Last year ASUS brought out the ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming and Z170I Pro Gaming to bring great gaming features and aesthetics to those on a tight budget or want to shift some of the budget towards a better graphic card. This year, the Z170 Pro Gaming/Aura ups the ante by adding mounting for 3D-printed parts (shown below) to allow you to modify the board with ease, we're excited to see what all you people can come up with! A new wave of 3D-printed creations were shown off at COMPUTEX 2016, the potential is tremendous, and 3D source files will be available for download so all you have to do is print. 

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This feature-packed motherboard is for the value conscious yet it's much more than that. Even the latest Aura RGB lighting is included so you can control the lighting via exclusive software to show off your system with modes such as Static, Breathing effect, Strobing, Color CycleCPU temperature, and there even a sound-activated mode so music or sound effects from your games can set off the lighting. Other effects include Rainbow, Comet, Flash and Dash, Wave, Starry Night and Glowing Yo-Yo.

Z170 Pro Gaming/Aura is an ATX motherboard for your LGA 1151 6th Gen. Intel processor using the Z170 chipset (obviously). Four DIMMs are available for up to 64GB of DDR4 memory. There's a good amount of upgradeability, as you can opt for 2-way SLI and 3-way CrossFire for multiple graphics cards somewhere down the line. Another new addition is the reinforced SafeSlot PCIe to protect the slot when using supporting the weight of you new killer graphics card. For connectivity there are six SATA III ports plus a PCIe 3.0 X4 M.2 socket. Up to 16 USB ports are also available including USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C.

Getting the best performance possible without a hassle, there are ASUS-exclusive 5-Way Optimization auto-tuning technology, T-Topology and Pro Clock technology to help you get the best performance out of your new Z170 CPU and DDR4 memory.  The processor base-clock frequency can be overclocked up to 400MHz, and up to 3466MHz is possible for all memory slots.

To make games more immersive, SupremeFX, Sonic Radar II, Intel Ethernet, LANGuard, GameFirst IV and RAMCache ensure sound and visuals are flawless, and network gaming is stable and without lag.  SupremeFX audio technology features an incredible signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 115dB for near-lossless audio quality and premium Nichicon audio capacitors are featured for warmer, natural sounds.  The in-built 300 Ohm headphone amplifier has enough power to drive large headsets comfortably.  There's even a illuminating red-line shielding which is not only functional, it looks fantastic in any build. Sonic Radar II is an overlay allowing you to be the hunter, not the hunted.  Intel Ethernet, LANGuard and GameFirst IV work in tantem to provide maximum bandwidth and smooth online gaming while providing protection against power surges.  RAMCache reduces loading time in games and reduces risk of data loss.

For more info about Z170 Pro Gaming/Aura, hit the PR button below.  If you're reading on Flipboard, you can like or leave a comment!​