Seven Sub-$160 Z77 Express Motherboards, Reviewed

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Intel’s LGA 1155 interface is designed for mainstream buyers, yet the firm’s Ivy Bridge-based processors put it in the performance spotlight. We compare seven Z77 Express motherboards that deliver enthusiast-class performance at mainstream prices.

Z77H2-A2X Deluxe Applications

ECS' installation disk autoruns to reveal an exciting array of software, which we discovered is mostly garbage. For example, a bad system date following a firmware update lead us to these three screens:

Image 1 of 3

The “Special Upgrade” price for Power Director 10 Ultra and Power DVD 12 Ultra are $80 and $85. We hope that CyberLink is paying ECS for that kind of advertising.

ECS' proprietary programs continue to function, such as its eBLU firmware updating utility. It found us an update that we didn’t even spot on the motherboard’s download page.

The eDLU utility opens an ECS webpage showing the latest drivers the firm has loaded for the detected motherboard.

The eSF utility is able to set a temperature-based fan speed slope. It was limited to CPU fan speed for this particular hardware configuration.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.