Gigabyte Z370N WIFI Review

Every enthusiast loves building their own PCs. I’m sure most of our readers have their own, custom built PC. Most of which are either mid or full-tower PCs. However, over the last few years, there has been a surge of small form-factor builds and components to the market. Whether it’s due to the rising popularity of LAN parties, or just to save some space on their desk, many people are opting for MATX and ITX form factor builds these days. But, doesn’t cutting down the size of your motherboard cut features and even performance from your system? If you ask Gigabyte, they say no. I’ve always been a fan of their Z series ITX motherboards going back to the Z97N WIFI. The latest in this line-up is the Z370N WIFI. This board comes packed with all the features you’d expect from a Z series motherboard including dual M.2 slots with SATA and PCIe Gen 3 X4 support, USB 3.1 Type-C, RGB Fusion, and Smart Fans 5 to name a few. But you can pack all the features into a motherboard you want, it all comes down to performance. So, we put the Z370N WIFI through our suite of intensive benchmarks. Let’s see how it did.

Specifications

•  CPU
  1. Support for 8^th Generation Intel^® Core™ i7 processors/Intel^® Core™ i5 processors/Intel^® Core™ i3 processors in the LGA1151 package
  2. L3 cache varies with CPU

(Please refer “CPU Support List” for more information.)

• Chipset
  1. Intel^® Z370 Express Chipset
• Memory
  1. 2 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
  2. Dual channel memory architecture
  3. Support for DDR4 4400(O.C.)/4000(O.C.) / 3866(O.C.) / 3800(O.C.) / 3733(O.C.) / 3666(O.C.) / 3600(O.C.) / 3466(O.C.) / 3400(O.C.) / 3333(O.C.) / 3300(O.C.) / 3200(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666 / 2400 / 2133 MHz memory modules
  4. Support for ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8 memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)
  5. Support for non-ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 memory modules
  6. Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

(Please refer “Memory Support List” for more information.)

• Onboard Graphics

Integrated Graphics Processor+MegaChips MCDP2800 chip:

• 1. 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@60 Hz
     * Support for HDMI 2.0 version, HDCP 2.2, and HDR.
     (Requires the latest Intel^® graphics driver from the GIGABYTE website.)

Integrated Graphics Processor-Intel^® HD Graphics support:

• 1. 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@30 Hz
     * Support for HDMI 1.4 version and HDCP 2.2.
  2. 1 x DisplayPort, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096×2304@60 Hz
     * Support for DisplayPort 1.2 version, HDCP 2.2, and HDR.

Support for up to 3 displays at the same time
Maximum shared memory of 1 GB

• Audio
  1. Realtek^® ALC1220 codec
  2. High Definition Audio
  3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
     * To configure 7.1-channel audio, you have to use an HD front panel audio module and enable the multi-channel audio feature through the audio driver.
  4. Support for S/PDIF Out
• LAN
  1. 2 x Intel^® GbE LAN chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)
• Wireless Communication module
  1. Intel^® Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, supporting 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band
  2. BLUETOOTH 4.2, 4.1, BLE, 4.0, 3.0, 2.1+EDR
  3. Support for 11ac wireless standard and up to 867 Mbps data rate
     * Actual data rate may vary depending on environment and equipment.
• Expansion Slots
  1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16
     (The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
• Storage Interface

Chipset:

• 1. 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M2A_32G)
  2. 1 x M.2 connector on the back of the motherboard (Socket 3, M key, type 2260/2280 PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M.2)
  3. 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
  4. Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

Intel^® Optane™ Memory Ready

• USB

Chipset:

• 1. 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports available through the internal USB header
  2. 8 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (6 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)
  3. 1 x USB Type-C™ port on the back panel, with USB 3.1 Gen 1 support
• Internal I/O Connectors
  1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
  2. 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
  3. 1 x CPU fan header
  4. 2 x system fan headers
  5. 1 x digital LED strip header
  6. 1 x digital LED strip power select jumper
  7. 1 x RGB (RGBW) LED strip header
  8. 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
  9. 2 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors(one on the back of the motherboard)
  10. 1 x front panel header
  11. 1 x front panel audio header
  12. 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 header
  13. 1 x USB 2.0/1.1 header
  14. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
  15. 1 x speaker header
  16. 1 x Clear CMOS jumper
  17. 1 x chassis intrusion header
• Back Panel Connectors
  1. 2 x HDMI ports
  2. 1 x DisplayPort
  3. 2 x SMA antenna connectors (2T2R)
  4. 6 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports
  5. 1 x USB Type-C™ port, with USB 3.1 Gen 1 support
  6. 2 x RJ-45 ports
  7. 3 x audio jacks (Line In, Line Out, Mic In)
• I/O Controller
  1. iTE^® I/O Controller Chip
• H/W Monitoring
  1. Voltage detection
  2. Temperature detection
  3. Fan speed detection
  4. Overheating warning
  5. Fan fail warning
  6. Fan speed control
     * Whether the fan speed control function is supported will depend on the cooler you install.
• BIOS
  1. 2 x 128 Mbit flash
  2. Use of licensed AMI UEFI BIOS
  3. Support for DualBIOS™
  4. PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0
• Unique Features
  1. Support for APP Center
     * Available applications in APP Center may vary by motherboard model. Supported functions of each application may also vary depending on motherboard specifications.
     3D OSD
     @BIOS
     AutoGreen
     BIOS Setup
     Color Temperature
     Cloud Station
     EasyTune
     Easy RAID
     Fast Boot
     Game Boost
     ON/OFF Charge
     Platform Power Management
     RGB Fusion
     Smart Backup
     Smart Keyboard
     Smart TimeLock
     Smart HUD
     System Information Viewer
     USB Blocker
     V-Tuner
  2. Support for Q-Flash
  3. Support for Xpress Install
• Bundle Software
  1. Norton^® Internet Security (OEM version)
  2. cFosSpeed
• Operating System
  1. Support for Windows 10 64-bit
• Form Factor
  1. Mini-ITX Form Factor; 17.0cm x 17.0cm
• Remark
  1. Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors’ website or 3rd party website.
  2. Most hardware/software vendors may no longer offer drivers to support Win9X/ME/2000/XP. If drivers are available from the vendors, we will update them on the GIGABYTE website.