Overclocking and Conclusion
Overclocking
To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the TUF Z270 Mark 1 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 5.1GHz with a 4.8GHz ring bus and 3733MHz memory speeds. This was done at a 1.34V CPU voltage and a 1.35V memory voltage with all other values left at default settings. However, the board refused to stabilize at memory speeds much above 3733MHz, even though the modules are rated for and have run at 4000MHz on other boards. The highest base clock speed the board would run at was 167MHz, equating to a 5.0GHz CPU speed, 4.84GHz ring bus, and 3780MHz memory speeds. 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 8GB (2 x 4GB) of Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4-4000 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.
100MHz Base Clock Stats with 5.1GHZ CPU speed
167MHz 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 July 02, the ASUS TUF Z270 Mark 1 motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $199.99 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $199.99 and from B&H for $212.50 with free shipping.
Conclusion
ASUS' take on the current revision of their TUF product elevates the product line to the next level with the TUF Z270 Mark 1 motherboard. ASUS subtly revised the TUF aesthetic with this board, integrating camouflage coloration into the base armor and Fortifier back plate design for a more appealing look. Further, the use of vertical space with secondary M.2 slot in the board's surface was a stroke of genius, not seen on many previous ASUS boards. Its performance potential lives up to its over-engineered design with the inconsistencies seen in some of the benchmark tests more likely due to a the stability-centric focus of the board series instead of the performance-centric focus common to other boards.
One oddity that ASUS carried forward from their Z710 version of the board was the space provided for the CPU cooler mount. As shown below, the Noctua NH-D15's mounting cage could not be mounted in its standard configuration because of fit issues between it and the wall of the Thermal Armor covering the VRM heat sink to the right of the CPU socket. While the cage could be mounted in the horizontal orientation (instead of its default vertical orientation), this could be potentially problematic from some system builds.
Strengths
- Stock performance potential
- Overclocking performance
- Board aesthetics, layout, and design
- UEFI BIOS design and usability
- Storage offerings – dual M.2 ports and SATA ports
- Configurable board-integrated RGB LEDs using Aura Windows app
- CMOS battery placement
- Creative use of board real estate with vertical M.2 slot
Weaknesses
- Incompatibility with Noctua NH-D15 mounting cage in default vertical orientation because of design carried over from previous generation of board (Z170)
- Lack of UEFI RGB LED configuration
- Lack of RGB 12V headers
Every year it looks more and
Every year it looks more and more the MB manufacturers are actually trying to insulate the VRMs and power delivery components. What happened to old fashioned heat sink fins and heat-pipes? Now everything is covered in a layer of airflow blocking, insulating plastic. Is there some sort of ducted fan under that crazy shroud?
EDIT (read this in the article):
Underneath the TUF logo in the rear panel cover, an optional fan can be installed for active cooling of the heat sinks and components sitting under the TUF Armor. The fan is held in place with screws through the vertical tabs on the underside of the removable plate. The plate is held to the rear panel cover via two screws to each side of the panel. There is also a groove in the back right of the rear panel cover through which the fan’s power cord can be routed and plugged into one of the onboard fan headers.
So glad I didn’t go with the
So glad I didn’t go with the Noctua NH-D15 like my plan was because it is one of the only boards on the market that fit that ugly in my opinion color scheme. Went with the be quiet! dark rock pro 3 and had no problems mounting it the proper way because I already had be quiet! fans I was going to reuse from my older case.
Overall really happy with my purchase because I wanted a backplate on my motherboard because I noticed sagging on my Asus Hero VIII due to my case being horizontal instead of vertical. Ten fan headers mean I don’t need a fan controller (although I still use one) and the thermal armor stuff looks cool even if I don’t know if it is doing anything.
What is the point of using
What is the point of using two different ethernet controllers?
My old Asus p8p67 had 2
My old Asus p8p67 had 2 nics… when one went bad I used the other 😉
I think its for workstation or server stuff like having some traffic use one nic and the other is for LAN traffic.
One is integrated into the
One is integrated into the chipset. The other model number is essentially the same in add-on chip packaging. I haven’t looked it up, but there should be little functional difference.