ASUS ROG’s team used the Intel X99 refresh to unveil the first STRIX-branded motherboard and it was only a matter of time before we witnessed more products bearing the STRIX moniker. With the arrival of Intel’s new Z270 chispet, ROG has seized this opportunity and today we’ve experienced first-hand the delights of the Z270F Gaming.

The Z270F is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most eye-catching designs we’ve ever handled. From an aesthetics point of view, it doesn’t get any better than this; the matt PCB with interlacing and gunmetal heatsinks and laser etched finishing oozes the style and finesse to which ROG has always been associated with. The visual appearance of components is especially important nowadays with users constructing their own theme and Z270F is quite a neutral canvas, so it’s likely to coordinate well with other hardware.

Although this motherboard features just a single LED strip on the rear IO cover, there are two Aura RGB headers positioned at the top and bottom of the board for those wanting to kit their system out with LED strips. Since our STRIX motherboard also uses Aura lighting, if you have another ASUS-branded device with Aura lighting such as a graphics card, then you’ll be able to sync it with the software and control the lighting from the motherboard too.

As far as performance goes, our STRIX Z270F Gaming tackled all of the benchmarks very well, in a range of different tests we found this ROG board to be a strong performer and we even managed to push the Intel Core i7-7700K to the 4.9GHz milestone – achieving this result with the lowest required CPU voltage. ASUS’ Digi+ power delivery and comprehensive UEFI BIOS make the task of overclocking an absolute breeze and without any problems.


The STRIX Z270F Gaming packs in some interesting features, audio being one of its strong points. However, we are surprised to see U.2 omitted from both this STRIX boards and the rest of the ROG lineup (even the flagship solutions). The Z270F could have also benefitted from having more USB ports on the backpanel, once your keyboard and mouse have been connected you’re left with just three USB 3/3.1 type A ports.

The Intel Z270 chipset lacks any revolutionary features and therefore brands are quite limited to what they can include on their boards. This therefore places more emphasis on thinking outside of the box, perhaps pushing motherboard partners to bring something innovative to the table. To that end, our Z270F supplies us with some 3D mounts which allows the user to install three-dimensional objects produced from a 3D printer. Demand for such a feature is undetermined, but we predict that this may be more favoured by those who are fully indulged in case modding and customisation.

Arriving with a price-tag of £175 GBP @ CCL Computers and $200 USD, we believe the Z270F to be a good value for money option for enthusiasts or gamers moving over to the Intel Z270 chipset. This motherboard offers a great selection of features and included items within the bundle as well as being backed by a generous 3 years warranty.

The STRIX Z270F Gaming is a visual masterpiece which bears a strong lineup of features and is able to deliver excellent out of the box performance as well as helping overclockers squeeze the very most out of their Core i7-7700K.





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