Introduction
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The Gigabyte H170N-WIFI is a Mini-ITX form factor socket LGA1151 motherboard based on the new Intel H170 chipset, supporting the sixth generation Core i processors. It brings high-end audio interface, one PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, four SATA-600 ports (allowing two SATA Express connections), six USB 3.0 ports, one of them Type C, and a Wi-Fi interface. Let’s take a good look at it!
The new Intel H170 chipset is a simpler version of the Z170, which is the most high-end model for the LGA1151 socket, targeted to the sixth generation Core i “Skylake” CPUs. The main differences between H170 and Z170 chipsets are the smaller number of USB 3.0 ports (eight on the H170, against ten on Z170) and PCI Express 3.0 lanes (16 on the H170 vs. 20 on the Z170), besides the lack of support to overclocking and CPU controlled PCI 3.0 lane splitting in two or more slots.
Like the Z170, the H170 supports six SATA-600 ports, Smart Response (installing an SSD as a cache for the main hard drive), Smart Connect (allowing the computer to receive emails and refresh webpages while in sleep mode), and Rapid Start (faster boot times) technologies.
You can see the Gigabyte H170N-WIFI motherboard in Figure 1. It uses the Mini-ITX form factor, measuring 6.7” x 6.7” (170 x 170 mm).
Figure 1: Gigabyte H170N-WIFI motherboard