Analyzing Z370 for Intel's 8th Generation Coffee Lake: A Quick Look at 50+ Motherboards
by Ian Cutress, Anton Shilov, Joe Shields & Gavin Bonshor on October 20, 2017 2:00 PM ESTEVGA has long been a player in the Intel motherboard space for generations now. Occasionally late to the party, they recently announced three motherboards for the Z370 chipset; the Z370 Classified K, Z370 FTW, and Z370 Micro. The Classified K and FTW are both full-size ATX boards while the Micro is mATX. All the boards offer reinforced memory slots, dual BIOS chips, SLI Support, and sometimes a unique power connector layout to avoid compatibility issues with cases and tight spaces. The Classified K leans more towards the overclocking side of things, while the FTW and Micro are going to be the generalist type motherboards.
EVGA Z370 Classified K and Z370 FTW
Both the Classified K and FTW have fairly similar feature sets and appearance so we will talk about both on this page. Both boards have a black PCB and do not use any stenciled designs on the board. The only thing on the PCBs we can see are outlines for the component placement, and some of the traces. Both the Classy K and FTW include a silver shroud over the back panel with vents cut in extending to the both VRM heatsinks. Hiding under the VRM heatsinks is a 13 phase power delivery system on the Classified K, and an 11 phase implementation used on the FTW K.
The Classified K offers an included audio cover for extending the shroud down the length of the board. Only the Classified K offers integrated RGB LEDs in the shroud, however, both have headers on the board for additional RGB strips. There are reinforced memory slots as well as the two primary PCIe slots in order to support heavier video cards. The additional 6-pin PCIe power lead at the bottom of the board is notched out for better cable management. Outside of a few minor things, the last noticeable difference between this is the FTW uses a slight smaller chipset heatsink than the Classified K.
Both boards have four reinforced memory slots and support up to 64GB, with a rated maximum speed up to DDR4-4133+. The PCIe slot arrangement is also the same on both, with two full-length reinforced slots from the processor, supporting x16 in single or x8/x8 in dual mode for GPUs, and a third full-length PCIe x4 from the chipset at the bottom. Both boards also have three PCIe x1 slots from the chipset. Storage options are also the same with each board, with six SATA ports (RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 support). There are two Key M M.2 slots for PCIe storage up to 80mm, and one Key E M.2 slot for a Wi-Fi module.
There are six 4-pin PWM fan headers around the board for fans, four within the immediate vicinity of the CPU socket and another two at the bottom of the board. On audio, the Z370 Classified K uses a Creative Sound Core 3D 5.1 channel audio codec while the FTW uses the Realtek ALC1220 codec. For networking, the Classified K uses two Rivet Networks E2500 Killer controllers, while the FTW uses a single Intel I219-V controller.
EVGA Z370 Classified K without IO shroud
On the rear panel the Classified K has a clear CMOS button, HDMI and Displayport video outputs, six USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) ports in blue, the two Killer E2500 network ports, two USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) ports from an ASMedia controller (one Type-C), and the audio jacks. One of the upsides on the Classified K is the use of an LSPCon to provide HDMI 2.0 from the HDMI port with HDCP 2.2 support.
For the rear panel of the Z370 FTW, there is also a Clear CMOS button followed by HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs, but then the two USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) ports from the ASMedia controller appear in red. These are followed by the USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) ports in blue, the Intel network port, and the audio jacks.
EVGA Z370 Classified K and FTW | ||
Z370 Classified K | Z370 FTW | |
Warranty Period | 3 Years | |
Product Page | Link | |
Price | N/A | |
Size | ATX | |
CPU Interface | LGA1151 | |
Chipset | Intel Z370 Express | |
Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 64GB Dual Channel Support DDR4 4133+ |
|
Network Connectivity | 2 x Killer E2500 1 x M.2 Key-E for Wi-Fi |
1 x Intel I219-V 1 x M.2 Key-E for Wi-Fi |
Onboard Audio | Creative Core 3D | Realtek ALC1220 |
PCIe from CPU | 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (x16 or x8/x8) | |
PCIe from Chipset | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 @ x4 | |
Onboard SATA | 6 x Supporting RAID 0/1/5/10 | |
Onboard M.2 | 2 x PCIe 3.0 x4 | |
Onboard U.2 | None | |
USB 3.1 | 1 x Rear Panel Type-C 1 x Rear Panel Type-A 1 x Header |
1 x Rear Panel Type-C 1 x Rear Panel Type-A |
USB 3.0 | 6 x Rear Panel 1 x Header |
|
USB 2.0 | 1 x Header | |
Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin EATX 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V |
1 x 24-pin EATX 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V |
Fan Headers | 6 x PWM | |
IO Panel | Clear CMOS Button HDMI 2.0 DisplayPort 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A 6 x USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) 2 x Killer E2500 RJ-45 Audio Jacks |
Clear CMOS Button HDMI 1.4 DisplayPort 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A 6 x USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) 1 x Intel I219-V Audio Jacks |
83 Comments
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Aichon - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Love this writeup. Thank you guys so much for putting it together so that we can make sense of the choices.peevee - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
"These motherboards range from $110 "AM4 MBs start from $40 on newegg. Yet another way AMD provides better value.
DigitalFreak - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
You want a cookie or something?cap87 - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
Nobody cares, this a Z370 article. Go back to your cave with the rest of you AMD buddies.imaheadcase - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
Apples to oranges.IGTrading - Sunday, October 22, 2017 - link
Very good comment. Not everybody is going to buy a 8700K and thr cheaper CPUs don't really make sense in a 150 USD motherboard.Also, because Intel doesn't guarantee the Boos frequencies anymore, you don't really know what you're going to get with a 8400 for example.
This was very well exemplified here: https://youtu.be/O98qP-FsIWo
psychocipher - Sunday, October 22, 2017 - link
Theres a difference between value and quality. better quality with more features tend to cost more. Dont hate cause amd doesnt get motherboards like the apex. If zen+ increases clock speeds and increases overclocks to where intel is yall will be wishing you didnt buy a cheap $40 b350 motherboard. Yeah you get to keep your cheap b350 motherboard for zen+ but yeah lets buy a new cpu cause amd is providing better value.OFelix - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
I haven't read the article yet but I want to say that to make sense of 50+ MBs I'm going to need a comparison system which let's me find all MBs with ThunderBolt for example.Brett Howse - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Check the last page.Ian Cutress - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
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