Conclusion

Good audio, an M.2 shield, restrained RGB lighting, solid 802.11ac WiFi, dual Ethernet and decent overclock prowess all count for it.

We've always thought that Mini ITX boards would take off more than they have, driven by ever-increasing chipset integration from both Intel and AMD.

Gigabyte is keen to explore the potentially fertile ground that exists for a Z370/Intel 8th Generation Core mobo built using this small form factor. The appropriately named Z370N WiFi is that board and it offers a number of meaningful upgrades over the previous generation.

The company is smart in how it adds features and balances out the need for a competitive price point. The Z370N, priced just north of £150, occupies the barren space between the basic Mini ITX Z370 boards (£120) and the ones that like to throw every conceivable feature in the mix (£180).

Good audio, an M.2 shield, restrained RGB lighting, solid 802.11ac WiFi, dual Ethernet and decent overclock prowess all count for it. This board would have been practically perfect if it also had USB 3.1 Gen 2, but that's a step too far at this price point.

Think hard about what you want from your next build. If it's Intel 8th Gen Core compatibility and ability to run a high-end graphics card, do you really need much more than a Gigabyte Z370N WiFi?

The Good		The Bad
Looks great M.2 shield Attractive price Solid upgrades over previous gen Good audio and video outputs		No USB 3.1 Gen 2

Gigabyte Z370N WiFi

HEXUS.where2buy*

The Gigabyte Z370N WiFi is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

HEXUS.right2reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!

Nice… but £150 for a m-itx board is getting crazy

Here's me umming and ahhing about spending £150 on a CPU upgrade, and some people spend that on a motherboard! I know there should be a bit of a premium for the form factor, but I'd probably increase my maximum spend on a board from £70 to £90 if I was dead set on getting a small one due. And it's a niche platform which will probably have no upgrade potential. I think any CPU / mobo reviews need to consider total cost of ownership compared against similar performing setups.

I did find a cheap Core i5 8400 on Ebay but since I have a mini-ITX system,once I looked at the utterly ripoff prices for the Z370 mini-ITX motherboards I shelved the idea. The cheapest Z370 based mini-ITX motherboard is like £130 so that means the better locked B360 ones are probably going to be going close to that price at the top level.

Plus,now it seems the Z390 based motherboards are starting to be spotted:

https://videocardz.com/73974/first-intel-z390-motherboard-spotted

I think I will have to delay my platform upgrade another year at this rate(unless my current setup has issues) - its no point if the CPU is good value if companies whack you with motherboard and RAM costs instead,and try to recoup costs elsewhere. IIRC,this has been done before,ie,cheaper CPUs but things like motherboards actually cost more than they should have.

Edit!!

Just realised I have been on my IB Core i7 for close to 4 years(and been on socket 1155 just after the B3 chipsets were launched). I don't think I have ever had a CPU that long IIRC!

CAT-THE-FIFTH
Just realised I have been on my IB Core i7 for close to 4 years(and been on socket 1155 just after the B3 chipsets were launched). I don't think I have ever had a CPU that long IIRC!

i7 2600K here still going very strong. I just do not see a compelling reason to change to the modern crop of CPUs when I get little perceptible difference.

Yeah it runs fairly warm, but the 1070 generates a generous amount of heat and that is the ‘modern’ component in my system. ( now on a 240mm radiator to itself, never goes over 40 ;) ).

The only thing that I would be upgrading for at this point in time would be to get a NVMe M.2 but again, that is a luxury I can do without while SSD prices are just silly.

s1lv3r
i7 2600K here still going very strong. I just do not see a compelling reason to change to the modern crop of CPUs when I get little perceptible difference.

Yeah it runs fairly warm, but the 1070 generates a generous amount of heat and that is the ‘modern’ component in my system. ( now on a 240mm radiator to itself, never goes over 40 ;) ).

The only thing that I would be upgrading for at this point in time would be to get a NVMe M.2 but again, that is a luxury I can do without while SSD prices are just silly.

For me its primarily for one game,but the rest of them seem fine,so I think I just need to hold off and see how things go.