The (Wi-Fi ac) suffix adds Broadcom’s dual-band 802.11ac controller to the already-likeable features of Asus' Z97 Pro. That controller also features integrated Bluetooth connectivity, and stands in contrast to the secondary wired controller offered by competing products in today’s round-up. We'd certainly call this board's networking suite most-practical.
The wired controller, Intel’s WGI218V, leverages PCH features over a custom link to save a PCIe lane. That means the only “waste” we see on the I/O panel is a VGA port, which we saw ASRock smartly do away with.
Other I/O panel features include four USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, and DisplayPort. A bit legacy for most enthusiasts, those “slow” USB 2.0 ports are still fast enough for a keyboard and mouse. And, users of ancient keyboards or mice will also find a PS/2 port that can serve either purpose.
Asus TPU (auto overclocking), EPU (lower-energy mode), and EZ XMP switches stand in stark contrast to a black PCB. That last switch lets you invoke an Intel XMP memory profile without forcing you into the firmware; it could be useful for boutique builders who worry about enthusiastic customers getting lost after resetting the UEFI.
Three buttons make this platform easier for overclockers to use. The Z97 Pro(Wi-Fi ac)'s power button lets you test the board outside of a case without shorting the power pins manually. MemOK allows users of poorly-programmed memory to boot once at lower clock rates and/or higher latencies. At that point, you can enter the UEFI and manually dial-in voltage. And USB BIOS Flashback employs its own logic controller to re-flash firmware, even if you don’t have a CPU or memory installed.
Barely cheaper than more purpose-built three-way SLI boards, the Z97 Pro(Wi-Fi ac) can deliver 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes to the primary slot or split them between the first and second x16 slots in x8/x8 mode. The third x16-length slot gets a maximum of four lanes from the Z97’s eight-lane PCIe 2.0 controller, though two of those lanes are also wired to x1 slots and one more is wired to the ASM1042AE USB 3.0 controller. An ASM1184e PCIe x1 to x4 switch gives the Z97 Pro(Wi-Fi ac) enough connectivity to feed other on-board devices, but still doesn’t have enough lanes to fix that specific pathway sharing issue. If you want to use any of those aforementioned features, the bottom slot shifts into x1 mode. Visual tricks like this might attract customers, but I would have settled for an open-ended x1 (or x4) slot in that location instead.
Two of the Z97 PCH’s six SATA ports are found within a SATA Express connector, so they can be used either way. Those same ports are, however, also connected to the M.2 interface, forcing some builders to choose between connector technologies. Asus retains six traditional SATA-only ports by adding a two-port ASM1061 SATA 6Gb/s controller (though both ports share a single 5 Gb/s PCIe 2.0 link).
The Z97 Pro(Wi-Fi ac) front-panel audio jack is found about an inch forward from the traditional rear corner location. The significance of this layout change depends on case selection, since some cases still have FP-Audio cables around half-an-inch too short to reach that corner. It’s hard to believe that certain case manufacturers still haven’t addressed the issue (a carryover from AC'97 days), but Asus has.
Four SATA cables in the Z97 Pro(Wi-Fi ac) installation kit appear a little basic, especially given the unit's $212 price. Then again, Asus appears to be targeting a gaming and overclocking market that often isn’t very reliant on complex drive configurations.
- Maximizing The LGA 1150 Mainstream?
- ASRock Z97 Extreme6
- Z97 Extreme6 Software
- Z97 Extreme6 Firmware
- Asus Z97 Pro(Wi-Fi ac)
- Z97 Pro(Wi-Fi ac) Software
- Z97 Pro(Wi-Fi ac) Firmware
- Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H
- Z97X-UD5H Software
- Z97X-UD5H Firmware
- MSI Z97 MPower
- Z97 MPower Software
- Z97 MPower Firmware
- Supermicro C7Z97-OCE
- C7Z97-OCE Software
- C7Z97-OCE Firmware
- How We Tested Enthusiast-Oriented Z97 Motherboards
- Results: 3DMark and PCMark
- Results: SiSoftware Sandra 2014
- Results: 3D Games
- Results: Audio and Video Encoding
- Results: Adobe Creative Suite
- Results: Productivity
- Results: File Compression
- Results: Power, Heat and Efficiency
- Results: Overclocking
- Which Z97 Motherboard Is Best?


My thoughts you can find the hero board within that price range quite easy. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-maximusviihero
I'm buying the Asus Z97i-plus because it just mount a 2x M.2 2280 and 2260, and all other connectivity goodness, uninterested in overclocking unless the broadwell i5 K consume less than 90W
I recently bought a Z97I-Plus. Being so used to EATX boards as of late, I was a tad
stunned at how tiny even the packing box is.
initially to see how it behaves. Pondering a GTX 750 Ti, but kinda hoping NVIDIA
will release a newer version in Sept.
Ian.
Hello. I think there are more reasons to buy a ROG product, instead of a Wi-Fi controller...
Better audio quality.
Better MOF-SETs.
Better inductors.
ROG BIOS.
Generally ROG boards have better quality parts.
But in the end we need the reviewers (like you) to review as many products as they can, so we can see the performance difference between them.
Nothing. No one would use wifi on a ROG board that is geared for gaming. I can't see many buyers of the Z97 Pro using wifi either for that matter. Unless of course you like to pack up your tower and walk around with it in one hand and your monitor in the other.
Nothing would be added, just better board quality. No one would use wifi on a ROG board that is geared for gaming. I can't see many buyers of the Z97 Pro using wifi either for that matter. Unless of course you like to pick up your tower and walk around with it in one hand and your monitor in the other tonguing the mouse for movement. But yes that would use that wifi controller.
Nothing would be added, just better board quality. No one would use wifi on a ROG board that is geared for gaming. I can't see many buyers of the Z97 Pro using wifi either for that matter. Unless of course you like to pick up your tower and walk around with it in one hand and your monitor in the other tonguing the mouse for movement. But yes that would use that wifi controller.
Whole heartily agree! With any worth while gaming setup you wouldn't be playing games over wifi anyway. The slap in the face bandwidth wise is enough to keep people away. Lets check Intel Lan/Killer Nic yea I'll stick with one of those two thank you.
Hello. I think there are more reasons to buy a ROG product, instead of a Wi-Fi controller...
Better audio quality.
Better MOF-SETs.
Better inductors.
ROG BIOS.
Generally ROG boards have better quality parts.
But in the end we need the reviewers (like you) to review as many products as they can, so we can see the performance difference between them.
Nothing would be added, just better board quality. No one would use wifi on a ROG board that is geared for gaming. I can't see many buyers of the Z97 Pro using wifi either for that matter. Unless of course you like to pick up your tower and walk around with it in one hand and your monitor in the other tonguing the mouse for movement. But yes that would use that wifi controller.
The problem for Asus is that they like to win awards. Costlier components don't boost a review rating when they don't boost performance or overclocking. In case you missed it, MOST of Asus' deluxe boards have out-overclocked MOST of its ROG boards in Tom's Hardware's tests.
As for Wi-Fi, I've occasionally set up mine as an access point.
As for Wi-Fi, I've occasionally set up mine as an access point.
My apologies for the delay of responding. Due to a surgery after medial meniscus injury, I can't [removed] sit too much on my PC desk for some weeks.
Indeed, every company wants awards in their product page to show how good their product is.
Well, "Deluxe" products could be able to compete in o/c since they have similar PWM phases used. They also have same quality inductors. On the other hand "Pro" products aren't the same as "Deluxe" (they have a good difference in their price as well) and they are missing the things I just wrote (apart from other fearures...).
Also from the time Asus first release a cheap (~$200) ROG motherboard (Hero and Ranger joined a year later...), Tom's Hardware didn't made a review on them yet. And the only Z97/Z87/Z77 Asus ROG product in the reviews is the Z87 Maximus VI Formula, which won an elite award. Asus seems to send Deluxe and Pro products all the time, but they rarely send an ROG motherboard. So I think there is a large margin of error in comparing just one product to a lot of others, the results will be heavily affected by the result of one product (Maximus Formula).
For Wi-Fi, I just use my router's controller which was provided by my ISP, free of charge...
ps: I couldn't miss it since I read Tom's Hardware daily (mostly waiting for each day's article, apart from weekends which you almost never do) with a cup of coffee, like most people read a newspaper, the last five years
ps2: I would love to hear also raja@asus opinion on this.
Watch the language. - G
edit: Sorry G, I didn't noticed it. I mistyped...