ASUS ROG Strix Z270G Gaming Review
Category : Z270
Published by Luca Rocchi on 30.03.17
With the ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming, ASUS has a well equipped micro-ATX motherboard in its portfolio, which comes with a bunch of interesting features. There are for example two M.2 Gen 3 x4 slots and an internal USB 3.1 connector. Apart from that ASUS refined the design of their STRIX Gaming series motherboards, removing all the orange accents that we've seen on X99 STRIX Gaming products.
The ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming is an mATX form-factor motherboard. As with all other STRIX Gaming series motherboards this microATX model comes with the AURA feature, allowing you to change the illumination of the board from within Windows. In the case of expansion slots there are two full-sized and metal-strengthened PCIe slot as well as two M.2 slots. Since there is not much space available on microATX motherboards, ASUS has placed the M.2 slots in two different positions. The first drive can be mounted at the bottom, while the slot can be found on the back-side of the PCB. Having a quick look at the SATA connectors we find six of them supporting SATA-III.
Like other ROG STRIX motherboards the heat sinks are kept in dark silver color and the RGB backlight creates a nice ambience. Looking for additional features we find USB 3.1 ports internally and externally, a decent power design and a good mix of connectors at the I/O panel. There is a Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac module supporting Bluetooth v4.1.
At the moment this is the only Z270 microATX motherboard available from ASUS. So far there aren’t any rumors on a possible Maximus IX Gene, which would have actually been the microATX motherboard we would have expected. As usual we're going to have an in-depth look at this board on the following pages.
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z270 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR4, 4 x DIMM, Max. 64 GB DDR4, 4133 (O.C.) / 3866 (O.C.) / 3600 (O.C) / 3466 (O.C.) / 3333 (O.C.) / 3300 (O.C.) / 3200 (O.C.) / 3000 (O.C.) / 2800 (O.C.) / 2666 (O.C.) / 2400 / 2133 Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
|
| Slots |
|
| Sound | SupremeFX Impact Audio 8-Channel High
Definition Audio
|
| Storage |
|
| Network |
|
| Internal Connectors |
|
| Extrenal Connectors |
|
| Forfactor | Micro-ATX (24.4cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (128 Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
- 4 x SATA 6Gb/s cable
- 1 x CPU installation tool
- 1 x Supporting DVD
- 1 x ASUS 2T2R dual band Wi-Fi moving antennas
- 1 x SLI HB BRIDGE(2-WAY-S)
- 1 x ROG Strix stickers
- 1 x M.2 screw kit (long screw and mount)
- 1 x M.2 screw kit (short screw and mount)
- 1 x 10 in 1 Cable Label
- 1 x Extension Cable for RGB strips (40 cm)
- 1 x 3D printing mount package
- 1 x ROG coasters
Features
Digi+ |
Since quite some time ASUS has been equipping its boards with digital power designs. Using the right software it is not only possible to adjust voltages while being in Windows on can now also control impedances. Furthermore this board features high quality 10K black metallic capacitor which guarantee a long lifespan. |  |
ASUS Fan Xpert 4 |
ASUS Fan Xpert 4 provides customizable settings for fans that have been attached directly to the onboard fan headers. With the Fan Auto Tuning feature, ASUS Fan Xpert 4 automatically detects and tweaks all fan speeds and in the end reduces unwanted noise. |
 |
EPU |
EPU automatically detects the current system load and moderates power usage. It offers a system-wide energy optimization and is able to reduce fan noise. |  |
SupremeFX |
With SupremeFX you get ASUS's interpretation of high quality onboard audio. Supporting up to eight channels, the SupremeFX solution received shielding from other onboard components. Apart from that there are high quality Nichicon capacitors offering as clear as possible audio. |  |
USB 3.1 Connector |
The STRIX Z270G Gaming not only equipped with Type-A and Type-C connector at the rear I/O panel but with also a front USB 3.1 connector. This port is placed close the 24-pin connector and offers up to 10Gbps transfer speed. According to ASUS, case vendors like Lian Li and In Win will soon release new models, which make use of this new header. |  |
Layout
With the ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming ASUS decided to go for a design that's based on a matte black PCB and aluminum heatsinks, which received silver and black sheet metal covers. Apart from that there is the RGB lighting, which ASUS calls Aura. It allows you to make the board shine in your preferred color. The layout itself is well thought and since ASUS is always taking Intel's reference specifications regarding socket clearance into account, there is enough space to install large aircoolers. The fact that there are SATA connectors which have been angled by 90 degrees allows an easy installation of oversized graphics cards.
The
ASUS ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming comes with a
digital 8+2+1 phase power design. The CPU is backed up by eight phases, the iGPU can rely on two phases and the memory receives stable current supply from
one
phase. In general the power design on this board is adequate for the job at hand. It's even good for aircooled and water cooled overclocking, but we would not recommend this board for extreme overclocking. For that purpose ASUS has more suitable boards in its portfolio. Comparing the power design to the higher-end models from the ROG line-up it becomes clear that ASUS has been saving a buck every here and there. Especially in the case of the inductors ASUS chose cheaper ones.
This board has been equipped with a total of four DIMM-slots. Officially supported is everything up to DDR4 4133 (O.C.). There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders. Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 2.0.
On the
ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming the southbridge is being cooled by a
passive cooling block. A closer look at the VRM area shows
there are two more individual heatsinks without heatpipe. The overall build quality of the blocks is good, which makes for product that feels very nice, when you're holding it in your hands.
Connectors and I/O
ASUS equipped the ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming with six angled SATA ports. All of them offer 6Gbps bandwidth. There aren't any SATA Express ports but we find two M.2 slots which have been wired using four PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes each. Unfortunately there are no practical onboard power- and reset-buttons and there is also no debug LED on this board. What's standard since quite a few generations is the MemOK button, which has proven useful quite a few times. ASUS decided to place the battery right below the I/O panel. After that there is a PCIe x16 Gen 3 slot. This means that it's well possible to remove a graphics card even if a large CPU heatsink has been installed.
There is a total of five fan headers on the ROG Strix Z270G Gaming which is enough, to provide a well equipped mATX system with fresh air. The headers have been located close to the CPU as well as spread over the board. Other than that it's a good thing that all of them feature four pins, which allows for rpm regulation in BIOS as well as under Windows. Furthermore there is a plethora of additional headers you find listed below:
Lighting
- 2 x Aura RGB Strip Headers
Fan headers
- 1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (1 x 4-pin)
- 2 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (1 x 4-pin)
- 1 x CPU OPT Fan connector(s) (1 x 4-pin)
Watercooling connectors
- 1 x AIO_PUMP connector (1 x 4-pin)
- 1 x Thermal sensor connector
Overclocking and debugging connectors
- 1 x MemOK! button(s)
Additional connectors
- 1 x USB 3.1 front panel connector
- 1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP)
- 1 x System panel(s) (Q-Connector)
- 1 x TPM connector(s)
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS equipped the ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming with two USB 3.1 ports, whereas there is one Type-C connector, four USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 and one PS/2 port, one Intel Gigabit Ethernet port, as well as an optical out and an analogue audio panel. Furthermore there is also an HDMI and a DisplayPort connector.
BIOS
The most recent version of ASUS’s UEFI BIOS presents itself with an attractive design, and especially the new interface which called EzMode, where we can not only monitor system information, CPU and motherboard temperature, CPU voltage and DRAM status but also set system and CPU fans as well as directly change the boot priority and tune the system to different profiles, is leaving a good impression. If you wish to go back to the good old times, where you were racing through the menus hammering up and down arrows as well as the enter key ridiculously fast, you just have to press F7 and there you go. Since this motherboard features a very solid power design it is suitable for gaming and high overclocking. The BIOS features all the usual ASUS options, which allow for altering virtually anything when it comes to overclocking. Overall, there is certainly no lack of options in this BIOS.
Test setup
Hardware |
|
| Motherboard |
|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.0 GHz |
| Memory | 8 GB (2x4) G.Skill Ares DDR4-2133 CL15-15-15-2T 350 |
| Graphic card | ASUS GeForce GTX 980 |
| Driver | ForceWare 353.62 |
| Hard disk | Intel 335 Series SSD 120 GB |
| Power supply | Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520W |
| OS | Windows 10 x64 |
Preview / Gallery
3DMark
3DMark 11
3D Mark Vantage
PC Mark 08
SiSoft Sandra 1
SiSoft Sandra 2
UC Bench
Super Pi 1M - 32M
wPrime 1024M Multicore
Cinebench R15
Tomb Raider
Metro Last Light
Sleeping Dogs
Power Consumption
Performance Rating
Price comparison
| Model |
Geizhals.eu |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme Assembly | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Impact | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | |
| ASUS Maximus IX Hero | |
| ASUS Maximus IX Code | |
| ASUS Maximus IX Formula | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe |
|
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming Aura | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | |
| ASUS Z170-A |
|
| ASUS ROG Strix Z270E Gaming | |
| ASUS ROG Strix Z270G Gaming | |
| ASUS ROG Strix Z270I Gaming | |
| EVGA Z170 Classified K | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Ultra Gaming | |
| Gigabyte X170-Extreme ECC | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | |
| MSI Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition | |
| MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC | |
| Supermicro C7Z170-OCE | |
| Supermicro C7Z170-SQ | |
| Supermicro C7Z270-CG |
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| A closer look at the motherboard lineup from ASUS reveals that the ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming is a mid range model, regarding their gaming branded products. Of course it comes with some really neat features, like for example ASUS's SupremeFX audio solution, Aura RGB Lightning and two M.2 slots. Nevertheless at a price of 189 Euro, this board is quite costly for what you get. Sure the ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming is a good motherboard but in this price range a little more could haveb been expected, especially since other vendors sell equally equipped boards at lower price points. | -
Design - Layout |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
| The layout of the ASUS ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming has been well thought - as expected. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors but there are no power- and reset-buttons and also a debug LED is missing in order to keep the cost down. Apart from that we like the placement of the PCI-Express x16 slots. There is a total of two full sized PCI Express slots and two PCIe x1 slots. All full-size PCIe slots receive metal reinforcements and these slots are one slot apart. This means that there is of space for graphics card to create a multi GPU setup. | -
Angled SATA
connectors - Space around the CPU socket - Placement of PCIe slots |
- No power/reset button and no debug LED | |
| Performance | + | - | |
| Calculating the average of all 3D benchmarks results we ran, we see that this board scores 11th. When taking the average of all 2D results, this board comes in 15th out of 29 boards tested. On another note, we had a look at energy efficiency as well where this board scores 25th. |
|
- Power Consumption - 2D Performance |
|
| Overclocking / BIOS | + | - | |
| The UEFI BIOS gets a black background and there are a few additional red and white design elements. Meanwhile it's almost normal that a BIOS is complete, offering countless features. If you're looking for overclocking options you'll find a great many of them and they are equally practical for novices and extreme overclockers. We always love the pre-defined profiles, which make overclocking quite a bit more efficient. Boosting our CPU to 5.0 GHz was absolutely no problem at all. | - Sheer amount of
options - Design |
||
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| The ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming is a well equipped Z270 motherboard. Unfortunately the performance was not really on the level we'e expected and apart from that the ROG STRIX Z270G is not really a bargain. Nevertheless this is a decent mATX Z270 motherboard. | - Performance | ||
| System von MIFCOM | |||
| Should you be looking for an individually configurable system, which can be equipped with this motherboard, then we recommend you the Gaming Mini-PC Core i7-7700K from MIFCOM. | |||
| Rating | |||
| We give the ASUS ROG STRIX Z270G Gaming excellent 4 out of 5 stars. | |||
