Friday, October 6th 2017

EVGA Introduces Z370 Series Motherboards

EVGA has announced three new enthusiast motherboards based on Intel's Z370 Express chipset. These boards support Intel's brand new eighth generation processors, including the powerful i7 8700K. All three boards feature metal-reinforced PCI Express and memory slots, NVIDIA SLI support, and M.2 slots. Also included are Gigabit NICs from either Intel or Killer, multiple headers for RGB lighting, and unique cutouts in the boards to make cable routing easier.

The Z370 Series comes in three models: the full ATX Z370 Classified K and Z370 FTW, and the Z370 Micro in the micro ATX form factor. All three are clad in a black and gray color scheme, leaving color accents and lighting styles up to the user. VRM and southbridge heat sinks will keep overclocked systems cool, with the two larger boards sporting gray heat sink and I/O covers with RGB lighting that can be synced with the onboard headers. All three boards have 100% solid state capacitors, and DUAL switchable onboard BIOS chips, which should make for hassle-free overclocking.
First up, the flagship Z370 Classified K is a full-size ATX motherboard with four dual-channel memory slots for up to 64 gigabytes of 4133 MHz DDR4. It supports 2-way SLI, with a third full-length PCI Express slot for use with a third card for NVIDIA PhysX. It has onboard HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 for integrated graphics as well. Six SATA 6Gb/s headers, as well as two 80mm M.2 Key-M slots and one 32mm Key-E slots handle storage, and dual Killer Gigabit NICs take care of connectivity. These support Killer's DoubleShot Pro solution, which handles high priority traffic such as games on a separate interface from web browsing and downloads. Six PWM fan headers will keep things cool and quiet. Onboard Power, Reset, and Clear CMOS buttons, and CPU temperature monitoring take the hassle out of overclocking and benchmarking, while a 13-Phase digital VRM and external clock generator make sure you get the most out of Intel's Coffee Lake CPUs. Audio is presented by Creative's Sound Core3D 5.1 Channel HD onboard. A unique power cable cutout at the bottom of the board allows peripheral power cables to be easily routed past.

Next up is the Z370 FTW. Featuring many of the Classified board's amenities, such as 100% Solid State Capacitors, onboard buttons and temperature monitoring, and Intel Optane support, the FTW board features an Intel i219V Gigabit Ethernet, ten USB 3.0 ports, and Realtek ALC1220 7.1 channel HD audio. It also shares six SATA 6Gb/s headers and M.2 slots with its Classified brother. Also present is the switchable dual BIOS, but the FTW board gets an 11 Phase digital VRM. Four memory slots for up to 64 gigabytes of DDR4 and three PCI-Express graphics slots means that this board doesn't miss much from the Z370 Classified K, and will satisfy all but the most extreme overclockers.

Last up is the little brother of the three, the Z370 Micro. This board manages to cram most of the features of the larger boards into the Micro-ATX form factor. It shares 100% solid state capacitors, onboard buttons and temperature monitoring, reinforced PCIe and DIMM slots, switchable dual BIOS, 11 phase digital VRM and external clock generator with its bigger brother, the Z370 FTW. The Micro sports two DIMM slots for up to 32 gigabytes of DDR4 memory, and adds onboard Intel Dual-Band WiFi with external antenna. Two PCI-Express graphics slots support two-way SLI, and a single Intel Gigabit NIC provides connectivity. One M.2 80mm key-M slot, one M.2 key-E 32mm slot, and six SATA 6Gb/s headers provide storage. The full compliment of six PWM fan headers make sure this board will stay as cool and quiet as its larger counterparts. Another feature unique to the Micro is a cutout for the main ATX power cable, with the socket turned 90°, and parallel to the board. This is in addition to the cutout lower on the board featured on the other two, and should make cable routing a breeze.

EVGA fans ready to make the jump to Intel's Coffee Lake processors, be on the lookout for these boards soon, as they are not yet available for purchase. Of EVGA's X299 boards shown at Computex, only one is available for purchase today, so it may be some time before these boards are in the hands of consumers.
Source: EVGA
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18 Comments on EVGA Introduces Z370 Series Motherboards

#1
ZoneDymo
after all these threadripper boards, that socket looks so... tiny
Posted on Reply
#2
CheapMeat
I'm liking the aesthetics on this. It's kind of refreshing. I also like what EVGA did with the power connector at the bottom left. EVGA thinks out of the "box" and it's underappreciated.
Posted on Reply
#3
Vayra86
Gotta say those cutouts are really a good idea. I bet this will be copied over in a years time.
Posted on Reply
#4
Mirkoskji
Best motherboard design I've seen in quite some time
Posted on Reply
#5
20mmrain
Is it just me or does it appear that EVGA doesn't even try anymore with their designs? Seriously.... If you look at their motherboards from P55 onward they don't offer any competition in the market.

4+1 or 6+1 phases and call it an overclock in board, or only two dimm slots, their VRM sinks are cheap, m.2 slots that don't accept SSD's. ( I'm referring to multiple generations here)

Oh man how the mighty have fallen!
Posted on Reply
#6
buildzoid
20mmrainIs it just me or does it appear that EVGA doesn't even try anymore with their designs? Seriously.... If you look at their motherboards from P55 onward they don't offer any competition in the market.

4+1 or 6+1 phases and call it an overclock in board, or only two dimm slots, their VRM sinks are cheap, m.2 slots that don't accept SSD's. ( I'm referring to multiple generations here)

Oh man how the mighty have fallen!
2 DIMM is better than 4 DIMM for overclocking.
Posted on Reply
#7
EarthDog
I see extremely high clocks on some of their boards... hell, 6 phase cpu is plenty for ambient overclocking. Is the complaining about something you dont do??
Posted on Reply
#8
Deathlokke
20mmrainIs it just me or does it appear that EVGA doesn't even try anymore with their designs? Seriously.... If you look at their motherboards from P55 onward they don't offer any competition in the market.

4+1 or 6+1 phases and call it an overclock in board, or only two dimm slots, their VRM sinks are cheap, m.2 slots that don't accept SSD's. ( I'm referring to multiple generations here)

Oh man how the mighty have fallen!
Most of the top 3DMark scores have been made using EVGA motherboards, so I'm not really seeing a problem with the vreg setup. I also have no idea what you mean about M.2s that don't accept SSDs; many companies include Key E slots that only accept WiFi cards or similar, but there are also Key M slots on all 3 Z370 boards, and all of those accept SSDs.
Posted on Reply
#9
Blueberries
That mATX board looks great! Only thing I would have liked to see here is a couple pqfn mosfets for the cpu.
Posted on Reply
#10
nickbaldwin86
really like the look of them... I don't care for all this RGB junk everyone is putting out... I like a windowed case with lots of lights but I don't care to have my components lighting up.

I do wish the mATX had the same cover or shroud over the I/Os ... really cleans up the boards but the mATX looks really plan and like it is missing something... plus the I/Os are ugly compared to the two ATX boards
Posted on Reply
#11
basco
am i not seeing it or why the matx has a 8+4pin eps connector when the others dont?
Posted on Reply
#12
VSG
Editor, Reviews & News
bascoam i not seeing it or why the matx has a 8+4pin eps connector when the others dont?
Classified K has 8+ 4 EPS also.
Posted on Reply
#13
nickbaldwin86
weird that they do an the FTW doesn't... wont get that little bit of extra power when overclocking to 6Ghz+ on LN2

The boards if you compare spec side by side are very little apart from each other, the mATX isn't holding back anything just because of the size.
Posted on Reply
#14
EarthDog
FTW was always more of a mid-range offering really. It is more of a surprise the mATX board has than the FTW does not.
Posted on Reply
#15
Ruru
S.T.A.R.S.
20mmrainIs it just me or does it appear that EVGA doesn't even try anymore with their designs? Seriously.... If you look at their motherboards from P55 onward they don't offer any competition in the market.

4+1 or 6+1 phases and call it an overclock in board, or only two dimm slots, their VRM sinks are cheap, m.2 slots that don't accept SSD's. ( I'm referring to multiple generations here)

Oh man how the mighty have fallen!
So, are Asus Maximus Apex motherboards bad since they have only two DIMM slots?

- No, they aren't.
Posted on Reply
#16
nickbaldwin86
EarthDogFTW was always more of a mid-range offering really. It is more of a surprise the mATX board has than the FTW does not.
Got to be able to pack a good punch in a little case. be great for a mid tower (fullATX) with a big water cooling system in it... fill all the empty space with radiators.

I am considering this mATX for my next build... but I really want the Classy board
Posted on Reply
#17
metalfiber
20mmrainIs it just me or does it appear that EVGA doesn't even try anymore with their designs? Seriously.... If you look at their motherboards from P55 onward they don't offer any competition in the market.

4+1 or 6+1 phases and call it an overclock in board, or only two dimm slots, their VRM sinks are cheap, m.2 slots that don't accept SSD's. ( I'm referring to multiple generations here)

Oh man how the mighty have fallen!
Don't forget about the cheap audio capacitors.
Posted on Reply
#18
LogitechFan
no itx - no sale!

Well, I guess it's Strix Z370 or Strix X370 now...
Posted on Reply
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