NZXT Slashes Pricing, Makes Changes To N7 Z370 Motherboard
NZXT announced several changes to its recently unveiled (and first ever) N7 Z370 motherboard, citing customer feedback as a primary influence for the product’s alterations.
The company said it's making immediate changes to the N7 Z370 as the result of "overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers" since its launch. The most notable change is to the product's pricing, which we cited as one of the N7 Z370's few detractors in our review. NZXT explained the sudden shift in a statement:
“The feedback we received was, that while the thoughtful layout and beautiful all-metal cover are appealing, the price is a bit too high,” said NZXT Founder Johnny Hou. “We’ve taken steps to address that today with changes to the configuration and price.”
NZXT said it cut costs on the N7 Z370 by ditching a set of RGB LED lighting strips and extension cables the company intended to ship with the board, in addition to pledging to sell it through a more limited channel, which it claimed would reduce operating costs. However, because the first production runs have already shipped, NZXT clarified that initial buyers may find LED strips and extensions in the package (even with the reduced cost), but all future manufacturing runs will ship without them.
The NZXT founder further addressed concerns and feedback about the company’s first-ever motherboard, announcing an increase to the warranty period amid apparent quality concerns from the product’s target market.
“We also heard from the PC gaming community that they are concerned with our ability to produce a high-quality motherboard. We are working with ECS, a company that produces motherboards for some of the world’s largest OEMs. We are very confident in our quality. And to help allay the fears of the community, we are increasing our warranty from 3 to 4 years.”
It’s refreshing to see a company make swift and effective changes to a product based on customer feedback, and the alterations are certainly in NZXT’s best interest. The success (or failure) of the N7 Z370 will likely dictate the future of its fledgling motherboard division, and NZXT is clearly listening to its base and is not above humbling itself to crack into the saturated PC gaming motherboard market.
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The NZXT N7 Z370 motherboard now costs $249.99, and it should be available from select retailers by the end of the month.
Derek Forrest was a contributing freelance writer for Tom's Hardware. He covered hardware news and reviews, focusing on gaming desktops and laptops.
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Attermire £350 in the UK....almost double the U.S. price, think i'll be choosing a bog standard Gigabyte board insteadReply -
Robert Ostrowski I've been happy with the NZXT products I've purchased in the past, I would give them a shot when the time comes.Reply -
Claude_8 Look like they want peoples to rush to get it as fast as possible hoping to get the LED for "free".Reply
The ones with LED need to be marked as so
Maybe a sticker on the box.
If not this sound like a marketing gimmick. -
delaro Still a overpriced Toaster Oven, $175 to $199 max. RGB is all the rage with premium boards yet this one is dull and flat looking.Reply -
BulkZerker Reply£350 in the UK....almost double the U.S. price, think i'll be choosing a bog standard Gigabyte board instead
Just make sure when you update the bios it doesn't add a volt. :D
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Darkbreeze After the experiences, mostly in the area of a lack of any substantial support for the CAM software, used with the Grid+ v2 and Hue+, plus feedback from a TON of Kraken owners, I'm not sure I buy the whole apple-esque we're all about the customer feedback lines.Reply
In three years they still haven't managed to get the CAM software to work correctly, especially in the area of conflicts between CAM capable hardware and the Aura/RGB hardware found on a lot of boards these day.
I find it at least somewhat hard to believe their track record in this area will be any better than the support offered for CAM, Hue+, Grid+ or Kraken, which is shaky at best and unacceptable in practice. Maybe they can change that atmosphere though. It would be nice if they did because most of their products are fairly worthy when they work right. -
TreborG2 I don't get it ... sure hide all the bits and pieces behind a thermal blanket creating piece of metal or plastic .. Heat is deadly, and it should be obvious in the areas of that headline picture where there are lots of little hole .. to allow heat to escape .. that all this does is create a failure prone board due to heat build up.Reply
I'll take my boards naked thank you.
And LED's? Isn't that like the guy driving a Lamborghini or decking out an H2 or H3 in gold just to overcome some sort of "short" coming?
Functionality .. power led, ok. bootcode LED segment, ok. but anything more .. if its only function is to be an attractant is just plain stupid, again more heat, small electrical waste, but more heat? bad.