Mini-ITX And Z77: Go Small, Go Fast, Or Go Home
Originally developed for boring tasks like industrial PCs and point-of-sale terminals, AMD breathed new life into VIA’s single-slot mini-ITX form factor with its own dual-slot DTX version. Soon after, the combination of motherboards with one expansion slot and cases able to take dual-slot cards became the standard for portable gaming PCs. But Intel ironically appears to be the biggest beneficiary of AMD's efforts. After all, it sells the high-performance, low-heat processors needed in a fast, quiet platform with big-time thermal constraints. Ouch.
As a result, we demand a lot more from small gaming-oriented machines. It's no longer acceptable to simply build a system that excels at video playback, particularly when technologies like AMD's VCE and Intel's Quick Sync accelerate that workload right on the APU or CPU itself. And with system builders putting 4.3 GHz Core i7s and GeForce GTX 680s into mini-ITX-based platforms four inches thick (Meet The Tiki: Core i7-3770K And GeForce GTX 680 In A Mini-ITX Box?), enthusiasts will no doubt want to the ability to build similarly-potent boxes.
But if it's possible to cram the goodness of Intel's Ivy Bridge and efficient graphics architectures like Kepler into mini-ITX using Intel's mainstream H77 Express chipset, why bother spending more on a Z77 Express-based board? Well, it wouldn't have been possible for Falcon Northwest to have hit 4.3 GHz in its Tiki using H77, for starters. Overclocking demands that you spring for the pricier core logic. Although we doubt you'd care too much about tuning up a home theater PC, we’re nevertheless intrigued by motherboards that can serve that market in addition to the performance-hungry gaming industry.
We see today’s motherboards with Intel's flagship mainstream chipset as enablers of the best from both worlds. Of course, if you disagree and only really want to build a stock-clocked media-oriented machine, simply step down to the H77-based versions of the boards we're testing today.
| Z77 ITX Motherboard Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | ASRock Z77E-ITX | Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe | EVGA Z77 Stinger | MSI Z77IA-E53 |
| PCB Revision | Initial | 1.04 | 1.0 | 2.1 |
| Chipset | Intel Z77 Express | Intel Z77 Express | Intel Z77 Express | Intel Z77 Express |
| Voltage Regulator | Six Phases | Ten Phases | Seven Phases | Eight Phases |
| BIOS | P1.70 (12/17/2012) | 801 (12/04/2012) | 1.0 (11/08/2012) | V10.1 (10/19/2012) |
| 100.0 MHz BCLK | 100.39 MHz (+0.39%) | 100.30 MHz (+0.30%) | 99.78 MHz (-0.22%) | 100.00 MHz (+0.0%) |
| I/O Panel Connectors | ||||
| PS/2 | 1 | None | None | 1 |
| USB 3.0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| USB 2.0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| Network | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| eSATA | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| CLR_CMOS Button | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Digital Audio Out | Optical | Optical | Optical | Optical |
| Digital Audio In | None | None | None | None |
| Analog Audio | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| Video | DVI-I, DisplayPort, HDMI | HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI-I | mini-DisplayPort, HDMI | VGA, HDMI |
| Other Devices | Wi-Fi Antennas | Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Antennas USB BIOS Flashback | Bluetooth Transceiver | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Internal Interfaces | ||||
| Expansion Slot | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| Mini PCIe | x1 (filled) | x1 (filled) | x1 | x1 |
| USB 3.0 | 1 (2-ports) | 1 (2-ports) | 1 (2-ports) | 1 (2-ports) |
| USB 2.0 | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) | 1 (2-ports) |
| SATA 6.0 Gb/s | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| SATA 3.0 Gb/s | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 4-Pin Fan | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 3-Pin Fan | None | None | None | None |
| FP-Audio | 1 | 1 | None | 1 |
| S/PDIF I/O | None | Output Only | None | None |
| Internal Buttons | None | MemOK, TPU | Power, Reset | None |
| Diagnostics Panel | None | None | Numeric | None |
| Legacy | CIR | None | None | None |
| Mass Storage Controllers | ||||
| Chipset SATA | 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 2 x SATA 3Gb/s1x mSATA 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s | 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 2 x SATA 3Gb/s 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s | 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 2 x SATA 3Gb/s | 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 2 x SATA 3Gb/s 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s |
| Chipset RAID Modes | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 |
| Add-In SATA | None | None | 88SE6121 PCIe2 x eSATA 3Gb/s | None |
| USB 3.0 | ASM1042 PCIe (2-ports) Z77 Integrated (4-ports) | ASM1042 PCIe (2-ports) Z77 Integrated (4-ports) | ASM1042 PCIe (2-ports) Z77 Integrated (4-ports) | None |
| Networking | ||||
| Primary LAN | BCM57781 PCIe | WG82579V PHY | WG82574L PCIe | RTL8111E PCIe |
| Wi-Fi | RTL8191SE PCIe 802.11n/g/b1x2 Config, 2.4 GHz | BCM43228 PCIe 802.11n/g/b BT Combo2x2 Config, 2.4/5 GHz | None | AR9271 UB94 USB 802.11n/g/b1x1 Config, 2.4 GHz |
| Bluetooth | None | (see above) | BTA3011M01 USB | AR3011 USB |
| Audio | ||||
| HD Audio Codec | ALC898 | ALC898 | ALC898 | ALC892 |
| DDL/DTS Connect | Not Specified | DTS Connect | Not Specified | Not Specified |
| Warranty | Three Years | Three Years | Three Years | Three Years |
High-end chipsets represent only a small part of the mini-ITX market, so we weren’t surprised to find only a handful of available products. It was more surprising to us that there were two companies selling Z77-based boards that specifically asked not to be included. In some cases, it seems that vendors are using pricier Z77 Express platform controller hubs for segmentation, while focusing more intently on the markets typically served by H77's feature set.
