EVGA’s Z170 Classified 4-Way is the only motherboard on test with 4-way SLI support. Normally, there aren’t enough PCI-E lanes on a Z170 system for four graphics cards, but with the addition of a PLX chip, which artificially increases the number of lanes via multiplexing, it’s possible to effectively squeeze more lanes from the Z170 chipset and run four Nvidia cards together. The Z170 Classified is also notable for its price. At £345, it’s significantly more expensive than any other board on test.
On the plus side, it’s great to see the use of particularly massive heatsinks that cover the VRMs and chipset, with large heatpipes running along the board. However, otherwise this board struggles to justify its price tag. It has a fairly standard array of ports. USB 3.1 is included, but only via a header on the board, while there are six standard USB 3 ports and two USB 2 ports at the back. There are eight SATA 6Gbps ports, though, which is fairly generous, with two SATA Express ports next to them. You also get two Intel Gigabit LAN ports, which could have some benefits in certain networked environments, or with NAS boxes that have dual NICs.
The Classified is also an E-ATX board, so it has extra space for a comfortable component layout. The top 16x PCI-E slot has plenty of space around it, but the single 4x PCI-E slot is guaranteed to be obscured by a card in the fourth 16x PCI-E slot. The M.2 slot sits right next to it too, meaning M.2 access will be tricky. What’s more, EVGA recommends using the top and fourth slots for 2-way SLI, which will obscure these parts. Also, the twin 8-pin CPU power connectors are really close to the VRM heatsink, so fitting them will be a tight squeeze.
However, a major plus point is the universal use of rightangled connectors, including the ATX connector. Likewise, the audio and USB headers, as well as the SATA ports, are all angled, which will improve cable management and result in a tidier PC.
EVGA’s EFI isn’t bad either, with sensible decisions made for the layout of the splash screen. It shows the overclock settings on the front page with memory settings in a separate tab, which is chock full of timing controls. USB firmware updating is standard and the menu design is fairly simple, so you shouldn’t get lost easily. However, there are none of the fancy features such as fan curve profiles or favourites sections you get with Asus’ EFI, and there’s no list of changes made as you exit either.
However, one area where the Classified excelled was in overclocking, being the only non-ROG board on test to get our CPU to 4.9GHz, although it required 1.4V to make it stable, which is more than the ROG boards and accounts for the highest overclocked power consumption on test. In terms of performance, the Classified was generally competitive in our benchmarks, but it faltered in our audio tests, where the on-board Creative Core 3D Audio system recorded a signal to noise ratio of -98.5dB(A) and dynamic range of 98.4dB(A), when every other board on test achieved results below -100dB(A) or above 100dB(A) respectively. The sound quality is respectable, but it’s disappointing that it lacks the fidelity of much cheaper boards.
The EVGA Z170 Classified 4-Way’s extensive SLI support, use of right-angled connectors and build quality all help it to stand out. However, a couple of shortcomings and some questionable layout choices make it hard to justify the price, making this board only worth considering for 4-way SLI Skylake builds. For everyone else, you can get much better value for money elsewhere.
VERDICT
The only board on test with 4-way SLI support, and it’s great to see so many angled connectors, but otherwise it struggles to justify its very high price.
SPECIFICATIONS
Chipset Intel Z170
CPU socket Intel LGA1151
Memory support 4 slots, max 64GB DDR4 (3200MHz)
Expansion slots Five 16x PCI-E, one 4x PCI-E
Sound Creative Core 3D Audio
Networking Intel i219 Gigabit Ethernet, Intel i210 Gigabit Ethernet
Overclocking Base clock 100–340MHz, CPU multiplier 8–83x; max voltages, CPU 2V, RAM 2V
Ports 2 x SATA Express, 8 x SATA 6Gbps 1 x M.2, 2 x USB 2, 6 x USB 3, 2 x Gigabit LAN, 6-channel surround audio out, line in, mic, optical S/PDIF out
IGP display outputs 1 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
Dimensions (mm) 304.8 x 263.5