Asus Maximus V Gene LGA1055 Motherboard Review

The Asus Maximus V Gene motherboard is the mATX variant of the ROG Z77 lineup. This motherboard comes with more bells and whistles than we could shake a stick at. The good points on this board are numerous, but we will try to cover some key points here. The mPCI-E/mSATA card is awesome and opens the doors to some awesome possibilities for system designs or custom system builds. Having the standard dual slot spacing so that a 4 slot LANBOX style case can run dual cards makes us happy to know that the layout designers kept the people who will actually build mobile gaming systems in mind. USB 3.0 boost provides amazingly capable external solution especially when paired with a UASP compatible device. The onboard switches provide greater diagnostic flexibility and ability to run the board in a test bench. The SupremeFX III audio provides the best gaming experience when you just have to get your game on. The overall layout of the board is just excellent, and everything works well which is a definite plus. The sheer amount of tuning options just for memory alone is staggering and is any benchmarker's dream solution. Finally, to round out the litany of impressive features, USB BIOS and ROG Connect serve to make users' lives much easier.

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Asus MAXIMUS V GENE Z77 mATX DDR3 Intel LGA 1155 Motherboard Price $209.99

Biostar TZ77XE4 LGA1155 Motherboard Review

The TZ77XE LGA1155 motherboard is Biostar’s high-end Intel Z77 offering. This motherboard have 13 phase power design and a dual heatsink which covers the MOSFETs and is joined via a single heatpipe, providing the potential to be a great overclocking motherboard, with plenty of features specifically for enthusiasts to take advantage of.
The TZ77XE4 motherboard has support for Intel’s 2nd and 3rd Generation Processors (Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge).
Aesthetically the TZ77EX4 is a delight to overlook. A matt black PCB is something that most enthusiasts strive for and the orange heatsinks set the motherboard off very well. A quick glance over the features will highlight quite an assortment of characteristics, including a generous helping of SATA storage ports – more than you would get on your typical Z77 motherboard.
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Biostar TZ77XE4 - LGA1155 Intel Z77 Chipset ATX Motherboard DDR3 SATA 6Gb/s PCIE3.0 DisplayPort USB3.0 CrossFireX/SLI Gigabit LAN 8CH HD Audio Price $149.99

Asus P8Z77-V LGA1155 Motherboard Review

The ASUS P8Z77-V is placed in the middle of the new V series, sporting top quality components across the board and plenty of truly useful features. While the ASUS P8Z77-V boasts many enthusiast class qualities, such as DDR3-2600 capabilities with T-Topology, tri-SLI/Crossfire and quad GPU capable PCIe 3.0, LucidLogix VirtuMVP, Smart DIGI+ VRM with dual processors and Intel and Asmedia SATA III and USB 3.0 controllers. It also offers great usability and features for other segments.
ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe has an embedded energy-optimization microprocessor that works in conjunction with the DIGI+ VRM to achieve high energy efficiency. The EPU can be enabled or disabled via an onboard switch or through software, giving the user flexible options for adjusting the power saving features when necessary.
Performance tuning on the P8Z77-V paired with the Ivy Bridge processor isn't any more different or difficult than tuning an older Sandy Bridge processor. The main difference between the two is that because of the manufacture process change from 32 to 22nm, Ivy Bridge uses less voltage. For this board, RAM ended up being the limiting factor, as any adjustment from a 100 BCLK would cause issues. Seeing that the 3570K processor was being used, the CPU multiplier could be adjusted at will. With a 46 multiplier and the voltage set at 1.33V, the tune topped out at 4.6GHz.
The bottom line is, the P8Z77-V is a top performer with ASUS’ rock solid build and advanced engineering. The feature set of the P8Z77-V is going to satisfy 90% of the users on the planet, from enthusiasts, to gamers, right down to the work station user. ASUS covered all of the bases for the main board of the V Series, and pulled it off with perfect execution, taking advantage of everything the Z77 chipset has to offer and throwing in high end tweaks and components across the board. The ASUS P8Z77-V is highly recommended, and a solid choice for a very surprising number of applications.
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ASUS Intel Z77 ATX DDR3 2400 LGA 1155 Motherboard P8Z77-V Price $199.99

MSI Z77A-GD65 vs ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe vs Intel DZ77GA-70K Performance Comparison and Benchmarks

The subject of this performance comparison are three new Intel Z77 Express motherboards available on the market today: the Intel DZ77GA-70K, the MSI Z77A-GD65 and ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe.
The performance of the motherboards was measured at stock speeds with a spiffy new Ivy Bridge Core i5-3570K CPU and AMD Radeon HD5770 graphics card for all benchmarks.The same processor, hard disk, and memory were used on each motherboard.
The Intel Core i5 3570K CPU was installed on the MSI-Z77A-GD65 motherboard and overclocked to 4.6 GHz at stock voltage without any hassle. The overall performance of Intel DZ77GA-70K LGA 1155 motherboard was about equal to the ASUS motherboard and slightly better than the MSI motherboard. This might not seem like much but is better than Intel has done in the past.

CineBench single-thread benchmark results:

CineBench multi-thread benchmark results:

Sysmark 2012 benchmark results:

Total System Power Consumption:

Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 LGA 1155 Motherboard Preview

The Gigabyte's G1.Sniper M3 is a compact micro-ATX form factor motherboard based on Intel Z77 Express chipset.
This LGA 1155 motherboard supports Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge families of processors.The CPU is powered by a 9-phase VRM, supplied via a 4-pin EPS connector.
The Gigabyte's G1.Sniper M3 motherboard has four DDR3 memory slots, allowing it to hold up to 32 GB DDR3 1600 Mhz. It comes with a black PCB with three PCI-Express x16 slots which allows the installation of discrete graphics cards and a single PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slot, two SATA-III (6 Gb/s) ports, three SATA-II (3 Gb/s) ports and an e-SATA 3Gb/s port, four USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet-network (Intel 82579V) and DVI, D-Sub, HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs to utilize the CPU integrated graphics.
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Gigabyte Z77M-D3H LGA1155 Motherboard Review

Like all the other Z77 motherboards that we have seen from Gigabyte, the Z77M-D3H features their 3D BIOS along with a more traditional UEFI BIOS for the more advanced users. When we tested the Gigabyte Z77M-D3H LGA1155 motherboard, 3DMark11 gave us an impressive result for this board with 7966 points. We know Sandy Bridge as well as Ivy Bridge love memory bandwidth, and with a read of 18552MB/s, write of 18051MB/s and copy of 20836MB/s, our 2700k was more than happy.
As for the power consumption, this motherboard is using well under 90W at idle, making this particular motherboard a great energy saver, and throughout most of its use rarely went over 160W, only when we really pushed it did it hit 225W.
I can see the Z77M-D3H motherboard being an ideal board for a HTPC build or even a home office PC where the top end features like we find on the Z77X-UD5H are just not needed. Its low power consumption levels and its ability to still push the installed components to a fair level gives it a good running for a budget board to consider. Source

ASUS Sabertooth Z77 Motherboard Review

The ASUS Sabertooth Z77 LGA1155 motherboard is based on the latest Intel Z77 Express chipset. The Asus Sabertooth Z77 has a lot of features without too much unnecessary fluff. Onboard GPU support, SLI and Crossfire support, along with dual card Quad-SLI and CrossfireX support. Intel Quicksync, LucidLogix Virtu MVP technology, PCI-Express Generation 3.0 support (Ivy Bridge CPU required), eSATA, Intel Gigabit networking, 8-channel audio, USB 3.0, SATA 6G, and more. Among the features unique to the TUF series are the thermal armor and thermal radar features. Thermal Radar is ASUS’ fan control scheme and monitoring utility for the board’s thermal ducting solution. Thermal Radar shows fan speeds, temperatures and voltage levels for the board’s various sensors which are divided into several zones.
ASUS have also introduced one-click performance optimization settings and Smart CPU Power Level profiles. The smart CPU power level feature is little more than a button which sets a power savings mode. The hippy leaf button thing will reduce your CPU power consumption to 45w.
The TurboV EVO utility has always been a good piece of software. The interface, like the ASUS UEFI is far ahead of their competition’s offerings. Not only is the utility more robust, but it actually works consistently.
Overclocking all ASUS LGA1155 motherboards is about the same. As usual I started by disabling the PCI-Express spread spectrum setting, and set my load-line calibration for extreme, then increased my CPU PLL voltage to 1.9v, then got to work on the CPU voltage and that’s where things got a bit strange. I had to use 1.525v to run my i5 2500K at 4.9GHz.
The Asus Sabertooth Z77 LGA1155 motherboard is another extremely solid motherboard that has support for the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors.ASUS has made the Z77 motherboards alluring by putting together what amounts to the best series of motherboard software and features it has ever produced. Source

ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE LGA1155 Motherboard review

The ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE is a high-end socket 1155 motherboard targeted to the forthcoming Ivy Bridge processors (third-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors) and also supporting the current 'Sandy Bridge' models (second-generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors). The ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE motherboard uses solid electrolytic capacitors. All coils on this motherboard are ferrite-core models, which can provide up to 20% improvement in efficiency.
The ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE is a high-end motherboard, meaning it is targeted to the most advanced user, who understands the importance of the PLX PEX8608 switch chip. This motherboard has great features: Three PCI Express x16 slots (working at x16/x0/x8 or x8/x8/x4), 8 USB 3.0 ports, 4 SATA 600 ports, 2 independent eSATA 600 ports, Bluetooth, 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, Wi-Fi. The ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE motherboard has a high-end voltage regulator circuit, which provides an excelent overclocking options. Source

Asus P8Z77-M Pro LGA1155 Motherboard Review

Today we are going to take a look at another Micro ATX motherboard, the Asus P8Z77-M Pro. The box that the P8Z77-M Pro ships in is black with a dotted pattern on the board. If you look closely you will see that the pattern shows off an infinity symbol. Over that you have the name of the board and also a large logo for the Digi+ VRM system. In the upper right hand corner is a banner that proclaims this board ready for PCIe Generation 3. Of course the main support for this PCIe specification will not happen until later when Intel’s 3rd Generation Core i7 CPUs hit.
The P8Z77-M Pro is a Micro ATX motherboard and as such is does have limited space for components, expansion and cooling. However Asus has still managed to get quite a bit into this board. Starting off in the upper right hand corner we find a fairly typical layout with the 24-pin ATX power connector, a USB 3.0 header, the Mem_OK button and a TPM module header (although we still do not get why this is included…). There are the typical four RAM slots that can support up to 32GB of DDR3 2400MHz Memory (with overclocking). Right next to this we find the 1155 socket that has support for the current Sandy Bridge CPUs and also the next generation from Intel. We also see evidence of Asus’ new tracing layout, which means better stability and performance.
Asus’ P8Z77-M Pro motherboard is looking to be a great product so far. We can see the same design and build philosophy that Asus uses for their top of the line ROG boards echoed here. The same attention to proper tracing, quality components and performance is represented. With Asus’ new move to fit the feature set to the market this means that the products at each market level are going to have what makes sense and not get over loaded with a bunch of gimmicks that will be of little or no use. With items like Network iControl, Smart Digi+ and the new FanXpert 2 controls even entry level users will be able to get the most out of their boards. Source
I've found some test results about Asus P8Z77-M Pro motherboard on this forum.

ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA1155 Motherboard Review

The ASUS P8Z77-V PRO motherboard is a top mid-range LGA 1155 motherboard targeted to the forthcoming 'Ivy Bridge' processors - third generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors and also supporting the current 'Sandy Bridge' models - second generation Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors.
The Intel Z77 chipset is an upgraded version of the Z68 chipset with the same basic features like Intel Smart Response Technology and Virtu video switching technology, plus native support to four USB 3.0 ports. It will also include the addition of two new technologies: Smart Connect which allows the computer to receive emails and refresh webpages while it is in sleep mode and Rapid Start for faster boot times.
The ASUS P8Z77-V PRO has four memory sockets. Since DDR3 memory modules can be found in capacities up to 8 GB, you can have up to 32 GB with this motherboard.
The CPU voltage regulator circuit of the ASUS P8Z77-V PRO has 12 phases for the CPU main voltage (Vcc a.k.a. Vcore), one for the CPU VSA voltage (memory controller), one for the CPU VTT voltage (PCI Express and DMI interfaces), and four for the CPU integrated video controller (VAXG).
Because we're using the 2nd Generation i5-2500K we're still stuck at around 100 BCLK and mainly relying on multipliers to get the overclocking done. The AI Tweak software brought us to 4.3GHz which is pretty good for a automatic overclocking option, but manually overclocking will always reap larger rewards and so it was here with a final CPU rating of 4.8 GHz.
The ASUS P8Z77-V PRO is a top mid-range motherboard, and therefore targeted to the user who wants more features than mainstream motherboards provide, such as three PCI Express x16 slots, eight USB 3.0 ports, a Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b/g/n card, and an above-average voltage regulator circuit.
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Asus Crosshair V Formula Motherboard Review

The Asus Crosshair V Formula motherboard is based on the 990FX chipset. It supports all Athlon, Phenom and FX (Bulldozer) AM3/AM3+ CPUs. The Asus Crosshair V Formula motherboard is equipped with a total of four full-length PCI-E slots, with variable lanes going to them depending on installation. Only the top slot gets 16 lanes at all times; if using dual graphics cards, both cards will get 16 lanes each (both AMD Crossfire X and Nvidia SLI are supported). If three graphics cards are installed, the board switches to a 16/8/8 configuration. The AMD 990FX/SB950 chipset supports six SATA ports, all running at full SATA III 6 Gbps speed.
On the rear panel, you will find four USB 3.0 ports, seven USB 2.0 ports (there are two internal headers making for eleven total), six analog audio ports for 7.1 surround, an optical audio out, ethernet, external SATA, and a CMOS reset switch. That white USB port you see is the “iROG” connector, which allows you to control the overclocking settings on this board remotely via a USB cable. This can be disabled manually, which turns it into a normal USB 2.0 port.
As for overclocking, I tred to push the HTT bus as far as it could go. After CPU multiplier changing (if you have an unlocked CPU), this is the next way to overclock a CPU, and will also run several other component beyond their specifications. What we ended up with was a max HTT of 345 MHz, stable for 24 hours.
Whether you are a newbie who will simply use the auto OC functions, or a hardcore user who cannot wait to strap a pot of LN2 on their Bulldozer CPU, the Crosshair V Formula will deliver the comfort level of efficient and guaranteed high performance. Source

ASUS Rampage IV GENE X79 LGA 2011 Motherboard Review

The Asus Rampage IV Gene motherboard puts all of the power of the latest Intel X79 chipset into mATX size. The Intel X79 chipset supports the latest Socket LGA 2011 Intel Sandy Bridge Extreme processors. Memory is quad channel and supports up to DDR3 2400MHz speeds. The GENE is PCIe 3.0 ready for all future GPU releases. ASUS also includes all of the ROG exclusive features such as the Extreme Engine Digi+ II engine which is far superior, using the digital VRM and the finest Japanese black metallic capacitors. ROG Connect allows remote monitoring through a laptop with a USB cable. GameFirst software manages the flow of internet traffic according to needs. There is also the CPU Level Up for instant CPU tuning and Mem TweakIt for total DRAM control. ASUS also included USB BIOS Flashback for instant recovery from any BIOS failure. The GENE also comes with audio superiority with SupremeFX III audio solution. This is an 8 channel HD CODEC which features a 1500 uF audio power capacitor, gold plated jacks, and SupremeFX Shielding technology. ASUS has rated and tested the sound output to reach 110 dB without fail.
There are many ways offered to tune with the ASUS Rampage IV Gene motherboard. Loaded into the AI Suite is CPU level up, which offers 3 different levels of overclocking without any special tweaking or changes. While using the i7-3820, the CPU can be easily overclocked to 3.9GHz, 4.1GHz, and 4.3GHz through the CPU level up tool. Those seemed safe overclocks so we pushed the Core i7-3820 to go higher. The first attempt at an overclock was without the CPU Strap. This was achieved by raising the BCLK to 103MHz. We also had to change the load line calibrations to high and max out the CPU Turbo Multiplier to 44x on all cores. This set the max CPU speed at 4.53GHz.
The next step was to use the CPU strap. so the the strap was set to the first 125MHz setting. Also, the Turbo was lowered from 44x to 38x on all processor cores. The memory multiplier was also lowered to 1866MHz settings, as this strap was pushing the DIMMs pretty high. The load line calibrations was set to its default value (high). This proved unstable until we manually raised the CPU voltage to 1.35V. Any other tweaks proved to make the system unstable. Raising the CPU Strap or multipliers any higher made the system unstable despite CPU voltage increases. Overall, 4.62MHz looked like the best overclock.Source

Asus P9X79 Motherboard Review

The ASUS P9X79 LGA2011 motherboard features a jet black PCB with electric blue heatsinks over the PWM and chipset. ASUS X79 motherboards include New DIGI+ Power Control that consists of three digital voltage controllers for CPU and DRAM to provide precise memory tuning and CPU voltage control.
The ASUS P9X79 features a 8+2+2+2 PWM design with 8+2 power phases dedicated to the LGA2011 CPU with the remaining being split up between the two memory controllers. The Asus P9X79 motherboard features a full set of eight DDR3 memory slots to accompany the quad channel memory controller and support up to 64GB of system memory at speeds of up to 2400Mhz. You can easily overclock this motherboard using the built in TPU switch. Source

ASUS P8P67 Pro Intel P67 LGA1155 Motherboard Review

The ASUS P8P67 Pro motherboard is a pretty standard platform with a good feature set, ideal for mainstream overclockers and gamers. Along with the dual PCI Express x16 slots for x8/x8 SLI/Crossfire, ASUS include SATA III, USB 3.0, a powered eSATA port for external storage devices, integrated Bluetooth v2.1 ( particularly unique and handy for smart phone interfacing ), 8-channel audio with DTS Surround and a whack of proprietory ASUS stuff that's guaranteed to glaze your eyes over. The ASUS P8P67 Pro motherboard is equipped with four DDR3 memory slots that accommodate up to 32GB of dual channel DDR3-1066/1333/1600/1866/2133/2200 memory. Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) RAM is supported as you would expect.
The ASUS P8P67 Pro system draws 113W while idle at the desktop. Under 100% CPU load conditions with Prime95, total system power draw jumps to 157W. 3DMark06 pushes power draw to a peak of 272W with a Geforce GTX470 installed. The ASUS P8P67 Pro motherboard is a good platform to build a nice gaming or run-of-the-mill computer system with. Regardless of the new advances in chipsets since the emergence of the Intel P67 chipset, it has to be said that the P67 still offers a lot of value. Considering that value, a board like the P8P67 Pro proves itself to be an economical way of assembling an Intel LGA1155 PC that competes with Intel Z68 platforms in the benchmarks. The reason is simple, both chipsets are essentially the same core logic. Source

Gigabyte X79 UD3 LGA2011 Motherboard Review

In this review we will be looking at the Gigabyte X79 UD3 motherboard based on the Intel X79 chipset and supporting the new LGA2011 Sandy Bridge E processor. Gigabyte is offering three X79 motherboards in the Ultra Durable lineup starting with the UD3. The UD3 is the main level consumer motherboard designed to be a low cost entry level board with some teeth. UD5 is an enhanced level motherboard with similar specs but supporting twice as many memory slots and fancy blue heatsinks. UD7 is no longer the top level consumer motherboard but rather a board designed for the enthusiast overclocker and hardware zealot. All of these motherboards feature the core Gigabyte technologies including the 2oz copper PCB.
The effective overclock for these tests is intel core i7 3960X @ 4.6GHz/36x multiplier and 128 MHz BLCK. We are still dialing in what our 3960X can do so the 4.6Ghz used in this review is just a start giving our, self imposed, voltage limit and custom watercooler. We fully expect that this processor can go faster and it is just a matter of time before we discover what those speed limitations are.
What to take away from this page is that the 3960X can overclock quite well and is quite fast. The processor is also VERY picky about the frequencies it will run which seem to be tied to memory more so than with simple voltage adjustments. Source

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD4 LGA1155 Motherboard Review

The Gigabyte Z68XP-UD4 motherboard has 16 phase voltage regulator module (VRM) for the processor. I was able to overclock the Intel 2600K CPU as high as I ever have before, 4.9 GHz @ 1.5V. Now it should be noted that for dayly use, you should not allow the voltage to go above 1.4V. On this board, the Intel 2600K CPU had no problems running at 4.8 GHz at 1.4V. That means that the Gigabyte Z68XP-UD4 motherboard is allowing me to take this CPU as far as it can possibly go for day to day usage. That is pretty significant!
The Z68XP-UD4 combines just the right ingredients – durable analog PWM with fast phase switching, 16 phase voltage regulation circuit going directly to the CPU, efficient, cool driver MOSFETs, Japanese solid capacitors – to allow you to take your CPU to the limit. There is nothing here that has been added ‘just for show’ – everything serves a quantifiable purpose, and that’s what I appreciate most about this motherboard.
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Asus P8 Z68-V LX Motherboard Review

The Asus P8 Z68-V LX motherboard has four memory slots with support for up to 32GB of DDR3 memory. It can handle DDR3 2200(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066 MHz Non-ECC configurations with full support for the Intel Extreme Memolry Profile (XMP). The UEFI BIOS is an impressive configuration with an ‘EZ’ mode (easy) for people who only want to touch the basics. An advanced mode is available for overclocking and finer tuning of settings. We overclocked the Intel Core i5 2600k cpu, and 4.6ghz was easily achievable from this motherboard with a minor voltage increase of only 1.42 volts.
In regards to overall performance, we have no concerns at all with the P8Z68-V LX board design. SATA 3 performance for instance is as good as we would expect, right up there with the flagship motherboards. There is no doubt that the P8Z68-V LX is one of the best value motherboards for the Z68 platform. Source

Asus Rampage IV Extreme Motherboard Review

Today we are going to take a look at Asus’s Rampage IV, their flagship motherboard designed specifically for someone who only wants the best. Asus went all out with the Rampage IV’s UEFI BIOS. Another area that caught my eye was at the bottom of the Extreme Tweaker section where they have four different options to take you to even more tweaking named “CPU Tweakers Paradise” as well as Memory, PCH, and VGA Paradises also. You have absolute control of every small detail, similar in the way to the adjustability you would have in an F1 car. On top of the OC Key you have the Rampage IV’s amazing BIOS and even Asus’s ROG Connect as other ways to adjust your overclock. For our testing we are going to use the BIOS while using the OC Key to monitor voltages, temps, and the overclock itself.
To start Asus has a few default overclocking settings setup right on the first page of the BIOS. A standard Overclock, an extreme overclock for water cooling and good air cooling, and the last one is for LN2 only. The first overclock puts you at 4375Mhz, the second at 4985Mhz, and the last at 4985Mhz also but with LN2 settings turned on.
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Asus Rampage IV Extreme Motherboard Price $429.99