Asus packs its Z87I-Deluxe I/O panel with six USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports, but loses PS/2 and eSATA compared to ASRock’s competing product. Internal connectors are moved around to make room for a far-larger 12-phase CPU input voltage regulator.
The I/O panel also gains a USB BIOS Flashback button. This Asus-exclusive feature allows builders to flash a new firmware version using nothing more than a power supply and USB thumb drive, and is particularly useful when installing a newer, unsupported CPU on an older board. We shouldn’t need to worry about that for a while, since all of the Haswell-based processors compatible with LGA 1150 are pretty recent.
Analog connectivity on the rear panel drops to three jacks, though DTS Connect technology encodes live audio streams to 5.1-channel surround over a single digital output.
Asus saves space by placing Broadcom’s dual-channel, 867 Mb/s-capable 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth controller on a vertical I/O panel riser. And since the vertical voltage regulator impedes access around the CPU socket, the Z87I-Deluxe’s eight-pin CPU power connector is relocated to the board’s front edge. Large CPU coolers may force builders to connect fan header cables before placing the board into a case.
The USB 3.0 front-panel header is a little close to the CPU socket, which may cause clearance issues with some coolers. Though most large heat sinks can be rotated out of the way, the upright voltage regulator may prevent low-profile models (those with little motherboard clearance) from being rotated. Those factors make cooler offset and vertical clearance equally important, which is why they’re listed on page one of Eight Low-Profile CPU Coolers For Your Compact PC, Reviewed.

Asus surprises us by including all six SATA 6Gb/s internal cables with its six-port board. An I/O shield, Wi-Fi antenna, and front-panel lead extender round out the kit.
- The Mini-ITX Market Is Small, But Growing...
- ASRock Z87E-ITX
- Z87E-ITX Software
- Z87E-ITX Firmware
- Asus Z87I-Deluxe
- Z87I-Deluxe Software
- Z87I-Deluxe Firmware
- EVGA Z87 Stinger
- Z87 Stinger Software
- Z87 Stinger Firmware
- Gigabyte Z87N-WiFi
- Z87N-WiFi Software
- Z87N-WiFi Firmware
- MSI Z87I
- Z87I Software
- Z87I Firmware
- Test Hardware And Benchmark Settings
- Results: 3DMark And PCMark
- Results: SiSoftware Sandra
- Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Results: Adobe Creative Suite
- Results: Productivity
- Results: File Compression
- Energy, Heat, And Efficiency
- Overclocking
- Which Mini-ITX Motherboard Would We Buy For Haswell?


Yes, they've sent one for another article. If the site did multiple items per manufacturer the article would take weeks to finish. That wouldn't be a problem if all Tom's Hardware did was motherboards
More room between the PCI-E and CPU LGA is nice on the Asus as are all the features.
I am still running an older H55n usb3 24/7 and it has been quite stable and cool and low on power consumption. Shame that this new gigabyte board has higher power and temperature levels.
Overall it's good to see the roundup. Would have liked to see post times. With SSD storage, motherboard post times are now becoming the longer wait in a system boot up.
Also interested in thoughts on reasons for Z87 mobos for a standard non-overclocking build. For a non-overclocked gaming ITX PC, say with an I3 or low-end I5, are there any compelling reasons to pay the Z87 premium over, say an H81, which can run $100 cheaper?
I thought Intel did away with allowing non-k processors to use the four 100 MHz bins with Haswell. It only applies to Sandy and Ivy. At least that was what has been reported:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2013/06/14/haswell-overclocking/1
Now that looks interesting.
I don't see how this is even a consideration. How many people have the need to plug in the connector AFTER installing the cooler? Or for that matter, BEFORE removing the cooler? The only need to move this at all would be during a PSU swap, which is probably very infrequent for most.
Now that looks interesting.
Yep that does look interesting.
Some other itx boards, not as cool as that MSI, but worth sharing.
http://www.asus.com/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/P9DI/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Q87T/
http://www.asrock.com/server/overview.asp?Model=E3C226D2I
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4463#ov
Not ITX but worth sharing too
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/CSB/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/VANGUARD_B85/
Yep the Deluxe has Wifi AC and pro has Wifi N