ASUS Z170I gaming motherboard installation test: small but comprehensive performance

As a player series motherboard under ASUS, the "PRO GAMING" elements of the ASUS Z170I PRO GAMING motherboard can be seen everywhere, and the consistent red and black color scheme is quite pleasing to players' eyes.

The ASUS Z170I PRO GAMING motherboard uses the LGA 1151 CPU socket and is designed for the sixth-generation Skylake architecture CPU.

How to reflect the high-end materials of ASUS motherboard on a small board? SupremeFX independent sound card-level audio technology is one of the manifestations. EMI shield, 300Ω high-power headphone amplifier and Japanese Nichicon professional audio capacitors bring players better sound effects.

The specifications of the two memory card slots of the ASUS Z170I PRO GAMING motherboard are DDR4 4000MHZ, which is also the standard of the new platform, providing space for memory overclocking.

Although the motherboard is not large, the ASUS Z170I PRO GAMING motherboard still has 1 HDMI port, 1 Display Port port and up to 12 USB ports inside and outside.

The four USB 3.0 and two red USB 3.1 ports on the back of the motherboard ensure high-speed data transmission.

The 2×2 dual-band Wi-Fi combined with the Bluetooth 4.1 communication module is very eye-catching on the back of the motherboard, and for network communication, the board is equipped with an Intel I219V Gigabit network card.

Such a small motherboard cannot be without an M.2 disk interface, and on the ASUS Z170I PRO GAMING motherboard it is placed on the back.

As for the actual installation effect, after installing the CPU and memory, we chose an ASUS Ice Knight GTX950 graphics card which is not so "majestic". It has no problem using it, but the length is indeed "over the standard".

After we install the processor, memory, graphics card, hard drive, water cooling system, etc. on the motherboard, although it is impossible for you to play multi-graphics card crossfire or SLI, the installation capacity of this small ASUS Z170I PRO GAMING motherboard is still quite powerful.

In terms of software, one of the biggest highlights of ASUS motherboards is the BIOS interface with detailed setting options. In addition to enabling online BIOS upgrades, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 also allows users to restore damaged BIOS files through a USB flash drive that contains BIOS files. This eliminates the need to purchase additional BIOS chips when BIOS files are damaged, further enhancing the playability of the motherboard.

In BIOS, users can detect and adjust fan speed, and change the AHCI mode of SATA hard disk to RAID at one go.

If I were to describe the ASUS Z170I PRO GAMING motherboard in one sentence, it would be that it is small but has comprehensive performance.

The entire product meets the new platform's requirements for motherboard hardware very well. The solid materials of ASUS quality also fits the "PRO GAMING" positioning in the product name. However, for ASUS motherboards using the Z170 chipset, the current price is generally still more than 1,000 yuan. As a new member of the player series, the ASUS Z170I PRO GAMING motherboard, although the price has not yet been announced, it is obviously still a high-end choice for elite players.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.