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SuperMicro SUPERO C7Z370-CG-IW ITX Motherboard Review

SuperMicro’s first ITX motherboard, the C7Z370-CG-IW ITX, is a bold step in a new direction for the company. Well known for their enterprise and server grade components, SuperMicro is little known in the consumer PC building community. The C7Z370-CG-IW is SuperMicro’s first ITX motherboard and after seeing and experiencing its vast feature set, SuperMicro may very well be included on the parts list for your next build!

Unboxing & Initial Impressions

The front of the box has a minimal design, with the just the model number and SuperMicro logo and “Server Quality Built for Gaming” tag phrase. There is also a carrying handle up top which is very rare among motherboard boxes and a nice addition.

The back of the box has much more information including a detailed image-based overview of the motherboard which includes everything from fan headers to rear I/O ports. In addition, key features such as onboard WiFi and Bluetooth as well as dual M.2 support and RGB LEDs are shown off here as well.

This is one of the most well-designed motherboard boxes we’ve seen. Here is the primary section. The motherboard is covered in protective anti-static wrap.

In the box SuperMicro includes:

Moving to the board, you can see its black and silver design theme with the SuperMicro logo covering the PCH heatsink.

There are two four-pin PWN fan headers capable of 2.5A of power output. We would have liked to have seen at least three fan headers but the power output on the two we are provided with does allow for multiple fans to run off the same header.

The back of the board is where the 2nd M.2 slot is located. Very exciting to see two M.2 slots here, cable management can be very difficult in ITX cases and an extra M.2 slot is something we believe every ITX board should have. Further storage connectivity includes four SATA 6GB/s ports.

Aside from the standard 24-pin power and 8-pin CPU power connectors, there is one USB 2.0 header which users of AIO liquid cooling systems will certainly appreciate. A USB 3.0 header is also present. There is an RGB LED header for RGB fans, case lights and light strips.

Below the PCIe x16 slot there are several jumpers for chassis intrusion, clear CMOS, manufacturer mode and an OC button.

The rear I/O has plenty of ports including:

We installed an Intel Core i7-8700K with no problems, however one thing to consider if purchasing the C7Z370-CG-IW, is that SuperMicro has not yet released a BIOS update to support the latest 9th generation of Intel CPUs.

Performance & Overclocking

The C7Z370-CG-IW ITX has a 4+2 VRM which is made of high-quality components. It is covered by a heatsink and to our surprise it outperformed many of the 8-phase ATX boards we have tested throughout the year. This certainly shows how important well-made components are and how much of a difference they can make in real world performance.

Overclocking our 8700K to 4.9GHz was no problem using the BIOS, our Team Group Xcalibur memory also overclocked to 3600 MHz using its XMP profile with no stability problems at all.

SuperMicro also has a software-based application that can be installed on Windows. It gives you access and customization over fan controls, overclocking, RGB lighting effects as well as BIOS updating, etc.

Conclusion

Overall, the SuperMicro C7Z370-CG-IW ITX motherboard is a solid product that includes many high-end features in an understated, un-assuming design. Everything from stable overclocking to dual M.2 support, onboard WiFi, as well as an RGB header, a USB 2.0 header for AIO pumps and a USB 3.1 Type-C port is here.

This is SuperMicro’s first ITX motherboard and the lengths to which they went to make a great first impression are evident in our experience with it. It is more expensive than the other Z370 Mini ITX motherboards, however it is a quality board and does provide the type of consistent and stable overclocking results that experienced system builders will appreciate.

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