQ to answer any questions. We have a review up of the Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition, which we gave our ‘MUST HAVE’ award.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: These free upgrade promotions are always awesome to see. Do any of you guys own a Gigabyte Black Edition motherboard? Will you be registering for a free upgrade to a next generation Black Edition motherboard? 

Gigabyte has managed to make the world’s first Mini-ITX GTX 970 graphics card, powered by a single 8 pin power connector, cooled by a single fan and running at a clock speed of 1076 MHz, which is actually slightly higher than the 1051 MHz base clock speed found on the reference 970.

The card can boost up to 1216 MHz under the right conditions and my be able to overclock further, many full sized , custom cooled Maxwell based GPUs have been managing to hit between 1300 and 1500 MHz clock speeds. Gigabyte’s full size GTX 970 G1 Gaming card utilities two 6 pin power connectors and the Windforce 3 fan cooling design so being able to pack so much power in such a small form factor for the mini ITX version is nothing short of impressive.

According to Gigabyte’s own tests, the single fan cooler found on the Mini-ITX GTX 970 was able to keep the card sitting at around 62 degrees Celsius while running Metro Last Light, whereas the blower style reference cooler would hit around 76 degrees. We would need to perform our own tests to verify this but from the sounds of it, this is shaping up to be one seriously impressive card.

The tiny GPU will be priced at $329.99 in the US, the same price as a reference 970. Since this card is so small, you aren’t going to get quite the same overclocking or cooling performance as you would with a full sized card with a custom cooler. However, this should still prove more than powerful enough for many small system owners, in-fact, I can see this card being very popular amongst builders.

UK pricing has yet to be confirmed although we have been told to expect it to sit somewhere between £279 and £289. Stock is expected to hit around mid November.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: That’s a seriously powerful card considering the size. How many of you guys own a Mini-ITX system? Would you build one with this tiny GTX 970?  I’m a bit tempted myself.

The Titan Z was notoriously known for being ridiculously expensive at launch, setting back early buyers by a hefty £2300 in the UK and $3000 in the US. However, Nvidia seems to be coming to its senses, the company has cut the regular price down to £1100 and retailers like Overclockers UK are attempting to shift stock at even lower prices.

We missed it unfortunately but earlier this morning, OCUK were selling Palit Titan Z cards for just £899, the deal sold out in just an hour. However, Andrew ‘Gibbo’ Gibson has told us that the retailer is attempting to source some more stock at this low price, although it’s having some trouble due to low stock:

“OcUK is trying to do a deal for more units to hit £899 but unfortunately it looks very unlikely simply as stocks are so low at board partners and they don’t feel the need or requirement to reduce price any further. But we won’t give up as OcUK are market leaders, not followers!”

While we may not see another £899 Titan Z deal any time soon, you can pick up several models for under £1200 at OCUK. The EVGA model is currently the most expensive, coming in at £1199.99 while you can grab the Asus version for £1099.99, a big improvement from the launch price. Additionally, you can pick up a Gigabyte Titan Z for £1079.99.

As Gibbo noted, board partners are starting to run low on Titan Z stock and we don’t know if any more will be made. It might not be long now before the Titan Z is completely out of stock so if you’re eying one up, you might want to act fast.

You can see OCUK’s Titan Z range, HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: £899 for a Titan Z is a pretty crazy deal, those who did manage to pick one up at that price are pretty lucky considering we may not see the cards priced that low again. However, just under £1100 for the Gigabyte and Asus models isn’t a bad price either. Have any of you guys purchased a Titan Z? Would you be more likely to consider one at the new lower price? 

While the Haswell-E CPUs and X99-based motherboards of Intel’s newest HEDT platform put a considerable dent in the pocket of any enthusiast, there are ways to lighten the cost burden. We recently reviewed the six-core 5820K and found it to be an excellent choice for users who value compute performance and want Haswell-E at the lowest possible cost. Another way to achieve an aggressive budget target is to buy a low cost X99 motherboard. 

That’s where Gigabyte’s X99-UD4 fits in. Do the features and performance make the sub-£170 board an interesting value option?

Despite its entry-level pricing for the X99 chipset, Gigabyte still manages to squeeze 4-way SLI/CrossFire support, an enhanced audio solution, server-grade power components, and dual M.2 sockets onto the X99-UD4.

Add those features to the eye-catching black colour scheme and a price point that makes it one of the cheapest X99 boards available, and Gigabyte could be onto a winner with the X99-UD4.

Features:

• Genuine All Digital Power Design with IR Digital PWM & IR PowIRstage® ICs
• 4-Way Graphics with Premium PCIe Lane
• Dual M.2 Technology for SSD Drive and WIFI card
• 6x(30µ) Gold Plating for CPU socket, Memory DIMMs and PCIe slots
• Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD audio with built-in Rear Audio Amplifier
• LED lighting for the audio guard light path and the back panel LED
• SATA Express support for up to 10 Gb/s data transfer
• Long lifespan Durable Black™ Solid caps
• APP Center including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ utilities
• GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™ with Q-Flash Plus USB port

In a bid to maintain market shares and unit shipments this year leading manufacturers of mainboards had to cut prices and initiate various campaigns to boost sales. Such tactics lead to price-cuts as well as erosion of gross-margins, something that threats the future of the companies. However, next year motherboard makers plan to make their businesses profitable even at the cost of growth.

The year 2014 was generally good for Asustek Computer, which will ship around 22 million mainboards this year. In order to increase its unit sales, Asus competed fiercely against its rivals, such as Asrock, Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), MicroStar International (MSI) as well as smaller players, reports DigiTimes. In order to capture market share away from its competitors Asus had to offer more affordable solutions than it traditionally does. Asustek yet has to reveal its mainboards strategy for 2015.

Gigabyte Technology, the No. 2 maker of mainboards, which recently kicked off its “Take One Get Two” promo campaign in order to improve sales of high-end motherboards, wants to continue pushing high-end platforms to maintain its profits in 2015, according to the publication.

Asrock and MSI, who suffered most from the competition against Asustek and Gigabyte, reportedly plan to cease focusing on unit shipments and market share in 2015. Instead, the companies want to keep their motherboard business units profitable, hence, expect them to concentrate on promotion of higher-end platforms.

If the top four makers of mainboards cease to aggressively price their products and introduce more advanced devices that are sold at higher price points as well as carry larger profit margins, we may see increased competition in the high-end segment of the market, which is a good thing for PC enthusiasts.

It should be kept in mind that next year manufacturers of motherboards will have to offer around five types of platforms for Intel Corp.’s microprocessors, which means increased costs and internal competition. As a result, focus on maintaining profitability is very important for survival.

Asustek, Asrock, Gigabyte, ECS and MSI did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While we may not see aggressively-priced mainboards for Intel “Skylake” processors next year, which will slowdown adoption of the chips by the market, it may not be a bad thing after all. Survival of the big four motherboard makers as well as smaller players like Biostar, ECS and others means that in the mid-term and long-term future there will be competition on the market of platforms, which will keep their prices on decent levels and will force manufacturers to introduce more advanced models.

Gigabyte Technology has started to sell what could be the highest-performing retail graphics processing solution ever developed. The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce 3-way SLI includes three massively factory-overclocked graphics cards that are designed to work in multi-GPU mode as well as a special liquid cooling solution. But extreme performance comes at extreme price.

Designed to deliver ultimate framerates in the latest games in ultra-high-definition resolutions, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce 3-way SLI (GV-N980X3WA-4GD) graphics board kit features default GPU clock-rates of 1228MHz/1329MHz (base/boost). Each graphics card sports 4GB of GDDR5 memory at 7GHz, three DisplayPort, one HDMI and two DVI outputs.

Gigabyte’s three-card graphics product is a unique offering that is designed to provide unbeatable performance at price-points already tested by Nvidia Corp. itself with its GeForce GTX Titan Z. While potentially this three-way multi-GPU graphics kit should offer higher performance than the dual-GPU graphics card, it should be noted that far not all video games scale performance with three GPUs. As a consequence, Gigabyte’s solution will not be the absolutely best graphics sub-system possible in all cases. Still, unlike the GTX Titan Z, the GTX 980 WaterForce 3-way SLI kit features high clock-rates and will offer decent levels of performance even in case only one GPU is active, hence, in general the triple-GPU configuration should deliver high performance in almost all games.

Thanks to closed-loop liquid cooling solution, the kit only produces 30.4db of noise while fully-loaded. The 3-way SLI GeForce GTX 980 graphics processing kit runs 42.6 per cent cooler compared to reference design graphics cards while delivering up to 20 per cent higher performance.

According to Gigabyte Technology, the WaterForce cooler is the best cooling solution for three-way SLI GeForce GTX 980 graphics sub-system, which can easily be true since there are no off-the-shelf closed-loop liquid cooling kits for three graphics cards. Each graphics board is pre-installed with its own exclusive waterblock and independent radiator connected with a pair of coolant pipes. All three 120mm radiators are placed inside the external metal watercooling box for maximum efficiency. The box sports three 120mm fans.

The Gigabyte WaterForce liquid cooler features an intuitive control panel with an OLED display panel, where users can monitor and adjust all the settings about the graphics cards, including temperature, fan speed and pump speed. Moreover, the Gigabyte kit features target temperature mode that automatically adjusts fan and pump speeds to achieve user-defined temperatures.

On Wednesday Overclockers UK and Newegg began to sell/take pre-orders on the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce 3-way SLI graphics cards kit at rather whopping price-points. In the U.K. the 3-way kit costs £2499.99 including VAT, whereas in the U.S. the 3-way graphics sub-system is priced at whopping $2999.99.

The GTX 980 WaterForce 3-way SLI kit (GV-N980X3WA-4GD) will eventually be available in Taiwan, Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea and Russia beginning this month.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While the monstrous GTX 980 WaterForce 3-way SLI kit is designed to deliver ultimate gaming performance for hardcore gamers, it comes at a price that by far exceeds the cost of three GeForce GTX 980 graphics adapters. In fact, the three-way liquid cooling solution costs rather whopping $1350/£1300, an extreme price for a cooler.

The third door on the be quiet! advent calendar has opened up, giving you guys the chance to win some pretty nice hardware. This week’s contest puts the Gigabyte GA-Z97x-SOC motherboard up for grabs, alongside a be quiet! Straight Power 10 800W power supply and the highly rated Dark Rock 3 CPU cooler.

Here is the full prize list:

1. 1x Straight Power 10 800w PSU, 1x Gigabyte GA-Z9X-SOC motherboard, 1x Dark Rock 3+ Merchandise package.
2. 1x Straight Power 10 600w PSU, 1x Pure Rock CPU Cooler+ Merchandise package.
3. 1x Straight Power 10 500W PSU+ Merchandise package.

In order to win, you will have to head over to the be quiet! advent calendar Facebook app, open up the third door and answer the following question correctly:

” What is one of the special features of Straight Power 10, the most silent PSU from be quiet! ever?”

You will also need to give a name, email and verifiable address to participate- this information is required for shipping purposes.

This week’s giveaway will close on Saturday. Remember to check back again on Sunday, when the fourth Advent Calendar door opens up! This competition is open world-wide.

Enter the competition, HERE. Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Good luck to everyone who enters, remember to check the Facebook app again on Sunday for next week’s giveaway. 

Aorus, a notebook gaming brand that belongs to Gigabyte Technology, introduced its most advanced gaming laptop computer yet at the Consumer Electronics Show 2015. The Aorus X5 notebook boasts two yet-unannounced GeForce GTX 965M graphics processing units as well as 15.6” ultra-high-definition (UHD) display with 4K resolution based on Sharp’s IGZO technology.

The new Aorus X5 laptop is based on an unknown Intel Core i-series processor with DDR3 memory and a solid-state drive. The graphics sub-system of the new laptop is powered by two Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M graphics processing units which deliver 15 per cent more performance than Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M mobile graphics solution, according to manufacturer. At present Aorus does not reveal exact configurations of the system, but claims that it scores P12000 points in 3DMark11 Performance benchmark.

One of the key innovations of the Aorus X5 is its 15.6” display that is made by Sharp. The monitor uses an IGZO panel with 3840*2160 resolution, which makes the X5 laptop one of the industry’s first notebooks with a 4K 15.6” screen. While the display delivers crystal-clear resolution, it should not consume more energy than standard 15.6” panels since IGZO technology promises to reduce power consumption compared to contemporary thin-film-transistor panels, such as TN, IPS or *VA.

Although the laptop is clearly very powerful and employs two graphics processing units, it is not very thick (22.9mm) or heavy (2.5 kilograms). In fact, its weight and dimensions are similar to those of non-gaming laptops released several years ago.

Battery life of the laptop remains unknown. Moreover, it is unclear whether the laptop supports Nvidia Optimus dynamic graphics switching technology that is designed to switch off discrete GPUs when the laptop uses its battery power. Therefore, it is not clear whether it will be possible to use this notebook as a normal mobile PC for work on the go.

The Aorus X5 will be available in the second quarter of the year at a price-point between $2299 and $2799.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The combination of high-performance graphics sub-system and a 4K UHD IGZO display is clearly something that should appeal to gamers. I am not sure whether 4K resolution is something you must have on a 15.6” monitor and how will Windows 8.1 look in this case, but in general, when it comes to resolution, the higher the better. If you are in the market for a relatively small form-factor gaming notebook, then the Aorus X5 is a machine to look at.

Aorus, a maker of gaming notebooks, has revealed benchmark results of two Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M graphics processing units in SLI mode. Indirectly, this gives an idea about performance of the company’s forthcoming mobile graphics chip with moderate power consumption.

According to Aorus, its new Aorus X5 laptop based on an unknown Intel processor and two GeForce GTX 965M graphics processing units scores P12000 points in 3DMark11 Performance benchmark, which is, according to the manufacturer, 15 per cent higher compared to a single GeForce GTX 980M graphics solution.

While it is unclear what processor powers the Aorus X5 laptop, there are two logical options, given the fact that this is a premium gaming machine with a 4K UHD (3840*2180) display: Intel Core i7-5557U “Broadwell-U” (two cores with Hyper-Threading, 4MB L2, 3.10GHz – 3.40GHz clock-rate, 28W) and Intel Core i7-4910MQ (four cores with Hyper-Threading, 8MB L2, 2.90GHz – 3.90GHz clock-rate, 47W). While exact CPU models can be different, these two are the most likely candidates to power such system since they boast high clock-rates.

Depending on the processor that Aorus used inside the notebook it tested – dual-core or quad-core – the P12000 points in 3DMark11 could point to the fact that two GeForce GTX 965M SLI can deliver performance equal to that of:

• Two GeForce GTX 770 or one GeForce GTX 980 (in case of a fast dual-core chip);
• Two GeForce GTX 760, one GeForce GTX 970 or one GeForce GTX 780 Ti (in case of a mainstream quad-core chip).

While it is hard to accurately assume what to expect from a single GeForce GTX 965M (and hence estimate its specifications), we now more or less clearly know what to expect from two of such graphics cards.

Keeping in mind that device ID of the GeForce GTX 965M points to the GM204 graphics processing unit, it is logical to presume that the part sports 1024 stream processors, 64 texture units and operates at relatively low clock-rate. If it had a higher amount of SPs, its performance would be higher. Still, any suggestions about exact specs of any unannounced parts are generally very speculative.

Aorus and Nvidia did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: In fact, the GeForce GTX 965M, given high energy-efficiency of Nvidia’s Maxwell graphics architecture, should be a decent graphics solution for gaming notebooks. The main advantage of the product should be its relatively low power consumption and heat dissipation. If this conditions are met, then laptop makers will be able to create very thin gaming systems with decent performance in the latest titles, something that is not available today. However, we have no idea regarding actual power consumption of the GeForce GTX 965M as well as plans to create thin gaming systems. The only company that has tried to build such PCs is Razer, hence, hopefully, the Blade will soon receive an upgrade to its graphics sub-system…

Gigabyte Technology has introduced a new Intel X99-based mainboard that is specifically designed for overclockers. The motherboard is not the most feature-rich X99 platform available, but when it comes to overclocking potential, the X99 SOC Champion could offer numerous breakthroughs thanks to redesigned LGA2011 socket with additional pins as well as all-new memory sub-system.

The Gigabyte X99 SOC Champion motherboard sports a special LGA2011-3 socket, akin to Asustek Computer’s patent-pending OC Socket, which activates pins that Intel uses only internally and which are not enabled on commercial products. The additional pins let overclockers to better tweak of voltages in BIOS, which should help those, who plan to use extreme cooling methods (liquid nitrogen or liquid helium) and set various benchmark records.

Unlike other Intel X99 mainboard, the X99 SOC Champion features only four DDR4 DIMM memory slots in a bid to further improve overclocking potential. The slots are SMT mounted for improved signal quality and located closer to the CPU socket. The DIMM’s shorter trace path enables the DDR4 memory to communicate faster with the CPU, enabling the overclocker to reach never achieved before DDR4 memory frequencies.

Like other enthusiast-class mainboards from Gigabyte, the X99-SOC Champion uses high-quality components for CPU voltage regulator module, including International Rectifier PWM controllers and new PowIRstage controllers.

The X99 SOC Champion mainboard from Gigabyte also sports four PCI Express x16 slots for 4-way multi-GPU graphics sub-systems, M.2 slot for SSDs with up to 20Gb/s of bandwidth as well as SATA Express port with 10Gb/s bandwidth.

Pricing of the mainboard was not announced, but since it lacks advanced RAID controllers or high-end audio solutions, it is unlikely that the platform will be very expensive.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: If you are in the market for a motherboard that offers great overclocking features, but is not too expensive, the Gigabyte X99 SOC Champion is clearly a platform to consider.

Asustek Computer has announced results of its operations in Q4 2014. The company remained the world’s No. 1 supplier of PC motherboards and also significantly increased sales of other branded products. But the company will likely face a number of challenges in 2015.

Asustek sold 22 million branded mainboards for the channel/DIY [do it yourself] markets in 2014, an increase of 6.3 per cent year-over-year, according to a report from DigiTimes web-site. The company also sold 20.1 million notebooks, 6.9 per cent more than in 2013. In addition, Asus also sold two million desktops, around 9.4 million tablets and over eight million smartphones.

While Asustek has managed to meet its mainboards sales targets in 2014, to do so it had to offer more affordable solutions than it traditionally does. Asustek’s arch-rival Gigabyte Technology also had to lower prices and even kick off a “buy one, get one free” kind of promo campaign, which is called “Take One Get Two”, in order to improve sales of high-end motherboards. In late November, 2014, it was reported that leading mainboard makers would reconsider their strategies for 2015 and would cease to cut prices in a bid to boost sales.

Since Asus sells loads of premium laptops, graphics cards, tablets as well as gradually increasing sales of expensive desktops, it is possible for the company to focus on the high-end of the mainboards market and even sacrifice its market share for the sake of profitability. It should be noted that smartphones remain rather low-profitable business for the company, but Asus so far has made no announcements regarding plans to boost profitability of its handset unit.

It should be noted that due to delays of the code-named Intel Corp.’s “Broadwell” microprocessors and their co-existence with “Skylake” chips on the market, this year there will be around five types of platforms for Intel’s desktop central processing units. For makers of motherboards this means increased costs and internal competition. As a result, focus on maintaining profitability is very important for survival.

In the recent quarters, Asus introduced a number of all-new products that could potentially boost its profitability. Asustek’s premium Strix lineup of graphics cards and gaming gear is sold with a significant premium compared to other offerings and the company will continue to popularize the family. In addition, Asustek seems to be getting more serious about selling monitors for gamers, which is also likely to be a profitable business.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Makers of mainboards will face a lot of challenges this year. Five Intel-based desktop platforms as well as a lack of almost any new desktop CPU/APU products from AMD represent only a part of their set of problems. What is important is that Intel’s chips are not expected to offer significantly higher performance compared to existing solutions. Consequently, sales of new desktop platforms among performance enthusiasts will hardly be significantly higher compared to sales in 2014. As a result, graphics cards may gain importance for mainboard suppliers, especially keeping in mind that both AMD and Nvidia Corp. are on-track to announce new high-end products this year.

Elitegroup Computer Systems, one of the largest suppliers of mainboards in the world, has denied information that it plans to exit own-brand motherboard business. While the company faces major challenges on the market of DIY [do it yourself] mainboards, it plans to continue offering motherboards under its own trademark.

ECS shipped 17 million mainboards in 2014. Only 3.5 million of them were aimed at the DIY market segment and carried the ECS brand-name. 13.5 million of platforms were made for various ODM (original design manufacturer) clients of ECS. Since it is evident that the importance of branded mainboards business is decreasing for ECS, rumours emerged earlier this month that the company may exit this market in 2015, reports DigiTimes.

Unlike the majority of its rivals, ECS does not produce graphics cards and other components under its own brand, which could help it to keep its manufacturing capacities busy and its trademark popular.

Due to increased competition from market leaders – Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology – all mainboard makers recently had to cut-down prices of their products. ECS suffered more than others and had to lower prices to levels below those of Colorful Technology and other low-end brands.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The number of mainboard makers have been decreasing for years, therefore, it will not be a surprise if another manufacturer leaves the DIY market…

If you want to reduce the space taken up by your computer, without significant reduction in performance or functionality, opting for a micro ATX system has long been the most effective way of doing so. Can the performance of ATX parts be matched when the Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard’s LGA 2011-3 socket is compressed into the 24.4 x 24.4 cm micro ATX form factor?

Gigabyte‘s X99M-Gaming 5 delivers many of the X99 platform’s core features, despite its micro ATX form factor. Support for two-card SLI/CrossFire is present, and there’s also the ten SATA 6Gbps ports for storage nerds. And let’s not forget two additional forms of PCIe storage in M.2 and SATA Express.

Homing in on the gaming market, Gigabyte outfits its mATX board with a Killer NIC and the accompanying software for users to take advantage of network optimisation. There’s also the enhanced audio system that allows for an upgrade to the already-high-end Burr-Brown operational amplifier. And if you own a set of USB headphones, the ‘DAC-UP’ USB ports are designed to deliver cleaner power to the amp.

With a strong power delivery system, good looks, and relevant gaming features, how does Gigabyte’s X99M-Gaming 5 stack up when battling full-sized ATX competition.

Features:

• Genuine All Digital Power Design with IR Digital PWM & IR PowIRstage® ICs
• 2-Way Graphics with Premium PCIe Lane
• Dual M.2 Technology for SSD Drive and WIFI card
• 6x(30µ) Gold Plating for CPU socket, Memory DIMMs and PCIe slots
• AMP-UP Audio technology with exclusive Upgradable OP-AMP
• Independent Right and Left Audio Channel PCB Layers
• LED lighting for the audio guard light path
• Quad DAC-UP USB ports
• Gold plated audio ports
• High end Nichicon audio capacitors
• Killer™ E2200 gaming networking
• SATA Express support for 10 Gb/s data transfer
• Long lifespan Durable Black™ Solid caps

Asustek Computer, Gigabyte Technology and MicroStar International remained the largest manufacturers of graphics adapters last year, according to a media report. Unfortunately, the market of graphics cards contracted by about 10 per cent in 2014.

Asus shipped five million graphics cards last year, according to a report from DigiTimes web-site. Gigabyte Technology sold around 3.6 million graphics boards in 2014, which is 200 thousand less than in 2014. MSI supplied 2.8 – three million graphics adapters in 2014. All three makers of add-in boards were profitable.

It is noteworthy that all top makers of graphics adapters sell products powered by both AMD Radeon and Nvidia GeForce graphics adapters. None of the top manufacturers exclusively sell graphics boards from only one GPU developer.

Since Asustek Computer is the world’s largest manufacturer of graphics cards, it has substantial advantages over purchasing components such as memory. Besides, Asus also has better gross margins than most of its competitors.

The report claims that the market of graphics adapters contracted last year by around 10 per cent because miners of crypto currency, such as Bitcoin, ceased to use GPUs for mining.

According to Jon Peddie Research, Nvidia Corp. controls over 70 per cent of the discrete desktop GPU market.

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KitGuru Says: Since the market of discrete graphics adapters will likely decline this year again, Asus, Gigabyte and MSI will inevitably grab market share from smaller vendors if they maintain their current sales of graphics adapters.

Asrock did not manage to achieve its mainboards shipments target in 2014 because it did not want to lower prices. This year the situation on the motherboard market promises to be significantly different than last year and leading vendors are reportedly not going to start price wars. As a result, Asrock hopes to regain its positions.

In 2014 Asrock shipped 6.2 million mainboards, which was well below its plans. In 2013 the company sold 7.6 million motherboards, therefore, the drop last year was very significant. Digitimes reports that the vendor decided not to join the price war started by Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology.

Asrock, which once was span off from Asustek Computer to address entry-level market segments, today produces a wide range of mainboards, including those for enthusiast-class PCs, high-end desktops, servers and even embedded applications.

For 2015, Asrock reportedly expects the volume to return above seven million units. It is unclear how the manufacturer intends to boost its shipments, but it is expected that its server and embedded businesses will help the company to offset declines of branded platform sales.

It is expected that this year the situation on the market of mainboards will be vastly different than in 2014. Firstly, leading motherboard makers are not expected to start a new price war and are ready to sacrifice market share and shipments for profitability. Secondly, co-existence of several different generations of Intel processors on the market will lead to co-existence of five different platforms for Intel chips, which means a lot of internal competition and necessity to manage components and inventory.

Asrock did not comment on the news-story.

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KitGuru Says: It remains to be seen how Asrock plans to increase its shipments by around 13 per cent this year without decreasing prices on the market that will barely grow this year.

Although the USB 3.1 standard with a new reversible plug, higher performance and other improvements have been around for about a year now, no commercial PCs so far have adopted it. However, things are going to change soon, when Asustek Computer launches its motherboards with the new interconnection technology.

The world’s largest maker of motherboards plans to release mainboards with USB 3.1 support as early as in the coming weeks, late in February. DigiTimes reports that Asus plans to use Asmedia’s ASM1142 host controller for its USB 3.1 implementation. The chip takes two PCIe 2.0 lanes from the core logic and converts them into USB 3.1 ports, which means that the solution will hardly achieve full 10Gb/s bandwidth, but will offer something like 8Gb/s.

At present it is unclear how many mainboards featuring USB 3.1 Asus plans to release, but it is logical to expect the company’s flagship models based on the Intel Z97 and the Intel X99 core-logic sets to get the new interconnection. It is also likely that the USB 3.1 will be implemented using both type-A (regular) and type-C (reversible) connectors.

MicroStar International also plans to launch two motherboards with USB 3.1 in the coming months. Check out KitGuru’s hands-on preview of the USB 3.1 in MSI’s implementation HERE. By contrast, Gigabyte Technology will only offer platforms with USB 3.1 in the second half of the year.

It is interesting to note that at present there are no USB 3.1 host controllers certified by the USB Implementers Forum.

Asustek did not comment on the news-story.

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KitGuru Says: While it will be good to finally have USB 3.1-supporting mainboards on the market, it is necessary to note that their owners will not benefit from the technology just yet. There are no peripherals that support USB 3.1’s 10Gb/s transfer rate or feature the type-C connector today. On the other hand, someone should start making USB 3.1-supporting hardware first…

Corsair, a major maker of enthusiast-class memory modules, has introduced its new limited edition 16GB DDR4 memory kit designed for high-end desktop (HEDT) systems featuring Intel Core i7 “Haswell-E” processors and Gigabyte X99-SOC Champion mainboards. The memory will run at maximum DDR4 clock-rate possible today, 3.40GHz, and will provide further overclocking capabilities.

Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 memory modules are the industry’s most sophisticated DRAM devices, which features loads of exclusive technologies aimed to improve their overclocking potential. The Dominator Platinum memory sticks are built on specially-designed multi-layer printed circuit boards that not only feature a special layer that works as a heat spreader and transfers heat to the main heat sink, but also feature integrated sensors to monitor temperature and voltages of memory chips. The modules sport large DHX radiators that can dissipate a lot of heat and improve overclocking. Besides, the Dominator Platinum family also features configurable and upgradeable top bars and light pipes to make the modules look good inside modded systems.

The new Dominator Platinum DDR4 modules custom designed for the Gigabyte X99-SOC Champion mainboard feature orange top bars that match the motherboards’s orange colour theme. It is unknown whether the modules also feature certain SPD-based optimizations for the specific mainboard from Gigabyte.

The Corsair Dominator Platinum Series Limited Edition Orange 16GB (4*4GB) DDR4 memory kit (CMD16GX4M4B3400C16) is rated to run at 3400MHz (3.40GHz) with CL16 18-18-40 latency settings and 1.35V voltage. The modules fully support XMP 2.0 profiles and can clock themselves at optimal frequency when installed. Corsair guarantees that the modules will hit their clock-rate of 3400MHz at ambient room temperature without additional cooling methods. Obviously, all the improvements that are made to the modules’ PCBs and hand-picked memory chips should help enthusiasts to further overclock the devices beyond 3.40GHz.

The Dominator Platinum series memory modules from Corsair is clearly very impressive in general. But performance and incredible technology come at a price. The Corsair Dominator Platinum Series Limited Edition Orange 16GB kit costs whopping $999.99.

The Gigabyte X99 SOC Champion motherboard features a special LGA2011-3 socket, akin to Asustek Computer’s patent-pending OC Socket, which activates pins that Intel uses only internally and which are not enabled on commercial products. The additional pins let overclockers to better tweak of voltages in BIOS, which should help those, who plan to use extreme cooling methods (liquid nitrogen or liquid helium) and set various benchmark records. Unlike other Intel X99 mainboard, the X99 SOC Champion features only four DDR4 DIMM memory slots in a bid to further improve overclocking potential. The slots are SMT mounted for improved signal quality and located closer to the CPU socket. The DIMM’s shorter trace path enables the DDR4 memory to communicate faster with the CPU, enabling the overclocker to reach record DDR4 memory frequencies.

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KitGuru Says: At the price of 16GB of premium DDR4 memory one could get a rather fine gaming PC with a decent graphics card and 16GB of mainstream DDR3… But top-notch performance requires significant investments and people who use LGA2011-3 platforms clearly know it.