ECS Z370-LIGHTSABER LEET Motherboard Review

ECS Z370-LIGHTSABER We don't see many ECS products here at eTeknix, but when we do, they're often pretty cool. Their latest Z370 motherboard for Intel's recent 8th Gen launch is here today! Of course, that's a cool product already, but with the name LEET (or 1337 if you're legit about it) and the world LIGHTSABER, they're going all out for popular culture naming here. Does it have anything to do with Star Wars? Well, no, not really, but they got that name in there somehow. Of course, what really matters beyond the name is the features, the performance, the aesthetics, and the ECS Z370-LIGHTSABER is promising to deliver on all of these aspects. Equipped with a 14 phase power design, solid capacitors, and much more, it should deliver stable high-end overclocking performance for enthusiasts. Features 14 Phase Power Design Supports Intel K Series unlock CPU Applied 100% Solid capacitor design to maximize component reliability Durathon Technology ensure the stability, reliability and performance of system. Protection prevents computers from electrostatic discharge damage to enhance its durability and lifespan EZ charger provides a fast way to charge your smart devices, even if the PC is off Supports GUI UEFI for tweaking BIOS in Graphical interface within a multi-language environment MIB X - A friendly interface for overclocking, especially for gamer Supports Intel Optane technology LED Trace Path with Multi-Color Choice by MCU (Microcontroller Unit) ECS Intelligent EZ Utility : eBLU, eDLU, eSF LEET Boost – DiGi Power / OC Center With the stable voltage of DiGi Power, OC Gear can drive to boost higher performance through the socket designed for 6th-generation Intel powerful CPU. Specifications For in-depth specifications, please visit the official product page here. Plus it comes in this dazzling gold box, that's reason enough to buy it right there; bling! A Closer Look First impressions are strong with this motherboard. Sure, it doesn't leap out as anything too crazy at first glance, but it's ticking all the right boxes for my eyes. Firstly, that's one of the most robust and practical looking VRM coolers I've seen for a long time. None of that aesthetics-only low-profile nonsense. The metal is thick, finned, and heat piped to get the job done well. The VRM and chokes under there look like serious business too. No fancy armour, but four DIMM slots will get the job done. Here you'll also find a built-in BIOS debug LED, and nicely designed on-board power control switches. Connectivity is pretty standard for this chipset, with six SATA, USB 3 and a few USB 2 ports. Along the bottom, more built-in switches for overclocking, and BIOS control. It's great to have these, especially if you're working from a test bench like I will be. The audio hardware is on a separate trace, comes with dedicated gold-caps, a swappable OP-AMP chip, and hopefully, it'll sound pretty great. There are three full-size PCIe slots here, with three 1x slots in between. That's more than enough room for a multi GPU configuration, and more. Of course, six slots may appeal to those using this for a mining rig. There are two M.2 drive mounts here too, giving you more storage options. Finally, around the back, you'll find a plethora of USB ports, including some super fast 3.1's. There are six gold-plated audio jacks with auto-switching, HDMI, DP, Optical Out, and even a CMOS clear button. Overall, it's got all the basicss covered and beyond. Testing and Methodology Test Procedure Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to motherboard reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Rember that your choice of motherboard, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there's always a margin for error when using the software. Therefore, your experience may vary. Each benchmark runs three times, and the average figure is taken to try to reduce the effect of hardware variation. Of course, any relevant details regarding the parameters will be listed below. Test Systems Z370 CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K Motherboard – Changes Per Review RAM - Crucial DDR4 2400MHz Quad-Channel 32GB CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X399 Motherboard – Changes Per Review RAM - Crucial DDR4 2400MHz Quad-Channel 32GB CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X299 Motherboard – Changes Per Review RAM - Crucial DDR4 2400MHz Quad-Channel 32GB CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive - Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis - Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System - Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AM4 Ryzen R3, R5 and R7 Motherboard – Changes Per Review RAM - GeIL DDR4 2977MHz Dual Channel 16GB CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive - Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis - Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System - Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Z270 Motherboard – Changes Per Review RAM - Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2666 MHz CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X99 - Our GPU Review Test Bench Motherboard – Changes Per Review RAM – Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2666 MHz CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Open Air Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 64-bit Games Used All games are tested on a 60 Hz display with V-Sync off for all tests. Previously we would use "extreme" presets, but these have now been adjusted to "Medium" or equivalent to better test the capabilities of the CPU, not the GPU. Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam) DX12 Medium Preset Pure Hair Off Deus Ex (Steam) DX12 Medium Preset Ghost Recon: Wildlands (Uplay) Medium Preset Turf Effects Off Far Cry Primal (Uplay) Normal Preset Software Used 3DMark Fire Strike (download) FireStrike (1080p) Benchmark Unigine Superposition (download) 1080p Extreme Benchmark PCMark 10 Professional (download) Express Benchmark WPrime (download) 32M and 1024M Power usage recorded at 1024M 50% complete, thermals recorded at 75% CineBench R15 (download) CPU Multi CPU Single Handbrake (download) Custom MP4 to MKV 4K conversion (details below) AIDA64 Engineer (download) CPU-Z (download) HWMonitor (download) Handbrake To stress processors to their absolute limit and accurately judge their performance in video editing workloads, we transcode a 7.7GB compilation of gaming footage; this particular file is freely available from here. The captured footage is 22 minutes and 12 seconds long, it has a bit rate of 50.1 Mbps and it uses the Advanced Video Codec. Additionally, the video runs at a constant 30 frames-per-second and opts for a 3820 x 2140 (4K) resolution. Once loaded into Handbrake, we then transcode the 4K MP4 to an MKV file using the "normal" profile. Other Notes A rest period of 2-5 minutes is observed between each piece of software allowing the system to return to its idle power usage and temperatures. Background services like Windows Update are checked to not be running during the testing period by setting WiFi to Metered Connection. Thanks Thank you to Noctua, Crucial, ASUS, Gigabyte, Lian-Li, be quiet!, OCZ, for providing the hardware that helps makes these tests possible! Synthetic Benchmarks 3DMark Firestrike There's a lot to be excited about with Z370, it's a great platform that delivers some impressive figures with the new 6-core chip. However, there's barely any difference between most motherboards. That being said, the LEET scored well with 22765 at stock and 23836 overclocked. Stock Overclocked Unigine Superposition 1080p Extreme Again, competive scores here, so no issues with GPU throughput on PCI lanes, and our GTX 1080 Ti was able to get its job done. Stock Overclocked PCMark 10 Express One of our fastest stock scores with 6211, and a very competitive overclocked score of 6579, keeping the LEET in the high-end catagory for Z370. Stock Overclocked WPrime 32M and 1024M The Wprime score isn't as fast as expected, but still well within what is to be expected from our CPU. The overclocked time is much more competitive though. Stock Overclocked Cinebench R15 One of the higher scores for Cinebench too, hitting 1553 at stock, and pushing that to a very nice 1641 once overclocked. It's no Threadripper, but it's competitive for a consumer CPU/mobo combination. Stock Overclocked Handbrake MP4 to MKV Conversion 4K Stock Overclocked AIDA 64 Memory Bandwidth and Latency Gaming Performance As we test an ever-increasing number of Z370 motherboards, we see there's little difference between many of them. However, they're all still dominating the top end of the charts for FPS performance, and that's great news for gamers. The ECS LEET is certainly up there with the high-end motherboards, and while not the fastest, it's a long way from the slowest in every gaming benchmark, making it a great option for gamers. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Rise of the Tomb Raider Ghost Recon: Wildlands Far Cry Primal Power Consumption and Temperatures Power Consumption The power usage is surprisingly low on this motherboard, especially given the performance figures. A powerful and fairly efficient board? What's not to love! Stock Overclocked Final Thoughts Pricing Unfortunately, we weren't able to find accurate pricing or stock availability at the time of writing. Of course, we'll update you when we have it, but please check with your local retailer of choice for details. Overview I do fear I'm becoming a bit of a broken record when it comes to the Z370 platform, which I guess is a good thing for ECS. Like so many other motherboards that have recently come to market, the latest Intel platform seems to be the new must-have for pure PC gaming. While I'm sure X399 and Z370 offer benefits to the game streaming and content creation users, Z370 is all about pure FPS. Gaming While not the fastest gaming motherboard we've tested, it's unlikely to be the most expensive either. However, the gaming performance was superb, beating out many other high-end products, and keeping up with ones that cost a heck of a lot more. When it comes to picking a robust gaming motherboard, the LEET certainly has all the power you could ask for to get great performance. Overclocking This motherboard features impressive cooling on the VRM, the robust chokes, the high-quality capacitors, and more. This all adds up to reliability and stability, ensuring you can maintain those overclocks with ease. If you're maxing out your rig for hours on end, this is a big benefit. Added Value With high-quality audio and great connectivity, the LEET is a jack of all trades. There's plenty of storage options with 6 x SATA and 2 x M.2 drive mounts, and a wide array of USB connections too. Add to that the easy to use MIB X overclocking interface, onboard power and BIOS controls, as well as the RGB LED lighting, and you have a pretty complete package. Pros High-end performance Easy to overclock Great connectivity Good audio performance LED lighting Durable high-performance head sinks On board controls Great for gaming Cons Can't find stock or pricing information