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Intel Z270 Chipset
This is the first motherboard Benchmark Reviews has tested with the new Intel Z270 desktop chipset, and while there are very few changes from the previous generation Z170 chipset, they’re worth going over.
If you think this looks a lot like the diagram for the Z170 chipset, you’re right. In fact there are really only two enhancements for the Z270 chipset as compared to the Z170 chipset…but they can be significant depending on your system: first, the number of PCI-E 3.0 lanes has been expanded from 20 to 24, and second, support for the Intel Optane memory system.
(Optane is Intel’s new high-performance and high-durability non-volatile memory system, promising substantial improvements to existing flash memory based SSDs.)
For most users, the extra PCI-E lanes will be the biggest draw, as more accessories like m.2 SSDs increase the demand for these high-speed ports. Prior to the Z170, Intel’s mainstream Z97 chipset sported a mere 8 PCI-E lanes, which, when combined with the 16 lanes on the CPU, made for a system total of 24 lanes.
The Z170 chipset bumped the number of chipset-supplied lanes from 8 to 20, and the Z270 take it to 24, for a total of 40 lanes when combined with the 16 lanes on a Sky Lake or Kaby Lake CPU. This finally brings Intel’s mainstream chipsets to “PCI-E parity” with the much more expensive LGA2011-based X99 chipset.
Let’s take a closer look at this mITX motherboard in the next section.
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