Published: January 24, 2018 | Source: ASUS | Author: Tom Logan

ASUS ROG Strix Z370 G Gaming Review

Conclusion

We’ve been doing this for a long while now, and no matter how hard we think we can’t remember having another product that was quite such a Jekyll and Hyde offering.

If you have any plans to buy the Strix Z370 G Gaming and run it at stock then it is nearly impossible to recommend. Intel chipsets and CPUs have been relentlessly consistent over the past few years with all of them performing so similarly at stock that it was becoming difficult to look beyond the mid-range motherboards. After all, if a Â£150 motherboard can perform identically to a Â£400 one, why go for the higher priced model for anything other than forum signature boasting? Until now that has been the case with the Z370 range too as our graphs will attest. High priced, low priced, they all work the same. The G Gaming though was consistently at the foot of our graphs and, worst of all, consistently tailed off from the competition. It isn’t just slightly worse than the rest, it’s significantly worse.

Had we stopped there this would be a very simple review wherein you should treat it like a pariah and move on with your life. But, and it’s a 15″ pizza for breakfast lunch and dinner sized but, that is only half the story.

With the stock performance being Chris Evans fronted Top Gear levels of hateful it was with some trepidation that we overclocked the G Gaming, but boy are we glad we did. The overclocked performance is nothing short of spectacular. It’s not just great, it’s as great as any Z370 motherboard that has come through our offices. No matter whether we were running CPU heavy benchmarks, ones that took advantage of the entire system, or just 3D gaming tests, the overclocking Strix Z370 G Gaming was regularly found at the top of our graphs. Considering that there have been some seriously hardcore enthusiast motherboards tested here at OC3D Towers it is, if anything, even more of an impressive achievement.

All of which means that we have a split decision. If you’re just wanting something you can buy, plug in and forget about, then there are loads of better performing motherboards out there. If, however, you’re willing to put in the time necessary to maximise your overclock then the ASUS Strix Z370 G Gaming is as good as anything on the market and thus worthy of our OC3D Performance Award.

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