Overclocking and Conclusion
Overclocking
To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the Strix Z270E Gaming 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 4.7GHz ring bus and 2667MHz memory speeds. This was done at a 1.31V 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 Strix Z270E Gaming motherboard was available at Newegg.com for $199.99 and from B&H for $199.00.
Conclusion
ASUS continues to differentiate its product lines, growing the newly introduced Strix gaming line with the Strix Z270E Gaming motherboard. The board combines a killer aesthetic with a rich feature set to make for a compelling product. Take into account its performance, and you have a solid product. One of the nicer additions was the support for dual external RGB LED strips, something not many boards has currently. 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
- Multiple (2) integrated RGB 12V headers, offering support for multiple RGB LED strips
- 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
HDMI 2.0(a? b?) and/or
HDMI 2.0(a? b?) and/or HDCP2.2?
Does the 2 M.2 ports support
Does the 2 M.2 ports support raid 0 or 1?
It should. Intel RST supports
It should. Intel RST supports RAID for M.2.
There is still the DMI 3.0 bottleneck of 3.93 GB/s theoretical though. Sequentials won’t see true scaling for RAID 0 for something like 960 Pros and Evos, but you can see up to around 3.5 GB/s reads with two of them.
Great review. When you start
Great review. When you start your full reviews of all the new boards with RGB could I ask if you would comment on the control of the illumination offered. Knowing number of seperate zones and brigtness control of the LEDs would be wonderful information for me as an aesthetic builder.
Again, great review.
Thanks.
Does this mobo support nvme
Does this mobo support nvme and can it boot Windows from an nvme m.2 drive, or two in raid 0?