The NZXT N7 Z370 Motherboard Review: A New Player in the Motherboard Market
by Joe Shields on January 9, 2018 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- NZXT
- Coffee Lake
- i7-8700K
Gaming Performance 2017: AoTS Escalation, ROTR
AoTSe
Ashes of the Singularity is a Real Time Strategy game developed by Oxide Games and Stardock Entertainment. The original AoTS was released back in March of 2016 while the standalone expansion pack, Escalation, was released in November of 2016 adding more structures, maps, and units. We use this specific benchmark as it relies on both a good GPU as well as on the CPU in order to get the most frames per second. This balance is able to better display any system differences in gaming as opposed to a more GPU heavy title where the CPU and system don't matter quite as much. We use the default "Crazy" in-game settings using the DX11 rendering path in both 1080p and 4K UHD resolutions. The benchmark is run four times and the results averaged then plugged into the graph.
The AOTSe results remain incredibly close at both resolutions. The i7-8700K even with a huge thread deficit comparatively, reached 44.7 FPS matching the fastest result we had. Our 4K results, which should rely less on the CPU, it was at the bottom of the pack able to push 33.4 FPS. 1 FPS (~3%) behind the pack.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a third-person action-adventure game that features similar gameplay found in 2013's Tomb Raider. Players control Lara Croft through various environments, battling enemies, and completing puzzle platforming sections, while using improvised weapons and gadgets in order to progress through the story.
One of the unique aspects of this benchmark is that it’s actually the average of 3 sub-benchmarks that fly through different environments, which keeps the benchmark from being too weighted towards a GPU’s performance characteristics under any one scene.
Rise of the Tomb Raider results are also remarkably close together with the NZXT N7 and i7-8700K combo leading the pack by a negligible margin. For all intents and purposes, 1 FPS when we are talking over 90 is a margin of error difference. The 4K results showed nearly a 3 FPS difference with reaching 36.2 FPS, around 3 FPS (almost 10%) behind the group.
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tech6 - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
$300 for no USB 3.1 from a brand with almost no mobo track record seems a little high.I also wish manufacturers would focus on functionality rather than gimmicks like covers, LEDs and funky colored PCBs. Not every enthusiast is 16 years old.
nathanddrews - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
IO Panel 5 x USB 2.04 x USB 3.1 (5 Gbps)
1 x DisplayPort (1.2)
1 x HDMI (1.4b)
1 x Clear CMOS button2
1 x LAN (RJ45 port)
1 x Optical SPDIF Out port
1 x 7.1-ch Audio jacks
Death666Angel - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
My guess is he means "USB 3.1 Gen2" as opposed to the here used "USB3.1 Gen1". The difference being one is the old USB 3.0 (5Gbit/s = Gen1) and the other is the new 10Gbit/s one. USB consortium fucked that one up pretty well.Threska - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
I could see covers as part of EMI and thermal management. As well as keeping board clean, and protecting from damage.bigboxes - Saturday, January 20, 2018 - link
That's what a case is for.NZXTconvert - Tuesday, February 6, 2018 - link
No 3.1? Oh contrare. There are two on board and five at the IO panel. Perfomance-wise, it's got the 370 chipset, supports 8th gen i7, and ports at M.2 for Optane. What's your beef? As for the aesthetics, could you be any more wrongheaded? For someone my age, a great deal of the appeal this board has is that it does NOT scream of the juvenile. Every sign of clutter is countered by the covers. Seamless. I'm in a whole world of happy with this board. For this to have been any company's first venture into the market is a marvel. How many companies possibly have such bragging rights? Is it niche?? These days, what isn't? I'm putting mine in a matte black Streacom FC5 Alpha. The whole setup's going to satisfy me for a decade and more. This is a very sophisticated board. And if someone wants to spring for it with its optional candy touches, RGB and all, why not? It'll perform in either event. If there's additional functionality you wish the board had, you could state specifically what you have in mind. But insulting not only the manufacturer but its customers is so, well, trendy.HStewart - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
Interesting Motherboard designed - it would be interesting to find out long term effect of such designed - cooling, serviceability and other things.megapleb - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
What did I miss on the comparisons? Why it is all to i9-7900X systems instead of other Z370 motherboard?Joe Shields - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
We do not have any Z370 motherboard data outside of the two others that were included with different uncore. Instead of sparse graphs we chose to add it in with the 7900X/X299 boards I have data on already.There will be more reviews on this platform with data comparing it to like systems.
Slash3 - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link
Basically, AT needs to get reviewin' so they have something to compare it to. :)