Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 LGA 1151 Motherboard Pictures

[root2]

Anandtech gives an impressive overview about the new Skylake platform.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9485/...-asrock-asus-gigabyte-msi-ecs-evga-supermicro

Seems to be the case that no Thunderbolt 3 AIC (Add-in-Card) (40Gbps) exists yet. Only Thunderbolt 2 (20Gbps) ones from the X99 chipset are available and can be placed in/on some Z170 motherboards i.e. from AsRock.

 

[Einsteiniac]

Anandtech gives an impressive overview about the new Skylake platform.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9485/...-asrock-asus-gigabyte-msi-ecs-evga-supermicro

Seems to be the case that no Thunderbolt 3 AIC (Add-in-Card) (40Gbps) exists yet. Only Thunderbolt 2 (20Gbps) ones from the X99 chipset are available and can be placed in/on some Z170 motherboards i.e. from AsRock.

I am fairly positive that any of the Gigabyte boards with the Alpine Ridge controller is Thunderbolt 3. That chip has an alternate mode for the C port that does TB3. The UD5 board has a header for what looks like legacy TB2/1 cards. Although I am not sure how necessary that is considering some Intel press release said there will be adaptors to turn the C port into TB1/2 ports.

 

[root2]

I have found one AsRock board (ASRock Z170 OC Formula) that has

1x Thunderbolt 3 AIC (10-Pin Header)
1x Thunderbolt 2 AIC (5-Pin Header)

but nothing else. I have heard about this USB-Type-C connector that features Display Port and Thunderbolt 3 protocol stack too, but haven't read about that anywhere yet. Can you link a website that explains it for me?

Edit: Attached are the "Thunderbolt" related snippets from the GA-Z170X-UD5 manual directly from Gigabyte's website.
As one can see, there not much information available. The onboard header seems to be 5-Pin -> Thunderbolt 2. The USB-Type-C connector is called "Thunderbolt 3". Still I'm not sure, whether or not USB-Type-C on Alpine Ridge is always Thunderbolt 3.

 

[root2]

I googled a lot and finaly found some information (sadly in German only).

http://www.computerbase.de/2015-06/...-40-gbit-s-fuer-zwei-mal-4k-auf-rettungskurs/
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-06/...ke-mainboard-mit-thunderbolt-3-via-usb-typ-c/

In this article they state that USB-Type-C connectors can be used to transfer USB, Display Port, Thunderbolt 3 and PCI Express protocol in the future (late 2015, early 2016). However, the pure availability of an USB-Type-C on a Z170 mainboard is not a guarantee that it is supporting this protocol. There is not optical clue (like the blue color for USB3) which can help you to identify whether the device features Thunderbolt 3 over the Type-C plug or not.

So I will still doubt that the GA-Z170X-UD5 features Thunderbolt 3 over its USB-Type-C connector, as well as any other Z170 mainboard which is available at the moment (maybe this will change in 2016).

 

[Adrian B]

I googled a lot and finaly found some information (sadly in German only).

http://www.computerbase.de/2015-06/...-40-gbit-s-fuer-zwei-mal-4k-auf-rettungskurs/
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-06/...ke-mainboard-mit-thunderbolt-3-via-usb-typ-c/

In this article they state that USB-Type-C connectors can be used to transfer USB, Display Port, Thunderbolt 3 and PCI Express protocol in the future (late 2015, early 2016). However, the pure availability of an USB-Type-C on a Z170 mainboard is not a guarantee that it is supporting this protocol. There is not optical clue (like the blue color for USB3) which can help you to identify whether the device features Thunderbolt 3 over the Type-C plug or not.

So I will still doubt that the GA-Z170X-UD5 features Thunderbolt 3 over its USB-Type-C connector, as well as any other Z170 mainboard which is available at the moment (maybe this will change in 2016).

There is now a second generation of USB 3.1 available. The first board with the second generation spec is a new Z97 Asus board.
http://hexus.net/tech/news/mainboar...lds-first-usb-31-gen-2-certified-motherboard/

How many people were expecting that to happen?

 

[Einsteiniac]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9485/...-asrock-asus-gigabyte-msi-ecs-evga-supermicro

If you scroll down that article they detail Alpine Ridge. So far that chip is exclusive to Gigabyte and they are putting that chip for USB C on all the boards that are UD3 and better. The ASMedia chip is just USB and has no TB3 support.

 

[root2]

Oh wow, you are right. So this Gigabyte board (GA-Z170X-UD5) should have USB 3.1 Gen 2 with 10 Gbps, Display Port 1.2 and Thunderbolt 3. Amazing! Thx for the info.


edit: Thanks to Einsteiniac, I was able to confirm, that this is a Gigabyte unique feature at the moment, and further more I was able to identify which Gigabyte boards support this.


Edit: Based on a discussion in the German Hardwareluxx Forum, I'm no longer convinced that the UD5 features Thunderbolt 3 over Type-C USB connector. However, later this year a way more expensive UD5 TH version might apear that is featureing all the awesome features we like to have already in the UD5.

 

[root2]

I just queried Mieze from the InsanelyMac Forum about the IntelMausiEthernet.kext for the I219-V onboard network card on the GA-Z170X-UD5 board.

Support for I219 will be added when Apple comes out with Skylake based products.

Based on that I wonder why I should not go for a Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 5 instead of the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 because of nearly identical specs, but the availability of the Qualcomm Killer E2201 and (later if Mieze wants it: the Intel I219-V as well) as the mainboard features both network cards. See: http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-...mhz-ddr3-onboard-graphics-using-clover-3.html

I installed using the Killer ALXEthernet v 1.0.2 (ALXEthernet.kext) as my manual listed "Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201 LAN". And it works!!!

Furthermore, the board has a ALC1150 based sound card (like the GA-Z170X-UD5), which is as far as I know at the moment already supported by the Hackintosh community?!

 

[tonymacx86]

Here's a review from this morning about the Z170X-UD5.

http://www.legitreviews.com/gigabyte-z170x-ud5-atx-motherboard-review_170496

 

[VioletDragon]

Yeah boiii looks sweet do you know when apple releases macs with Skylake?