NZXT enters the motherboard market with the N7 Z370

NZXT, a company more readily associated with cases and cooling products, has announced a surprise diversification into a new and significantly more technical field: PC motherboards.

Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show last night, the NZXT N7 Z370 is an Intel Z370-based motherboard with support for the company's latest eight-generation Core family chips and Optane high-performance 3D XPoint storage products. Its feature list, at first glance, points to a relatively high-end but otherwise unsurprising design including two M.2 storage connectors, support for Nvidia's SLI and AMD's CrossFireX multi-GPU technologies, 7.1-channel onboard audio, and a 15-phase power design featuring quality Infineon integrated circuits.

A glance further down the list, though, shows where NZXT is hoping to stand out. Hidden behind a metal cover plate with user-replaceable and colour-matched heatsink covers is an onboard control system which links in to NZXT's CAM software. With no additional hardware, the company promises, users can take advantage of nine CAM-compatible fan control channels via an integrated Grid+ V3 fan controller as well as tweak connected lighting via a Hue+ digital RGB lighting controller with adaptive noise reduction capabilities.

'Leveraging our years of experience as professional PC builders, we've designed the N7 motherboard with a completely new approach,' claims NZXT founder and chief executive Johnny Hou of his company's latest creation. '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. Everything you need - from easy layout and obvious connections to digital fan control and RGB lighting - is included. We’ve also designed a completely unique motherboard cover so it's both beautiful and powerful. You can’t build a quieter, better-looking system as easily as you can with our new N7 motherboard.'

The NZXT N7 Z370 is to launch on January 22nd, the company has confirmed, at a UK recommended retail price of £329.99 including VAT. More information is available on the company's official website.