ASUS ROG Strix H370-F Gaming Motherboard Review

ATTO Disk Benchmark

The ATTO disk benchmark is a Windows-based utility for testing storage performance of any storage drive or controller. We use the default benchmark setup.

M.2 PCIe Performance

For M.2 testing we use a Toshiba OCZ RD400 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.

M.2 performance takes a real hit in the PCIe 3.0 X2 slot (M2_1), reducing maximum read speeds from 2.6 to 1.6 GB/s.

The above thermal results pertain to the cooled M.2 slot (M2_1) but the result is hardly a fair comparison to cooled M.2 slots on other motherboards where the M.2 drives are able to operate at full performance and thus generate more heat.

Users have to pick between cool and slow(er) or hot and fast(er). The second M.2 slot (M2_2) runs at full speed but quickly throttles, though ASUS does offer a 3D printing template for an M.2 fan bracket for this slot which might solve some cooling woes. However, ASUS should have ensured the cooled slot was the faster slot to begin with.

USB Performance

We test USB 3.0 and 3.1 performance using a pair of Transcend SSD370S 512GB SSDs in RAID 0 connected to an Icy Box RD2253-U31 2-bay USB 3.1 enclosure powered by an ASMedia ASM1352R controller.

USB 3.1 and 3.0 performance are roughly the same as Z370.

SATA 6Gbps Performance

For SATA 6Gbps testing we use an OCZ Trion 150 480GB SSD.

SATA III performance is standard and directly comparable to Z370.

Audio

Rightmark Audio Analyser is a freeware benchmarking utility designed to objectively test the performance characteristics of audio solutions. We setup a line-in line-out loop and execute the record/playback test before generating the results report you see below. A sampling mode of 24-bit, 192 kHz is tested where available. If unavailable the closest alternative operating mode available is used and clearly marked.

Audio performance on the ASUS ROG Strix H370-F Gaming was exemplary and easily matches Z370 motherboards since it's almost an identical audio solution to many ASUS Z370 motherboards.

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