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Hardware Asus Z170i Pro Gaming Review

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Dogbert666, 12 Oct 2015.

  1. Dogbert666

    Dogbert666 *Fewer Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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  2. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    Looks like a solid board although there are a few issues.

    I agree that it doesn't quite look as smart as previous versions and I really don't like the 'Pro Gaming' branding as it makes me feel like they are marketing it at teenagers.
    I hate that ugly, loose looking red and black cable which is also present on the upcoming Impact VIII, can I ask what it is for please? It's not the battery is it?

    I'm glad they put the M.2 underneath though as I hate them being visible.
     
  3. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    It's the RTC Battery, it's glued to the side of the wifi antennae mount... as seen here -

    [​IMG]
     
  4. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    That is fair enough but it still looks awful. ASUS also stuck it in a different location on the Impact as it is on the side of the USB ports.[​IMG]
     
  5. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    That's because the Impact has a u2 port there, the battery would interfere with it... It's not ideal but not sure what else they can do other than braid the cable, but seems a lot of effort to hide a cable so short...
     
  6. mi1ez

    mi1ez Modder

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    Found my new board!
     
  7. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    For a board, costing around £200, you think a tiny amount of braiding or a rubber sleeve and the effort to do it is too much?

    I also think that there must have been a way to have it connected on the underside if needs be. For such a high end board it's aesthetics should be perfect, or at least that is what they should strive for rather than making it look like they forgot something and just said 'Oh just plug it in and stick it to the side of the ports or something'.

    What I find most annoying, and I have this before, is that these manufacturers (MSI did a similar thing by having the ugly green PCB of the M.2 SSD easily in view) seem to make a product that is 99% perfect and then they screw it up with one little tiny thing, almost on purpose rather than do it a different way to solve the issue.

    Still, I will be looking forward to the reviews between this, the Pro Gaming and the ACK.
     
  8. ChrisHowell

    ChrisHowell What's a Dremel?

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    I'm not so fussed about the looks of the board, but agree it doesn't look as smart as some of their previous mini-ITX boards (The Z97I-PLUS for example - looked great).

    But I'm looking forward to seeing some really powerful SFX PCs that take advantage of the new chipsets and higher M.2 memory speeds. Get yourself a Samsung M.2 SSD and a AMD R9 Nano and you're set! :D
     
  9. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    Why bother with the M.2? Unless your chosen case is too small the M.2 has the same speeds but costs more than the 2.5 EVO.
     
  10. Redbeaver

    Redbeaver The Other Red Meat

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    Lovely. My $150CAD ASUS Z97i-Plus is happy to see his new little baby brother.
     
  11. Matth

    Matth What's a Dremel?

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    Any idea why the board is so bad in 3DMark? It seems inconsistent with the other gaming benchmarks. Could this have been solved by Bios updates.

    I also heard this board's PCIe-slot specifically gets halved in lanes when using the M.2-slot. Don't ask me why or how. For example see the video on this board by Edge Up Asus at the 12:36 mark.)
    Coudl this be the reasn or was the M.2 tsken out for other speedtests?
    (Anyway, what might be the reason? Thanks.)
     
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