Asus Strix Z270E and Z270F Kaby Lake Motherboard Review & Comparison

[@isakevaldsson879]

ASUS Give me more fu*king lights!!!!!!!

[@sebastianungerer8525]

need that likes tho!!!! ´,:( xD

[@boac2006]

personally, the fact that it isn't really concerned with RGB is a bonus for me. i was also looking at the the gigabyte mobos which are just ridiculous with the amount of flashy nonsense they include. much rather my money went towards better performance, any day of the week. probably gonna get a case without a window anyway so yeah...

[@PeterReginald]

boac2006 I'm with you. Don't care for silly lights. I want performance in a silent box.

[@glenthemann]

Totally agree. That's exactly why I chose this board.. It's about as minimalistic while still looking very aesthetically pleasing with the light that there is as a subtle compliment.. Dare I say somewhat.. Elegant? Haha

[@JakobSlash]

boac2006 thats why i choose the z270 tuf mark 1 board. only 1 led and minimalistic, with 5 years of warranty.

[@tecsmith3773]

Tom.....Great Freaking Review! (Again) Thanks for all the Honesty man. Oh the exclusion of the USB 3.1 is a "Huge Penis Move!!"

[@DeadlyRedRing]

I like that there isn't much lighting on them. I do wish the Asus logo near the bottom m.2 slot lit up though

[@yuuchiuubu]

agreed

[@harima7757]

I would of love more lights for that price! Love your honest review. Really helpful.

[@whallynarwhal6019]

Your reviews are awesome, great depth! Your honesty is nice, and very helpful to people who are undecided!

[@jjglaser]

Good reveiw, im glad you touched on rgb compatibility.

[@jurriaandejongh8677]

Thumbs up for the honestly Tom! And of course, the rest of the vid. As for the lights. This one took my interest because of it's color scheme. I'm a big fan of the minalist, monochrome, whatever you call it, builds. And this looks really, really good. As for the LED, I can live with it because it's only up there, and looks rather charming. Do have to agree with you that the E should have some more features. Cheers!

[@eddie1992shaked]

Man!!! I loveee your channel!!

[@born2fragothers]

Thank you Tom for the time spent on the content. We really appreciate it. Keep it up !!! I really thought that the ROG logo would light up...

[@shevilwow3396]

I really like how your videos are honest, and not just flogging the product because the manufacturer told you too. That said, I like RGB and bought the 270F anyway.

[@Jerry1337]

Thanks for all the work you are doing. Really appreciate all the honesty and excellent information you provide.

[@pablo9364]

At last the price guide thanks for letting us know. so important in deciding which one to buy. Very informative and some tips too.

[@Dimwitland]

Great review, been gone so I am behind. Great job old man.

[@OC3D]

Ill take the old :p

[@YuanyangL]

First couple minutes made me laugh! 😂 Good job Tom! Watching all these Kaby Lake reviews instead of doing homework...

[@ottoeliasson4671]

I agree with you, I recently bought the z170 aura, and now I saw the Strix mobos and they look amazing but as you said they lack that tiny bit of lighting at the bottom

[@gandhabba69]

Otto Eliasson is the strix z270-e compared to the pro gaming aura?i like both but ofcourse if i go for the z170 chipset will buy i7 6700k

[@ottoeliasson4671]

Gandhabba from what I understood, the Z170 and Z270 works with the same cpus. however if they're the same I personally don't know, bur they seem like they are since they've got the same features almost.

[@ottoeliasson4671]

probably its not, since the pro gaming is a lower end motherboard, but i think the strix line replaces the pro gaming boards

[@ottoeliasson4671]

and since theyre on the same socket you can buy a z270 for your skylake cpu

[@lyrix7479]

I searched for that video its exactly what i need. Thanks!

[@OC3D]

What video was that dude?

[@lyrix7479]

OC3D TV The Strix Motherboard one. an exact overwiew of both motherboards and the info that the f only has no wifi and bluetooth

[@FancyaBevMate]

Tim I recently went back to asus motherboards anyway point I wanted to ask was would you be able to do a asus Ai auto overclock vs manual to show just how good this function is or whether it is still better to manually do this?

[@OC3D]

Ill do a guide to show you why you shouldnt use it....

[@FancyaBevMate]

Even better, always see asus engineers using it and wondered if it was that good why do we need to manually do it. Will look forward to that video mate thanks

[@Motorman2112]

Does it use silly voltages?

[@MegaFiIm]

George Lawther o

[@troubledsoul3532]

I used ASUS auto overclocking on my Maximus viii formula and only got around 4.3GHz-4.4GHz(depending on run) with a 6700k and it'll give it crazy volts. With manual overclocking I can get 4.7-4.8 depending on where I want my temps to be. However I leave it at 4.6 because to be honest there isn't really any improvement in performance between 4.6 and 4.8 for gaming. You're better off max overclocking your GPU and do a moderate overclock on CPU if your main intent is gaming.

[@lexindigital]

Agree with a subtle light / tick on the chipset.

[@johnp6142]

The way that KZbin award thing on the shelf was rocking back and forth had me on edge

[@DrazV2]

Loved how real you were with this and not afraid to speak out to help the customer. Awesome review all in all! Question; The board has two case fan slots but my case has three fans. I already ordered a dirt cheap fan splitter, but could I have used the other "high amp" fan slots that are meant for liquid coolers?

[@OC3D]

depends how you want it to run. I often use PWM splitters or hubs for multiple fans

[@BIGC-jn3qm]

Great Vid Tom - Cheers

[@simonflinn8789]

great review tom cheers

[@t-g4m1ng]

Hey man, like the review and it helped me to decide which to buy. About the lower chipset lighting all I can say is, if you are using the Asus Strix GPU, the lighting is fairly lighting up the case. I'd rather go Strix motherboard instead of Maximus IX (although it is a very very good mobo) and save 100€ and rather invest it on rams. So, again, thanks for the nice review. (Also got a new subber here :D )

[@andrewrobbins4168]

that white RM1000i...when are we getting a closer look at it?

[@OC3D]

3 or 4 weeks ago.........

[@Excalabur50]

Love your honesty!

[@stancartmankenny]

your youtube play thingy is wobbling back and forth. Looks like it might tip over...

[@KahlDragonborn]

Im a New Subscriber!! This review was absolutly amazing lol i have been looking everywhere for a review like this thank god for you. Also for $150-$200 what would you suggest between 3 Mobo's.

[@adrianpersz5797]

I love how the box appears in the upper left corner at 1:53 ! xD

[@JustusS2036]

Great review i totaly agree !

[@Ex14]

Totally agree on the Lights. Its made worse by the fact the MATX version (Strix G) has a chipset heatsink that lights up. Should have included that on the E at least :/

[@meek_meek1942]

agree whit the lighting of the motherboard 22:20

[@Hop]

Amazing video, this one really helped me out. Btw i have a doubt, you mean in f version i cant connect to wifi?

[@ggnorelawl]

i think the lightings will suffice if you got a strix 10x0 gtx series, i've got one and with a windowded side panel and it seems like the bottom right half is lit and that the strix z270e/f will cover the upper left half. i'm gonna try it out because i love the whole chistmas tree-thingy :P great review btw

[@AtgreatR9]

Would look awesome with my strix 470. But i dont want to change my i5 3470s yet.

[@TheN00bPolice]

Tom! These are all great videos! - you've done a fantastic job covering this Z270 release line up. If you had to pick one for me out of all these brands/ boards, which would you recommend I go for my build consisting of the following. I7 7700k (My target is 5ghz OC) Be Quiet! Silent loop 16GB 4000mhz Ram pairs - either G.skill or Corsair (hopefully to run at 4000mhz) Nvidia GTX 1080 (or Ti if announced soon) 2x 512GB 960 pro NVMe to run in RAID 0 (OS drive) (already own) 1x 1TB Sata SSD (storage) (already own) Money is really not an issue, but I don't want to waste it for the sake of it or have unnecessary features either - I have no need for RGB lighting for instance since I just don't like it, and I have a Asus Xonar Essence PCI-E soundcard so don't need onboard sound either (unless you think the new onboard audio will do better virtual surround than Dolby Headphone?) So I guess I need a really good quality overclocking Z270 board in terms of stability / power delivery, but that has basic features (I don't even use / need USB 3 / 3.1!? ) but definitely has 2x M.2 NVMe support. Thoughts? Thanks to Tom or anyone else who replies!

[@jelome1989]

Hello OC3D! Read your review and saw that your board managed to OC the memory up to 4000mhz after updating the BIOS. So the BIOS update practically just increased this board's support up to 4000mhz instead of the advertised 3866mhz OC?

[@OC3D]

If you know youre way around the BIOS to be able to set it up. I covered all of this in the video though

[@jelome1989]

Yes thanks I watched the whole thing. Kinda confused as to why the advertised memory support for the Strix is just 3866mhz when it can 'happily' do 4000mhz with just a BIOS update. Does that mean there's no difference between the strix z270e and the maximus IX code/formula when it comes to memory oc capability? Sorry if I'm asking too many questions, because I really really wanted the 4.8ghz+ cpu and 4ghz memory OC on my system, because the games I'll play will benefit from those speeds (SC2)

[@rahmatrad4599]

Thanks for great review for 4K video editing which system do yo recommend? I mean: CPU +Mainboard and GPU? Thanks

[@_scooter98_92]

I have a solid (no windows) PC Case, Cooler Master HAF Mid Tower XM Black. It does have Red lights in the front fan behind the mesh, but you can't really see them with room lights on/sunlight. With my "aquarium external filter" filter padding (not charcoal, but the fabric filter. And hey, it works better than anything else i've used, you should try it) on the vents, openings, backings, basically anywhere where there is an opening, I could have spotlight inside and minimal light would escape. I plan to use this case for future upgrades, and have ABSOLUTELY ZERO, NILL, ZIPP, NO interest WHATSOEVER in fancy lighting, or how the components look. If companies offered a variant to their major product lines that completely disregards aesthetics and lighting for performance, efficiency, and effectiveness, then that'll make my day. Be cheaper too. If the components are predominantly or only white, that'll be grand too, brings in more light into the case when building, cleaning, maintaining, and whatnot. Couldn't give a rats' arse about fancy lighting and looks, won't see it, don't need it, but all white parts would be nice.

[@ragzard]

Yes. I saw Strix as an shiny RGB range, like their pretty graphic cards. Not having at least, as you said, chipset light, its a big shame. Other brands have similar quality and aesthetics and more light in the same price range. About the ecosystem, MSI have their rgb synch stuff with a bunch of other brands, like Corsair, for instance. So, I agree it was a lazy move.

[@clownd2]

Keep in mind the Strix video cards also sync with Aura, as well as there is rgb ram from g skill out this friday that also work on Aura. But I do wish their software also synced fans.

[@bjoernlubetzki]

GIVE US MORE LIGHTS!! I'm totally with you on this.

[@BIGC-jn3qm]

Performance is what we need and maybe with a few lighting options, we what the MAX for our CPU`s and GPU`s from these new motherboards Tom

[@drewb242]

Thanks for this, just about to upgrade from my old AMD FX system and I have been eyeing both of these boards but I could not for the life of me figure out how they are different. Don't need wifi or front panel 3.1 so the 270F it is.

[@bluejay5234]

No interest in wireless on my desktop but the USB 3.1 port is important. Paying more for something I don't have any interest in to get that port is an irritation. Additional lights would have been nice. I will probably go with a different board.

[@Choconuss]

nice vid, OC3D TV with this new MOB the E one, how much beter is it than the Asus PRO Gaming Aura Z170?

[@gandhabba69]

DJ Bama i thinking is better with newer tech

[@ahommen]

WUUT.... Hours of new content :-) cookies, milk, tea and dinner ready... "clicks play"

[@AsianMontana]

when will this be released

[@edvinmaster5154]

Review the h version plz!

[@CaptainXLAB]

I didn't really care about lights before but when I saw this, HELL YEAH THERE SHOULD'VE BEEN MORE LIGHTS FOR THAT PRICE... xD

[@JohnPotterMusic]

OC3D TV @oc3d TV ... Tom, I just got a z270e in for a new 7700k build. The board they sent me (feb 20th) had bios 0505 installed. After being extremely confused as to why it would not post. 0505 does not support the 7th gen processor. the board does not have a way to manually update the bios without it booting to the bios. So unless I had a 6th gen processor laying around to update the bios with I am basically screwed. Just thought you and everyone else should be aware of this issue. John

[@OC3D]

All Z270 bios supports the 7th Gen. - Also - BIOS flashback doesnt even require a CPU

[@JohnPotterMusic]

OC3D TV this board doesn't have the flashback feature. according to asus the only way to update the bios from 0505 would have been to use a 6th gen processor to have it post and let me into the bios. Once you get into the bios, you can just update the bios. But without that 6th gen chip, you can not get it to post. 0505 bios does not even recognize that a 7th gen processor is installed and just stays on a black screen without post. Hopefully that makes sense.

[@philkyle8919]

hi where can i get one of your t-shirts ?

[@daedalus2852]

The real Tiny Tom Logan 0:42

[@tensai914]

whats better the- Z170X-Ultra Gaming or asus z270f or the gigabyte z270x ?

[@LETHALF90]

Tensai whatd u settle on

[@forestR1]

Ill bet the 1 person who disliked this video, also kicks puppies to feel good and is unloved by anyone.

[@peterpopofff]

theres 5 now...

[@redwanhasan1721]

nope, they are not a big fan of British accent I assume.

[@forestR1]

you know it's funny, it sounds fine to me until, until a women speaks it. I don't know why it just sounds super trashy when coming from the mouth of a lady. I don't know weather to call that racist of sexist :(

[@forestR1]

Redwan Hasan ah, that's fair enough. Non American people shouldn't do stuff hey. Those sad fucks.

[@mentionethan]

He made a good video but it was quite cringy at times. Almost like a childrens show but im 90% sure kids that young wouldn't be building a custom pc.

[@AdwaitPotdar]

then which other mobo would u suggest at that price range?.. strix f price range

[@James.Stark.Ben.Edition]

Adwait Potdar msi gaming m7

[@sergiovision6850]

so main difference is wifi?

[@mecreach]

I have the 270E board. the first thing I said after I finish my build and lite it up...thats all the lights... now I have the Asus 1080ti strix, and it's way better. but I do wish there was more leds on the motherboard.

[@DavidKarlsson]

Would a Noctua NH-D 15 even fit on that board with the enormous IO shield?

[@FragmentedDisc]

I second this. Planning on getting a Cryorig R1 Ult however it doesn't look like it will fit.

[@garethds]

Third!

[@FragmentedDisc]

Going to findout. Ordered a Z270 strix and an i7-7700k. Going to apply my Cryorig R1. It's just about as massive.

[@DavidKarlsson]

Haha, cool, let us know.

[@Lukescomment]

yeah i would like to know also

[@michaelllewellyn8736]

U R Right! They should have at least "balanced" it with a light feature down lower like u said!

[@apathy9200]

I have a variety of other peripherals (corsair, steelseries) However i really feel like i would be saving a tad bit of money when it comes to the Z270E motherboard with the built in WIFI you really dont need to go out and buy a WIFI adapter. The motherboard looks great, minimalistic and amazing. I dont really mind downloading other companies software as it doesn't really take much to download

[@Dark5tar111]

They definitely need more lights. I'm actually leaning towards the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 5 because of this reason. But that WiFi feature though... I'm torn.

[@kidkool8533]

Good review & critique but I think the Z270E has more value added than you're alluding to. Wifi/bluetooth in a solid, stable good looking platform for $200. is pretty attractive...^_^

[@itsRobbie_]

I just bought the STRIX B250F on amazon and nobody has any videos on it... Any idea why??

[@tantaluss68]

what ram would you recommend with the ASUS ROG STRIX Z270E GAMING?

[@krewkid82]

Just built my rig with the z270e and when I turn the power on the board lights up as well as the ram. My water pump kicks on for my custom water cooling and my video card lights up but no fans kick on and i get a orange power light then a yellow light pops up suggesting a ram problem...I've reseated the ram, changed the ports between a1,b1,a2,b2. I've tried just one ram stick at a time, still get the same result. Gonna try to to reseat my processor to see if I have bent pens. Just sucks because this is the 4th computer I built and never had d.o.a. parts and this build just happened to be my first custom water cool build. So now I have to drain my loop:/

[@krewkid82]

I've even tried reseting the cmos

[@icemaker7328]

Can you show the mini itx boards?

[@OC3D]

They dont have any yet

[@icemaker7328]

OC3D TV That sucks :( Really hoping for a mini itx version. Good review though

[@OC3D]

Ill be sure to do a review ASAP when I get one but keep an eye on my TTL facebook and instagram for any early news

[@simplyarmin6758]

I built a pc with the Z270E Mainboard. Im totally happy with it running it with 7700k and 3200 Mhz G.Skill Ripjaws. But tbh it would be really cool if the ROG Logo on the mainboard would also had RGB (what i thought when i bought it lol) At the end if u go for for a rgb stripe it would be totally enough. i dont really want a christmas tree in my tower. 2 or 3 components with rgb is enough.

[@shahriarislam6593]

is z270e best??

[@Mack_Dingo]

ttl wat is that thingy beside the gundam? is it functional?

[@bimbles939]

I have an asus gpu, just ordered the z270F. They can sync together and my corsair keyboard and razer mouse can do their own thing. :') And I do agree on the lighting. I loved these boards for tha sort of two colour light. But I wish the rog logo lit up or there was something on the underside. Dimm slot.. The msi gaming pro carbon is very nice but I've heard the bios and things are problematic.

[@TheApexofthevortex]

Why haven't they started including USB drives with Mobo drivers on them. Most people throw those discs in the trash anyway

[@luciang9547]

z270 e strix or maximus ix hero ? hmm

[@tonyt3rry]

whats good cheap ram to pair with this im in the process of a new kaby lake build

[@gandhabba69]

is the strix replacing the pro gaming Series?

[@OC3D]

and the lower rog boards yes

[@MrDv8r]

I am having a lot of trouble trying to decide between the Asus z270F and the MSI Z270 Pro Carbon. Any thoughts? I am going to be using a i7 7700K, Samsung 960 Evo, and either a Galax GTX1080 EXOC or the Asus GTX1080 STRIX 8G/A8G/O8G or the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G/ ARMOR OC 8G . Any thoughts or suggestions on which motherboard-GPU pairing is the best option?

[@OC3D]

The GPU pairing will make 0 difference. Go to the OC3D website and look at our performance reviews for those boards.

[@MrDv8r]

OC3D TV Thank you very much! And thanks for the great channel, really helped me make up my mind about a bunch of things

[@darrylmasters5032]

rather the performance, NZXT Hue all the way :D

[@ensampojken]

So it must be a freaking good board then, if the biggest issue is a lack of lighting.

[@sunnywei2001]

A bit more light would be nice.

[@aggelosn21]

can you run a skylake cpu on this motherboard without problems?

[@TTrAAsTT]

Why should a minimum of 2800 mhz RAM be used? Everyone says it doesn't matter for gaming.

[@crabsjarrard]

Where can I find the drivers, QVL, and BIOS downloads for these boards? Got the 270E installed but I don't have an optical drive to use the CD and ASUS has none of the drivers or BIOS on their support website.

[@cedricsmith7344]

I love these motherboards.

[@tomfromyt-gameplaysandmore9071]

How many fan headers does it have? Have 4 case fans, and the Kraken x52. Are there enough for this?

[@OC3D]

PWM splitters if not....

[@yo93yeah]

RGB anything is gay this board looks great

[@peterismednis9637]

Exactly. Nowadays every other component inside has RGB, MB can do without it.

[@iosxbetax]

You don´t have to use it. Some people prefer it so including RGB really doesn´t have any disadvantages.

[@SEBEL365]

Where I'm from it's a $50 difference, what does the z270-e have that the z270-f doesn't have that makes it $50 more?

[@OC3D]

Thats all in the video

[@SEBEL365]

k just watched the vid thx

[@SavoyerMatt]

Why minimium of 2800mhz? I though that Memory Speed didn't make much difference, when paired with the CAS.

[@CVNTGETENOUGH]

MSI Gaming M7 vs Asus Maximus Hero for gaming?

[@CVNTGETENOUGH]

I like the lighting on MSI

[@tantaluss68]

i have a question I seem to be having trouble finding the answer to on the deepcool the pump has a 3 pin connector i want to use it with a asus z270e motherboard but it looks like the pump needs a 3 pin connector and the motherboard only has 4pin connectors is there an adpator or some way other then the micro usb conector?

[@wasfiiwasfi]

Thank you. i have the i7-7700k and the Z270F Gaming Motherboard and i already updated the bios to the latest version (1301) but still get issues/freezing/not booting/bsod's of all types operating system problems when i enable either hyper threading or turbo boost !! is it the cpu or the mother's bios !! please advise.

[@bjoernlubetzki]

I am one of the "Nope" people. The boards look nice, but the single, LED on the IO shield is a shame, in this price range. But MSI did the same with the Gaming 5, which costs over 200 and hasn't a lot of lighting. I really like the fact that the boards aren't green anymore (like 10-15 years ago). But now they are black and some of them are more or less pure black, because of a lack of RGB lighting. The Asrock Boards are pretty sexy (the new Taichi)

[@tantaluss68]

I'm having trouble understanding what ram I should match ith the Z270 boards is it the same DDR4 ram that is used with the Z170 boards?

[@OC3D]

Yes - you can go a bit quicker too

[@tantaluss68]

thank you what ram would you recommend with the ASUS ROG STRIX Z270E GAMING?

[@VividFlash]

I don't care about lights performance is where is is. I would have liked some heatsink for the m.2 SSD to be on there

[@gavinbryan276]

I plan on getting multiple RGB devices for my build (Asus Strix GTX 1070, the soon to be G.Skill Trident RGB ram sticks, and the NZXT Hue+ lighting system, and possibly the Corsair HD fans in the future) and was wondering if this motherboard would support them all in sync with Aura RGB. I know it's a lot of RGB lol thanks.

[@OC3D]

Corsair fans dont ATM and Im not sure Hue does either tbh. If Im honest you wont need HUE because thats basically what AURA is

[@gavinbryan276]

OC3D TV okay thank you, so say I bought the rgb strip extension from cablemod you talked about in one of you more recent videos, and say Asus aura compatible case fans came out in the future would the 4 aura compatible devices that I would have all work with only 2 RGB headers or would I need an extender of some sort?

[@sravans5100]

Go for cable mods they sure have RGB LED Strips with Aura

[@JonnyBaam]

I got one now in a deal, with nanoxia led RGB strips for free, well....i guess thats good ^^

[@raphmermontagne]

Support for NVME drives (like samsung 960 evo/pro) ? Where can I find the differences between the two ?

[@jkobstube4314]

A simple question from someone who doesn't know that much about pcs: Why would you need an USB 3.1 type C port at the back of the mobo? aren't the most cables USB to USB type C adapters? I mean, the most micro USB cables have one normal USB side and a micro USB side. why would you need the type c at the back then?

[@thirdeeyanez9257]

Good day! I would like to buy a new STRIX z270E Motherboard, however, I have a 4th Gen CPU intel i7 4790 3.6GHz and a Windows 8.1 OS. Does the motherboard support my CPU and OS upon installation? or do I need to buy a new 6th Gen CPU and Windows 10 OS? thank you.

[@aaarmin4164]

RICARDO YANEZ your old cpu has a lga 1150 socket and the z270e has a lga 1511 socket. So your cpu is not compatible. you would have to buy at least a skylake cpu. your os does not matter that much if you just take your old hdd or ssd.

[@thirdeeyanez9257]

thank you so much!

[@troubledsoul3532]

Its sad when RGB is the main talking point in this video. Should be 100% about performance. Still a good video though.

[@TheKRAZYKID195]

It's a review of course he is gonna talk about the RGB.

[@metron2080]

Queria comprar essa placa z270f, no site mostra um software pra controlar os leds auro da placa. Se eu colocar um daqueles leds 5050 em volta do gabinete, pegaria os leds da placa mae?