Exposed: Z170 Pro Gaming/Aura

Build to your favorite color

The Z170 Pro Gaming has had a refresh with the new, 2016 AURA upgrade that brings RGB lighting atop a new black-white themed motherboard. Since your gaming build is all about style and your personality, you can now put together the most unique and customizable gaming setup with very little effort. ASUS’ AURA offers a spectrum of countless color combinations, coupled with twelve types of lighting effects that show across five separate zones.

However, the Z170 Pro Gaming Aura gets far more than just an aesthetic upgrade, with core updates across the board:

3D print your personal style

Grab your favorite CAD software and design your own add-ons for the Z170 Pro Gaming Aura! There are 3D printing mounts included across the base of the motherboard that allow you to design and print overlapping parts, covering naked hardware and cables underneath to make your build look cleaner and neater, or, if you’re modding your rig then extend some of that personal design flair between chassis and the motherboard itself. The 3D source guide files are available from the ASUS.com motherboard page downloads section.

Overclocking

The Z170 Pro Gaming Aura is an ATX motherboard compatible with Intel LGA1151 'Skylake' processors. Its Z170 chipset is the most premium of the '100-series' and allows overclocking of K series chips, so is best paired with the i5-6600K or i7-6700K, although you can still get the upgraded Z170 benefits when using other, non-K i3/i5/i7s.

The CPU socket receives an upgrade to 10 power phases, controlled by ASUS’ critically acclaimed DIGI+ power management chip. The extra phases, plus the metallic black-cap capacitors help with overclocking and stability, and they also perfectly match overall the black-and-white styling.

Four DIMM slots can support up to 64GB of DDR4 memory up to 3,466MHz and beyond, depending on whether you plump for premium DIMMs, although remember you'll generally get a bit more OC leg-room from the Maximus VIII series motherboards. A fast-but-not-overly-extensive 3GHz kit will be a perfect match here, and XMP profiles are supported for 1-click setup too.

Connectivity

2016's SafeSlot metal reinforcement with stronger, patent-pending 'insert-molding technology' has been applied to the two PCI-Express 3.0 16x graphics slots, which supports both Nvidia SLI and AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU setups. Check out the shiny metal covers - they look great!

In addition there's a third PCI-Express 3.0 16x slot (4x mode max: ideal for PCI-E SSDs) and three PCI-Express 3.0 1x upgrade slots. If you're interested in using the Intel processor graphics instead, the Z170 Pro Gaming Aura is a rarity in that it's rear IO panel has a full complement of common display connectors: DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D and d-sub.

Continuing on the rear IO, there are eight USB ports, including two USB 3.1 - one of which is USB-C - four USB 3.0 and a pair of USB 2.0 ports. A PS2 keyboard/mouse combo port adds failsafe backward compatibility. The USB-C connector is an ideal match for the latest smartphones or external SSD storage, with the benefit of USB 3.1’s 10Gbps performance.

Meanwhile, internally there are two USB 3.0 ports and six USB 2.0 ports available via pins on the motherboard, ready to connect to your case front panel or other peripherals that require USB input.

The Intel i219V Gigabit Ethernet is protected by ASUS LANGuard (as indicated by the red socket) and there's an upgrade to GameFirst IV in the software pack as well. Eight channel audio with mic input via the five 3.5mm stereo audio jacks, plus an optical S/PDIF for connection to home theater amplifiers, round things up.

High-quality core audio

If you're a follower of ASUS ROG motherboards you'll be familiar with SupremeFX, and the Z170 Pro Gaming Aura features it as well. This includes SupremeFX Shielding Technology over the audio codec, premium Nichicon audio capacitors, a 300 ohm headphone amplifier, red-line PCB isolation and Sonic Radar II software.

SupremeFX brings 115dB SNR audio playback quality, giving you premium sound from a mainstream motherboard. It's feature set is not as complete as some Maximus VIII series motherboards, but that's to be expected given product positioning and price difference; anyone looking for a high-quality core audio experience with headphones or speakers will find the Z170 Pro Gaming Aura a great choice.

NVMe Storage

Continuing the internal connectivity, there are six SATA 6Gbps ports plus M.2 slot (socket 3 with 'M' key) that supports up to the longest 22100 size drives. Both PCI-Express 3.0 x4 NVMe or SATA drives can be used here. The slot is placed very low down the board so it keeps out the way of other hot components like the CPU or primary graphics card, allowing a high-performance M.2 SSD enough air flow room to keep cool.

Keep It Cool

Despite being a high value performance motherboard, it’s still choked full of fan connectors. You can build out to max the cooling potential with plenty of fans or water cooling. It’s still compatible with the ASUS Fan EXT card via the EXT_FAN header included on board, or just use the FanXpert software provided in AI Suite. The Z170 Pro Gaming Aura can support up to six fans via either DC or PWM modes, with the 4-pin connectors spaced evenly around. The AI Suite software can react to up to seven temperature zones, four of which are included onboard covering CPU, VRM, PCH and a general motherboard temp, plus three external sensors that are available add-ons via 2-pin connectors.

Gamers Guardian

As part of ASUS ROG’s continual push on quality, Gamer’s Guardian wraps in five ESD protective technologies by the rear IO. These include ESD TVS diodes on the RJ45 LAN connector (in addition to the LANGuard protection), USB 3.1, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, d-sub and PS2 keyboard/mouse.