Which itx mobo will support ivy bridge?

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Daemos

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 27, 2003
Messages
376
I'm going to be building an itx box soon for gaming. I don't need to oc, but I would like to have the option of upgrading to ivy bridge for lower power consumption.

I've noticed that asus has released bios updates for their matx z68 board to support ivy bridge but no itx, board has gotten a new bios yet.

Does any one know if any of the itx boards will support ivy bridge? Or do I need to go matx :( I don't know if I can find a small enough matx box for my liking.
 
The only two ITX boards with the Z68 Chipset seems to be the ASRock and the Zotac, and both companies seem to push out very few BIOS updates. The Zotac board is lacking a lot of features that a BIOS update is needed for, and a lot of customers have complained about it.

I wouldn't take the risk with either one, a BIOS update may never come along.
 
I wasn't aware the lower chipsets would even support Ivy Bridge! I stand corrected! This suits you well, too, considering you don't have a desire to overclock!
 
flopticalcube said:
Any Gigabyte 6X board will support Ivy Bridge, including the ITX H67 board. If you don't need OC, the H67N-USB3 is excellent as it supports undervolting to lower power consumption. I'm running at -0.120 to -0.125 volts over the stock auto-voltage.

http://www.techpowerup.com/150333/G...ries-Ready-to-Support-Native-PCIe-Gen.-3.html
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I don't have the link handy, but the Asus 6X boads are supposed to support Ivy, as well. I know people like ASrock for the value, but these days I'd go with either Asus or Gigabyte (in that order).
 
ajira99 said:
I don't have the link handy, but the Asus 6X boads are supposed to support Ivy, as well. I know people like ASrock for the value, but these days I'd go with either Asus or Gigabyte (in that order).
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I like Asus, my motherboards have been Asus only for my personal builds for about a decade. I have done or worked on builds with MSI and Gigabyte boards too and I'd recommend them for the most part too. I've never used EVGA boards but hear good things so I usually consider them an option. ASRock has gotten a lot better and have used a few of their boards in the past. I try and stay away from everyone else.
 
The mobos will need a BIOS update and possibly a firmware update they originally said. Considering that I'd stick to the major brand names like ASUS and Gigabyte too since they seem to put out updates on their products on a regular basis. I'd also stick to the Z68 chipset since its newer. Thats just me though.
 
JohnnyGrey86 said:
Ok, OK! We'll settle on... "different." Deal? None of the chipsets are lower than the other, just each offers a different set of features, different price points, and caters to a different market.

I stand corrected!
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Only kidding! ;) Z68 is the best of the lot but ITX variants are poorly implemented, IMO. For ITX boards, the H67 delivers the best tradeoff between stability and feature set. Not sure if H61 is slated for Ivy Bridge compatibility.
 
If you go Z68 and don't overclock you have no drawbacks while compared to H67 or H61... and you gain SRT
 
Daemos said:
To answer my own question it looks like only the gigabyte boards will for ITX. The list Asus has released for support for 22nm Ivy Bridge isn't a complete list and does not include the H67 ITX board that Asus makes.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...ty-for-its-Z68-P67-H67-H61-board-and-PCIe-3.0
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Aye, the list lacks the itx mobos from Asus, but if you check out the bios in the download section on their website there was a bios released 10/9/11 link

Asus said:
3. Support new CPUs.
Please refer to our website at: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
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My P67 Sabretooth is on the list and it got a similar "support new CPUs" bios update around the same time.

Regardless, I think I am going to fire off an email to Asus to doublecheck.
 
VR-Zone just recently reported on Ivy Bridge compatibility. Here's the most interesting bit.

For starters, the Q67, Q65 and B65 chipsets will not support Ivy Bridge and if we're correct, this has to do with lack of firmware space. This might once again only be limited to Intel's motherboards though, as the company didn't put large enough flash chips on its motherboards.

As for the Z68, P67, H67 and H61 chipsets, they're all compatible, in theory. As we mentioned before, this requires a UEFI update and in this case there must be enough space available to flash Intel's ME8L (L for Legacy) UEFI code to the motherboards. As we've pointed out in the past, this might not be a straight flash due to various reasons so far only known to Intel and its partners. Only time will tell what will be possible and what won't be, but this is clearly a hurdle that the motherboard manufacturers are going to have to deal with before they can guarantee Ivy Bridge support for their Sandy 6-series motherboards, especially as Intel won't have its ME8 UEFI code ready until early next year. According to roadmaps we've seen, Intel itself won't have its ME8 UEFI updates ready for the 6-series motherboards until sometime after the launch of Ivy Bridge.
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PCduster said:
Aye, the list lacks the itx mobos from Asus, but if you check out the bios in the download section on their website there was a bios released 10/9/11 link
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Yes, but if you look at the CPU Support List, there's no mention of ivy bridge.


PCduster said:
Regardless, I think I am going to fire off an email to Asus to doublecheck.
Click to expand...
Please let us know if they answer you.
 
If you plan on overclocking I'd wait until IB is released to buy a mitx motherboard. There might even be newer better mitx boards from Asus Gigabyte, ect by then. If you're not overclocking then the current H67 mitx boards are very nice. The current Z68 mitx motherboards are dissapointing at best with the throttling issues their only real advantage over the H67's is SSD caching.
 
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