CES 2016: SuperMicro is one of the most respected names in the server industry and produces motherboards with unparalleled reliability. Recently, the company expanded their focus and decided to enter the gaming market. Their latest product, the C7Z170-OCE adopts a green and black colour scheme and looks quite usual given the majority of gaming-themed motherboards rarely use this theme. As its name suggests, the motherboard is based on Intel’s LGA1151 chipset and supports 6th generation processors. Furthermore, the C7Z170-OCE accomodates up to 64GB DDR4 memory with an overclocked frequency up to 3300MHz.

On another note, the motherboard contains a PLX chip which makes it a fantastic choice for 2 or 3-way SLI configurations. Other notable additions include a 32Gb/s M.2 port, Realtek ALC 1150 audio codec with isolated PCB design and dual LAN. More specifically, you can choose between the Intel® i219V and Intel® I210-AT. As a result, either of these connections should provide superb bandwidth without having to deal with higher CPU utilizations which you often see from Killer chips like the E2400.

SuperMicro have also incorporated a number of advanced overclocking features to get the maximum potential of your CPU. This ranges from voltage monitoring, a 5-phase voltage switch regulator with auto-sense from 0.8375V-1.60V and other key system areas to analyse.  In terms of the motherboard layout, there is a total of five 4-pin CPU headers with PWM control and status monitoring.

Overall, the C7Z170-OCE looks stunning and appears to be a significant step forward in creating a gaming motherboard which does something completely different to the competition. In the next few weeks, we should have a review arriving at eTeknix headquarters, and I cannot wait to see how it performs.