Analyzing Z370 for Intel's 8th Generation Coffee Lake: A Quick Look at 50+ Motherboards
by Ian Cutress, Anton Shilov, Joe Shields & Gavin Bonshor on October 20, 2017 2:00 PM ESTASUS PRIME Z370-P
Following on from the second of two Prime branded boards at launch, the Z370-P has a completely different emphasis altogether. The priority has been shifted towards a broader focus on pure value, and the Z370-P comes in at the lowest price of all the ASUS Z370 motherboards. In comparison to the Z370-A Prime board, the Z370-P is considerably stripped down from all the bells and whistles, with this board sitting firmly on its laurels of a base Z370 motherboard but with ASUS optimizations.
This entry-level offering features a full sized ATX frame with four DIMM slots supporting up to DDR4-3866 with a maximum capacity of 64GB in total across all four DIMMs. This board is the only across the entire ASUS launched range not to feature Intel’s I219-V Gigabit network controller, instead opting for a more value orientated Realtek controller. Along with the TUF Gaming pairing, the Z370-P makes use of the more cost-effective Realtek ALC887 audio codec, and in this case, there is no EMI shielding. Dotted around the PCB, there is a dedicated header for AIO CPU cooling in addition to three 4-pin PWM compatible fan headers.
For the storage, the board uses a pair of M.2 PCIe x4 slots, with one either side of the full-length PCIe slots. This comes along with four SATA ports sticking out of the board on the bottom right. For PCIe slots, the top slot is a full-length PCIe 3.0 x16 slot whereas the second full-length slot is pulling its lanes directly from the chipset (PCIe x4). This means that only two-way Crossfire is possible using the latency added chipset based PCIe slot. The Prime Z370-P also has four PCI x1 slots in total.
The rear IO has four USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 ports, and the board also has additional headers for four USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) ports and four USB 2.0 ports. The video comes via HDMI and a DVI-D port, which leaves the 2.1 audio jacks, a combination PS/2 port, and a network port.
While the Z370-P is not the most exciting board in the range, it covers the basics and users will be considering it as one of the cheapest entries into Coffee Lake and the Z370 chipset. While it has lower specifications than the Prime Z370-A, we expect it to be picked up by budget system builders using singular graphics configurations.
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EricZBA - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
The Asus Strix Z370-G mATX may be up on Amazon's website, but it has been Out of Stock ever since the page went up with no shipping date in sight. NewEgg Canada has it out of stock and NewEgg's US website doesn't even have a page for it. To call it available is inaccurate.Rubinhood - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Coffee Lake & related hardware is the new Duke Nukem Forever :)xchaotic - Monday, October 23, 2017 - link
Well, I am typing this on Asus Strix Z370 I + i5 8400 PC so not entirely vaporware. People may be whining but it seems that Intel can't keep up with the demand...piiman - Thursday, October 26, 2017 - link
got an 8600k today at Newegg. They still have stock after 4 hours so it looks like they may be starting to get large shipments. I7 is still out of stock thoughimaheadcase - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
Amazon is different than newegg, if it says Out of Stock, if you order it it will ship when it comes in stock. Sometimes it will be same day even or next day. Amazon will only show "This item is not available" if completely out of stock for foreseeable future. They do this because it stops items from completely selling out right away so supply can be steady.Morawka - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
I have found that Asus treats USA customers like a red headed step child. They will send units to the UK, australia, and all of Europe before they will send 1 single board to the USA.Some advice: Start looking at Overclockers.UK and have it imported to the USA.. The $30 DHL International shipping is faster than USPS Priority Mail or UPS International Express Saver. No VAT tax either.
This is what i had to do to get a Rampage VI Extreme. Newegg hasn't gotten a R6E in stock for 2 months after the initial release batch.
SpartanJet - Sunday, October 22, 2017 - link
Does Asus USA cover warranty issues then since you bought it from UK?Xeres14 - Monday, October 23, 2017 - link
Yeah I've been waiting on the Asus z370-g. I can't find an i7-8700k right now either so it's all right. Hopefully I'll be able to get both before Christmas (along with the rest of the upgrade).stuffwhy - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
This is so great. I find it increasingly difficult to find the right mainboard and this type of posting consolidates a lot of research time.SanX - Sunday, October 22, 2017 - link
There are no "right" mobo here. Right future proof and super fast mobo has to be a dual-processor at least. Dual-SLI for example offers benefits for speed but in many cases the dual-chip is doing the same in simulations.