Every generation ASUS goes all out on their Deluxe series in an effort to make them genre-defining motherboards that bring new meaning to the term 'Deluxe'. Essentially, these are the products that ASUS packs full with every conceivable current and potentially next generation feature regardless of price and they do so while still maintaining a holistic design approach. For example the last generation Z97 Deluxe was a phenomenal product which was not only feature-packed but also one of the best examples of what that generation of boards could accomplish in the overclocking space. The same was true of the Z87 before it. Now ASUS is launching the Z170 Deluxe and it's one heck of an impressive board.

On the surface of things, any Deluxe board geared towards the Skylake generation does have a lot of potential concerns that could easily keep it from living up to expectations. After all, Intel chose to not bake USB 3.1 support into the PCH, PCI-E 4.0 is still waiting in the wings, and the number of PCI-E 3.0 lanes originating from the CPU hasn't undergone a shift in what seems like forever. However, digging below the surface, there's a massively capable PCH which has been equipped with a very adaptable set of 20 PCI-E lanes so connectivity will never be an issue.

As with the Z97 Deluxe before it, the Z170 Deluxe represents the pinnacle of ASUS engineering and they took those available lanes and have accomplished some amazing things. Even with just a quick glance at the features this board boasts it is obvious that ASUS' engineers have taken upon themselves the task of fitting in as many features as possible on to a single ATX-sized motherboard. Usually when engineers make things personal, upper management gets worried, but this time ASUS wisely let them have free reign.