ASUS is one of the biggest brands out there, if not THE biggest. To be a bit dramatic, with great power comes great responsibility. So when I get an ASUS product, I expect perfection, and I am highly critical of any problems I encounter. ASUS needs to maintain their reputation, and the ASUS Z170-DELUXE does exactly that. There are a couple things that aren't to my personal taste, but I cannot ignore the obvious. This board is built for a specific user, and for that user, it's quite nearly perfect for sure.

Many weeks have passed since I had my hands on my first Intel Z170-based product, and that time has allowed ASUS to tune their BIOS well, bringing in wide memory clocking capabilities and a high level of system performance that is deserving of their high-end mainstream product. It clocks well, is rock-stable, and has all the high-speed drive options you could want for a high-performance PC.

The ASUS Z170-DELUXE has great fan control and audio, but the socket's weird additional pins are just that—weird. Installing Windows7 is a pain, too. But if you are using the most recent hardware, you should use the most recent OS as well, and Windows 10 works great. Maybe ASUS can find a way to make use of the additional pins, and maybe not. Add an Intel 750-Series drive, a couple ASUS STRIX VGAs, high performance DDR4, and an Intel 6700K, and you've got one blazing fast rig. Just bought one? Let me know what you think in the forums!