Gigabyte C246-WU4, Intel C246 motherboard - Socket 2066 [9MC246WU4-00-10]

Thanks to its up to 30 high-speed input / output (HSIO) lanes and the maximum of 24 PCI Express 3.0 lanes to be used, this chipset proves to be a true all-rounder, allowing simultaneous use of multiple internal connections.

The features of the Gigabyte C246-WU4 at a glance:
- 4 × PCIe (3.0) x16 (1 × x16 / 1 × x8 / 2x × 4), 1x PCI
- 2 × USB 3.1 Gen 2 (1 × Type-C, 1 × Type-A)
- 7 × USB 3.1 Gen 1 (4 × Type-A external / 3 × internal) & 4 × USB 2.0 (external)
- 2xM.2 (1x PCIe 3.0x4, 1x PCIe 3.0x2 & SATA) / 10x SATA 6G
- 4 × DIMM slots for DDR4 RAM (Dual Channel with up to 64 GB, supports ECC)

The Gigabyte C246-WU4 in detail
The Gigabyte C246-WU4 is a high-quality, ATX-format enthusiast motherboard suitable for power users and hardware fools who are looking for a C246 & Intel's Xeon E-2100 and Core-Coffee Lake CPUs have decided. The rugged board has four PCIe x16 slots, one of which is connected to the chipset with a full 16 lanes, while eight are electrically connected to eight and the last two to four data lines. This allows even NVIDIA 4-way SLI or AMD 3-way CrossFireX configurations when using a 28 or 44 lane CPU.

Equipped with a total of four DIMM slots for DDR4 memory, all slots can be used in dual-channel operation and up to a maximum capacity of 64 GB. Officially DDR4 modules with up to 2.666 MHz can be used, whereby after clocking much higher clock rates are possible.

For data carriers, the board is extensively equipped with two M.2 slots for especially fast NVMe-M.2 SSDs and eight SATA-6G connections for 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch hard disks and SSDs ( including RAID support). The M.2 ports are connected to the chipset via four PCIe lanes in the 3.0 standard - once with four lanes and once with two lanes - and, in combination with the NVMe protocol, enable a data transfer rate of almost 4 GB / s. This makes M.2 PCIe SSDs up to eight times faster than SATA 6G SSDs!
External connections
There are many useful ports on the I / O panel of this performance motherboard to make life easier for the user. The board has two backward compatible USB 3.1 ports, one of which is equipped with a modern Type-C connector. The USB 3.1 controller of the C246 chipset even achieves maximum speeds of up to 16 Gbps, which is more than three times faster than conventional USB 3.0 ports. Of course, the board for input devices and other gaming peripherals also has seven USB 3.0 ports on the I / O panel and four USB 2.0 ports.

For unrestricted network connections, the C246-WU4 also has a Gigabit LAN port. The Realtek ALC1220-VB codec and the five audio ports with gold-plated connectors, which are complemented by an optical S / PDIF-Out connector, ensure decent sound.

Technical details:
- Format:
- ATX form factor
- chipset:
- Intel C246
- Base:
- 1151 v2 (for Intel CPUs of the Coffee Lake and Xeon E-2100 generation, Intel Pentium, Intel Celeron)
- R.A.M:
- 4 × DDR4 (2 666 MHz, dual channel up to 64 GB, ECC)

Slots (physical):
- 1 × PCIe 3.0 x16
- 1 × PCIe 3.0 x16 (electric x8)
- 2 × PCIe 3.0 x16 (electric x4)
- 1x PCI
- Compatible multi-VGA configurations: 4-way SLI * (quad GPU), 3-way CrossFireX * (quad GPU)

Internal connections:
- 10 × SATA 6G
- 1 × M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4 & SATA, 2242/2260/2280/22110)
- 1 × M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x2, 2242/2260/2280)
- 1 × USB 3.0 (USB 3.1 Gen 1, two headers)
- 1 × USB 3.0 (USB 3.1 Gen 1, Type A)
- 1 × CPU fan (4-pin)
- 1x water cooling fan header
- 2 × system fan (4-pin)
- 2x fans / water cooling pumps
- 1 × TPM header (Trusted Platform Module)
- 1 × Thunderbolt add-in card connector
- 1x header for digital LED strips
- 1 × front panel header
- 1 × front panel audio header
- 1x LPT header
- 1x COM port
- 2x temperature sensor
- 1x Clear CMOS Button
- 1x Clear CMOS jumper
- 1x power button
- 1x reset button

External connections:
- 1x PS / 2 combination
- 1 × USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type-C)
- 1 × USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type-A)
- 4 × USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Type-A)
- 2 × USB 2.0 (Type-A)
- 1 × RJ45 LAN port
- 2x DisplayPort
- 5 × Audio (Realtek ALC1220-VB)

Power supply:
- 1 × 24-pin ATX
- 1 × 8-pin ATX 12V
- 1x 6-pin ATX 12V