Differences between the z370, h370, b360 and h310 chipsets for coffee lake

The arrival of a new generation of processors is always accompanied by new motherboards based on different chipsets, which can confuse users when choosing the model that interests them most. That is why we have prepared this post, to explain the differences between the Z370, H370, B360 and H310 chipsets for Coffee Lake.

Index of contents

Z370 is the top of the range, includes all the most advanced features

First of all, we have the Z370 chipset, this is the top of the range model and includes all the features that Coffee Lake processors can offer. The most significant difference is that the Z370 is the only chipset that allows overclocking in both the processor and RAM. Of course, in order to use this feature you need a processor with the multiplier unlocked, that is, one from the “K” series. If you have a processor with the multiplier locked you will not be able to overclock.

The Z370 chipset also offers native support for MultiGPU configurations, allowing multiple graphics cards to be used on the same computer, to improve performance in the most demanding games. Finally, it also supports RAID technology, you can learn more about it in this post. But not everything is better in the Z370 chipset, being the oldest, it lacks CNVi technology, we will talk about it later. Z370 offers the maximum number of PCI Express 3.0 lanes with 24.

H370 and B360, losing features to offer a more attractive price.

Next we have the H370, B360 chipsets, these are still a simplification of the Z370 to be able to sell cheaper motherboards. The most important difference is that these do not allow overclocking, so they are the ideal boards for users who have a processor with the multiplier locked.

The only differences between them is that the H370 is RAID compatible and the B360 is not, beyond that the H370 offers a maximum of eight USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, while the B360 complies with six of these ports. Manufacturers may offer more ports on their boards, but it will be through third-party controllers that are added to increase the functionality of the chipset. You can also use these third-party controllers to add MultiGPU support to boards based on these chipsets, which do not include it. These two chipsets cut PCI Express 3.0 lanes up to 20 and 16 respectively.

H310, the cheapest and most limited range

Finally we have the boards based on the H310 chipset, this is the simplest and is the only one that does not offer support for Intel Optane technology, it also lacks support for USB 3.1 gen 2 and only offers support for one RAM module per channel. This chipset only offers 6 lanes PCI Express 3.0 for graphics cards, so it will limit its potential.

CNVi and other news from the Coffee Lake platform

CNVi (Integrated Connectivity) is a technology that is only offered by H370, B360 and H310 chipsets. It is a wireless connectivity architecture designed by Intel for its processors, they were introduced in 2017 with Gemini Lake and now it has reached the Coffee Lake platform.

This wireless connectivity architecture makes large function blocks move to the processor or chipset, reducing the cost of the motherboard. This also has the advantage of allowing all H370, B360 and H310 motherboards to offer WiFi AC and Bluetooth 5.

Other improvements to the Coffee Lake platform include better overall performance, thanks to up to six-core processors, improved overclocking for higher frequencies, and broader multimedia capabilities.

Among the new multimedia capabilities of the platform, we can mention the support for Rec. 2020 and HDR for Blu-ray UHD content, as well as hardware decoding of HEVC 10-bit, HDCP 2.2 and VP9 codecs, which allows downloading of work to the processor when viewing content under these widely used codecs.