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ASUS announces B150 Pro Gaming/Aura motherboards

by Mark Tyson on 11 November 2015, 14:19

Tags: ASUSTeK (TPE:2357)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacv6w

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ASUS has announced a pair of new ATX gaming motherboards based upon Intel's B150 chipset. The ASUS B150 Pro Gaming/Aura and B150 Pro Gaming are aimed at gamers trying to shave some $£s off their budget to spend on other key performance components. The two new motherboards feature plenty of modern frills, such as support for the newest 6th-generation Intel processors, USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A and reversible Type-C, plus NVM Express (NVMe) M.2. However the B150 chipset ('B' stands for business) doesn't cater for CPU and memory OC/tuning, and cuts down on PCI-e lanes, among other things.

The key features of the new B150 Pro Gaming/Aura and B150 Pro Gaming motherboards are, according to ASUS:

  • Gaming aesthetics: Gorgeous LED illumination casts an endless spectrum of colors across B150 Pro Gaming/Aura builds, with fascinating and fun effects.
  • Gaming-grade audio and networking: SupremeFX and Sonic Radar II, plus Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet, LANGuard and GameFirst technologies
  • Gaming-grade cooling: Dedicated water-pump header for instant liquid cooling, plus intuitive control with Fan Xpert 3
  • Gaming-grade transfers and protection: USB 3.1 Type-A and C, M.2, RAMCache acceleration, Gamer's Guardian durability, plus easy DIY features

The two boards are identical except that the 'Aura' suffixed board features 'Aura' LED lighting and effects. If you choose the ASUS B150 Pro Gaming/Aura you will have access to multi-colour breathing effects, colour-strobe or colour-cycle effects. You will also be able to configure lighting to respond to CPU temperature or even pulse in time to your music, game or movie sounds.

As bullet pointed above, these value targeted gaming motherboards still feature a plethora of ASUS technologies to increase your gaming thrills. ASUS SupremeFX uses the Realtek ALC1150 codec in a shielded area of the motherboard. Sonic Radar II is present to tweak your sounds. Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet with LANGuard and GameFirst technologies help you enjoy smooth online gaming.

Just like with its more premium priced gaming motherboards ASUS has included advanced fan and water-pump controls, coupled to onboard thermal sensors and hardware-level 4-pin/3-pin PWM/DC mode detection, controlled via Fan Xpert 3. The boards are fused for protection and feature 2x resilient ASUS ESD Guards, durable capacitors, and corrosion-resistant stainless-steel input/output (I/O). Many of these features do seem a bit out of place on a board offering little if any tweaking capabilities.

ASUS hasn't released pricing and availability details for these new motherboards as yet. Full specs are tabulated below.

ASUS B150 Pro Gaming/Aura

Processor/CPU socket

LGA1151 socket for 6th-generation Intel® Core i7 / i5 / i3 / Pentium® / Celeron® processors

Chipset

Intel B150 Express

LED illumination

ASUS Aura, with the following modes: Static; Breathing; Strobing; Color Cycle; Music Effect; CPU Temperature

Memory

4 x DIMMs, up to a maximum of 64GB DDR4 2133MHz

Expansion slots

1 x PCI Express® 3.0 x16

1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 (maximum at x4 mode)

2 x PCI Express 3.0 x1

2 x PCI

Graphics (VGA)

Integrated Intel HD Graphics processor

HDMI with maximum resolution of 4096 x 2160 at 24Hz

D-sub with max. resolution of 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz

Intel InTru™ 3D / Quick Sync Video / Clear Video HD Technology / Insider™

Multi-GPU support

Two-way/quad-GPU AMD® CrossFireX

Audio

SupremeFX eight-channel high-definition audio codec

Storage

6 x SATA 6.0Gbit/s

1 x M.2 Socket 3 with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices supports (both SATA and PCIe 3.0 x2 modes)

Networking/LAN

Intel Gigabit Ethernet, anti-surge LANGuard, GameFirst technology

USB

1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port

1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port

6 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports

6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports

Dimensions / form factor

ATX 12-inch x 9.6-inch (30.5cm x 24.4cm)



HEXUS Forums :: 11 Comments

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Hmmm. Am I the only one that would rather have the better chipset with no frills (colour, LEDs or water cooling support)? I've always prioritised motherboards that way (even if I can only afford mid level boards!)

edit: Thinking about it - I guess this is the equivalent of a 1.0 ‘Sports’ hatchback - All show and no go…
I've used Asus ROG boards for my last 3 builds but mainly because of solid overclocking performance. Most of the features on them I don't need/use tbh
The Z97-Pro Gamer was a fantastic board, great features for the price.

It is something that they were looking increasingly at, starting to bring premium features down to the budget boards (I think there was a B85 Gamer, potentially?), but there was never much fanfare around them. At some level though, bling will always sell.
Plasmastorm
I've used Asus ROG boards for my last 3 builds but mainly because of solid overclocking performance. Most of the features on them I don't need/use tbh

its b150 - no overclocking… dunno whats the point of this mobo
Fewer PCIe lanes? Single GPU only then. No thanks.