Five Z87 Motherboards For Your Mini-ITX Build, Reviewed

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Z87I Firmware

MSI surrounds its menu settings with a status bar and several large icons, though the setting fonts are still large enough to read even after shrinking from the native 1024x768 to 600x450 scale.

The Z87I didn’t reach the stable 4.6 GHz at 1.25 V we were expecting from our processor, but it got close at 4.55 GHz using a 45x multiplier and 101 MHz BCLK. Our XMP-3000 memory was also properly configured within memory multiplier limits at 22x 1.33x 102.3 MHz.

Our 1.25 volt CPU core target was reached at the Z87I’s 1.240 V setting, and the memory’s 1.65 V rating was similarly reached at the board’s 1.635 V setting.

Primary, secondary, and tertiary memory timings are all configurable over a wide range, with our XMP-3000 defaults shown in grey text.

The Z87I also features DRAM training configuration.

MSI’s DigitALL Power menu still contains CPU Vdroop offset, though this has primarily become an integrated function of the CPU’s input-to-core voltage controller. Default settings gave us excellent voltage stability.

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Summary
  1. The Mini-ITX Market Is Small, But Growing...
  2. ASRock Z87E-ITX
  3. Z87E-ITX Software
  4. Z87E-ITX Firmware
  5. Asus Z87I-Deluxe
  6. Z87I-Deluxe Software
  7. Z87I-Deluxe Firmware
  8. EVGA Z87 Stinger
  9. Z87 Stinger Software
  10. Z87 Stinger Firmware
  11. Gigabyte Z87N-WiFi
  12. Z87N-WiFi Software
  13. Z87N-WiFi Firmware
  14. MSI Z87I
  15. Z87I Software
  16. Z87I Firmware
  17. Test Hardware And Benchmark Settings
  18. Results: 3DMark And PCMark
  19. Results: SiSoftware Sandra
  20. Results: Audio And Video Encoding
  21. Results: Adobe Creative Suite
  22. Results: Productivity
  23. Results: File Compression
  24. Energy, Heat, And Efficiency
  25. Overclocking
  26. Which Mini-ITX Motherboard Would We Buy For Haswell?
About the author
Thomas Soderstrom

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

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  • lp231
    Here is another MSI ITX board
  • PEJUman
    Why would one pay extra for ASUS's power delivery if it didn't yield any additional OC/DRAM stability? In the end, ASRock features & cheaper price should be a better option here.
  • Crashman
    Anonymous said:
    Here is another MSI ITX board

    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 :p
    Anonymous said:
    Why would one pay extra for ASUS's power delivery if it didn't yield any additional OC/DRAM stability? In the end, ASRock features & cheaper price should be a better option here.
    ASRock's cheaper features also made it a competitor with the cheaper boards for the value award. Since it competed well for both awards, it had to get a different award.
  • nukemaster
    While some may not like the layout, the Gigabyte and MSI layout should work well in some cases like the SG05 from SilverStone. The top mounted power and sata ports help keep wires out of the air flow path.

    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.
  • xkm1948
    Since most of them has built in Wi-Fi. Will it be better to include a Wi-Fi test column?
  • Crashman
    Anonymous said:
    Since most of them has built in Wi-Fi. Will it be better to include a Wi-Fi test column?
    We formerly had a controller reviewer, and I'd like to see someone take on this task again. A separate article on the controllers (with everything else identical) wouldn't tell you anything about the antennas included with different products, but antennas are cheaply replaceable.
  • KrazyKap
    Is the Asus Z87 Pro the same as the Deluxe? Seems to be region specific but I can't find the difference. Help? I've just bought the Pro for myself as it is only slightly more than the MSI or Gigabyte options.
  • unipablo
    I think that the Pro version comes with wifi-N instead of wifi-AC.
  • vertexx
    Let's just roll some dice and toss out some awards, eh? Couldn't help but laugh through the conclusion.

    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?
  • rolli59
    Nice review and boards, conclusion is all good buy's depending on what features you want except the EVGA.
  • rwpritchett
    From the article:
    Quote:
    A non K-series processor can still get a 9% overclock from Asus’ Z87I-Deluxe, in addition to the four 100 MHz bins of headroom available to those processors.


    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
  • nukemaster
    Anonymous said:
    Here is another MSI ITX board

    Now that looks interesting.
  • Half Life
    You know I am told that in the west, they give an award to every kid in the kindergarten during an competition so no one feels left out.
  • clonazepam
    Add the cost of a LED fan to mask that color scheme of the Asus ;) Of these, I'd go with the ASRock, but overall, I think I'd go AMD for this form factor.
  • Christopher Shaffer
    Quote:
    The Z87E-ITX’s CPU interface is positioned to the far right, putting more space between the CPU cooler and graphics card. Placing it there forced ASRock to move its eight-pin EPS12V connector to the left of the CPU’s input voltage regulator, where it could be unreachable under mid-sized coolers. Builders may be forced to attach this cable before installing a wide, low profile cooler.


    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.
  • lp231
    Anonymous said:
    I think that the Pro version comes with wifi-N instead of wifi-AC.


    Anonymous said:
    Anonymous said:
    Here is another MSI ITX board

    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/
  • palitusa
    I can't wait to see the new MSI Z87i GAMING mini-itx with the 760 ITX VGA for review!
  • Stevemeister
    Really not that much difference in terms of overall performance between the boards so its a question of what features are most important to you - do you want to game or make a HTPC. For the gamers can we start to lobby Intel to go back to using solder for the thermal interface on their high end processors - most of us would pay the extra $5 or so it probably costs to do this versus using their current solution - then Asus's VR's would start to show some value.
  • lp231
    Anonymous said:
    I think that the Pro version comes with wifi-N instead of wifi-AC.


    Yep the Deluxe has Wifi AC and pro has Wifi N
  • RobertDiffin
    I'm just glad to see more ITX attention/information.
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