Six $160-220 Z77 Motherboards, Benchmarked And Reviewed
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Combining the newest features with moderate expandability, Intel’s mainstream platforms provide high value to most gaming and overclocking enthusiasts. We compare six examples with Z77 Express to find the best features, overclocking, and efficiency.
Six $160-220 Z77 Motherboards, Benchmarked And Reviewed : Read more
Six $160-220 Z77 Motherboards, Benchmarked And Reviewed : Read more
More about : 160 220 z77 motherboards benchmarked reviewed
TekN9Ne
April 30, 2012 5:04:08 AM
Anonymous
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April 30, 2012 5:18:29 AM
Related resources
- Ivy Bridge CPUs on Z77 Benchmarks & Review - i7-3770K & i5-3570K - Forum
- Is there a Z77 High-End Motherboard Review out? - Forum
- Asus sabertooth z77 motherboard review. - Forum
HMSvictory
April 30, 2012 6:16:03 AM
I am surprised that you guys did not include the Asus z77-V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Score
10
rickrents
April 30, 2012 6:27:25 AM
confish21
April 30, 2012 6:29:10 AM
confish21
April 30, 2012 6:31:27 AM
TekN9NeGreat review! At the end of day, it comes down to brand loyalty.
I don't think the article stated anything like that. It comes down to the features you want and the cards you plan to use. In the MSI vs ASRock debate, it's x8-x4-x4 with all three slots in PCIe 3.0 mode, or x8-x8-x4 with x4 in PCIe 2.0 mode, and you're definitely wiser to pick between them based on WHAT you plan to use in the third slot.simone saysdo you mean nvidia and intel gets news during weekends not only news but featured articles?
It's Monday here, and editorial has very little contact with news.HMSvictoryI am surprised that you guys did not include the Asus z77-Vhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131820
Tom's Hardware didn't "include" anything in the review. A couple boards were excluded based on price, and everything else was let in. The P8Z77-V Pro was the cheapest board Asus sent.rickrentswhy not with Pci-e 3.0?
Editor had no PCIe 3.0 cards. And the reason he didn't get one yet is because it didn't matter. The only thing that really mattered in a single-GPU MOTHERBOARD comparison was to use the same card on all platforms.confish21One thing i was looking for was the part about asrock not having true "digital" PWM and going with an analog PWM. Does this really matter?
Some digital voltage regulators have been garbage, take a look at a few of the older reviews to see this. Very few have been very good. And many more analog voltage regulators have been garbage, while many more analog voltage regulators have been very good. Quality of execution is more important than the underlying technology.Score
10
HMSvictory
April 30, 2012 7:38:52 AM
tacoslave
April 30, 2012 7:42:50 AM
AlexIsAlex
April 30, 2012 8:42:54 AM
valuial
April 30, 2012 9:45:12 AM
Thanks Thomas another Great Article! Don't like what I see, but I digress.
Something's gotta be pooched with the ASUS P8Z77-V Pro BIOS (UEFI) -- hopefully. In the past the ASUS Pro line has been the meat & potatoes for my recommendations, and this is not the only review with similar performance numbers.
Voltages, I am going to have a hard time recommending a vCore >1.2Xv, VCCSA and CPU VTT of 1.20v on the IB. I still need to see otherwise. From what I've seen the IB is more 'girlish' with voltages than the SB or SB-E, and there's little point having the fans spinning 'through' the case and creating high dBA with a high vCore. RAM (voltage), it goes back to my feelings that 1.50v DIMM was a bunch of Urban Myths especially since the SB-E and seemingly the IB can handle 1.65v DIMM RAM.
Yeah, I noticed the XMP tried to set 1.25v VCCSA, or at least the set is encoded that way. Further, I don't wan to debate the OC until I get my hands on an IB, it should be any day now.
Further, either the Engineers were dead wrong on the SB (1.50) or IB (1.65) they're wrong in both instances. I 'get' ultra fast kits (today) >DDR3-2133 e.g. DDR-2400 or faster are 1.65v kits, but only a few months ago IF 'I' recommended SB + 1.65v I'd have 20+ negative comments in the Forum. Seems counter intuitive step in DRAM voltage.
Also, I am assuming you're testing the IB ES and I wonder how much of an impact that has in that the CPUID are geared towards the Retail. I remember all of the E5 (ES) problems and drops in performance compared to the Retail sisters.
OC observation only, you seemed 'wimpish' with the SB-E compared to the IB - interesting?!
Something's gotta be pooched with the ASUS P8Z77-V Pro BIOS (UEFI) -- hopefully. In the past the ASUS Pro line has been the meat & potatoes for my recommendations, and this is not the only review with similar performance numbers.
Voltages, I am going to have a hard time recommending a vCore >1.2Xv, VCCSA and CPU VTT of 1.20v on the IB. I still need to see otherwise. From what I've seen the IB is more 'girlish' with voltages than the SB or SB-E, and there's little point having the fans spinning 'through' the case and creating high dBA with a high vCore. RAM (voltage), it goes back to my feelings that 1.50v DIMM was a bunch of Urban Myths especially since the SB-E and seemingly the IB can handle 1.65v DIMM RAM.
Yeah, I noticed the XMP tried to set 1.25v VCCSA, or at least the set is encoded that way. Further, I don't wan to debate the OC until I get my hands on an IB, it should be any day now.
Further, either the Engineers were dead wrong on the SB (1.50) or IB (1.65) they're wrong in both instances. I 'get' ultra fast kits (today) >DDR3-2133 e.g. DDR-2400 or faster are 1.65v kits, but only a few months ago IF 'I' recommended SB + 1.65v I'd have 20+ negative comments in the Forum. Seems counter intuitive step in DRAM voltage.
Also, I am assuming you're testing the IB ES and I wonder how much of an impact that has in that the CPUID are geared towards the Retail. I remember all of the E5 (ES) problems and drops in performance compared to the Retail sisters.
OC observation only, you seemed 'wimpish' with the SB-E compared to the IB - interesting?!
Score
-1
notsleep
April 30, 2012 12:02:19 PM
spyfish
April 30, 2012 12:33:24 PM
Good review, I read a similar review before i decided for MSI Z77A-GD65.
A chose this board as it has a better Audio Chipset then the Competitors. This board comes with ALC898, while the other ones come with ALC892. Apparently ALC898 is far better than ALC892.
So far i am quite happy with the board.
Just 1 note, if overclocking do not disable "Power technologies", it will prevent overclocking. If i disabled the power saving features 1 by 1 i had no problems.
A chose this board as it has a better Audio Chipset then the Competitors. This board comes with ALC898, while the other ones come with ALC892. Apparently ALC898 is far better than ALC892.
So far i am quite happy with the board.
Just 1 note, if overclocking do not disable "Power technologies", it will prevent overclocking. If i disabled the power saving features 1 by 1 i had no problems.
Score
0
Pezcore27
April 30, 2012 1:13:33 PM
Fun mobo review as always!
I have always loved ECS for cheap 'value' builds (in fact I am using a 6 year old ECS board in a little htpc I am throwing together, it doesn't do much, but it has never let me down either), it is wierd seeing them in the 'high end' market like this, and (unlike previous boards they have produced) it looks stunning!
The first time I saw the gold on black look was with my ex3 gen3 board, which looked odd in pictures, but great in real life, and this new ECS board looks absolutely gorgeous in pics, so I am sure it looks great in real life as well.
Still, at the end of the day I am not sure that I would go for ECS on a high end build, but it is good to see that they are getting somewhere.
Also, it is good to see that ASRock is still doing OK now that they are no longer under the ASUS umbrella.
As for the review: Why even do the program benchmarks? We all know that the mobo is merely for the feature set, parts cooling, and power management quality for OCing (and truth be told aesthetics as well), and has next to no bearing on how fast things get processed at any specific frequency. All that I personally care about is the feature set, OC ability, and subjective ease of use for the UEFI and keeping it updated, vs the overall cost of the board.
I have always loved ECS for cheap 'value' builds (in fact I am using a 6 year old ECS board in a little htpc I am throwing together, it doesn't do much, but it has never let me down either), it is wierd seeing them in the 'high end' market like this, and (unlike previous boards they have produced) it looks stunning!
The first time I saw the gold on black look was with my ex3 gen3 board, which looked odd in pictures, but great in real life, and this new ECS board looks absolutely gorgeous in pics, so I am sure it looks great in real life as well.
Still, at the end of the day I am not sure that I would go for ECS on a high end build, but it is good to see that they are getting somewhere.
Also, it is good to see that ASRock is still doing OK now that they are no longer under the ASUS umbrella.
As for the review: Why even do the program benchmarks? We all know that the mobo is merely for the feature set, parts cooling, and power management quality for OCing (and truth be told aesthetics as well), and has next to no bearing on how fast things get processed at any specific frequency. All that I personally care about is the feature set, OC ability, and subjective ease of use for the UEFI and keeping it updated, vs the overall cost of the board.
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0
colson79
April 30, 2012 2:35:19 PM
spyfishGood review, I read a similar review before i decided for MSI Z77A-GD65.A chose this board as it has a better Audio Chipset then the Competitors. This board comes with ALC898, while the other ones come with ALC892. Apparently ALC898 is far better than ALC892.So far i am quite happy with the board.Just 1 note, if overclocking do not disable "Power technologies", it will prevent overclocking. If i disabled the power saving features 1 by 1 i had no problems.
Blame intel for that issue. The intel chipsets only support two 6gb sata ports, so motherboard manufactures have to install add in chips to get more and that drives up the cost.
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0
Zeppelingcdm
April 30, 2012 2:50:35 PM
shingudaze
April 30, 2012 3:44:09 PM
The only ECS Z77H2-A2X I can find is the regular one, not the golden, which seems to come in at around $220. I can't find built-in wifi on either of them, and the regular one doesn't state SLI ready.
It's hard to figure out if the golden one is worth the $55 price premium instead of just going for the ASUS board.
It's hard to figure out if the golden one is worth the $55 price premium instead of just going for the ASUS board.
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0
josejones
April 30, 2012 4:05:51 PM
I'm not really satisfied with the z77 features. I was hoping they'd do away with all the gen 2 stuff and go all gen 3 i.e. no USB 2, PCIe 2, sata 2 etc. and go all gen 3. Why not since they're backwards compatible?
Will there be a z78 chipset for Ivy Bridge? Otherwise, there will be zero upgrade options for the Ivy bridge. Especially since the z87 chipset supposedly will be for Haswell and the 1150 socket. I'd wait for Haswell but, my work computer I need to replace is from 2004 and I don't think it will make it another year.
Will there be a z78 chipset for Ivy Bridge? Otherwise, there will be zero upgrade options for the Ivy bridge. Especially since the z87 chipset supposedly will be for Haswell and the 1150 socket. I'd wait for Haswell but, my work computer I need to replace is from 2004 and I don't think it will make it another year.
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0
josejones
April 30, 2012 4:08:46 PM
jaquithVoltages, I am going to have a hard time recommending a vCore >1.2Xv, VCCSA and CPU VTT of 1.20v on the IB...only a few months ago IF 'I' recommended SB + 1.65v I'd have 20+ negative comments in the Forum...OC observation only, you seemed 'wimpish' with the SB-E compared to the IB - interesting?!
Actually, our engineering contacts recommended 1.40 to 1.45V for Sandy, and we only stepped down to 1.35V when a bio* board burned a CPU around 1.40V (apparently due to increased voltage during BIOS initialization). And the 1.65V memory thing...it was all about the difference between the memory controller and memory being less than 0.50V so VCCSA at 1.15V supposedly solved the 1.65V reliability issue.Pezcore27Just curious as to what made you pick the GA-Z77X-UD3H for $160 over the GA-Z77X-UD5H for $189? Is there not that much difference between the 2 boards?
Read my first response, Tom's Hardware DID NOT SELECT ANY of these boards for participation. It's on the manufacturer, ask them
ZeppelingcdmIs there any reason I shouldn't pop an i7 2600k into one of these motherboards? I have no current gaming machine, and as such am not upgrading from any relevant platform.
The third slot on the MSI board isn't supposed to work with Sandy Bridge processors, due to the CPU-integrated controller supporting a maximum of two devices. Otherwise, go for it!Score
3
aogcme
April 30, 2012 5:39:25 PM
Zeppelingcdm
April 30, 2012 5:40:08 PM
CrashmanActually, our engineering contacts recommended 1.40 to 1.45V for Sandy, and we only stepped down to 1.35V when a bio* board burned a CPU around 1.40V (apparently due to increased voltage during BIOS initialization). And the 1.65V memory thing...it was all about the difference between the memory controller and memory being less than 0.50V so VCCSA at 1.15V supposedly solved the 1.65V reliability issue.
It's not that I 'think or believe' the IB is going to degrade with 1.3Xv+ vCore voltage, it's the thermal limitations to most folks HSF selection that's the limiting factor.
I still then & now felt/fell the SB thoughts of 'greater than 1.50v RAM is going to fry/burnout/destroy/etc the SB' was a MYTH. In the forum I went along with it, but in real life -- folks want high performance RAM i.e. higher frequencies than DDR3-1600 -- so I gave it to them and the kits sure were above 1.50v. Your choice of 1.60v RAM simply made me think about that issue.
To clarify, my point was since both the SB-E & IB clearly can handle 1.65v RAM ... so could (can) the SB ... and it was/is a MYTH. Stability, sure increase the VCCIO to 1.20v which in most cases correct many stability issues. Ditto with SB-E, VCCSA to 1.10v~1.20v and match the CPU VTT to the VCCSA.
However, IMO don't exceed 1.25v (VCCIO, VCCSA or CPUVTT).
Score
1
memadmaxI want to see a "Best motherboards for the money" type of thing.
You just did. This is "Best motherboard for the money" in the $160-220 Z77 class.The market changes too quickly to put all the motherboards into a single article, and we'd need to test every brand and model. It's not like "Best Graphics Cards for the Money" where we could say "Z77 Wins" as we might say "HD 6950 Wins".
Score
4
Crashman said:
Hey guys, what price range would you like to see next? $100-160 or $220-280?I vote for the $100 - $160. Most people are on a fixed budget and are looking for the bare minimum to have a board for potential SLI/Crossfire.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $134.99 + $7.87 Shipping
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $144.99 FREE SHIPPING
ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $144.99 + $7.87 Shipping
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $149.99 FREE SHIPPING
MSI Z77A-GD55 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Score
0
Why_Me said:
I vote for the $100 - $160. Most people are on a fixed budget and are looking for the bare minimum to have a board for potential SLI/Crossfire.Score
2
re-play-
May 1, 2012 1:11:02 PM
re-play-the GAz77-ud3h those x8/x4 sli or cf, i already have that in my am3+ mobo... if i decide in future to go intel after 8years with amd i will get the Biostar one it does x8/x8 at least
All of these boards do x8/x8 crossfire. Every single one.eddieroolzGood board review. I'm personally going with a ASUS Sabertooth Z77 board instead, but I'd love to see it in a $250 review.
OK, so we have one vote for low-end and one for high-end. If I don't see a pattern emerge, I'll just leave it to the manufacturers.Score
1
Speaking of high end boards, I'm looking forward to the release of the Asrock Z77 extreme9. It comes with everything but the kitchen sink. Hopefully everything on it works like it's suppose to.
http://www.asrock.com/microsite/intelz77/Z77-Extreme9.h... <---- that's it there. I'm guessing an easy $300+ USD for that board.
http://www.asrock.com/microsite/intelz77/Z77-Extreme9.h... <---- that's it there. I'm guessing an easy $300+ USD for that board.
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0
zeratul600
May 1, 2012 11:48:26 PM
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May 2, 2012 2:22:33 AM
dreadlokz
May 2, 2012 4:43:41 AM
dreadlokzsry, it was just a scam! truth is there is no much difference in gaming when you compare z68 to z77!Ivy is all about features and performance overall, z68 just game as well!
No scam, new standards precede the need for new standards. Besides, there is an excuse in boards such as MSI's, where PCIe 3.0 is needed to make the new x4 slots perform as well as the old x8 slots. Score
0
+1 vote for 100 through 160. i would like to see who offers the best board for the cheapest.
whenever anyone is asking which mobo they should buy, they usually want to spend as little money as possible while still meeting all their demands.
hence why the asrock extreme 3 gen 3 is one of the most suggested boards on this site
whenever anyone is asking which mobo they should buy, they usually want to spend as little money as possible while still meeting all their demands.
hence why the asrock extreme 3 gen 3 is one of the most suggested boards on this site
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0
re-play-
May 2, 2012 12:57:47 PM
mojorisin23
May 2, 2012 2:26:44 PM
- 1 / 2
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It's on the second to last paragraph...