First of all let me say I was very excited to buy this board, in the past EVGA has always made top quality stuff.
 
When I was installing everything I noticed a discrepancy between the silk screening on the motherboard see:


 
I wasn't sure which was right which was wrong so I tried to follow the silk screening first, and discovered while configuring the SATA that it was the manual which was correct, the silk screening was wrong.
 
once I finished replugging my SATA ports and tried to boot back into the bios I was greeted with a boot loop... I tried holding the power button, nothing. I tried turning the PSU off and back on, nothing - just back into the boot loop. I cleared the CMOS with the button, still boot loop. I pulled the battery out and waited.... still nothing, still bootloop. then after some hours of messing with it I found out that this EXACT sequence will get me OUT of the bootloop and will actually boot with my settings:
 
 
WHILE IN BOOT LOOP:
 - flip bios selector
 - wait until computer "shuts off"
 - while it's "off" switch the bios selector back to its original state, do this before it turns back on with the bios selector still in the other state.
 - wait until computer turns itself back on, it will boot, works 100% of the time for me.
 
 
So I had it booting, navigated through the windows installer and could not find the M.2 drive I had installed... I called EVGA support and they told me that the slot I was using ( LOWER ) did not work for windows install, and that I had to use the upper slot... so I replugged all my SATA drives back to where they were originally, and took out my GPU so I could move the M.2 underneath it, went through my boot loop sequence and back into the windows installer. works this time, nice...
 
after installing windows 10 I plug my devices back in and notice one of them isn't working, I figured it was something weird with the USB 3.0 drivers I had so I bought a USB2.0 rear panel hub which connects to the 2.0 headers on the MOBO. this did not fix the issue, this exact same component was working on my last build with windows 10, but for some reason refuses to work on this one. I measured the voltages coming out of the USB slots and they all looked fine around the 5v range (4.9 - 5.1v) so I have no clue what the issue could be... the device doesn't even show up in device manager... In talks with the manufacturer of that component right now as well.
 
OVERALL I'm very disappointed with this board I have to open my case and do my boot loop fix sequence every time I want to restart.... I will be returning the board and getting something else. I don't know if I have the trust to get a classified-k anymore because I'm not sure how different the experience will be.
 
 
EDIT: BONUS PROBLEM:
after testing my DAC which was having the USB issues it seems it's not actually broken, I don't know if it's the MOBOs fault or not, but considering it went from working, and then immediately after trying to use it on this mobo not working I don't know what else to think.

Have you updated the BIOS? https://forums.evga.com/E...IOS-v104-m2731257.aspx

npspears
I'm also very upset with my motherboard purchase. I have a Z270 Stinger. The Z170 Stinger supported 3 pin fans, and the manual of the Z270 Stinger said it also supported 3 pin fans (DC) on one of the modules. 
 
After spending a month trying to get some answers from them, Jacob B just tells me a straight "Nope!". His words exactly are:  "Unfortunately we no longer support, and do not plan to support DC fans for our motherboards." Well if that's the case, maybe you shouldn't put it in the manual that you DO support DC fans. 

That makes no sense at all. 3 pin fans are just power, ground, sense but you don't even need the sense really, you could just do power and ground and it will run full speed all the time. They used to sell the fans with just the two wires, I have a ton of them. So are they saying that they are not installing fan headers on the mobo anymore at all?!!? Cause if you have the header they will work.
 
 

newbrict
First of all let me say I was very excited to buy this board, in the past EVGA has always made top quality stuff.
 
When I was installing everything I noticed a discrepancy between the silk screening on the motherboard see:


 
I wasn't sure which was right which was wrong so I tried to follow the silk screening first, and discovered while configuring the SATA that it was the manual which was correct, the silk screening was wrong.
 
once I finished replugging my SATA ports and tried to boot back into the bios I was greeted with a boot loop... I tried holding the power button, nothing. I tried turning the PSU off and back on, nothing - just back into the boot loop. I cleared the CMOS with the button, still boot loop. I pulled the battery out and waited.... still nothing, still bootloop. then after some hours of messing with it I found out that this EXACT sequence will get me OUT of the bootloop and will actually boot with my settings:
 
 
WHILE IN BOOT LOOP:
 - flip bios selector
 - wait until computer "shuts off"
 - while it's "off" switch the bios selector back to its original state, do this before it turns back on with the bios selector still in the other state.
 - wait until computer turns itself back on, it will boot, works 100% of the time for me.
 
 
So I had it booting, navigated through the windows installer and could not find the M.2 drive I had installed... I called EVGA support and they told me that the slot I was using ( LOWER ) did not work for windows install, and that I had to use the upper slot... so I replugged all my SATA drives back to where they were originally, and took out my GPU so I could move the M.2 underneath it, went through my boot loop sequence and back into the windows installer. works this time, nice...
 
after installing windows 10 I plug my devices back in and notice one of them isn't working, I figured it was something weird with the USB 3.0 drivers I had so I bought a USB2.0 rear panel hub which connects to the 2.0 headers on the MOBO. this did not fix the issue, this exact same component was working on my last build with windows 10, but for some reason refuses to work on this one. I measured the voltages coming out of the USB slots and they all looked fine around the 5v range (4.9 - 5.1v) so I have no clue what the issue could be... the device doesn't even show up in device manager... In talks with the manufacturer of that component right now as well.
 
OVERALL I'm very disappointed with this board I have to open my case and do my boot loop fix sequence every time I want to restart.... I will be returning the board and getting something else. I don't know if I have the trust to get a classified-k anymore because I'm not sure how different the experience will be.
 
 
EDIT: BONUS PROBLEM:
after testing my DAC which was having the USB issues it seems it's not actually broken, I don't know if it's the MOBOs fault or not, but considering it went from working, and then immediately after trying to use it on this mobo not working I don't know what else to think.

Maybe its the mobo pinouts aren't compatible with the device your plugging in or its the devices pinouts aren't compatible with the mobo?!?! My guess would be the mobo since the device worked in the last mobo correctly but it could be bios related too.

npspears
I'm also very upset with my motherboard purchase. I have a Z270 Stinger. The Z170 Stinger supported 3 pin fans, and the manual of the Z270 Stinger said it also supported 3 pin fans (DC) on one of the modules. 
 
After spending a month trying to get some answers from them, Jacob B just tells me a straight "Nope!". His words exactly are:  "Unfortunately we no longer support, and do not plan to support DC fans for our motherboards." Well if that's the case, maybe you shouldn't put it in the manual that you DO support DC fans. 

 

wmmills
That makes no sense at all. 3 pin fans are just power, ground, sense but you don't even need the sense really, you could just do power and ground and it will run full speed all the time. They used to sell the fans with just the two wires, I have a ton of them. So are they saying that they are not installing fan headers on the mobo anymore at all?!!? Cause if you have the header they will work.

 
The manual states that it has two DC/PWM fan headers. They are 4 pin headers of course and I'm trying to plug in 3-pin fans. With my fans plugged in at full speed they just run at full speed. If I go into the BIOS, there's no way to adjust the speed. EVGA has said that I can just lower the % any where between 0 & 100. I've done this but it doesn't affect the speed of the fan at all. It runs at 100% no matter the setting. The Z170 Stinger I had used to have an option to switch between DC and PWM, but now EVGA is saying for the Z270 stinger this isn't necessary. I just have to change it to a fixed setting between 0 and 100. 
 

newbrict
Can we please keep this on topic of the z370, not the z270.... thanks guys.

No doubt. Was answering a reply. 
 
Also, it's relevant because EVGA's response was they do not plan to support DC fans for their motherboards. 

Can maybe research the z170 forums, when  i got my classified k i saw lots of m.2 probs, i never used a m.2 just 3 reg ssds

newbrict
I upgraded the PSU from 650W to 850W and the mobo starts now. I believe that for some reason when the mobo tried to start the gpu would suck too much power (I only have one 970 though so it should have been fine....) and it makes the voltages drop too much for mobo to start properly? This is a GUESS, but it makes sense with the observations I made. IF YOU ARE HAVING BOOTLOOP TRY NEW PSU!!!

Most electronics work that way. There is a boot amperage rating and a continuous draw rating. PC's will do a very hard high power pull on boot and then drop too, which is another reason why its important to have headroom and a well built unit.

EVGATech_BrandonS

wmmills
 
Most electronics work that way. There is a boot amperage rating and a continuous draw rating. PC's will do a very hard high power pull on boot and then drop too, which is another reason why its important to have headroom and a well built unit.

Not to drag this further off topic, but this is also why higher-end power supplies will click when turning on and off. There is a component known as an NTC shorting relay that governs this inrush of current, and after the initial rush will shut it off. Per Jonnyguru.com, "What does the NTC thermistor do? Well, it helps mitigate the inrush current power supplies draw when starting up. But once they do that milliseconds long job, they're no longer needed. Thus, the relay is used to short them out so they don't constantly suck just a little bit of power at all times."

Hey, theres nothing wrong with putting good info out there and teaching people that don't know. If that makes us stray slightly, so be it. :)

Mine Z390 FTW is rock solid. Running latest bios.