Asrock Z77 Extreme4 vs ASUS P8Z77-V LK

[BVKnight]

Hello,

I've been collecting pieces for my new computer for a while and the last two (to get things up and running, at least) are the CPU and motherboard. I will be getting the 3570k, but I'm stuck between which of these two motherboards I should get, the Asrock Extreme4 vs the Asus P8Z77-V LK:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600093976%20600315497%20600176035&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280%7C13-157-293%5E13-157-293-TS%2C13-131-837%5E13-131-837-TS

I can get both motherboards bundled with the CPU on Newegg, along with a $20 dollar gift card. The price for the Asrock bundle is $382.85, and the Asus bundle is $369.98.

The main differences (that matter to me) as far as I can tell, based off specs and reviews:

Asrock
+2 Sata 6Gbps ports
1 eSata port
8+4 phase power delivery system

Asus
Better BIOS software and fan controls
Thunderbolt header for future use with add-on card
4+1+1 phase power delivery system

Please help me decide which one is better! It would help to know:
1. Support. How have your experiences been with these brands?
2. How useful will the eSata be to me? My case (Rosewill Thor V2) has a front eSata port.
3. How important is the better BIOS and fan control software on the Asus, especially if my case has two built-in fan controllers and I plan on purchasing a 5-channel fan control later on down the road?
4. How is the Asus power phase system different? It seems like you have to spend at least $200 to get an 8+4 phase on their mobos. I don't know anything about power delivery systems, except that they affect overclocking stability. I plan on overclocking my 3570 to about 4.5GHz eventually.

Don't let me down TH!

 

[Pinhedd]

>Support. How have your experiences been with these brands?

I've never used anything from ASRock but Asus support is hit and miss. Generally speaking the build quality is great but I can't say the same for launch stability. Asus generally takes 2-5 months to work out all of the kinks in their firmware. This won't adversely affect most users, especially since Intel has done a very good job with the LGA 1155 platform and associated chipsets but it's been known to happen.

I've owned dozens of Asus boards and the only one that failed was an NForce 680 based Striker Extreme which was based on a shitty chipset to begin with, not really Asus's fault.

>How useful will the eSata be to me? My case (Rosewill Thor V2) has a front eSata port.

I personally find eSATA to be very useful, I have an 8 TB external RAID enclosure. With that said, eSATA on the front panel is kinda useless, the back panel always has one and that's usually enough for most users

>How important is the better BIOS and fan control software on the Asus, especially if my case has two built-in fan controllers and I plan on purchasing a 5-channel fan control later on down the road?

I've never been one to care for fan control but it is pretty good. Their software suite lets you have extremely fine grained control over the fan speed and there are always a lot of well placed connectors on the motherboard. As long as you use good 120mm fans you won't hear them

>How is the Asus power phase system different? It seems like you have to spend at least $200 to get an 8+4 phase on their mobos. I don't know anything about power delivery systems, except that they affect overclocking stability. I plan on overclocking my 3570 to about 4.5GHz eventually.

The Asus board has 8 phases for the CPU and 4 phases for the iGPU, not 4. With that said, a good PSU is far more important than a good power delivery system.

 

[BVKnight]

Thanks for your response! I'd like to get a few more opinions as well.

However, it says right here: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/ASUS-P8Z77-V-PRO-Motherboard/1529
and here: http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z77V_LK/#specifications

that this Asus board has a "4 + 1 + 1 Phase Power Design".

 

[Pinhedd]

Oops, I was looking at the 'P8Z77-V' not the 'P8Z77-V LK'. Who names this ***?

It goes like this

P8Z77-V LK = 4 + 1 + 1

P8Z77-V LE = 6 + 2

P8Z77-V = 8 + 4

P8Z77-V Pro = 12 + 4

P8Z77-V Deluxe = 16 + 4

I imagine that the LK is probably not the best overclocker

 

[hnijhar]

There both basically the same boards.. since you want to overclock i would go with the asrock.
but think of it like this

ASROCK- features and price- good features,decent quality, great price.
ASUS-Excellent features and quality- amazing quality and features, decent price.

Asus is more recommended over asrock according to most tomhardwarers,
get the asrock since overlocking

 

[Vatican]

^ that actually makes no sense to me what you said on why you would want to go with an Asrock.

 

[BVKnight]

I think he is saying that Asus has better build quality and features than Asrock, but at a higher price. I ended up going with the Asrock because of the better power delivery for overclocking, and the big price jump wasn't worth the better BIOS or software to me if I switched to a comparable Asus.

 

[BVKnight]

Best answer selected by BVKnight.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr