Fastest posting socket 1155 motherboard (Z77)

[althaz]

Hi guys, I am about to buy a new computer (for the first time in ages, I'm running a launch-model Conroe E6300 OCed to 3.29Ghz as my CPU, that's how long it's been since I started from scratch). I'm settled on components almost entirely except for one thing - I can't figure out which motherboard to get!

I have only a few criteria:
- Fastest possible POST time. <- MOST IMPORTANT THING
- Z77 chipset
- HDMI out
- Header for front USB 3.0 ports
- If all things are equal, I would pick an Asus board (because they support esports), however I know their Z68 mobos were horrible for POST time
- Would like to spend $150ish or less, but not that important

Most of these are obviously trivial to find out, however the most important one is IMPOSSIBLE to find out. It's almost all that I care about, in fact I'd give up almost all the other criteria if it meant having a POST time more like 2 seconds than 10 seconds.

I would be incredibly appreciative if anybody could help me out here, it is driving me insane how hard it is to find this info out. I found hundreds of people asking this same question in forums, but for some reason no reviews I can find cover this, to me, EXTREMELY important attribute of motherboards.

Also, before all the normal replies of "get an SSD to speed up boot times," guess what? I'm doing that, but motherboard choice can double boot time with a fast SSD and Windows 8. Ideally I want to boot from powered off to working in 10 seconds. If I can POST in 1-2 seconds, then this is doable. POSTing in 10 seconds obviously makes this NOT.

P.S. If anybody cares I'm going to get something like this:
Core i5-2500k/i5-3570k (depending on price and availability)
Fastest posting Z77 motherboard on the planet
HD7870
Intel 520 240Gb SSD
Silverstone FT02B (in black with front USB 3.0 ports)
8Gb Kingston RAM (because they sponsor Huk)
2-3TB HDD that is available at the time for a good price (currently have a Seagate pencilled in)
Toughpower 750w HDD that I already have
CPU cooler, probably Noctua NH-D14, but I need more research before committing

 

[abekl]

I think you are asking for information that is just not available.

 

[JKatwyopc]

Do you really expect any system to boot from a complete shutdown that fast? Most systems takeat least ten seconds just to perform the POST. That's before the beep indicating a successful POST. After that it has to load the BIOS configuration and perform the memory test. You can disable the boot delay by setting it to 0 in bios and the memory test can be greatly shortened by disabling the long test. However, Windows itself takes 15 to 20 second to load from an SSD drive. The fastest boot time you're going to get is around 30 seconds even with the fastest board.

Here's a suggestion. Use the Power saving features of Windows 7 to put your computer into standby mode. The computer will startup from standby to fully operational with windows and everything else in about 5-6 seconds. And it works that fast even with the slowest motherboards around. All you have to do is go into control panel and open "Power Options" and then select the "Balanced" power settings.

 

[althaz]

Thank-you for the feedback, unfortunately it doesn't help me directly, but I am appreciative for the effort nonetheless.

There are motherboards out there that begin loading Windows in only a few seconds and Windows 8 CP can be loaded up off an SSD in about 5-6 seconds. My problem is that I can't find out which motherboards start-up so quickly! For the record, I've gotten my friend's PC to boot up in about 12 seconds (to Win8 CP). He's got a Samsung SSD, a Gen 1 Core i7 and an older Asrock board that starts loading windows in about 1.5 seconds. I want to replicate this but with my own computer .

Standby mode is not suitable for me (or obviously that's what I'd do).

 

[monsta]

The only way to really know which Z77 post the fastest is to look at the Z77 motherboard reviews and compare the difference in the benches.

 

[althaz]

Wait, where can I find this information? If you could link me to any site that tests this I would be eternally grateful. I have seen it mentioned in motherboard reviews from time to time, but not regularly and not in any of the Z77 board reviews I have read.

 

[abekl]

As I said in my earlier post, "I think you are asking for information that is just not available. "

 

[althaz]

I was perhaps overly hopeful because I saw that monsta seemed to say he had seen reviews where motherboards were compared in this way.

 

[althaz]

Hi guys, thanks for the assitance but I've now found some helpful info over at anandtech.com -> Their latest Z77 mobo roundup has POST times benchmarked and it looks like they will be including this as a standard feature of motherboard reviews which means I"ll just keep reading their 'board reviews until I find one that I like .

 

[boatz]

Check out Intel Fast Boot ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHIsiBwdju8

 

[althaz]

@Boatz: Dude that is awesome. I was going to purchase the Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 because it posts super fast with the right settings, but my favourite retailer is out of stock! That youtube video makes me want to get the Intel board I had my eye on previously .

 

[althaz]

Best answer selected by althaz.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr