NZXT's debut motherboard is one of the most breathtaking motherboards ever

From PC World: NZXT makes motherboards now.

That’s the news—but saying “NZXT makes motherboards now” is perhaps the greatest understatement of 2018. (Hey, we’re only ten days in so far.) At CES this week, NZXT announced it’s done what’s almost impossible: Made a motherboard that looks good.

It’s the NZXT N7 Z730, and as I alluded to earlier it’s NZXT’s debut motherboard. It’s also stunning—so much so that I immediately tried to justify buying one after seeing it for the first time, and it doesn’t even work with my current processor. Everything except for the CPU, PCI-e slots, power and other various connections is covered in either matte white or matte black metal, and the result is a minimalist, almost monolithic motherboard unlike anything I’ve seen before. The N7 looks “finished” in a way most boards, with their exposed circuitry and odd gaps, just don’t.

NZXT claims it’s functional, too. Quoting NZXT’s CEO Johnny Hou, “In the face of increasing complexity in the PC gaming market, we want to make building easier and more enjoyable, with the N7 as a cornerstone for this new experience.” It certainly looks less intimidating than your average motherboard, with all its exposed circuitry. A friend of mine, after seeing a picture, said he would’ve been “8000 percent less scared” of his first PC build if the motherboard had looked like this. Take from that what you will.

Now, whether it’s a great motherboard, especially for the price? That’s debatable. The N7 certainly looks the part, and touts (semi-)painless RGB lighting and fan management through its well-regarded CAM software. On the other hand, it’s $300 and not doing much on a technical level that its competition doesn’t do—and in some respects doing less than Z370 boards $50 to $100 cheaper.

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