Msi z370 godlike gaming review in Spanish (full analysis)

We have with us the flagship of the LGA 1151 platform from MSI: the MSI Z370 Godlike Gaming motherboard. Among its most important specifications it has an E-ATX format, RGB lighting, with the best of the best in components, spectacular cooling, an excellent DAC and above all a great overclocking capacity.

Ready to see our analysis? Let's start!

Once again we thank MSI for the trust placed in the transfer of the product for its analysis:

MSI Z370 Godlike Gaming technical features

Unboxing and design

The MSI Z370 Godlike Gaming comes with the presentation characteristics of the brand's gaming series, it is a black and red box in which a high-quality image of the board is seen. On the back, its most important characteristics and technical specifications are detailed in several languages, including Spanish.

Once we open the box we find the following bundle:

MSI Z370 Godlike Gaming motherboard SATA cable set M.2 expansion card Led strips Minijack adapter to jack 2 Wifi antennas Various wiring Velcro Back jacket Instruction manual Stickers 2 Way SLI USB 2.0 Extender.

The MSI Z370 Godlike Gaming is a motherboard with an E-ATX form factor that translates into measures of 30.5 cm x 27.2 cm, so it is a very large motherboard in which we will find a large number of ports of expansion and additions. The first thing we highlight is the presence of the LGA 1151 socket and the Z370 chipset to give compatibility to the eighth generation Intel Core processors, also known as Coffee Lake.

The processor is powered by a very powerful 18 phase VRM power system, this system uses the best quality Military Class components. In this way, we will achieve a much more stable operation, which translates into a better overclocking and therefore a better performance of our processor. On top of it is a large heat sink that is prepared to work with liquid cooling and further improve operating temperatures.

Chipset heatsink detail. How it looks!

And the EPS connections.

Surrounding the socket we see four DIMM slots with support for a maximum of 64 GB of DDR4 memory in dual channel configuration and a maximum speed of 4133 MHz + OC. As expected, it is compatible with XMP profiles so that we can get the most out of it with just a few clicks.

As we have already mentioned, the MSI Z370 Godlike Gaming is a motherboard that has been thought for the most demanding gamers, therefore, no less than 4 PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots have been placed next to a PCI-Express 3.0 x1 slot. Thanks to this, it is compatible with 2-Way NVIDIA SLI and 4-Way AMD CrossFire configurations, which will allow us to assemble a team with a high level of performance in the most modern and demanding games.

We highlight that the PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots are reinforced in steel so that they can easily withstand the weight of the most powerful and heavy graphics cards on the market, in this sense there will be no problem.

We now turn to see the storage possibilities of this MSI Z370 Godlike Gaming motherboard, it offers us a total of 6 SATA III 6 Gb / s ports along with three M.2 ports and one U.2 port so that we can have the maximum speed. These M.2 slots each have an MSI M.2 Shield heatsink to help lower the disk's operating temperature and thereby achieve more consistent performance, since one of the drawbacks of M.2 disks is that they get quite hot. There's also no lack of support for the new Intel Optane memory technology.

Regarding RAID modes, SATA III ports are compatible with RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 while M.2 ports are compatible with RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 5.

Regarding the sound we find a classic controller: the Realtek ALC1220, which offers us a high quality sound with 7.1 channels and the best quality components as solid capacitors. This system is completed with the best MSI technologies such as the best quality DAC, amplified headphone output and the Nahimic 2+ positioning system, a technology with a military origin that will help you locate your enemies in the middle of the battlefield.

We continue with network technology and we find Wi-Fi 2 × 2 802.11 AC + Bluetooth 4.1, 3.0 + HS connectivity from the Killer 1535 controller, which is attached in the form of an expansion card. It also has three Killer E2500 Gigabit LAN interfaces optimized to prioritize the traffic of packets related to video games, thus improving the latency of the Internet connection.

We find the following internal connections:

1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector 1 x 6-pin ATX PCIe power connector 6 x SATA 6Gb / s4 x M.2 connectors (key M x3, E-key x1) 1 x U.21 port x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C2 port x USB 3.1 Gen1 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports) 3 x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports) Fan connector 1 x 4-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin water pump connector 8 x 4-pin system fan connectors 2 x front panel connectors 1 x front panel audio connector 1 x TPM module connector 1 x chassis intrusion connector 3 x 2-pin thermal sensors 1 x 5050 RGB LED 12V connector (JRGB1) 1 x Rainbow 5050 RGB LED 5V connector (JRAINBOW1)

And the following connections on the back:

Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Antenna Connectors PS / 2 Device Port Triple KillerTM E2500 Gigabit LAN HD Audio Connectors Clear CMOS Button USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A + CA 6.3mm Headphones Optical S / PDIF-Out

Finally we highlight the highly customizable and software configurable Mystic Light lighting system so you can give it a unique touch.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel Core i7-8700k
Base plate:	MSI Z370 GodLike Gaming
Memory:	32GB DDR4 Corsair LPX.
Heatsink	Corsair H110i
HDD	Samsung 850 EVO 500GB.
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti.
Power supply	Corsair RM1000X.

To check the stability of the processor and the motherboard we have stressed with Prime 95 Custom and liquid cooling. Although we have been able to bring the processor to 5 GHz, the temperatures were excessive and we have decided to leave it in stock frequency.

We did not want to limit it and we have used the Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti graphics card. Without further delay, let's see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) monitor.

BIOS

The BIOS of the MSI Z370 GodLike Gaming is super complete, as it allows you to monitor and adjust a wide variety of options. For example, it allows us to overclock in a fairly easy way (without touching many parameters) and that is always appreciated when leaving our system 100% stable from the first day. Good job MSI!

Final words and conclusion about MSI Z370 Godlike Gaming

The MSI Z370 Godlike Gaming is one of the best motherboards that MSI has released in the last 5 years. It has all the ingredients to seduce you: highly durable components, an incredible design, a TOP storage system with M.2 connections, an RGB lighting system and its three fantastic network cards.

In our tests we have gone up to 5 GHz, but we have obtained excessive temperatures. This problem is already quite common and would be solved by making a good DELID to the processor . So we have left the processor in stock to do all our tests with incredible results. How it moves the Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti!

We recommend reading the best motherboards on the market

We have loved your Realtek sound card doped with an ESS E9018 DAC that allows you to wear professional, high-impedance headphones . With this integration it makes it the best integrated sound card in the world. It is a real pass as it sounds!

It is currently available in Spain for a price of 519 euros. A super high price and that is surely the great handicap for your purchase. Although if you can not buy it, you can always buy one of the best quality / price on the market: MSI Z370 Gaming PRO Carbon.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ USED COMPONENTS AND THEIR 18 VRM.	- IT COSTS MORE THAN 500 EUROS...
+ DAC.
+ M.2 SYSTEM
+ COOLING ON ALL COMPONENTS.
+ VERY STABLE BIOS.