ASUS Brings STRIX To Mainstream Motherboards With New Series

As someone who’s been a fan of ASUS’ STRIX graphics cards ever since their original unveiling, I was rather delighted to open a box a couple of weeks ago and see ASUS’ brand-new Z270E Gaming motherboard. Knowing what ASUS has accomplished with its GPUs, I knew that the board could be a real treat – and so far, it certainly has been.

Due to a ridiculous schedule leading up to CES, I am holding off on the full review until I return, but I wanted to at least draw attention to the series now, and show off which models are coming. But first, the board on our test bench:

The ROG STRIX Z270E Gaming is the highest-end model of ASUS’ new lineup to support Intel’s Kaby Lake processors. “Highest-end” doesn’t mean “crazy expensive”, though. This sharp-looking board, complete with some serious lighting eye candy carries a suggested price of $199. A board like this would have cost twice as much a couple of years ago, and chances are it didn’t look this good.

ASUS has stuck to the same color scheme across its STRIX motherboard line, with an emphasis on darkness without splashing standout-ish colors. That color will come provided by the built-in LED lighting (on the boards which support it – I’m not sure on all of these at the moment), or lighting you can add to your build with the help of dedicated ports on each one of these motherboards.

I took a look at an RGB motherboard not too long ago, and it was all sorts of impressive, but ASUS’ implementation here is downright stunning. Don’t fret: we’ll have examples in the review.

Other boards part of the new STRIX lineup include the Z270I, an ITX offering, the ATX Z270H and B250F, as well as the mATX H270F:

We’re not sure how the ITX board is going to be priced, but as mentioned before, the flagship Z270E is $199. The ATX Z270G and B250F are $189 and $119, respectively, while the mATX H270F is $129. No matter your budget, you’ll be able to get a great-looking STRIX motherboard in your next build.

There’s a lot more than just fancy lighting that these boards bring to the table, but we’ll be saving the rest of the technical and feature discussion for the final review. In the meantime, which one of these boards would you like to see in your next rig?