The Asus ROG Strix Z270G Gaming Motherboard Review
by E. Fylladitakis on October 3, 2017 8:15 AM ESTThe Asus ROG Strix Z270G Gaming Test Bed
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency/monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
We found that the Asus ROG Strix Z270G Gaming has the multi-core acceleration enabled and the FCLK frequency is set to 800 MHz by default. The BIOS states that, in theory, the maximum turbo frequency of our CPU would be 4.5 GHz, yet it maxed out at 4.4 GHz during our default multi-core testing. All of the current/temperature limiters are also enabled by default. There is nothing out of the ordinary here.
| Test Setup | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-7700K (ES, Retail Stepping), 91W, $340 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 4.2 GHz (4.5 GHz Turbo) |
| Motherboards | Asus ROG Strix Z270G Gaming |
| Cooling | Alphacool Eisbaer 240 |
| Power Supply | Corsair AX1200i Platinum PSU |
| Memory | G.Skill DDR4-2400 C15 2x16 GB 1.2V |
| Memory Settings | XMP @ 2400 |
| Video Cards | MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB (1150/1202 Boost) |
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX200 1TB |
| Case | Open Test Bed |
| Operating System | Windows 7 64-bit SP1 |
Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX200 SSDs. Crucial stepped up to the plate as our benchmark list grows larger with newer benchmarks and titles, and the 1TB MX200 units are strong performers. Based on Marvell's 88SS9189 controller and using Micron's 16nm 128Gbit MLC flash, these are 7mm high, 2.5-inch drives rated for 100K random read IOPs and 555/500 MB/s sequential read and write speeds. The 1TB models we are using here support TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 (eDrive) encryption and have a 320TB rated endurance with a three-year warranty.
Further Reading: AnandTech's Crucial MX200 (250 GB, 500 GB & 1TB) Review
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU. The AX1200i was the first power supply to offer digital control and management via Corsair's Link system, but under the hood it commands a 1200W rating at 50C with 80 PLUS Platinum certification. This allows for a minimum 89-92% efficiency at 115V and 90-94% at 230V. The AX1200i is completely modular, running the larger 200mm design, with a dual ball bearing 140mm fan to assist high-performance use. The AX1200i is designed to be a workhorse, with up to 8 PCIe connectors for suitable four-way GPU setups. The AX1200i also comes with a Zero RPM mode for the fan, which due to the design allows the fan to be switched off when the power supply is under 30% load.
Further Reading: AnandTech's Corsair AX1500i Power Supply Review
Thank you to G.Skill for providing us with memory. G.Skill has been a long-time supporter of AnandTech over the years, for testing beyond our CPU and motherboard memory reviews. We've reported on their high capacity and high-frequency kits, and every year at Computex G.Skill holds a world overclocking tournament with liquid nitrogen right on the show floor.
Further Reading: AnandTech's Memory Scaling on Haswell Review, with G.Skill DDR3-3000
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Sarah Terra - Wednesday, October 4, 2017 - link
This website is a prime example of what happens when you hire millennial's to your company, slow , shoddy, confounding, and quite frankly idiotic work ethic.What's happening here is AT is on a super tight budget, trying to squeeze lemons from limes, and the squeezer's don't really "feel they deserve being worked so hard"
guidryp - Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - link
$350 for a MB?This is what will likely drive me to AMD when I build my first PC in years. I can overclock AMD on any of a wide selection of sub $100 MBs.
MajGenRelativity - Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - link
Higher-end motherboards have a selection of features that are not present on lower-end motherboards. Like in other markets, price variation exists because of feature differentiation.Disclaimer: I own a $550 motherboard.
DanNeely - Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - link
Halo products are always the most expensive. You can find reasonably priced parts for both companies mainstream sockets.New Z270 and X370 boards both start at slightly over $100 on Newegg; down to $50ish for the entry level chipset in each family.
Big socket boards are more expensive. Intels X299 starts at just $210, X399 at $340; a socket 2/4x as large as mainstream doesn't come free. All of the extra stuff they include requires a more complex mobo to implement; so while Threadripper boards might narrow the price gap a bit vs Intels LGA2066 boards as they're out longer they'll never get to be as cheap because there's so much more they need to do. (Unless you want a cheap TR board that only has 32 PCIe lanes enabled or something like that.)
jardows2 - Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - link
Plenty of Z270 boards in the $100 - $150 price range. There are AM4 boards in the $250 - $350 price range available as well, if you want to spend the money.Another question to ask, do you really want to overclock on that sub $100 board? Just because you can doesn't mean you should, depending on the quality of components available. And just for arguments sake, make sure you are looking at AM4 boards, not the near ancient AM3+ boards.
StrangerGuy - Wednesday, October 4, 2017 - link
So with the current crop of Intel/AMD CPUs, spend $300+ on a mobo for like a 10% OC while turning my PC into a space heater = lol no thanks, I got way better things to spend money on.And nobody really gave a crap about VRM quality 10 years ago when CPU OCing was actually worth it from a value perspective, unlike today where everyone is trying to be a youtube OC superstar trying to outdo each other in their ego.
TEAMSWITCHER - Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - link
That price is an error. If you click the price to activate the link, you go to the WRONG motherboard.DanNeely - Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - link
Good catch there. This is the right one, and only $189.https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N...
smilingcrow - Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - link
You have little sense of context.wolfemane - Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - link
Wow, the day has finally come where Asus is trailing Asrock. I’ve always been a big fan of asrock boards. And in my opinion they have better customer and technical support.Asus support is the worst I’ve ever dealt with.
With that all said, I wonder how z370 will hold up against Z270. Other than core count on the CPUs not much has changed for this chipset. Am I correct in this?