With Skylake scheduled for a Q2'15 or H2'2015 release (leaks report different dates), motherboards will be coming out soon. What would you like to see on your ideal Z170 motherboard for Skylake?


As a reminder of the features of the Skylake platform:
http://wccftech.com/intel-skylake-s-platform-specifications-detailed-z170-100series-chipset-replace-z97-2h-2015/
http://wccftech.com/intels-6th-generation-skylake-desktop-processors-platform-detailed-95w-enthusiast-quad-cores-confirmed/
 
For me, besides a solid BIOS (and 2 BIOS chips), no bloatware, good support for a large range of memory modules (including the highest clocked DDR4 ones) and PCIe cards, support for all Xeon and Core CPUs for the Skylake socket (with ECC RAM support for the Xeons), stability and overclockability, I would like to see:


1. Three SFF-8643 ports for PCIe 3.0 x4 2.5" SSDs using the Z170 chipset's 15-18, 19-22, and 23-26 ports with Intel RST for PCIe (so you can have hardware RAID 0, 1, or 5 with three 2.5" NVMe SSDs).
Why? Because NVMe storage is here, and people will want to RAID them. Might as well max what Intel allows you to RAID (3 NVMe drives with Z170).

2. Use of PLX's PEX 8796 96-lane PCIe switch with 16 lanes coming from the host CPU and 80 lanes divided up among five PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (each spaced out to allow for dual slot cards). This would make the motherboard a XL-ATX size (requiring a minimum of a 9 slot PCI case).
Why? First, because you already need a switch to enable past 2-way SLI. Might as well also give all your GPUs 16 lanes to work with to maximize CPU-GPU and GPU-GPU communication. With DX12's emphasis on SFR, GPU-GPU communication will be key. Second, with 5 full bandwidth slots, you can support 4-way SLI + dedicated PhysX (something impossible now without risers). If you don't care about PhysX, the extra slot could be used for a high-end RAID card, a network card, etc.

3. Intel's Thunderbolt 3 Controller (Alpine Ridge) with 2 ports. Connect the controller to either the Z170 chipset's 7-10 or 11-14 ports.
Why? Because Thunderbolt is the best high speed connector for external storage, etc (40Gbps with TB 3.0).

4. Intel's X710-AM2 10GbE Controller + Broadcom's BCM84833 PHY for 10GBASE-T, 1000BASE-T, and 100BASE-TX support (dual 10GbE/1000MbE/100MbE RJ45 ports). Connect the controller to either the Z170 chipset's 7-10 or 11-14 ports, whichever set the Thunderbolt controller isn't using.
Why? First, because ISPs in the U.S. and around the world are now supporting 1Gbps internet for cheap. Some are also bringing in 2Gbps (e.g. Comcast) and others already have 10Gbps (U.S. Internet). 10Gbps is seen as a soon to be realized top speed of Google Fiber. We need PCs which can make use of the new, faster internet. Second, with faster storage devices, 10Gbps will allow faster transfer of documents across the LAN. Third, I choose this model over the X540 because this one supports PCIe 3.0. As such, with 4 lanes connected to your chipset, you can get full speed out of your dual 10GbE ports.


5. Realtek's ALC1150 codec.
Why? Because it supports 7.1+2 channel audio and is Realtek's flagship codec currently.

6. The rear panel would look like this:
USB 2.0  USB 2.0
USB 2.0  USB 2.0  10GbE    10GbE    USB 3.0  TOSLINK   Center/Sub  Line In
USB 2.0  USB 2.0  USB 3.0  USB 3.0  USB 3.0  HDMI 2.0  Rear            Front
USB 2.0  USB 2.0  USB 3.0  USB 3.0  TB 3.0    TB 3.0       Side            Mic In
---------   ---------   ---------   ---------  ----------  ----------    ----------------------


7. Each TB 3.0 port would receive a DP 1.2 signal from the CPU's GPU. The HDMI 2.0 would be the CPU's GPU 3rd display connection.
The Thunderbolt controller could be placed directly behind the TB 3.0 ports.
The 10GbE PHY could be placed directly behind the 10GbE/USB 3.0 ports.
The 10GbE controller could be placed directly behind the USB 2.0 ports.
Chipset would be placed as normal, in the middle of the board besides the PLX 96-lane switch.
VRM would be placed both above the CPU socket and to the left (near the rear panel). Quality VRM for most stable power and highest overclocks.
4 DDR4 RAM slots would be located to the right of the CPU with normal spacing in between.
2 heatsinks can be used. One covering the chipset and the PLX 96-lane switch, the other covering the VRM and the 10GbE controller, 10GbE PHY, and Thunderbolt controller. Preferably fanless. A single waterblock can be made to cover what these 2 heatsinks cover in addition to the CPU.
Front panel audio connector can be placed directly behind the rear panel audio ports for easy access when 5 dual-slot cards are used. TPM slot can also be placed around that area.
Dual vertical 8-pin CPU connectors would be above the VRM above the CPU.
Dual horizontal 8-pin PCIe + single horizontal 6-pin PCIe connectors would be below the 5th PCIe slot (each x16 PCIe slot needs 75W from the motherboard to be in spec, 8-pin provides 150W, 6-pin provides 75W, thus PCIe slots can have dedicated power).
Three SFF-8643 ports on the right side of the board with a horizontal 24-pin ATX connector above them.

Expected Retail Price: $600

I want some big heat fins on stuff, maybe black and red design, extreme written all over it, you know the basic cool stuff.

I want a waterproof black PCB board with UV audio path trace lighting, UV rear panel LED's and UV green heatsinks, slots, and highlights. Could be EVGA & Nvidia themed. I'm so sick of red and black and blue and black. I want to see unique color schemes that have never been done before like Purple and Black, Carbon Fiber, Metal Flake, Fluorescent, Pearlescent, Super Phosphorecent! There's so many possibilities that would be cool...but year after year...red and black or blue and black just gets boring! Liquid cooling and choice of Primochill Advanced LRT is our only salvation for unique color schemes. Unique colored video cards would be cool too! Granted that the Kingpin RGB was the first of its kind...just way too expensive for most. More CPU Power Phases, ridiculous stability when overclocking. Native NVMe support so I can run Win10 from Samsung SM951 NVMe version without compromising on SLI bandwidth would be nice. Sound is really important. Stable USB is really important. I want to hook up Seismic Audio PWS-15's but I don't see balanced audio out on a motherboard as a probability in the near future. What is the audio equivalent of an EVGA GTX 980 Superclocked? It doesn't exist yet. Why not? We will all really be amazed when Pascal finally hits...we need to be just as amazed by the quality of sound in order to make the experience complete. I have an EVGA PSU and GPU...MAKE me want an EVGA motherboard because it is just so unique! Ranting officially completed.

1st PCIe slot to be far enough away from CPU so as the Noctua NH-D15 air cooler doesn't obstruct it.