MSI has the least-expensive board in today’s comparison, its Z77IA-E53 selling for $145. But we still need to compare its features against products that cost more. Otherwise, it'd take a clear lead in performance-per-dollar, and I think we can all agree that the following chart fails to tell the whole story of what's going on in the mini-ITX market.

ASRock's Z77E-ITX suffers in that chart because the company chooses to use a pricier PCIe-based wireless adapter, which it doesn't derive any performance from in the benchmarks. However, it also lacks Bluetooth connectivity, and MSI's board does come with that. We’re not sure how many people necessarily have to have Bluetooth, but the feature is certainly worth something to those who can use it. The applications we can think of where Bluetooth might be important are wireless gaming control, which can now be accomplished via smartphone-based applications, music synchronization, which could be a key feature for media center PCs, and phone/tablet file transfers. Compact gaming and media centers are primary targets for both products.
Beyond that, ASRock's Z77E-ITX costs $5 more than MSI’s Z77IA-E53. Is it able to derive any additional value elsewhere? A higher-quality wireless adapter (with two receive antennas) isn’t ASRock’s only advantage over MSI, though. MSI’s board, for example, lacks the DVI and DisplayPort connectors featured on the Z77E-ITX, and ASRock gives you enough back-panel analog audio outputs to do 7.1-channel sound without involving a front-panel jack. Let's frame those features within the compact gaming and media center markets, though. Gamers typically don’t have more than six-channel sound systems. And if you're in a home theater environment, you can either use the board's HDMI output or the connector on a discrete card to bitstream high-quality audio to your AVR anyway. Thus, ASRock is going to have a hard time justifying the added expense of its extra connectors if they're typically not needed. We're willing to count the extra pair of USB 3.0 ports and higher-performing Wi-Fi controller as worth the Z77E-ITX’s $5 price premium.
With MSI and ASRock nearly tied, we have to decide whether Asus' P8Z77-I Deluxe is worth $30 more than MSI's board and $25 more than ASRock's. Asus starts off right in justifying its value with a PCIe-based dual-band Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo card armed with two transmit and two receive antennas, an added pair of USB 3.0 ports, an extra eSATA connector, and a full set of on-board video outputs. The P8Z77-I Deluxe has the same analog audio connectivity issues as MSI, necessitating front-panel involvement if you want eight-channel sound. But DTS Connect addresses those issues by encoding simulated 7.1-channel audio and sending it through the optical output. Asus maintains a list of other technologies only found on its platform, including the ability to charge smartphones and tablets through its USB ports, more granular fan control, and the ability to flash the board's BIOS without a CPU or memory installed. The P8Z77-I Deluxe also has far more space for CPU cooling, since Asus places the Z77 PCH between the processor interface and graphics slot. The voltage regulator daughterboard is even short enough to fit under the bottom fin of most tower-style coolers. More aggressive tuning becomes the best reason to pay $30 more for Asus’ P8Z77-I Deluxe.
And so, the best value you can find for a media center-oriented Z77 Express-based motherboard turns out to be a tie between ASRock’s Z77E-ITX and MSI’s Z77IA-E53, depending on the features you need.
Asus unquestionably takes the recommendation as the best board to build a miniaturized gaming platform on, its P8Z77-I Deluxe able to deliver more wattage and accommodate a wider range of coolers. It also comes with a longer list of features, which you do pay for. But there's a lot more cool functionality included than you might expect to find on a mini-ITX motherboard.
What about EVGA’s Z77 Stinger? It's more limited in features, overclocking on it seemed to be hamstrung, and it's expensive. Those quibbles could be fixed if the company ditched its $20 mail-in-rebate in favor of a lower base price, added the missing Wi-Fi card, and worked on its under-developed firmware. Even then, this is the only board we’ve seen in many years without a front-panel audio header. That's simply a standard feature that every commercial builder uses, and any commercial builder would have a tough time explaining why a PC’s front-panel audio jacks are dead. And as do-it-yourselfers, most of us expect our machines to be more functional than those built commercially.
- Mini-ITX And Z77: Go Small, Go Fast, Or Go Home
- ASRock Z77E-ITX
- Z77E-ITX Firmware
- Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe
- P8Z77-I Deluxe Firmware
- EVGA Z77 Stinger
- Z77 Stinger Firmware
- MSI Z77IA-E53
- Z77IA-E53 Firmware
- Test Settings And Benchmarks
- Results: 3DMark And PCMark
- Results: SiSoftware Sandra
- Results: Battlefield 3 And F1 2012
- Results: Skyrim And StarCraft 2
- Results: Adobe Creative Suite
- Results: Productivity
- Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Benchmark: File Compression
- Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- Overclocking Compared
- Which Mini-ITX Z77-Based Board Is Right For You?
That technology is available from MSI and Asrock (and Gigabyte, but that's irrelevant in this roundup). Look up MSI i-Charger and Asrock App Charger.
There was a big discussion between editors over whether or not the P8Z77-I Deluxe should get an award. The only award for "best features" is Tom's Hardware Approved, and that award is reserved for products that are clearly and obviously superior. The P8Z77-I Deluxe was a better board, but we had to look fairly hard to see it (it wasn't clear or obvious).
LOL, welcome to Windows 8.
How about using Windows 7? Was a reason you HAD to use 8 despite encountering issues? Is there some contractual obligation or monetary incentive to use the lastest version regardless of performance issues? Or at least test them both, it's only 4 motherboards.
It's not like the 80s/90s where you needed a full size AT/ATX motherboard with many slots for the ST-506 controller, floppy disk controller, serial port, parallel port, Sound Blaster card, VGA card, token ring card, and an extra cooling fan.
EDIT:
I will later get a Mini-ITX later & Silverstone case, stick in a Noctua NH-C12P & Haswell i7, and my Nv 680. That will have very high power density and worthy of being my "main" PC. (and it will OC)
Edit: Thanks for the update!
i would like to see an OC comparison of how high they can push an i5-3570k instead of an i7-3770k because i7 OCs are a lot more consistent. i keep seeing and hearing about people struggling to get a good OC out of it on a wide range of boards with the i5. i have an asus p8z77-i deluxe and i was able to get my i5-3570k to 4.8ghz @ 1.22v stable with extreme load line, it was stable but a bit hot because of the limitations of my all in one cooler. i think i could easily get it 5ghz on my asus board. didnt know the asrock had an msata under neither the mobo, but there will be obvious problems with mounting anything other than an all in one if you plan on using a graphics card. the only thing i would change about my asus is its unfortunate color scheme that matches nothing, after its installed you cant see much anyway. i would have liked to see how the z77 gigabyte itx board compares
i was thinking about that, the dual ethernet ports with teaming is pretty cool but i heard bad things about the overclocking capabilities on it. ultimately i went with the asus because it had the best wireless, good overclocking, best cpu position [others move it around making it hard when you choose a heat sink]
me too. the dual ethernet with teaming is pretty cool but i heard it was a poor OCer. anyone else having trouble commenting?
Comapring features, performance, power, and price I think it is an easy pick for winner.
Since this is a review site, I'm not sure I understand why Gigabyte had any say as to whether or not you reviewed their board.
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I'd like to see some mini-ITX gaming builds featured in the SBM, but let me throw out concern #1, and that's heat. Not of the CPU, or of the GPU, but internal case temperature, and its effects on other components (e.g. VRMs and drives). I used the ASRock board in a PC-Q08R, which has two fans, and still one day in the middle of a game the board died. It was an i5-3570K at stock, and a HD7870 also at stock. The CPU was on the warmer side of normal (60C-63C iirc), but what blew was apparently a VRM on the mobo. Maybe it was a fluke, but I've decided that to be long-term viable, the graphics card in such a build MUST exhaust its heat (such as the HIS "Black Hole" models).
Umm...NO!
Frankly, I really don't even like mATX and ATX is about all I use unless I'm building an HTPC or LAN box, or I need a 4-WAY then EATX.
Simply 'if' I want a small box + OC then undoubtedly the ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe is my top tier choice. This has been proven to be the best choice for some period of time i.e. since it was released. The OC'ing components are 'origamied' (folded) on to the MOBO so it's essentially an ATX with one major exception (1) one PCIe slot not to mention less 'stuff' e.g. SATA ports, etc.