Four Z87 Express Motherboards Under $300, Reviewed
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We’re almost amazed every time Intel unveils another revamped core architecture, when its best-performing technology ends up packaged for mainstream desktop, mobile, and server customers. The company's ability to simultaneously touch so many segments with one launch makes its strategy pretty tough to knock. But it also means that fans of the latest and greatest (particularly on the desktop) top out at four cores, while enthusiasts eager to gobble up the most complex processors have to wait for the enterprise-derived Extreme parts to catch up. Because a lot of the games we play stop scaling around four cores, that's usually fine for most folks.
Also fine (most of the time) is an integrated PCI Express 3.0 controller, which enjoys very low latency. The biggest bummer for gamers is that Intel's mainstream platforms only expose 16 lanes. With the Haswell generation, you can connect as many as three cards to the CPU-based PCIe, but the requisite lane division isn't particularly attractive. That capability probably appeals most on high-end office PCs or entry-level workstations.
Sixteen lanes sound like a big bottleneck for systems packing multiple graphics cards, but there's more to the story. Since each card in a multi-GPU array uses the same data, a PCIe bridge able to map 16 lanes to three or four x16 slots works well. But that component is costly, and its expense divides the premium Z87 Express motherboard market into two segments: boards that support three-way SLI and those armed with almost everything except three-way SLI. Since most of us are happy with one or two super-fast cards fed by an equally potent processor, we're staying under that $300 barrier today, focusing on the premium features we can get without worrying about a PCIe bridge and putting more of our efforts into overclocking.
| LGA 1150 ATX Motherboard Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | ASRock Z87 OC Formula | Asus Maximus VI Formula | Gigabyte Z87X-UD5H | MSI Z87 MPower Max |
| PCB Revision | 1.03 | 1.02 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| Chipset | Intel Z87 Express | Intel Z87 Express | Intel Z87 Express | Intel Z87 Express |
| Voltage Regulator | 12 Phases | Eight Phases | 16 Phases | 20 Phases |
| BIOS | P1.80 (08/23/2013) | 0804 (08/19/2013) | F7 (08/02/2013) | V1.3 (08/23/2013) |
| 100.0 MHz BCLK | 99.97 (-0.03%) | 100.00 (-0.00%) | 99.77 (-0.23%) | 100.01 (+0.01%) |
| I/O Panel Connectors | ||||
| P/S2 | 1 | None | 1 | 1 |
| USB 3.0 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| USB 2.0 | 2 | 4 | None | 2 |
| Network | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| CLR_CMOS Button | Yes | Yes | None | Yes |
| Digital Audio Out | Optical | Optical | Optical | Optical |
| Digital Audio In | None | None | None | None |
| Analog Audio | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Video Out | HDMI | HDMI, DisplayPort | DVI-I, Dual HDMI, DisplayPort | Dual HDMI, DisplayPort |
| Other Devices | HDMI-In (Pass-through) | ROG Connect, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Module | None | Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Module |
| Internal Interfaces | ||||
| PCIe 3.0 x16 | 3 (x16/x0/x0, x8/x8/x0, x8/x4/x4) | 3 (x16/x0/x0, x8/x8/x0, x8/x4/x4) | 3 (x16/x0/x0, x8/x8/x0, x8/x4/x4) | 3 (x16/x0/x0, x8/x8/x0, x8/x4/x4) |
| PCIe 2.0 x16 | 1 (x4 transfers) | None | None | None |
| PCIe 2.0 x1 | 2 Full, 1 Mini | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| USB 3.0 | 2 (4-ports) +1 Port | 1 (2-ports) | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) |
| USB 2.0 | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) |
| SATA 6Gb/s | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 (1 shared w/mSATA) |
| 4-Pin Fan | 2 | 8 | 7 | 5 |
| 3-Pin Fan | 6 (1-occupied) | None | None | None |
| FP-Audio | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| S/PDIF I/O | None | Output Only | Output And Input | None |
| Internal Buttons | Power, Reset, CLR_CMOS, Rapid OC | Power, Reset, DirectKey, MemOK | Power, Reset, CLR_CMOS | Power, Reset, OC Genie, Go To BIOS |
| Internal Switch | BIOS Selector, PCIe Disable, Slow Mode, LN2 Mode | Fast Boot | BIOS mode, BIOS selector | BIOS Selector |
| Diagnostics Panel | Verbose | Numeric | Numeric | Numeric |
| Other Devices | Voltage Probes, Serial, mini PCIe | OC Panel Header, NGFF | Dual IEEE-1394, PCI, TPM | mSATA (Shared w/SATA) |
| Mass Storage Controllers | ||||
| Chipset SATA | 6 x SATA 6Gb/s | 6 x SATA 6Gb/s | 6 x SATA 6Gb/s | 6 x SATA 6Gb/s |
| Chipset RAID Modes | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 |
| Add-In SATA | 2 x ASM1061 PCIe 4 x SATA 6Gb/s | 2 x ASM1061 PCIe 4 x SATA 6Gb/s | 88SE9230 PCIe 4 x SATA 6Gb/s | ASM1061 PCIe 2 x SATA 6Gb/s |
| USB 3.0 | EJ188H PCIe (4-ports) ASM1074 Hub (4-ports) | ASM1074 Hub (4-ports) | 2 x D720210 Hub (8-ports) | D720202 PCIe (2-ports)ASM1074 Hub (4-ports) |
| Networking | ||||
| Primary LAN | WGI217V PHY | WGI217V PHY | WGI217V PHY | Killer E2205 PCIe |
| Secondary LAN | None | None | WGI210AT PCIe | None |
| Wi-Fi | None | BCM4352 PCIe 2x2 802.11ac Dual-BandUp To 867 Mb/s | None | Intel 2230 PCIe 2x2 802.11n Single-BandUp To 300 Mb/s |
| Bluetooth | None | Via 802.11ac Combo | None | Via 802.11n Combo |
| Audio | ||||
| HD Audio Codec | ALC1150 | ALC1150 | ALC898 | ALC1150 |
| DDL/DTS Connect | DTS Connect | DTS Connect | None | None |
| Warranty | Five Years | Three Years | Three Years | Three Years |
