Price / Where to Buy:
US – Approx. US$119 – BIOSTAR GAMING H170T
PH – N/A
Intel’s new generation platform has been with us for a while now and with a peculiar launch strategy, the Skylake platform has for the most part filled many market segments with the various SKUs now available. Going back to launch day, there weren’t a lot of motherboards present with name brands betting on their most noteworthy product lines to set the stage for next-generation desktops.
BIOSTAR continues its newly created GAMING lineup in this new generation with its release of the BIOSTAR Z170X GAMING motherboard and in this generation its getting more to accompany it in the lineup with the release of the more conservative BIOSTAR GAMING H170T. As BIOSTAR departs the lineup in favor of the RACING series, these motherboards are still affordable options if you’re looking at the budget end of the 6th-gen series.
Features
- Supports 6th Generation Intel® Core™ Processor
- Intel H170 single chip architecture
- Support 4-DIMM DDR3-1866(OC) up to 32G maximum capacity
- BIOSTAR Hi-Fi 3D Technology inside
- Support USB 3.0
- Support PCIe M.2(32Gb/s)
- Support SATA Express(16Gb/s)
- Support DisplayPort
Closer Look – BIOSTAR GAMING H170T
The BIOSTAR GAMING Z170X and GAMING H170T motherboard are by far an exact replica of the 1st-generation BIOSTAR GAMING series, the GAMING Z97X. The biggest different is the inclusion of new features introduced by the Z170 chipset that we’ll go over in a bit but first let’s talk about how this motherboard looks. First off, BIOSTAR has taken some design cues from modern trends and has included a shroud on this motherboard. The shroud is plastic and is quite light and flexible and doesn’t seem to serve any other purpose other than visual aesthetics. This hides the rather plain VRM heatsinks underneath. The overall scheme of the board is a dark theme with contrasting black and brown accents comprising the board’s expansion and DIMM slots.
This board differs from the GAMING Z170X in appearance with the more conservative motherboard shroud. The PCH heatsink is smaller and there is only one M.2 slot. PCI-Express x16 slots are also limited to a pair rather than the 3 of the GAMING Z170X.
Since this board does not have overclocking, the onboard buttons are limited to power and reset buttons.
Performance Testing
Test Setup
Processor: Intel Core i7 6700K
Motherboard: BIOSTAR GAMING H170T
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3000
Storage: Kingston HyperX FURY 240GB
PSU: Thermaltake ToughPower 1000W
Cooling: Custom loop (XSPC Raystorm block, EK DCP 4.0, BlackIce Stealth GT 360 rad)
Monitor: LG 42UB820T UltraHD TV
VGA: GIGABYTE GTX 980 Ti GAMING G1
Performance Testing – Synthetic
wpDataChart with provided ID not found! wpDataChart with provided ID not found! wpDataChart with provided ID not found! wpDataChart with provided ID not found!Performance Testing – 3D Benchmark
3DMark Fire Strike
wpDataChart with provided ID not found!Power & Temperatures
We check to see how motherboard makers tune their default BIOS settings and see how it impacts temperatures and power consumption. The system is left to idle for 30 minutes before readings are taken and load data is taken 30 minutes while AIDA64 stress test is running. Power readings are taken for the entire system from the socket. Power draw for the entire system is captured for this test via an outlet wattmeter and temperatures are recorded via Intel Extreme Tuning app.
wpDataChart with provided ID not found!Conclusion
Let’s break it down for the BIOSTAR GAMING H170T:
Performance. As a non-Z170 board, we’re limited to a few performance options in this board but that’s already a given for the non-highend products. In the case of the BIOSTAR H170T, there’s still plenty to like as it delivers stock performance on par with entry level Z170 boards.
Build Quality. The BIOSTAR GAMING H170T pretty much is a dead-ringer to the Z170X with the same build quality: good solder work and clean layout but many will argue that the plastic shroud and dark brown PCB could’ve gotten a bit more work. That’s quite subjective and in my opinion, is quite alright for the price. The BIOS also remains the same and is quite underwhelming despite the advancements in their build quality. Overall though as we’ll see later, everything is just right for the price.
Functionality. BIOSTAR really likes to max out the capabilities of chipsets it uses instead of slapping in 3rd party devices. There’s plenty of USB3 and an M.2 slot here plus some enthusiast onboard features like a debug readout and buttons. Problem is though, this board only supports Crossfire so multi-GPU is limited to AMD Radeon solutions. That’s kind of a bummer and may put off a lot of potential buyers but we feel this board fits well with single card configuration well enough to warrant the lack of SLI support. Still, points off for BIOSTAR for not pursuing SLI support.
Bundle. The H170T arrives in a vanilla package of manuals and SATA cables.
Value. The BIOSTAR GAMING H170T is priced at $119 putting it as one of the cheaper enthusiast level H170 boards out right now. The only competition it has are similar entries from ASRock and while those may feature the same loadout as the GAMING H170T, BIOSTAR does have the advantage of feeling a bit more substantial than that of ASRock’s H170 GAMING and PERFORMANCE lineup.
Price / Where to Buy:
US – Approx. US$119
PH – N/A