SuperMicro C7Z370-CG-IW Mini-ITX Motherboard Review

Peter Donnell / 7 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find retail stock of the motherboard at the time of writing. Of course, it has just launched this month, and sometimes these things take a few weeks to find their way into the market. Please check with your local retailers for up to date information.

Overview

There hasn’t been a single Z370 motherboard that has left me feeling disappointed. Which is surprising, as with most of them basically being Z270 motherboards with a slightly revised CPU pin layout, they didn’t seem that exciting to begin with. However, the new 6-core CPUs are knocking down previous benchmark records left, right, and centre. When it comes to getting great gaming performance, they’re the best around right now, so it’s hard to be too mad about the whole thing.

Performance

Given it’s one of the less exciting motherboards on the market, the SuperMicro Mini-ITX didn’t really give me much faith for its performance. However, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, as this motherboard managed to set benchmarks well into the high-end of our charts, and gave many more expensive boards a heck of a run for their money too. Mini it may be, but it performed as well as many ATX motherboards, which is fantastic.

Aesthetics

It’s marketed as a no gimmick design, and that’s mostly true. However, it still looks neat and tidy and with a bit of armour, a black PCB and some sneaky RGB lighting on the rear right edge, it’s hardly a drab bit of kit. At least you’re not overpaying for a more outlandish design. However, with SuperMicro favouring reliability over much else, I have absolute confidence in this motherboards 24/7 operation capabilities too. Function over form is no bad thing.

Should I Buy One

If you’re looking for a powerful and fast motherboard in a mini-ITX form factor, it’s as good or better than anything else out there. ASUS and Gigabyte all have some competitive options, but likely at a higher price point, so it’s nice to have more options on the market, especially from SuperMicro, who have such a strong reputation for build quality.