The Board - A Closer Look

ECS's Z170-CLAYMORE is a very different take on Intel's Z170 platform than the other four boards of this platform I have looked at so far. ECS's old line-up of motherboards had a different sort of focus than the new generation, which is far more reserved than before.


There are both Power and RESET buttons on the ECS Z170-CLAYMORE, making testing on a test bench or just on the box simple and easy. The BIOS chip and CMOS clear jumper are both close-by, as is a dual-digit POST display. I found the usual IDT controller that is supposed to aid in baseclock controls and granularity. The blue paint on top kept me from figuring out its exact part number, which I sought to check on because there are no base clock adjustments in the BIOS.


The memory voltage supply is a simpler single-phase design, while the CPU VRM controller remains mysterious, with just some numbers upon its surface.


I found a fairly standard Realtek ALC1150 audio CODEC as well as the relatively small new Realtek DRAGON LAN controller, hyped for being optimized for gaming and low latency.


ASMedia provides the add-on drive and USB 3.1 controllers, with an ASM1142 for USB and ASM1061 for drive-control making an appearance.