Gadgetory

what's up guys today I am checking out a very special motherboard that promises an uncompromised solution in terms of reliability stability and compatibility for your next high-end skylake desktop this is the z170 deluxe from asus and it comes packed with more robust features than Inspector Gadget so before we take an in-depth look at all this board has to offer please hold your applause and your drool for the end now being their flagship z170 board we can be certain that asus has pulled every ounce of their resources to ensure only the highest level of functionality be implemented but they've also done a bang-up job in the cosmetic Department as well black and white accents float above the monochromatic heat sinks which are neither reflective nor prone to fingerprints there is also a splash of blue on the heatsink beauty plates though it's subtle enough to not clash with any color scheme in your system all of this lies beautifully against the backdrop of a matte black PCB one gripe I have is with the oversized IO cover that potentially leaves some clearance issues with top mounted radiators there's also a white breathing LED at the very bottom of the chipset which seems like an odd location the three heatsink surround the CPU provide ample coverage for the board sixteen phase digi+ vrm and are linked via a connecting heat pipe for greater heat dissipation apart from their high-quality chokes and MOSFETs Asus has also added 10k rated capacitors that have five times the lifespan of traditional caps while retaining a wider range of temperature thresholds both of which are characteristics conducive to better overclocking instability to the right of our LGA 1150 socket are four dimm slots for ddr4 modules with support for speeds up to 30 400 megahertz or 3466 when overclocking beyond the prospect of sky-high frequencies you also get support for up to 64 gigs thanks to the higher density limitations of ddr4 now for users who require a robust storage configuration that goes beyond the realm of mainstream two and a half inch drives I have yet to see a board with a vast array of connectivity options than the z170 deluxe in addition to 6 SATA 6 ports the adjacent SATA Express interface controls 2 ports that are backwards compatible with two and a half inch SATA drives technically giving you eight SATA 6 ports in total the also one dedicated SATA Express port that can be used with aces optional front Bay expansion panel for effective USB 3.1 power delivery with Intel enabling more PCIe lanes on their skylake chips board vendors like Asus are also able to accommodate higher speed drives as such there's an onboard m2 slot for SSDs rated at PCIe gen3 by four speeds and just for good measure asus has included their hyper kid adapter which connects via m2 in order to provide support for crazy-fast u2 drives such as Intel 750 series and vme SSD finally there's an included m2 PCIe in card adapter which can be used for rating multiple SSDs along with integrated options for u2 and m2 if ever you should find that this board isn't meeting your storage needs asus technical support will inform you that the problem is you moving on to expansion we see four PCI Express by one slots and three PCIe gen3 by 16 slots for up to two a SLI or 3-way crossfire when running a two way configuration please note that populating the appropriate by 16 slots will force each of them to run at by eight speeds to ensure a superior listening experience for users asus brings a number of improvements to their onboard sound chip with crystal sound 3 alongside the isolated trace cutout for reduced efi a pre power regulator has been implemented for better power delivery which translates to overall cleaner audio noise isolation has been given a tune-up and Japanese audio grade capacitors bring additional warmth to the sound signature there's also an added deep up filter to reduce unpleasant hardware noise when booting up or shutting down the system here's a quick layout of the boards 6 for pin fan headers which can all output a PWM signal among them are two CPU fan headers which are primarily used for things like push-pull air coolers or liquid AOS and a dedicated pump header for water-cooled supported pwm pumps bear in mind all of these can also be utilized as a standard 4 pin fan header if need be I'll admit that I'm not particularly thrilled with the placement of these two fan headers as they're quite a stretch away from most case grommets which might not facilitate the cleanest cable routing now while generous pwm fan connectivity is always appreciated Asus also understands that this is only part of the solution when it comes to defining a boards thermal dexterity so they've included several temperature sensors at various hotspots around bored much like their x99 sabertooth there's also a temperature lead that allows you to manually place an additional sensor anywhere in your system with the help of these thermal input sources users can then define individual fan curves based on the heat values of these specific regions enabling a better cooling solution that's dynamically tailored to your various workloads scattered across the rest of the board is a collection of other handy features including a memo k button which can allow your system to post despite having certain memory related issues this pertains to things like initialization issues when using memory that isn't fully compatible with your system or if one of your dims happens to fail over time if possible memo k will attempt to run the failed module at a lower operating frequency which can sometimes help get your system off the ground you also get three onboard switches including easy XMP which you can enable to have the board automatically detect and apply the optimal XMP profile to your DRAM the EP you switch applies a slight undervolt to your CPU for users who wish to save some power albeit at the cost of some performance and lastly the TP you switch has two different modes for users looking to apply a quick frequency boost to their unlock skylake CPUs the first mode automatically dials in your XMP profile and applies a moderate overclock to your CPU while the second mode functions just the same but assigns a more aggressive overclock for cooling solutions that can handle the extra heat just beneath the switches you get two USB two and two USB 3 headers one of which is located under the 24 pin connector as well as a header for connecting ACS's pwm fan extension hub for additional fan and thermal sensor connectivity moving right along we find surface mounted power and reset buttons a clear CMOS button and the ever so useful USB BIOS flash back button for updating or fixing a corrupted BIOS the trusty Q code LED makes its return with its troubleshooting ability to pinpoint an issue in your system should you have one the red LED will display an alphanumeric code which you can then reference in the user's manual to quickly narrow down the problem to help you further diagnose potential issues in your system asus has also placed four q leds by the cpu dram vga and boot device in the event that your system fails to post due to an issue with one of these parts the corresponding Q LED will lock red at which point you can then attempt to reseat the affected component or take the appropriate steps to troubleshoot the issue next to the debug LED you'll find a thunderbolt header for connecting a 2.0 expansion card with optional future support for thunderbolt 3 and while it's quite easy to miss neighboring the top PCIe slot is a key Express controller this supports asus is gamer centric feature that allows you to expand the functionality of your keyboard by assigning useful tasks to your keys like switching the audio output from your headphones to your speakers or powering on and off your system rounding out the features with our rear i/o you get an optical Toslink out full-sized HDMI and DisplayPort and 3x3 connections for 802 11 AC Wireless and Bluetooth that feature packet prioritization which can be configured in the turbo land software the included antenna features a magnetic base and swiveling top for easy positioning also on the back you'll find no shortage of USB 3.1 ports 5 type A and 1 type C port offer up to 10 gigabit per second transfer speeds and support for the integrated USB 3.1 boost feature which offers improved performance for supportive external storage devices the top right port can also be used to quick charge Android iOS or Windows Mobile devices through AI charger plus a feature that supports concurrent charging and data transfer and the ability to continue charging when your system is powered off to Intel Gigabit Ethernet ports are available for Wired connectivity and like the wireless option can be configured to utilize packet prioritization as well the single USB 2 port takes advantage of the USB bios flashback function and the USB 3 port supports the key Express macro technology we mentioned earlier finally here's a look at our 8 channel audio outs which are powered by the board's crystal sound 3 now despite how fun it is to watch a motherboard collect dust I decided to grab some parts and take the board for a spin upon booting into the BIOS you're brought into easy mode which gives you a comprehensive list of your system settings at a glance Advanced Mode opens up a more traditional UEFI where you can do things like BIOS updates and overclocking speaking of which I did manage to hit a generous overclock of 4.7 gigahertz on my 6700 K at 1.31 volts while maintaining rock-solid stability not half bad for the few minutes I spent tweaking the core ratio and voltage and I suppose that is all I have to say about the z170 deluxe who I was a lot of information but apart from the beautiful job asus has done with the board's aesthetic there's enough support for bleeding edge Hardware here for just about any mAh enthusiasts everything from the on board features to the sheer breadth of storage configurations demonstrates a rare level of thoughtfulness that's been poured into the engineering process to deliver a truly flexible and robust solution while the retail price of three hundred and twenty dollars certainly puts this board out of reach for most users wallets I have seen a handful of more expensive boards that simply lack the same caliber of quality and functionality Asus has always been known for their tenacity and striving for excellence when it comes to their diverse product line and from what I've gathered today it would appear that the z170 deluxe has brought them one step closer to their never-ending search for incredible but that is gonna do it for now guys let me know what you think of this board in the comments and feel free to toss me a like on this video if you enjoyed it before we go check the description below where you can buy an awesomesauce shirt new designs coming this weekend whoo and don't forget to bookmark my Amazon affiliate link news when you buy stuff first as always I'm Kyle with awesome sales network thank you guys for watching subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and I'll see you all in the next video you