EVGA Has A New Z170 Motherboard, But It's Classified

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EVGA released a new motherboard that will slide in between its Z170 Classified and Z170 FTW boards.

The EVGA Z170 Classified K is similar to its existing motherboards in several ways. Like the Z170 Classified, the Classified K features an improved power design with two International Rectifier IR35201 6+2 digital PWM chips connected to several power phases, which are cooled by large VRM heatsinks and a metal heat pipe.

The Classified K actually improves over the Z170 Classified in terms of storage connections. It gains an additional M.2 Key M relative to the Z170 Classified. Thanks to a Marvell 88SE9235 SATA controller that connects to the PCH via two PCI-E lanes and provides up to four SATA-III (6 Gbps) ports, the Classified K also has an additional two SATA connections.

Classified K (Front) Z170 Classified (Rear)

As the Z170 Classified K is set as a lower-end motherboard and has a few extra connections that the Z170 Classified lacks, EVGA did have to cut back in a few areas. The cooling isn’t quite as well developed as the Z170 Classified, and the Z170 Classified also has a better audio configuration. The Z170 Classified uses higher-end Creative Sound Core3D with a quad-core DSP connected to a pair of specialized capacitors common on high-end audio products, whereas the Classified K relies on a Realtek ALC1150 chipset with lower-end capacitors.

Another area that the Classified K falls behind the Z170 Classified a little is its NICs. The Z170 Classified relied on Intel i219 and i210 Gigabit NICs, whereas the Classified K swaps the i210 for a Killer E2400 NIC.

Classified K (Right), Z170 Classified (Left)

The USB connections haven’t changed much, and the Classified K contains an ASMedia ASM1142 USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) controller just like the Z170 Classified, but the Classified K switches the USB 3.1 Gen 2 connections from being internal headers to two Type-A ports on the back I/O panel.

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EVGA Z170 Classified K
SocketLGA 1151
ChipsetZ170
Memory Support4 x DDR4 DIMMs Up To 3600 MHz 64 GB
SATA6 SATA-III (Intel Z170 Chipset)2 SATA-III (Marvell 88SE9235)2 SATA Express (Intel Z170 Chipset)
USB2 x USB 2.0 (Intel Z170 Chipset)8 x USB 3.0 (Intel Z170 Chipset)2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 (ASMedia ASM1142)
AudioRealtek ALC1150
PCI-E/M.24 x PCI-E x161 x PCI-E x41 x PCI-E x12 x M.2 Key M1 x M.2 Key E
NICs1 x Intel i219v1 x Killer E2400
MSRP$289.99

The EVGA Z170 Classified K is available now for $289.99, more than $100 less than the EVGA Z170 Classified.

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Michael Justin Allen Sexton
Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • fudoka711
    That title.
    Reply
  • dudmont
    MJAS, does it still have the PLX chip, and is still set up the same way, IE, the first 16x slot doesn't use the plx bypass, and the rest do. In short, are the PCIE slots set up the same way as the classified?
    Reply
  • Lutfij
    Dat board! It almost looks like it's trading blows with both the original Classified and the FTW in pretty much specs and pricing departments.
    Reply
  • IInuyasha74
    17329155 said:
    MJAS, does it still have the PLX chip, and is still set up the same way, IE, the first 16x slot doesn't use the plx bypass, and the rest do. In short, are the PCIE slots set up the same way as the classified?

    I'm actually not completely sure. I don't think it has one because companies usually really heavily advertise it when it does, but this time EVGA didn't mention it. I'll contact EVGA to double check.
    Reply
  • Baumy15
    The classified has this while the classified has this but the classified swaps out this where the classified uses this instead the classified had better audio and the classified uses this. Reading this was very confusing
    Reply
  • Au_equus
    MJAS, does it still have the PLX chip, and is still set up the same way, IE, the first 16x slot doesn't use the plx bypass, and the rest do. In short, are the PCIE slots set up the same way as the classified?
    Next to the south bridge, on the lower central section, there's a sticker that says, "built in PLX chip/4-way SLI"
    Reply
  • koffeeshop77
    dito
    Reply
  • koffeeshop77
    clasiffied k is worse the clasified "clasified on the chip set cooler" is better. better sound better conctivity, cable mangment, usb,heat pipe cooling, VRM's,
    i wouldnt technicly call the "k" a clasified at all, but i guess they just ran out of call signs at EVGA
    Reply
  • IInuyasha74
    17329991 said:
    MJAS, does it still have the PLX chip, and is still set up the same way, IE, the first 16x slot doesn't use the plx bypass, and the rest do. In short, are the PCIE slots set up the same way as the classified?
    Next to the south bridge, on the lower central section, there's a sticker that says, "built in PLX chip/4-way SLI"

    That is on the Z170 Classified, not the Z170 Classified K.
    Reply
  • MASOUTH
    I would say no PLX because the EVGA website says:

    SLI - Up to 2-Way + PhysX
    Reply