Overclocking and Conclusion

Overclocking

To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the Prime Z270-A motherboard, we attempted to push it to known CPU-supported performance parameters with minimal tweaking. At the stock base clock speed of 100Mhz, we pushed the CPU to 5.0GHz with a 4.5GHz ring bus and 2667MHz memory speeds. This was done at a 1.325V CPU voltage and a 1.225V memory voltage with all other values left at default settings. All overclocking sessions remained stable for over 4hrs. System stability was tested running the AIDA64 stability test in conjunction with EVGA's OC Scanner X graphical benchmark running at 1280×1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 16GB (2 x 8GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2666 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.

100MHz Base Clock Stats with 5.0GHZ CPU speed

Note that this is is meant only as a quick preview of the board's performance potential. With more time to tweak the settings to a greater extent, pushing to a higher base clock and ring bus speed may have been achievable, in addition to an overnight stability run without issue.

Pricing

As of January 05, the ASUS Prime Z270-A motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $169.00 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from B&H for $169.00.

Conclusion

ASUS continues to tread the fine line between value and performance with its latest revision of its base channel board in the Prime Z270-A motherboard. With the release of this new board, ASUS subtly changed the aesthetics with this board, giving it a more futuristic and tech-savvy vibe while still sticking with the based black and white coloration. Further, they added support for dual M.2 devices while not sacrificing the number of SATA devices supported by the board. And the board performs as good as its more expensive siblings. We will be taking a more in-depth look into this board and its features in the near future, which should uncover even more strengths with this board than was discussed in this Launch Day preview.

Strengths

  • Stock performance
  • Overclocking performance
  • Board aesthetics, layout, and design
  • UEFI BIOS design and usability
  • Storage offerings – dual M.2 ports and SATA ports
  • Configurable RGB LEDs using Aura Windows app
  • Support for custom 3D printed panels and accessories with provided mount points
  • Rear panel cover

Weaknesses

  • CMOS battery placement
  • Lack of UEFI RGB LED configuration
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