Introduction

It has been a year since Intel released their latest and greatest platform for mainstream desktop PCs. The 100-series platform was part of the 6th generation processor launch. Skylake brought with it a range of new feature support and performance updates. The 100-series products were the first to utilize features such as DDR4, M.2, PCI-e 3.0 SSDs and more.

Today, Intel officially launches the 200-series platform. Designed to support 7th generation processors that are codenamed Kaby Lake, 200-series offers new features and updates in the form of Intel Optane support. I think the most important thing is that the boards themselves would be far more attractive than the processor series as they are more feature-heavy and offer plenty of reasons for consumers to upgrade.

ROG Strix is the newest recruit into the Republic of Gamers. A series of specialized gaming gear designed for the rebel in all of us, Strix embodies ROG’s premier performance, innovative technology, and leading quality, but with its own confident and dynamic attitude. Featuring bold designs and bright colors, this exciting new series possesses a spirit of fierce individualism that charges every gaming experience with thrilling energy. ROG Strix equips players with the necessary speed and agility to dominate their game, delivers premier performance, innovation, and dynamic attitude to release the gamer’s inner rebel. A new generation of force has arrived. Join the Republic and experience the power of ROG Strix.

Intel Z270 Express Chipset - The Top 200-Series PCH

The two chipsets that will be offered with the new Kaby Lake processors are Z270 and H270. Intel will be offering support for the Kaby Lake and Skylake processors on both 100-series and 200-series motherboards. This means that consumers can use their Skylake chips on a 200-series board or a Kaby Lake chip on a 100-series board.

The two new chips are marketed towards specific markets. The Z270 series is aimed at the consumer market while the H270 series is aimed at the consumer and corporate market. We will get on to the features of these chipset which is an update from the previous 100-series generation of products.

Intel Z270 and H270 PCH Features

Intel Z270 and Z170 offer the same CPU PCIe configuration support. They allow for 1 x 16, 2 x 8 or 1 x 8 + 2 x 4 config whereas the H270 and H170 chipset offers just 1 x 16 config. The total number of independent Display Port offered by the PCH are 3 and power up to four memory DIMMs in Dual Channel mode. The Z Series offers overclocking support while the H Series is restricted from such support. All chipsets offer Intel SmartSound tech but Intel AIB partners will be offering their own custom Audio codecs to power audio.

Moving on, the new 200-series has official support for Optane technology which is not available on 100-series products. Intel Rapid Storage technology is also pushed to 15 (was 14 on 100-series). Some other features in the new chipsets include Raid 0, 1, 5, 10 support, PCIe Storage Drive support, Smart Response Technology and I/O Port flexibility.

Intel has increased the number of high-speed I/O lanes to 30 on both 200-series chipsets. The Z170 had 26 while the H170 had 22 lanes. Total USB ports have remain the same at 14 (10 USB 3.0) for Z Series and 14 (8 USB 3.0) for H Series. All boards would have 6 SATA III 6 GB/s ports. Expansion slots would be powered by 24 PCI-e lanes on Z270 and 20 PCI-e lanes on H270. This is a slight increase over 20 PCI-e lanes on Z170 and 16 on H170.

The KBL-PCH will be able to support Mansion Beach (Optane SSD PCIe/NVMe Gen3 x4), Brighton Beach (Optane SSD PCIe/NVMe Gen3 x4) and Stony Beach (Optane Memory PCIe/NVMe Gen 3 x2 (m.2)) solutions. We covered this topic in more detail over here.

Intel 200-Series PCH Specifications:

Chipset	Intel Z270	Intel H270	Intel Z170	Intel H170
SKU Focus Segment	Consumer	Consumer / Corporate	Consumer	Consumer / Corporate
CPU Support	Kaby Lake-S / Skylake-S	Kaby Lake-S / Skylake-S	Kaby Lake-S / Skylake-S	Kaby Lake-S / Skylake-S
CPI PCI-e Configuration	1 x 16 or 2 x 8 or 1 x 8 + 2 x 4	1 x 16	1 x 16 or 2 x 8 or 1 x 8 + 2 x 4	1 x 16
Independent DisplayPort	3	3	3	3
Memory DIMMs	4	4	4	4
Overclocking	Yes	No	Yes	No
Intel SmartSound Technology	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Intel Optane Technology	Yes	Yes	No	No
Intel Rapid Storage Technology	15	15	14	14
Intel Rapid Storage Technology From PCIe Storage Drive Support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
RAID 0,1,5,10	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Intel Smart Response Technology	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
I/O Port Flexibility	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Maximum High Speed I/O Lanes	30	30	26	22
Total USB Ports (Max USB 3.0)	14 (10)	14 (8)	14 (10)	14 (8)
Max SATA 6 Gbps Ports	6	6	6	6
Max PCI-E 3.0 Lanes	24	20	20	16
Max Intel RST for PCIe Storage Ports (x2 M.2 or x4 M.2)	3	2	3	2

Intel LGA 1151 Socket - 6th Gen and 7th Gen CPU Support

As last year, the 200-series boards feature the LGA 1151 socket. The socket is built to support both 6th gen and 7th gen processors. This allows 200-series boards to support both Skylake and Kaby Lake processors, making it easier for previous gen owners to upgrade.

The LGA 1151 socket is also featured on the 100-Series chipset motherboards and will extend support to the new Kaby Lake processors. Motherboard vendors like Gigabyte have released latest firmware for 100 series motherboards to support Kaby Lake processors. The LGA 1151 has a total of 1151 contact pins for interfacing with Skylake and Kaby Lake processors. Following are all of the Kaby Lake processors that will be available at launch for 200-series platform:

Intel 7th Generation 'Kaby Lake' Desktop Lineup

SKU Name	Cores/Threads	Core Clock	Boost Clock	L3 Cache	TDP	Socket	Price
Core i7-7700K	4/8	4.2 GHz	4.5 GHz	8 MB	91W	LGA1151	$339 US
Core i7-7700	4/8	3.6 GHz	4.2 GHz	8 MB	65W	LGA1151	$303 US
Core i7-7700T	4/8	2.9 GHz	3.8 GHz	8 MB	35W	LGA1151	$303 US
Core i5-7600K	4/4	3.8 GHz	4.2 GHz	6 MB	91W	LGA1151	$242 US
Core i5-7600	4/4	3.5 GHz	4.1 GHz	6 MB	65W	LGA1151	$213 US
Core i5-7600T	4/4	2.8 GHz	3.7 GHz	6 MB	35W	LGA1151	$213 US
Core i5-7500	4/4	3.4 GHz	3.8 GHz	6 MB	65W	LGA1151	$192 US
Core i5-7500T	4/4	2.7 GHz	3.3 GHz	6 MB	35W	LGA1151	$192 US
Core i5-7400	4/4	3.0 GHz	3.5 GHz	6 MB	65W	LGA1151	$182 US
Core i5-7400T	4/4	2.4 GHz	3.0 GHz	6 MB	35W	LGA1151	$182 US
Core i3-7350K	2/4	4.2 GHz	N/A	4 MB	60W	LGA 1151	$168 US
Core i3-7320	2/4	4.1 GHz	N/A	4 MB	TBD	LGA 1151	$149 US
Core i3-7300	2/4	4.0 GHz	N/A	4 MB	51W	LGA1151	$138 US
Core i3-7300T	2/4	3.5 GHz	N/A	4 MB	35W	LGA1151	$138 US
Core i3-7100	2/4	3.9 GHz	N/A	4 MB	51W	LGA 1151	$117 US
Core i3-7100T	2/4	3.4 GHz	N/A	4 MB	35W	LGA 1151	$117 US
Pentium G4620	2/4	3.7 GHz	N/A	3 MB	51W	LGA1151	$86 US
Pentium G4600	2/4	3.6 GHz	N/A	3 MB	51W	LGA 1151	$75 US
Pentium G4560	2/4	3.5 GHz	N/A	3MB	54W	LGA 1151	$64 US
Pentium G3950	2/2	3.0 GHz	N/A	2 MB	35W	LGA1151	$52 US
Pentium G3930	2/2	2.9 GHz	N/A	2 MB	35W	LGA1151	$42 US

Intel did one thing right with the new socket and that’s the socket positioning which allows older coolers and mounting brackets to remain compatible with the newer socket. So if you have a old LGA 1150 socket cooler that you wish to use with the new LGA 1151 socket, It could be done so, but do note that while the socket looks the same as LGA 1150 socket, the processors are incompatible due to different pin layout so you don’t want to try putting an Haswell processor into the LGA 1151 socket otherwise it would damage the pins permanently.

Cooler Compatibility With LGA 1151 Socket

While Haswell processors ship with their own boxed coolers and cooler makers providing retention brackets for LGA 1150 compatibility, it should be noted that Intel has stopped offering boxed coolers since Skylake and Kaby Lake processor generation and users have to look forward to retail coolers.

Intel does offer a separate boxed cooler but it will be a much better choice to get an AIB cooling solution since those offer better cooling performance. Older CPU coolers will remain compatible with the new socket and some manufacturers are provided updated retention brackets for the 1151 socket boards.

The new STRIX Z270E GAMING motherboard was designed to forge maximum performance and overclocking, this motherboard series features premium components as well as improved DDR4 layouts, deliver a better experience on performance, stability and longevity.

The series also boasts ROG SupremeFX with a significantly new upgraded audio solution on both back and front panel, advanced networking, fastest onboard M.2 storage interfaces with up to 32Gbps, and Intel USB 3.1 Type-C with power delivery up to 15W for the ultimate gaming experience. Finally, the ROG UEFI BIOS and ROG exclusive software continues leading the way with cutting edge options.

ASUS STRIX Z270E Gaming Specifications:

USB 3.1 front header

STRIX Z270E Gaming is not only equipped both Type-A and Type-C on rear I/O but also a special implemented front USB 3.1 connector to enable 10Gbps transfer speeds and give users the convenience of Type-C ports at the front of the chassis. ASUS has also partnered with chassis vendors Lian-Li and In-Win to ensure users can take advantage of this header. The corresponding chassis should be released to market at or near the KabyLake launch date.

Dual M.2

STRIX Z270E Gaming features two M.2 slots (M key socket 3) with support for both the PCIe 3.0 X4 32Gbps standard and SATA 6Gbps standard. Supporting both NVMe and AHCI standard as well as compatibility of full spec supporting on form factors from 2242, 2260, 2280 to 22110 – bringing you the fastest and the most flexible M.2 interface. STRIX Z270E Gaming adopts two M.2 while one in horizontal and the other equipped in vertical. M.2_1 in horizontal supports form factor 2242 / 2260 / 2280 / 22110 in both PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA mode; while M.2_2 supports 2242 / 2260 / 2280 with PCIe 3.0 x4 mode only)

(M.2_1 shares SATA mode with SATA port 1; M.2_2 shares PCIe x4 bandwidth with SATA port 5,6 )

On the STRIX Z270E Gaming the M.2 can be utilized for PCIe RAID purpose, by combining the M.2 PCIe storage with another PCIe storage to squeeze out the last juice of PCIe storage performance.

3D Printing Friendly design

3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of using additive layers to create a three dimensional objects from a digital file. One of the most eye-catching topic recently in the industry, the very nature means of 3D printing is to bring out the endless possibilities for customization, a new kind of value-added feature for those who enjoys the philosophy of “make it your own”.

However what does this technology has to do with ASUS motherboard? This generation on the ASUS STRIX Z270E Gaming offers a template for enthusiasts to print out their own ideas DIYers can now make their own customization in whatever color they are interested in with ease and hassle-free.

Aura

STRIX Z270E Gaming is equipped Aura RGB lighting from top to bottom, ensure bright, evenly distributed illumination of your build, lit up and customize your own favorite LED effect to cast a stunning multi-color glow across your build, change shades to indicate CPU temperature, or pulsate in time to the beat of your favorite tunes and a lot of more.

2+2 independent on-board LED areas with refreshed Aura software

There are 2 independent onboard LED groupings – Back IO and Power/Reset Button, and Northbridge logo. Together with 2 additional independent Aura headers, 2 more RGB strips or Aura sync compatible devices can be controlled. While all can be synced up through software Aura and also 9 changeable lighting effects among all your modding gears. It’s easy to use and can be quickly installed to cast brilliant colors across your rig and room. These two onboard RGB strip headers supporting 5050RGB LED strip standard with a maximum power rating of 12V/1A per strip. This equates to a maximum strip length of approximately 2 meters for the best brightness.

Aura Software

Aura lighting control software is the core of Aura aesthetics. It allows users to tweak the colors and brightness of onboard RGB LEDs. ASUS Aura lighting control software includes 9 lighting effects - Static / Breathing / Strobing / Color cycle / Rainbow / Comet / Flash and Dash / CPU Temperature and Music Effect that changes LED color according to playback audio or CPU Temperature.

Aura Sync

Aura Sync is also a part of lighting control feature that can be easily utilize to help you sync up other RGB lighting peripherals, user can use this interface to setup your Aura lighting individually or united it together as one. However do keep in mind that this feature may be different on other peripherals as not all products have same effects and lighting mechanism.

BEST GAMING NETWORKING

The STRIX Z270E Gaming motherboards feature the latest Intel Ethernet (I219-V) for faster and smoother gaming sessions. It reduces CPU overhead to allot more processing power for gaming and offers exceptionally high Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) throughput.

STRIX has also improved on the networking port with Onboard LANGuard; it uses advanced SOC technology to combine the legacy LANGuard elements into one chipset, including signal-coupling technology and premium surface-mounted capacitors to improve throughput. Onboard LANGuard as well features surge-protect ability with no less on electrostatically-guarded components (ESD Guards) to protect motherboard LAN from surge damaging that may be caused by either lightning strikes or static electricity. Onboard LANGuard gives you exactly the same protection as always, 1.5X higher on surge and 1.9X higher on static-electricity tolerance.

The latest STRIX-exclusive networking optimization utility, GameFirst IV, comes upgraded with even more gamer-friendly features and an intuitive interface.

Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet

Current STRIXZ270 motherboards feature the Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet chip, and so the following performance comparisons are based on it. Having the full triad of Intel hardware on your PCB (CPU, PCH, LAN) also gives better compatibility, energy savings and the chip itself can offload UDP/TCP checksums from the CPU, reducing PCH-CPU traffic and overall CPU use.

RAMCache II (to turbo boost storage)

ROG RAMCache II software provides transparent solution to increase overall storage performance by utilizing the system memory that is not in use. RAMCache II allocates a cache of RAM between the computer hard disk and the applications, and then reads in real time your performance needs regarding the applications you are currently using and the disk I/O demands. It will copy the most frequently used data from the disk to the RAM cache where it can be processed faster, and then automatically writes it back to the disk. One more thing worth noting is that RAMCache II is now ready to support NVM Express protocol storage devices.

GAMING AUDIO

This generation, the SupremeFX comes with a new S1220A CODEC in addition to its cutting-edge isolation technologies to minimize electromagnetic interference (EMI), premium Nichicon audio capacitors, Dual headphone amplifier, SupremeFX Shielding Technology, and line-out impedance sensing to provide precision-engineered audio that is on par with dedicated headphone amps.

On the software side, the STRIX Z270E Gaming also features Sonic Radar III to display that has been completely overhauled to pinpoint enemy footsteps with devastating accuracy. See the direction and origin of key in-game sounds, and practice your enemy-pinpointing skills, plus exclusive Audio Enhancement technology clarifies every last blast.

• ROG SupremeFX S1220A High Definition Audio CODEC, this CODEC features an unprecedented 113dB SNR line-in and 120dB SNR line-out that allows users to stream and record with minimal noise. As well as headphone amplify with 2.1Vrms output capability and 600-Ohm high impedance driving capability.
• De-pop MOSFET serves a dual function in this generation. Aside from switching on and off to minimize pop noises, it also serves as an impedance sense pathway that allows both the front and rear panels to detect the impedance of your headphone.
• Impedance sensing brings you the ability to sense line-out/headphone impedance while installed, and automatically determines the best amplify level for your speaker/ headphone. It’s either “Performance” for 0~50ohm, “Powerful” for 51~109ohm, or “Extreme” for 110ohm and above. Lower amplify level can protect your low impedance output device from large driving hazard, while high amplify level increase a better driving ability for your high impedance product.
• SupremeFX shielding a physical isolation guard that isolates crosstalk and noise interference from other high frequencies, preserving a pure and a non-distortion pathway from top to bottom, ensures precision analog/digital separation and greatly reduced multi-lateral interference from within the PCB and from other components.
• Dual Op-Amps Powerful audio boost to covering from high resistance (600-Ohm) headphone sets to low resistance (32-Ohm) headphone sets, with automatic impedance sensing, enhancing the highest quality sound for gaming headphones and speakers.
• Premium Nichicon@ audiophile grade capacitors provide warm, natural, and immersive sound with exceptional clarity and fidelity that are great for game effects and multimedia.
• Left/Right Channel Track Separation Layout technique to separate left/right channel track, to reduce any possible interference.
• Stainless Steel cover protects HD audio chip from interferences, to ensure the best audio quality and isolates the environmental noise invasion.

SafeSlot

SafeSlot provides user a great deal of protection on PCIe slot, reinvented and strengthened through a new insert-molding process to bind the slot for fortifying metal for superior retention and shearing resistance, reinforcing the best strength on all X / Y / Z axis. This new armor is designed with the concept to extend longevity and durability while heavy graphic cards are taken place, SafeSlot was designed using metal hooks to the plastic slot itself which brings user the real benefit on PCIe strength in all 3D X / Y / Z axis.

Q-Shield, Q-Code, Q-LED, Q-Slot, Q-DIMM, Q-Connector

A lot of R&D effort is put into the Q design detailing on all over the boards, hoping to provide user a better DIY experience on all cases. Q-shield was designed to be soft and flexible for nicks free and cuts free. Q-Code makes troubleshooting POST failures even easier. Q-LED leads you to the POST status of the system. 1-Clip Q-Slot helps user to have better experiencing on upgrading the graphics cards with ease. Q-DIMM makes memory modules insertion simplified with just one easily push. Q-Connector takes part for better DIY experience, a sweet little gadget for system front panel installation. All these were made for DIY users that care for quicker and better DIY experiences, no more hassles and hazards on DIY!

Gamer’s Guardian

While you protect yourself in the game, STRIX Z270E Gaming protects all sides in the real world.

SafeSlot Core : Structure improvement

One thing worth noting is regarding the PCIe bonding structure, usually the part is designed simply by inserting the metal pin into the plastic slot, which is then fix it to the motherboard. In other words, the strength of the structure on the Y-axis is depends solely on the resistance of the surface friction between metal and plastic. This sometimes results in trouble when the user roughly handles the PCIe slot. ROG resolves this by using an extra hook on the metal pin right before inserting it into the plastic slot. This small technique results in a direct increase in durability of the PCIe slot and as well as an extension on the lifespan of your motherboard.

SafeSlot Core : Reinforced soldering

Together with SafeSlot and the slot binding structure, solder points have also been increased. This gives extra strength for all axes, with 16% durability improvement on X-axis; 66% on Y-axis; and 34% on the Z-axis. On the Maximus IX Code both DRAM and PCIe slots are utilize this technique to ensure that the best protection possible.

DRAM Over-current Protection

Additional resettable fuse protection connecting on ports and DRAM to against over current from short-circuits.

ESD Guards

2X greater protection than the industry standard from electrostatic discharges, to extend a better device life-span for onboard PS2, USB, Audio and LAN ports.

10K Black Metallic Capacitors

Exceptionally high-quality Nichicon solid-state capacitors offer 20% greater temperature endurance and five times longer on the lifespans than the generic equivalents.

The ASUS ROG STRIX Z270E Gaming comes in the standard cardboard package. You can note that the front of this box has the STRIX branding along with a picture of the product.

The back side of the package lists down the specifications and special features of the motherboard such as the AURA Lightning system, New SupremeFX Codec, 3D Printing Friendly Design and USB 3.1 Front Panel connector on the product.

The front side also lists down support for Intel's 6th and 7th generation Core processors. There's also support for Intel Optane memory which is one of the key features of the 200-series platform. The board fully supports NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire technology for multi-gpu functionality.

Inside the package are two compartments, the top houses the board itself while the lower portion houses the accessories. Here we can see that ASUS has a dedicated cut out for their product user guide. The user guide contains a driver disk along with several stickers that can be used by gamers on their PC case.

There are several accessories included in the package such as a WiFi antenna module, several SATA III cables, an I/O cover, screws for the 3D mounting bracket, a high-bandwidth SLI bridge, CPU Installation cover and the RGB 4-Pin cable.

Out of the box, the ASUS ROG STRIX Z270E Gaming looks absolutely stunning with a simple yet elegant design that makes it stand out from the rest of the crowd. The blade cuts on the heatsinks and the matte black finish on the PCB that are covered by white textures look superb.

The ASUS ROG STRIX Z270E Gaming is a standard ATX form factor motherboard that utilizes a matte black color for the PCB and brushed metallic silver/black combination for the heatsinks. It has a ton of features for the price it should hit retail for so let's get started.

The board uses the LGA 1151 socket to support Intel Core processors. The socket is compatible with both Intel 6th Gen (Skylake) and 7th Gen (Kaby Lake) processors. The socket has a protective cover out of box which can easily be removed when installing the processor.

The ASUS ROG STRIX Z270E Gaming packs a semi-8+2 Phase (CPU+iGPU) Digital power design. The design is packed with 2 phase power for the DRAM and uses 10K black metallic solid-state capacitors. The board also features a powerful Digi+ Power Control Utility for advanced tuning and configuration routines, ESD Guard, DRAM Fuse and Active Frequency Mode.

The motherboard is covered by an aggressive I/O cover that comes in black color. This I/O cover acts as a shield to protect the I/O panel from electrostatic discharge.

As you can see, the VRMs are getting ample cooling from the two metallic heatsinks that are beefy in terms of overall size. This motherboard is designed for overclocking so expect stable operation of the electrical circuitry when this board is running.

The top I/O cover and the cut marks on the heatsink feature ASUS AURA LED system so expect some lightning action when the board is up and running.

The CPU is supplied power through a single 8-Pin power connector. This will feed the CPU with up to 150W of power. Most Intel CPU’s will be shipping with TDP’s under 100W but that changes when users overclock, that changes power limit based on applied voltages and clock speed.

Next to the socket are four DDR4 DIMM slots which can support up to 64 GB (Dual Channel) memory. These slots are rated to support XMP profiles up to 3866 MHz. Each slot is labeled, making it easier to install DIMMs in the proper orientation.

Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 3.0 x16, three PCI-Express 3.0 x1 and two M.2 slots. The board can support 3-Way multi-GPU (CrossfireX / SLI). The M.2 slots are rated to support NVMe PCI-e Gen3 x4 and Intel Optane series memory.

ASUS is using a metallic cover on the sides of the expansion slots which provides protection to some extent. It adds more retention and shearing resistance by reinforcing the slots with metal plates. Aside from adding more protection, they do look really sweet.

The first M.2 slot is housed right next to the top PCI-e 3.0 x16 slot. The M.2 slot can support drives with speed of up to 32 GB/s.

The second M.2 slot is ideally positioned beneath the PCH heatsink. Both M.2 slots can support devices with up to Socket 3 Type M compatibility.

The ASUS STRIX Z270E Gaming falls in the ROG lineup and hence features the iconic ROG Eye logo on the heatsink. This heatsink is part of the AURA lightning system and can lit up in several choices of colors.

Storage options include six SATA III ports rated to operate at 6 GB/s. These can support 6 different storage devices at a single time.

Many overclockers have to use a USB connection without reaching the back of board. ASUS addresses this with a front panel USB 3.1 port that is located beneath the 24-pin ATX connector.

The bottom headers include two USB 2.0, a single USB 3.0 and a audio connector. There are also ROG external connectors and a few 4-pin fan headers located on this part of the PCB.

The SupremeFX onboard system powers the audio on this board. The most unique component that was added to the solution on this generation is the SupremeFX High Fidelity HD Audio S1220. This new codec features an unprecedented 113dB SNR line-in and 120dB SNR line-out that allows users to stream and record with minimal noise.

ASUS ships the ROG motherboards with a WiFi antenna module which looks cool. This module can be adjusted to user preferences and needs to be attached to the Wi-Fi MU MiMO module on the back panel.

Finally, we have the I/O panel which includes the ASUS Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac module, ROG Connect Switch, Reset Switch, two USB 3.1 (Type A + Type C), four USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet Port, PS/2 port, HDMI, DP, DVI port and a 7.1 channel HD audio jack.

ASUS STRIX Z270E Gaming Photo Gallery:

For testing, we used the latest Intel Core i7-7700K processor which we I had acquired with the help of a board manufacturer. The sample is retail ready and not an "ES" chip like the ones sent out by Intel to reviewers. Intel did not contact us or provided NDA for testing of their Kaby Lake processors. Our review is based purely on fact and precision. We also updated our test rig for the 200-series platform review which is listed in the table below:

ASUS Z270E STRIX Gaming Test Setup:

Processor	Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5930K Intel Core i7-4960X Intel Core i7-3960X Intel Core i7-7700K Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4770K Intel Core i7-3770K Intel Core i7-2600K Intel Core i5-4690K Intel Core i5-3570K
Motherboard:	ASUS Z270E STRIX Gaming w/Core i7-7700K Gigabyte GA-X99-UD7 w/Core i7-5960X Gigabyte GA-X99-UD7 w/Core i7-5930K ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming w/Core i7-6700K ASUS X79 Deluxe w/Core i7-4960X Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force w/Core i7-4790K Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force w/Core i5-4690K Intel DZ87KLT-75K w/ Core i7-4770K Intel DX79SI LGA 2011 w/ Core i7-3960X ASRock Z77 Extreme 6 w/ Core i7-3770K ASRock Z77 Extreme 6 w/ Core i7-3570K ASUS Sabertooth P67 w/ Core i7-2600K
Power Supply:	Corsair RXI 750W Gold Plus
Solid State Drive:	Samsung SSD 960 EVO M.2 (512 GB)
Hard Disk:	Seagate Barracuda 1 TB 7200.12
Memory:	G.SKILL Trident Z Series 16GB (2 X 8GB) CL16 3600 MHz Kingston HyperX 2400 MHz 10th Anniversary Edition Memory Kit (DDR3)
Case:	Corsair Graphite Series 780T Full Tower
Video Cards:	MSI GeForce GTX 1070 ARMOR OC
Cooling Solutions:	Phantek PH-TC14PE Triple Fan
OS:	Windows 10 64-bit Anniversary Edition

I would personally like to thank G.Skill for arranging a stunning DDR4 memory kit for this review. They shipped us with a TridentZ series memory (Black and White Color Combination). The memory kit comprises of 2 DIMMs that operate in dual channel mode, ideal for our Z270 board tests. The memory is clocked at 3600 MHz which is supported by the new motherboards since they support XMP profiles. Clock timing is set at 16 and the capacity is 16 GB for this specific kit.

We won't be focusing on Intel's Core i7-7700K architecture in this review since it is entirely the same chip as Skylake along with minor improvements. The Skylake / Kaby Lake architecture analysis can be seen in detail here.

Intel Core i7-7700K 4.8 GHz Overclock on ASUS STRIX Z270E Gaming

Our Intel Core i7-7700K isn't a decent overclocker as it requires voltage over 1.35V for a decent clock speed bump. Here, we overclocked the chip to 4.8 GHz (bus speed = 100 MHz x 48.0 Multiplier) using a voltage of 1.380V. The results were stable after testing in Prime95 as a stability run.

X264 HD Encode Benchmark

This benchmark measures the encoding performance of the processor. It offers a standardized benchmark as the clip as well as the encoder used is uniform.

Cinebench R15

CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Iron Man 3, Oblivion, Life of Pi or Prometheus and many more.

Cinebench R11.5

Cinebench is based on Maxon’s Cinema 4D. It is used to compare graphics as well as processor performance. We are using the CPU performance numbers for our comparison.

PCMark 8

PCMark 8 is a complete PC benchmarking solution for Windows 10. It includes several tests that combine individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed for the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 8 offers complete Windows PC performance testing for home and business use.

POV-Ray

The POV-Ray package includes detailed instructions on using the ray-tracer and creating scenes. Many stunning scenes are included with POV-Ray so you can start creating images immediately when you get the package.

3DMark 11 CPU Performance

DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. It was released on December 7, 2010. 3DMark 11 includes four Graphics tests – Deep Sea 1 & 2, High Temple 1 & 2 – for measuring GPU performance, a Physics test measuring CPU performance, and a Combined test targeting CPU and GPU performance.

3DMark Vantage CPU Performance

3DMark Vantage is a DirectX 10 video card benchmark test for Windows that is designed to measure your PC’s gaming performance. While the overall benchmark is great, the utility also provides a good indication of the CPU performance.

WinRar

WinRAR is a powerful archive manager. It can backup your data and reduce the size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format.

SuperPI

Super PI is used by many overclockers to test the performance and stability of their computers. In the overclocking community, the standard program provides a benchmark for enthusiasts to compare “world record” pi calculation times and demonstrate their overclocking abilities. The program can also be used to test the stability of a certain overclock speed.

HandBrake

Intel Core i7-7700K – Battlefield 1

Battlefield 1 is the kind of game that doesn’t need any real introduction. The latest installment of the Battlefield series is as beautiful as anyone would expect and comes right out of the gate with full DX11 and DX12. EA and DICE did a fantastic job with their AAA WW1 shooter this time by implementing some key gaming technologies. We tested the game at 1440P using Ultra settings and DirectX 11 API.

Intel Core i7-7700K - GTA V

GTA V is one handsomely optimized title for the PC audience. It's scalable across various PC configurations and delivers an impressive frame rate. Rockstar did an amazing job with the PC build of GTA V and it comes with a large array of settings that can be configured by PC gamers. We tested the title at 1440P with everything set to Ultra and 4x MSAA.

Intel Core i7-7700K - Ashes of The Singularity

Stardock's Ashes of the Singularity RTS title is a new take on the historic genre. The game incorporates several things that many pc gamers have been curious about and anxious to try for themselves such as Explicit Multi-Adapter Support and full Asynchronous Compute under DirectX 12 API. We tested the game at 1440P with 4x MSAA on Crazy Settings under DirectX 12.

Intel Core i7-7700K - Watch Dogs 2

Watch Dogs 2 once again takes us on a hacking tour, but this time in the city of San Francisco. Using a very evolved version of the OPUS engine the developers should have a better grasp on things this go around than they did with Watch Dogs. The new engine incorporates several NVIDIA Gameworks technologies and is seen as one of the most graphics intensive titles to launch this year. We tested the game on a mix of Ultra and high settings at 1440P (Temporal Filtering Disabled).

Intel Core i7-7700K - Sid Meir's Civilization VI

Civilization VI is the pinnacle of the series. It's featured huge, sweeping changes, and nothing was left out. Everything has found a purpose, they all work together in tandem but also have a reason to stand alone. It uses a more fleshed out engine that now supports DirectX 12 capabilities. We tested the game with every setting maxed out (4x MSAA, 4096x4096 shadow textures) at 1440P in DirectX 12.

Intel Core i7-7700K - Rise of the Tomb Raider

The latest Rise of the Tomb Raider title  gets lots of graphical enhancements added by Crystal Dynamics and Nixxes, including hardware tessellation, increased anisotropic filtering, additional dynamic foliage, increased LOD, additional PureHair strands, sun soft shadows, and improved bokeh DOF. We tested the game at 1440P under DirectX 12 API.

The Kaby Lake architecture is meant to improve overall system power consumption and add to the efficiency. In the case of the Core i7-7700K, we are looking at refined 14nm Plus process which allows Intel to gain improved clock speeds under the same power package.

With the frequency bump, the new chips do end up with higher power consumption both in idle and load states. When overclocked, the Core i7-7700K did went past the 400W barrier due to added power and voltage. We used a Phantek’s PH-TC14PE cooler to keep the chip cooled under stock and overclocked load and the result was a significant increase in the temperatures compared to Skylake generation.

There are two parts of this review, first one is the processor and the second is the motherboard. While the review mainly focused on the motherboard, the processor is something to talk about as they are an essential part of this yearly upgrade cycle that Intel is bringing to consumers.

Intel's Core i7-7700K Is Nothing To Get Excited About

Intel Kaby Lake series brings us the 7th generation processors in the mainstream market. They feature what Intel's calls their most optimized 14nm node, 14nm+. Intel also says that these processors bring performance improvements and support for higher clock speeds. Essentially, Kaby Lake are a better tuned Skylake uArch for the mainstream community.

But Kaby Lake isn't as exciting as it sounds. With Kaby Lake being one of the worst Intel launches when it comes to NDA. Majority of the tech sites have already tested the Core i7-7700K processor. Yes, it is faster compared to Core i7-6700K. But as a result of obtaining faster clocks, it runs hotter and sips more power.

It does what Intel promised, to deliver faster performance and higher clock speeds but it breaks the efficiency rating of Core processors which although doesn't matter a whole lot to the mainstream audience but is some thing that goes opposite to the principles defined by Intel. So yeah, you get that 10% faster performance than Core i7-6700K and you also get than 7% clock speed bump. In return, you get higher temperatures that are much worse when overclocking (The Core i7-7700K can do 5 GHz with ease provided you have a beast of a cooler) and with that clock bump, you get higher power consumption.

Lastly, there's no IPC increase. Kaby Lake is the same as Skylake with higher clock speeds to simply put it. And the worse thing is that it might be so for the next 2-3 generations. Upcoming Intel Core series such as Coffee Lake (Kaby Lake Refresh) and Cannonlake will be bringing no incremental IPC improvements and will add more cores for better performance throughput. So without further to say, Intel Core i7-7700K is without a doubt, the fastest mainstream chip in the market but it has too many drawbacks in terms of power and temperatures that make Skylake still look as the better option for gamers.

Farewell 100-Series, 200-Series Boards Are The Best Option For 6th and 7th Generation Core PC Builders

ASUS is back with their ROG STRIX lineup which has gotten even more advanced with the 200-series generation of products. ASUS STRIX boards blend in RGB with a beautiful design scheme that stands out of the crowd.

Being cheaper than the more high-end Maximus series, these boards are more geared towards Gamers with just the right amount of specs and features to be a great product for this market segment. The board has a good overclock support that can get your chip stable to clocks around 5 GHz, it can support some really fast memory at 3866 MHz (DDR4) and comes with multiple M.2 slots to support those faster next-gen SSD drives utilizing NVMe standard.

The motherboard features a bundled Wireless module which other manufacturers don't include on their similar priced Z270 boards. This product also comes with a 3D Printing Friendly design. So if you have some 3D printed designs lying around, you can just slap them on this motherboard to increase its aesthetics quality. The whole RGB design is also elegant with cuts out on the heatsinks and I/O cover that display LED illumination from your choice of colors.

The ASUS ROG STRIX Z270E Gaming costs $238 US which is a very competitive price as most Z270 products are found in this range. This is also a test for this motherboard whether it can survive the huge competition from other Z270 products within the gaming market as it packs one of the best and balanced design out of the boards we tested.

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