For Intel Z97’s debut one of our first motherboard reviews featured the Z97-A – the corresponding board for today’s Z170-A launch. We were impressed by the efforts that ASUS had gone to from a styling standpoint back then and today this is no exception. Once again, it’s great to see a mainstream offering receive some class and finesse.

Putting the Z170-A through its paces in our benchmark suite revealed a solid motherboard which doesn’t back down in any of the scenarios we placed it. This mainstream board even handled our best overcock milestone set by a high-end rival offering – so this highlights the fact that it doesn’t always mean you have to spend a substantial amount of cash to channel in to good performance.

Z170-A is versatile in its feature-set and even has multiple storage options from SATA, SATA Express and M.2. While some of these standards may not necessarily be mainstream it’s great to have the option to use them at a later stage.


Overall we’re impressed by what Z170-A brings to the table. The onboard audio solution is backed by reputable components and the BIOS GUI bolsters the experience.

Priced at £115 GBP the Z170-A represents great value for money and will be a tough one to beat on affordability and will unlock a cost effective route to LGA 1151 – since the outright costs are going to be larger than previous years with motherboard, memory and a new CPU a prerequisite.

The Z170-A adds class to the mainstream Z170 segment. This motherboards packs in an assortment of features and connectivity that most users will find useful and does so while sitting at an extremely attractive price-tag.