ASUS TUF Z270 Mark 2 LGA1151 DDR4 HDMI DVI M.2 USB 3.1 Z270 ATX Motherboard

I've been building PC's since before it was 'cool' to make your own. Spent a good deal of time researching the board, CPU, all that before putting this thing together, and let me tell you, I don't regret the purchase , one bit. OK, maybe just a little, but that's partly user error (too much tweaking on my behalf :))I've had this thing running solid for a year and a half how ( purchased feb 2017). My rig tends to be up 24x7 and if it's not, I know about it. I do a ton of video processing, gaming, and web development (PHP, etc). My demands are tough, and my rig is built just as toughSpecs:Tuf z270 Mark 2Rosewill RBR - 1000w PSUi7-7700 processorCorsair dominator - 32g ddr4EVGA Gtx 1070Samsung EVO 850 500 gigabyte SSDVarious spinny disksOn top of all that , this thing has a probox 4 bay disk enclosure (soon to be many more) sitting next to itI have yet to have this thing glitch out, overheat, or anything else. The CPU stays a very cool 65c under max load (video processing, gaming), and typically rests around 40-45c. The board stays around 36c. This thing is 'tuf' enough to handle almost anything I throw at it, and I've thrown a lot at it over the past few years.

Great motherboard. I am running this board with an i5-7600k and 16gb of ram.Pros:- It's a new board, z270- Looks amazing- BIOS/UEFI is SUPER SIMPLE to navigate- The fan connections are in good spots as is the m.2 slots- It is a great board at an even better priceCons:- I saw other people had this same issue... the board does not line up properly with my mid tower case. I have a Corsair 460X and the screw down spots on the middle and top right are left without being secure. For this reason, the RAM and 24-pin connector had me nervous because of the pressure and bend they caused to install- Not really a con, but it took me a while to figure out what the breathing orange light in the back of the board behind the PCI-e lanes was... for those curious or buying: In the BIOS, it is actually a setting and can be turned off or left solid. I never saw anything on the box, amazon or the booklet that mentioned this light. Maybe I missed it but at the end of the day, its a neat feature.- I don't know what the "CPU installation tool" is exactly, you don't need it to install the CPU and it just felt flimsy so I didn't use it. The CPU seats just fine on the MOBO without it.

I can't speak for others here, but IMO this board works as it should and I have had no trouble whatsoever with the BIOS or anything. If, like me, it's been a while since your last build, when you start to assemble it make sure you HEAR both sides of the memory click into place (I have heard there have been cases where people RMA their board when all it was is they didn't install the RAM all the way). I would recommend installing the memory, the CPU (with the provided CPU install tool), and the mounting bracket for the CPU fan BEFORE you put the board in your case.My rig:Asus Tuf z270 Mark 1Intel 7700KNoctua NH-D15S with NT-H1 Thermal Compound ( Follow instruction: it's easy to put too much and the CPU has a small footprint. I found it easier to turn the tube end facing me so I could see exactly how much came out.)GPU: MSI 1070 Gaming XRAM: Gskill F4-3200C16D-16GTZHaf X caseMy not overclocked CPU Temperatures range from 28c to 44c (heavy gaming MAX settings.)I went from a 2500K with dual 6850 graphics cards to this. No doubt that others may have rigs that blow mine away. That's ok. My goal was to build something very quiet and that will hopefully last since I don't have the resources to upgrade every two years.

Great motherboard. I wanted the Z270 chipset, multiple M.2 slots, the ability to run SLI in the future if I desire, and high reliability - that's all here! The primary graphics card slot is reinforced, similar to other recent ASUS motherboards. Doesn't have a lot of flashy lights (just around the audio circuitry), very easy to work with bios, supports pretty much any speed DDR4 memory and has 4 memory slots. Even came with an SLI bridge and CPU installation tool. The utilities that come from ASUS are nice and unobtrusive - they provide a good interface for the cooling features of the system. Overall it's a great board! I am running it with an i7-7700 processor and 16GB of DDR4-3000 memory and it's very fast!

From the moment I unboxed this motherboard and replaced my Z170 with it, I have been amazed. The quality of the product ASUS has put out is above and beyond my expectations. The swap out was very simple and took me about 20 minutes total time. I had a little trouble with bios being outdated but using the easy bios flash on the back solved all my problems.PROS:Tough ArmorExpand-abilityDurabilityCONS:Did not come with mounting hardwareNo assistant fan includedOverall an excellent motherboard and I see this lasting me a long time.