Gigabyte X170 Extreme ECC and Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 review @ Guru3D

One of the items Gigabyte was showing off at CES was their new Extreme ECC line of gaming motherboards.  These boards are following their military theme complete with digital desert camo and all of the high-end accessories like Killer Nic and the Gigabyte audio solution.  In fact if you saw these boards in passing you would think they are a regular Skylake enabled gaming motherboard.

But you would be mistaken, kinda.

This new motherboard line is using the self named X170 chipset or, as it should be called, the Intel C236.  Yes a server chipset to support the Xeon line of Skylake processors.

Join us in a test on the all new Gigabyte X170 Extreme ECC motherboard. We arm it with an Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 and ECC memory. Though the chipset and processor used are intended for the server platform this motherboard was made all consumer grade with all whistles and bells. It is SLI/Crossfire capable.

So what are the benefits? 

Overclocking?  Uhh No, Xeons don't clock cept via BCLK.
High core count? Uhh maybe but all of the documentation claims E3-12xx V5 processor so that might be all it supports and those are only 4c/8t.
Lower Cost? Uhh maybe?  $280 USD for a E3-1230v5 vs $320 for a Core i7 6700 (non-K)

The board looks cool though.

Related Web URL: http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/gigabyte-x170...