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 ESTMSI Z370 SLI Plus
The MSI Z370 SLI Plus sits as the next installment on a very successful SLI Plus line from MSI. On some chipsets, the SLI Plus sits as one of the cheapest boards that still boasts extra features, with the key one being SLI but also going full-bore with the MSI software stack. Compared to some of the other Z370 'Pro' series boards, this board has multiple PCIe slots using reinforcement, shrouding on the back panel IO, a higher phase count power delivery, and uses the latest Realtek ALC1220 audio codec.
The SLI Plus’ appearance isn’t much different than some of the other mid-level boards MSI is releasing for Z370. It is a black on black theme, with on-PCB stencil design elements around the chipset, chipset heatsink, and power delivery. There are two heatsinks to keep the power delivery cool, although they are not heatpiped together. RGB LEDs are found under the chipset heatsink, as well as on the back of the board and in the audio separation line. There is one RGB header on the board for adding another RGB LED strip.
The four memory slots are not strengthened on the SLI Plus, but use single sided clips to allow for easy installation when other large GPUs are present. The board supports up to 64GB of memory, with speeds up to DDR4-4000+. The top two full-length PCIe slots are powered by the CPU in an x16 or x8/x8 configuration, and use MSI's structural reinforcement. The third full-length PCIe slot is from the chipset and does not have reinforcement.
Like almost every board in the roundup so far, the SLI Plus has six SATA ports supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10. Additionally, there are two M.2 slots, with one found above the top PCIe slot and a second between the last two full-length slots. The top M.2 location can fit up to 110mm drives while the bottom supports up to 80mm.
A total of six 4-pin hybrid controlled (PWM/voltage) fan headers can also be found, with four around the socket and two towards the bottom of the board. The Realtek ALC1220 codec is used for audio, featuring an EMI shield and PCB separation. Networking duties are handled by the Intel I219-V controller.
The rear panel has two USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) ports, one Type-A and Type-C, handled by the ASMedia ASM3142 controller. Users will get four USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) ports and two USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel also, with two headers from each for front panel connectors. The rest of the rear panel contains a combination PS/2 port, DVI-D and HDMI for video outputs, the Intel network port, and audio jacks with SDPIF.
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sor - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Damn. At least key it differently and call it LGA1151v2 or something.The changes are so minimal it really does seem like planned obsolescence. Does it really need more power pins to support new chips with the same power envelopes? Really? They couldn’t handle that on the CPU PCB?
KaarlisK - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
Actually it is ~1.5 times peak current with the same average power envelope, so yes, they need the change.If they had not brought the launch forward and just launched together with the cheap chipsets, there would be far less complaints.
sor - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
Where did you find information indicating current has increased 50%? I just spent about ten minutes trying to find a reference backing that up, perhaps something indicating the 8 series operates at a much lower voltage within same TDP, which would translate to higher current but they seem to operate in the same 1.2-1.3v range.You’re not just assuming they draw more current because they have two more cores, are you?
KaarlisK - Sunday, October 22, 2017 - link
Notice the difference between average and peak.And the information is in publicly available documents. I did not bother to look it up, but others have, for example: https://forum.beyond3d.com/threads/intel-coffee-la...
Crono - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
Nice roundup. That's a lot of motherboards to spec and summarize. I especially appreciate the handy chart at the end, it's a good, quick-and-dirty comparison tool.Landcross - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
You guys forgot 2 new Z370 boards from Supermicro :)https://motherboarddb.com/motherboards/?chipset=19...
Xpl1c1t - Sunday, October 22, 2017 - link
The mITX board looks incredible.+ Low ESR Tantalum capacitors! (first time seeing them on VRM duty on a mainboard)
+ HDMI 2.0
+ 2x M.2 Slots
+ USB 3.1 Type C
+ Optical SPDIF
- RGB.......
MadAd - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
Great write up but for me its just another depressing generation of oversized, overpriced ATX form factor offerings on which the vast majority of users wont even plug a second gpu into, with the smaller and more size appropriate FF represented as a minority afterthought.With all the progress of PCs since the 90s whod have thought that I could still use the same ATX case today while every single other component (from floppy drives to 2d Mattrox cards) have long gone to the recyclers. I find it so annoying how manufacturers have stuck on this prehistoric gargantuan case size with the other sizes being an afterthought. It feels like like stifled innovation while everything else is moving on.
rocky12345 - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
Great article and a lot of work put in to get it out for us to read thank you.My only issue is and it is nit your fault is why these companies feel the need to totally blanket the market with basically the same boards just a different model number and basically a few tiny changes and spray paint it a different color and use the word gaming and put something x or x1 or k,k3 etc etc. For crap sakes just release three models not 7-10 models of the same crap it is pretty much just greed I guess.
The whole market is like this now with anything computer related of and if it has the words GAMING or RGB in it's got to be good for sure. My fav is that gaming mouse pad next it will have RGB lighting in it...lol
CitizenZer0 - Wednesday, October 25, 2017 - link
Agreed