Supermicro SuperO C7Z170-M (Intel Z170) Motherboard Review

Introduction

In recent years, Supermicro has made a play to break into the enthusiast market, to offer higher-end motherboards with a strong focus on gaming and even overclocking. I have reviewed a few of their previous Z170 offerings, and they have made great strides over the past few generations to provide more consumer friendly motherboards. The C7Z170-M is designed to meet the needs of gamers who want a small, yet powerful, system. While the mATX market isn't the most popular form factor, it's always good for consumers to have many options.

The C7Z170-M is part of the SuperO series of gaming motherboards from Supermicro. The SuperO brand was established to differentiate Supermicro's gaming products from their typical enterprise products. However, the differentiation between products doesn't mean there is a total isolation of design between the two product lines; the SuperO series of motherboards carry enterprise grade parts and design. In fact, that is one of the main selling points of boards such as the C7Z170-M, they use server-grade design and component selection merged with features better suited for consumers. Follow me as I take a look at the C7Z170-M.

Specifications

The Supermicro C7Z170-M has many of the latest Z170 chipset features such as 4x PCI-E 3.0 M.2 and a wide variety of USB 3.0 and SATA6Gb/s ports. The board does have USB 3.1 but through an internal header rather than a rear Type-C or Type-A port. Supermicro is using the Intel i219v Gbit Ethernet controller and the ALC1150 audio codec.

Pricing

The C7Z170-M is available from many large retailers for roughly $162.