Colorful iGame Z370 Vulcan X V20 Review: A New Face in Mobos

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Our growing collection of ATX-form-factor Z370 boards has allowed us to focus our comparative efforts on models at lower prices with less-divergent feature sets.

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SoundIntegrated HD Audio
NetworkIntegrated Gigabit Networking
Graphics DriverGeForce 382.53

Back during the Intel X299 launch, we upgraded our test bed to handle the tremendous heat produced by the Core i9-7900X. Our award-winning Fractal Design S24 liquid cooler system sample serves the same purpose for the newer, lower-heat Core i7-8700K. Cooler Master’s HAF-XB provides an optimal layout to blow the S24’s fans sufficiently over each motherboard’s voltage regulator.

Comparison Products
Colorful iGame Z370 Vulcan X V20
Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Gaming 7
NZXT N7-Z37XT

Since the Colorful iGame Z370 Vulcan X V20 is priced over $250, we included all of our over-$250 samples in today's comparison. A quick look at the firmware overclocking options shows that all four boards should be similarly capable.

Benchmark Settings

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Synthetic Benchmarks & Settings
PCMark 8Version 2.7.613Home, Creative, Work, Storage, Applications (Adobe & Microsoft)
3DMark 13Version 4.47.597.0Skydiver, Firestrike, Firestrike Extreme Default Presets
SiSoftware SandraVersion 2016.03.22.21CPU Arithmetic, Multimedia, Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth
DiskSPD4K Random Read, 4K Random Write128K Sequential Read, 128K Sequential Write
Cinebench R15Build RC83328DEMOOpenGL Benchmark
CompuBenchVersion 1.5.8Face Detection, Optical Flow, Ocean Surface, Ray Tracing
Application Tests & Settings
LAME MP3Version 3.98.3Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.9.9Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x265 mp4
BlenderVersion 2.68aBMW 27 CPU Render Benchmark, BMW 27 GPU Render Benchmark
7-ZipVersion 16.02THG-Workload (7.6GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=9"
Adobe After Effects CCRelease 2015.3.0, Version 13.8.0.144PCMark-driven routine
Adobe Photoshop CCRelease 2015.5.0. 20160603.r.88 x64PCMark-driven routine (light and heavy)
Adobe InDesign CCRelease 2015.4, Build 11.4.0.90 x64PCMark-driven routine
Adobe IllustratorRelease 2015.3.0, Version 20.0.0 (64-bit)PCMark-driven routine
Game Tests & Settings
Ashes of the SingularityVersion 1.31.21360High Preset - 1920x1080, Mid Shadow Quality, 1x MSAACrazy Preset - 1920x1080, High Shadow Quality, 2x MSAA
F1 20152015 Season, Abu Dhabi Track, RainMedium Preset, No AFUltra High Preset, 16x AF
Metro Last Light ReduxVersion 3.00 x64High Quality, 1920x1080, High Tesselation, 16x AFVery High Quality, 1920x1080, Very High Tesselation, 16x AF
The Talos PrincipleVersion 267252Medium Preset, High Quality, High Tesselation, 4x AFUltra Preset, Very High Quality, Very High Tesselation, 16x AF

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Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • g-unit1111
    I'll pass. That board is an eye sore compared to what you can get from Gigabyte, Asus, Asrock, or MSI. At least NZXT made their board presentable.
    Reply
  • The original Derfman
    Typo in the first paragraph. "help the do just that"
    Reply
  • Crashman
    20890647 said:
    Typo in the first paragraph. "help the do just that"
    Great find, thanks for the help!
    Reply
  • desuemery
    No way am I going to trust a motherboard from Colorful. All they do is make bootlegged versions of more popular products... just look at their GPUs. They blatantly copy the cooler design of MSI and other AIB's. That, and this motherboard has that super ugly "GAMER" smack in the middle. Pass.
    Reply
  • pmayojr
    Pass...Gigabyte, Asus, Asrock, Msi, etc... All have far superior boards in terms of looks and overall functionality...these guys are no more than rip-off artists anyway.....not to mention no reinforced PCIe ports.. and price.
    Reply
  • pensive69
    got to agree with the others.
    the board doesn't seem to have it together yet.
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    20890871 said:
    No way am I going to trust a motherboard from Colorful. All they do is make bootlegged versions of more popular products... just look at their GPUs. They blatantly copy the cooler design of MSI and other AIB's. That, and this motherboard has that super ugly "GAMER" smack in the middle. Pass.

    Yeah this looks like a board that some guy near the airport would sell you off the back of his truck. For a "discount". :lol:
    Reply
  • Loadedaxe
    This wont compete at $369. MSI, Asus and Gigabyte are the best in that price range. Plus is it a eye sore.

    Back to the drawing board Colorful, fire the 16 year old that designed this and hire a real engineer.
    Reply
  • justin.m.beauvais
    So... high on features, low on substance? Yup. That's Colorful for ya. Virtually any other manufacturer will sell you a better board right now, but compared to the MSIs and Gigabytes of the world, Colorful is just starting out. Like with Korean cars, there were some quality issues and growing pains, but they turned out alright-ish (still trying to get there in some aspects). I think Colorful is going to be the same way. Eventually they will get better... so, we wait.
    Reply
  • jr9
    This reminds me so much of that car that Homer Simpson designed in terms of looks and price.
    Reply