Supermicro C7Z270-PG Pro Gaming Motherboard Review

Here are key points about the Supermicro C7Z270-PG.

What's Hot

PEX8747 To Expand Lanes: The only way to run 3 and 4-way SLI or 4-way CrossFireX on the Z270 platform is on a motherboard with the PEX8747 chip. The chip is also quite expensive, which is why the motherboard costs so much. The C7Z270-PG is one of few motherboards on the market with this ability.

Dual M.2 and U.2: Finding motherboards with two U.2 ports is not that easy, but the C7Z270-PG has two as well as two M.2 slots. One of the U.2 and M.2 ports share bandwidth, but you can RAID three of the slots/ports. That means you can RAID two M.2 and one U.2 drive or two U.2 and one M.2 drive. The flexibility this offers is great, especially if you use the Intel 750 series NVMe drives, which use U.2 connectivity.

Four USB 3.1 Ports: There are three USB 3.1 type-A ports and one USB 3.1 type-C port on the rear IO panel, which is much more than most other motherboards carry.

Stealthy Aesthetics: Many enthusiasts have asked vendors for totally blacked out motherboards. The reason is that dedicated heat sink colors such as red, blue, and gold conflict with their build theme or color scheme. Supermicro has delivered on the demands of the community.

What's Not

Odd Layout Considerations: Some people have complained about the spacing of the memory DIMMs, but I didn't find that to be an issue. What I did find to be an issue was upside down single-sided latch DIMMs, making it hard to remove RAM with a full sized GPU installed. The 8-pin CPU power connector is also upside down so that the latch is facing the heat sink and not the top of the motherboard, it's not a big issue, but for those with very big fingers, it might be hard to release the latch. I also think that the USB 3.0 internal header should have been closer to the right side of the motherboard, so it's closer to front panel USB 3.0 ports which usually have a short cable.

UEFI Requires Mouse: The menu layout and how you access deeper menus almost requires you to use a mouse. You can use the UEFI without using your mouse, but it's significantly easier with a mouse.

Final Thoughts

The Supermicro C7Z270-PG is a very high-end motherboard from Supermicro. Supermicro recently launched the SuperO brand of motherboards, which the C7Z270-PG falls under, and their philosophy is quality for gaming. The C7Z270-PG fulfills this philosophy and does with so many high-end consumer features that should resonate with gamers. You can run many GPUs, you get a ton of storage options, and you get four USB 3.1 ports.

I am nitpicking with some of the cons I have listed; I didn't have much trouble with the motherboard. I was able to easily overclock by inspecting Supermicro's built in OC profiles and toning down many of their settings, and in that way, the motherboard is a learning experience. Overall, I like the motherboard a lot from the way it looks to the features it offers.

If you hate RGB LEDs and the RGB headers, you will also be happy with the motherboard since it offers neither. If you are looking for a loaded Z270 motherboard with excellent multi-GPU capability, the C7Z270-PG might be the right choice for you.

Product Summary Breakdown

Performance	90%
Quality	95%
Features	97%
Value	90%

Overall TweakTown Rating

93%

The Bottom Line: Two U.2, two M.2, four USB 3.1 ports, and 4-way SLI/CrossFireX are only a few of the many great features that the Supermicro C7Z270-PG has to offer.

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