EVGA Z270 Classified K Motherboard Overview
Taking a look at the Z270 Classified K the first thing that I want to point out is that it is a E-ATX motherboard, so be sure you have a case that supports E-ATX motherboards if you plan on getting this motherboard. Like their previous motherboards EVGA has gone with a black PCB design with black and silver accents. EVGA seems to be one of the few companies that has not got on the whole RGB craze, which we actually like. There are large aggressive heatsinks on the power delivery components as well as the PCB, which are all connected by a heatpipe.
Starting at the top of the board you’ll find two 8-pin EPS connectors. This is one of the few Z270 boards that offers extra power for your CPU, so you should be able to push your CPU pretty far. Next to the two 8-pin EPS connectors you have your CPU fan and CPU fan 2 headers.
We of course have the Intel LGA1151 socket in the center of the motherboard. It supports both Kaby Lake and Skylake processors. Surrounding the CPU socket you have your power delivery components, which as I mentioned are covered by aggressive heatsinks. EVGA has gone with a 13-phase power design on this board, that is compared to a 11-phase design on the Z270 FTW K.
Moving over to the far edge of the board we have our for DDR4 DIMM slots, which support up to 64GB of 3600MHz+ DDR4 memory. At the corner of your board you have your debug display, power, reset, and clear CMOS buttons, voltage check points, 24-pin ATX power connection (which is at a 90-degree angle), and a BIOS select switch. There are also three 4-pin fan headers on this section of the board.
As you move down the board you’ll come to the storage connections. These include a 32 Gb/s U.2 port, four SATA 6GB/s ports, and two SATA Express ports. Remember if you do not have a SATA Express device that opens up two SATA 6GB/s ports per SATA Express port, so in total you have 8 SATA 6GB/s ports.
At the bottom edge of the board you’ll find the rest of your connections and headers. From left to right you have a 6-pin power connection for your PCI-Express slots, HD audio headers, two 4-pin fan headers (at a 90-degree angle), USB 2.0 header, dual USB 3.0 headers (at a 90-degree angle), and your front panel headers. I am not sure if I agree about the 90-degree angle placement of the fan headers and USB 3.0 headers. If this board is in a case those connections and cables could interfere with your power supply or power supply cover.
Along the far edge of the board you’ll find your audio components and a M.2 Key-E slot for a WiFi / Bluetooth adapter. This board makes use of the Creative CA0132 chip, which is part of the Sound Core3D family. You will also notice the low-profile Nichicon audio capacitors. The entire audio section is isolated from the rest of the motherboard.
Looking at expansion on the board there are three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots and three PCI-Express 3.0 x1 slots. This board officially supports 2-way SLI. In between the PCI-Express slots you’ll find two M.2 32 Gb/s slots. The top slot supports M.2 SSDs up to 110 mm in length, while the bottom one supports M.2 SSDs up to 80mm.
Finally on to the rear I/O. From left to right we have a Clear CMOS button, DisplayPort, HDMI, dual Gigabit Ethernet (Killer E2500 / Intel i219), four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 3.1 ports (Type-A / Type-C), Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port, and your audio connections.
