The NZXT N7 Z370 Motherboard Review: A New Player in the Motherboard Market
by Joe Shields on January 9, 2018 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- NZXT
- Coffee Lake
- i7-8700K
Gaming Performance 2017: AoTS Escalation, ROTR
AoTSe
Ashes of the Singularity is a Real Time Strategy game developed by Oxide Games and Stardock Entertainment. The original AoTS was released back in March of 2016 while the standalone expansion pack, Escalation, was released in November of 2016 adding more structures, maps, and units. We use this specific benchmark as it relies on both a good GPU as well as on the CPU in order to get the most frames per second. This balance is able to better display any system differences in gaming as opposed to a more GPU heavy title where the CPU and system don't matter quite as much. We use the default "Crazy" in-game settings using the DX11 rendering path in both 1080p and 4K UHD resolutions. The benchmark is run four times and the results averaged then plugged into the graph.
The AOTSe results remain incredibly close at both resolutions. The i7-8700K even with a huge thread deficit comparatively, reached 44.7 FPS matching the fastest result we had. Our 4K results, which should rely less on the CPU, it was at the bottom of the pack able to push 33.4 FPS. 1 FPS (~3%) behind the pack.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a third-person action-adventure game that features similar gameplay found in 2013's Tomb Raider. Players control Lara Croft through various environments, battling enemies, and completing puzzle platforming sections, while using improvised weapons and gadgets in order to progress through the story.
One of the unique aspects of this benchmark is that it’s actually the average of 3 sub-benchmarks that fly through different environments, which keeps the benchmark from being too weighted towards a GPU’s performance characteristics under any one scene.
Rise of the Tomb Raider results are also remarkably close together with the NZXT N7 and i7-8700K combo leading the pack by a negligible margin. For all intents and purposes, 1 FPS when we are talking over 90 is a margin of error difference. The 4K results showed nearly a 3 FPS difference with reaching 36.2 FPS, around 3 FPS (almost 10%) behind the group.
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Death666Angel - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
"The most annoying things about this board is the lack of colors on the audio block, making it more difficult to figure out what goes where. Especially whe it's in the case and around back."It's clearly labeled and color coded on the IO shield. Though I don't know how colors or labels help inserting stuff when you can't see them (around the back). ;)
The heat thing is also very likely irrelevant. These kinds of designs have been around a while and I haven't ever heard a lot of fuss about more motherboards dying due to lack of airflow over the general board. Also, many watercooling setups have very little to no airflow over the mainboard and do fine longevity wise. :)
I totally agree on the screw recovery point. :D
Threska - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
I have a case where the "back" is pointed up, so all that's visible.Dug - Monday, January 15, 2018 - link
You pick what the port does once you plug something in. It's not set in stone so the color doesn't really matter.praktik - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
They really need to make the CMOS battery accessible whenever these covers/armor are used.I had one such from ASUS, my kingdom for a hatch, a hatch!!
TuffLittleUnit - Sunday, January 21, 2018 - link
^^^ THIS! I'm still using an Asus Z77 Sabertooth and when the CMOS battery ran out last year I had to use a Dremel to cut out the plastic armour to get at the battery slot.Gunbuster - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
Who is ODM'ing from them? I find it doubtful they spun up their own motherboard factory...dave_the_nerd - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
This.Heck. They probably subcontracted the design too.
Slash3 - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link
The motherboard is manufactured for NZXT by ECS. You can also order extra covers for a few of the areas in colors like red or purple. I tried to find a picture of the board without the shroud in a gallery somewhere, but there doesn't appear to actually be one in this article despite it referencing one. It's sort of all over the place.This is a picture of the board sans shroud, courtesy of Guru3D
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/index.php?ct=news...
If that link breaks, they have a preview up on their site. Tom's has a full review up.
Slash3 - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link
I should also add that the picture I linked to by Guru3D is straight off of the NZXT launch page and is a 3D render. But it gives you an idea of the underlying componentry.Joe Shields - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link
A picture of the board without the shroud was also in the article, in the gallery...