When it comes to GIGABYTE Technology, seasoned DIY enthusiasts first think of the characteristic motherboard technologies such as “Dual BIOS” and “Ultra Durable”. After all, in a motherboard market filled with competitors, the reason why the established manufacturer GIGABYTE can continuously develop is not only due to ensuring product quality and providing excellent after-sales service but also due to its powerful R&D strength, which is its most potent “secret weapon”. At an IT event like ComputeX 2017, GIGABYTE naturally wouldn’t keep its strength hidden. Various innovative products ranging from motherboards, Mini PCs, cooling technologies, to cool-looking MOD systems came in succession.
At this exhibition, GIGABYTE mainly showcased several X299 motherboards. GIGABYTE engineers stated that the X299 motherboards will adopt an 8-phase CPU core power supply design, with each power supply circuit paired with IR International Rectifier’s PowIRstage integrated MOSFET capable of carrying a maximum current of 50A. This means that the 8-phase power supply circuit can carry a maximum of 400A current, so even if the number of cores in the Core i9 processor increases to 18 in the future, it can easily handle the Core i9’s TDP of under 200W.
Additionally, in response to the growing popularity of M.2 SSDs, GIGABYTE’s high-end X299 motherboards are equipped with up to 3 M.2 slots, such as the GIGABYTE X299 AORUS GAMING 9 motherboard. Moreover, considering that M.2 SSDs generate a lot of heat, which may lead to throttling issues when temperatures are too high, GIGABYTE’s X299 motherboards come with heatsinks for each M.2 slot to effectively reduce the heat generated by the M.2 SSDs.
Furthermore, the GIGABYTE X299 motherboards have also incorporated SoundBlasterX 720° audio technology that enhances sound positioning and surround effects; they can connect to LED digital light strips and control the lighting effects of individual light beads (previously, most motherboards could only connect to analog light strips, where all light beads on an analog strip had to have the same lighting effect), as well as the new generation of RGB FUSION lighting effects and the new generation of Gigabyte 3142 USB 3.1 GEN 2 controllers.
The standard M.2 SSD heatsink of GIGABYTE’s new generation motherboards is solidly crafted, with thickness nearing that of the chipset heatsink. The concave-convex surface design increases the heat dissipation area, and the back is equipped with thermal grease, effectively solving the throttling issues of SSDs like Samsung 960 PRO and 960 EVO.
Despite being a traditional motherboard manufacturer, GIGABYTE has always been keen on designing high-performance mini PCs. This time, GIGABYTE showcased the new generation BRIX GAMING VR mini PC designed specifically for VR, which has a size comparable to a 2L cola bottle but is equipped with a CORE i7-7700HQ processor and a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, supporting four monitor outputs, making it sufficient to run most VR games smoothly.
The GIGABYTE X299 motherboard greatly enhances memory overclocking capabilities, achieving the ability to overclock 8 DDR4 memory sticks to 4133MHz simultaneously. The frequency of the Core i9 processor is also not low; a Core i9 7900X used on-site, despite having as many as 10 cores, can easily run at a full speed of around 4.4GHz.
At the same time, GIGABYTE announced the launch of a motherboard supporting AMD’s latest Ryzen 9 ThreadRipper high-end consumer processor, using the X399 chipset – the GIGABYTE X399 AORUS Gaming 7. This motherboard features a super large SP3r2 processor socket with 4094 pins. In terms of power supply design, there is not much difference between the GIGABYTE X399 and X299 motherboards, both utilizing an 8-phase power supply for the processor cores, paired with IR International Rectifier’s PowIRstage integrated MOSFET capable of carrying a maximum current of 50A. The reason may be that the known Ryzen 9 Threadripper 1998X 16-core processor has a TDP of only 155W. However, on-site engineers indicated that GIGABYTE might adopt MOSFETs capable of carrying 60A for its X399 motherboards in the future to achieve stronger overclocking capabilities.
GIGABYTE’s cooling black technology: several server-grade CPUs and GPUs are fully immersed in NOVEC insulating coolant from 3M, looking like boiling water, but can still be touched on the exterior of the case, staying around 50 to 60 degrees Celsius, not too hot. The principle is simple: the coolant absorbs the heat emitted by the processor, GPU, and chipset, turning into vapor to the condensation end at the top of the case, releasing heat and cooling back into liquid, continuously cycling this heat absorption and release process. From what we saw on-site, with this coolant, the operating temperature of the processor was around 70 degrees Celsius, which is not low but acceptable.
The quality of GIGABYTE motherboards and their personalized designs have attracted a large group of high-end DIY enthusiasts globally, especially case modding players (MODDERs), who create a large number of uniquely shaped, eye-catching MOD systems based on GIGABYTE motherboards every year, and this year will be no exception.
The Focus Will Return to Performance
In addition to showcasing various new products and technologies, Mr. Gao Hanyu, Global Vice President of GIGABYTE’s Technology Channel and Motherboard Business Group, and Mr. Xu Jidao, Deputy Director of Product Planning at GIGABYTE’s Technology Channel and Motherboard Business Group, also accepted interviews from various media outlets nationwide, revealing new trends from GIGABYTE to the IT hardware industry.
▲Mr. Gao Hanyu, Global Vice President of GIGABYTE’s Technology Channel and Motherboard Business Group (left), and Mr. Xu Jidao, Deputy Director of Product Planning at GIGABYTE’s Technology Channel and Motherboard Business Group (right), accepted an exclusive interview with our publication.
MC: Now that esports has been set as an event in the Asian Games, what new actions will GIGABYTE take regarding esports?
Gao Hanyu: GIGABYTE will not only continue to hold its own GTL college esports events but also collaborate with many gaming organizations. For instance, GIGABYTE has recently signed a contract with Huati Esports (Beijing) Sports Culture Co., Ltd. to become its strategic partner, and we will make esports events bigger and better.
MC: What new plans does GIGABYTE have for its designer series motherboards targeting the designer community?
Gao Hanyu: We will not only continue to launch designer series motherboard products but also strengthen cooperation with third-party OEMs and software manufacturers to meet the needs of the designer community. At the same time, GIGABYTE will focus on university students related to design professions, providing them with affordable, high-value overall solutions. Of course, this cannot be accomplished solely by GIGABYTE; we will also collaborate with many partner manufacturers to promote this project together.
MC: GIGABYTE launched the high-end AORUS brand targeting esports last year. How is the development of this brand? Is GIGABYTE satisfied with its performance?
Gao Hanyu: The emergence of AORUS has injected new vitality into the high-end DIY market, and market feedback has far exceeded our expectations. In the upcoming plans, the AORUS product line will be fully expanded, including motherboards, graphics cards, cases, keyboards, mice, and peripherals. At the same time, from the perspective of the products themselves, the AORUS brand has also brought many new designs. The AORUS Z270X-Gaming 9 motherboard won the “BEST CHOICE AWARD GOLDEN” at the 2017 Taipei Computer Show.
Xu Jidao: I can add that this award was contested by many different types of computer products, and only 7 products received the gold award, with the Z270X-Gaming 9 being the only motherboard product to win. This also proves that the appearance and functionality of AORUS products have been recognized by the judges. During the judging process, there was an interesting episode: typically, there is only a 5-minute presentation time for judges. However, when we presented this product to the judges, we managed to talk for over 10 minutes, starting from the initial product development to the product itself, showing great interest.
Gao Hanyu: The reason is that currently, mobile computing platforms such as smartphones have increasingly powerful performance and can completely replace the low-end mainstream applications of computers. Therefore, for the DIY industry to continue to develop, it must continue to provide valuable products to users. For example, the demand for hardware in high-end market applications and games is increasing, and this growing demand has given birth to the AORUS brand, indicating that AORUS has great potential in this market.
MC: Many users feel that the functional design on motherboards has reached a bottleneck and is difficult to innovate. What does GIGABYTE think about this?
Gao Hanyu: I believe that innovation is endless, and applications will bring new demands. For example, although professional high-end audio equipment often costs tens of thousands, audio manufacturers are also constantly updating and launching new devices, driven by new consumer demands.
Xu Jidao: You can also see such examples on GIGABYTE’s new generation motherboards. The audio devices on the motherboards have also seen innovations, such as using the ESS9018 decoding chip with a signal-to-noise ratio of 127dB, paired with the Ti OPA1622 audio operational amplifier, which also has a signal-to-noise ratio of 127dB. In terms of networking, GIGABYTE has strengthened cooperation with Killer and launched an expansion card named Killer Extend, making GIGABYTE motherboards the network management center of the home, reasonably allocating bandwidth according to the applications and needs of various devices in the household. Therefore, users and manufacturers will always have new ideas and demands. In simple terms, there will always be better products available for consumers.
MC: With various glowing LEDs at the computer show, do you think there is a bit of aesthetic fatigue? What will be the next hotspot in the IT hardware industry?
Gao Hanyu: I believe that the next hotspot in the entire industry may return to performance: after all, the popularization of VR requires mainstream computers to have corresponding performance. The performance of the PC platform still has a lot of room for improvement. One major issue facing VR devices is dizziness, indicating that the hardware performance of PCs is still insufficient, and VR hardware is still evolving. Therefore, we need to work harder to enhance hardware performance to meet the demands of VR. The magical 2017, which produced four brand new chipset motherboards (referring to the AMD X370/B350 series, Intel X299 series, AMD X399 series, and the new generation Intel mainstream chipsets to be released in the second half of this year), is not only due to competition among upstream processor manufacturers but also reflects consumers’ desire for performance.
