Remember when the ROG Z170i series mini motherboard was launched? Its stunning design and practical performance captured the hearts of many users. With the release of the Kaby Lake series processors, the Z270 chipset product—ROG STRIX Z270i GAMING (hereinafter referred to as Z270i)—has also arrived as a classic successor. Let’s take a closer look.
Product Specifications
Chipset: Intel Z270 Series
Processor Socket: LGA 1151
Form Factor: Mini ITX (17cm×17cm)
Memory Support: Up to 32GB DDR4 4266
PCIe Slots: 1×PCIe 3.0 x16
USB Ports: 4×USB2.0, 6×USB3.0, 1xUSB 3.1 Front Panel Port
Storage Features: M.2 Slots×2, SATA 6Gbps×4
Wireless Support: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Dual Band 2.4/5GHz
Other Expansions: 1×DisplayPort, 1×HDMI, 1×LAN (RJ45)
Reference Price: 2199 Yuan
Pros: Compact design, dual M.2 slots
Cons: No USB3.1 Gen.2 ports and Thunderbolt 3 ports
In terms of overall appearance, the Z270i remains a Mini ITX form factor. As part of the Strix series, the Z270i features distinct Strix elements in its heatsinks and protective structures. The square form factor of 17cm×17cm is noticeably smaller than typical ITX motherboards, with a significant difference being that the Z270i has only one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, usually reserved for a graphics card. The Z270i adopts an 8+1 phase power supply, ensuring its overclocking capability as a Z270 chipset motherboard.
▲ Japanese FP10K Black Gold Solid Capacitors have a lifespan of 10,000 hours at 105℃ ambient temperature.
▲ The motherboard’s power supply section uses an 8-phase processor power design.
▲ The motherboard battery is attached to the Wi-Fi module with a wire.
In terms of memory, the Z270i has two DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel memory configurations. Despite its limited area, the Z270i’s layout is compact yet orderly. The motherboard battery is connected to the Wi-Fi module, and the Supreme FX sound card is integrated next to the PCIe slot. Notably, the Z270i is equipped with 2 M.2 slots, with the front M.2 slot positioned near the NUVOTON monitoring chip, supporting both SATA and PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs. The rear slot only supports PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs, with a maximum length of 2280. Because the front M.2 slot shares cooling with the PCH, the Z270i also provides a heatsink for it.
▲ Nuvoton’s NCT6793D monitoring chip is responsible for monitoring fan speeds, motherboard temperature, CPU temperature, voltage, and more.
▲ The bottom M.2 slot only supports PCIe3.0 x4 SSDs.
▲ The Z270i is equipped with a heatsink for the front M.2 slot.
In terms of expansion ports, the Z270i has 4 SATA ports, 6 USB 3.0, and 4 USB 2.0 ports, and can expand to a USB 3.1 port via the USB 3.1 front panel port on the motherboard. Of course, the Z270i features highly customizable AURA lighting effects, which can achieve the desired RGB LED lighting effects with the help of software.
Since this is a Z270 chipset motherboard, our test platform also uses Intel’s recently launched Kaby Lake processor—Intel Core i7-7700K, with a base frequency of 4.2GHz. The graphics card is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX1070, and the memory consists of 2 sticks of G.Skill 8GB DDR4 2400. Compared to Skylake, the Kaby Lake series processors support a default memory frequency increase from 2133 to 2400, while the SSD is a Transcend T10 128GB.
In default conditions, this system’s SuperPi one million digits take only 8.095s, and the CINEBENCH R15 single-core and multi-core scores are 195cb and 919cb respectively, reflecting the powerful performance of the Core i7-7700K. In the 3D Mark tests, the Fire Strike Ultra and Time Spy scores are 4245 and 5642 respectively, which also align with the capabilities of the GeForce GTX1070.
▲ The Transcend T10, as an NVMe SSD, can fully unleash its performance on the Z270i.
Of course, as a motherboard that supports overclocking, we also conducted simple overclocking tests on the Core i7-7700K. Under air cooling conditions, with the voltage adjusted to 1.246V, the Core i7-7700K successfully booted and completed tests at 4.6GHz, showing a slight improvement over the default state. We believe that if the Z270i is equipped with excellent cooling devices, it has great potential for overclocking.
Overall, this compact Z270i motherboard is sufficiently reliable in terms of performance and built with solid materials. The practical Wi-Fi module, M.2 slots, and USB3.0 Type C ports are all present. The 9-phase power design allows it to perform well as an overclocking motherboard. For those planning to build a small form factor PC, the ROG STRIX Z270i GAMING is indeed a great choice.
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