Five Z87 Motherboards For Your Mini-ITX Build, Reviewed

Name: Z87 Motherboards For Mini-ITX Builds - Reviews - Tom’s Hardware
Author: Thomas Soderstrom

by Thomas Soderstrom November 24, 2013 at 10:00 PM

Z87 rules the PC enthusiast market by exposing the Haswell architecture's full feature set. We're particularly interested in mini-ITX-based platforms able to integrate Z87 in a compact form factor. Five boards contend for supremacy of compact computing.

Every time we hear about the death of the desktop PC, that conclusion seems to be based on slowing sales from big tier-ones like Dell and HP. But we know from talking to boutique builders that the demand for high-end gaming PCs and workstations continues to increase. It's a good time to be an enthusiast, and games like Battlefield 4 help illustrate why.

At least some of the excitement comes from high-performance, high efficiency hardware, which is allowing the community to construct faster machines in smaller enclosures. It's no longer necessary to drop a big case next to your desk with two or three 250 W graphics cards for playable frame rates in the latest titles. Now we can get plenty of speed in small machines that look more like living room appliances, but are every bit PCs.

Up until recently, the mini-ITX form factor was all about compromise. You'd give up most of your motherboard's slots and room for integrated extras to fit into tighter spaces. But as this segment grows, more and more companies are recognizing a desire for premium-class platforms with all of the on-board features expected from a larger ATX board. Drop in a high-end, overclockable processor, one dual-slot graphics card with multiple display outputs, and some solid-state storage. Sounds about as sexy as any monolithic gaming box we've ever seen.

So, which motherboard would we choose to serve as the foundation for a build like that? There are certainly many options on the market, and five of the industry’s top performance-oriented brands sent us a sample to compare.

LGA 1150-Based Mini-ITX Motherboard Features
	ASRock Z87E-ITX	Asus Z87I-Deluxe	EVGA Z87 Stinger	Gigabyte Z87N-WiFi	MSI Z87I
PCB Revision	^1.05	^1.03	^1.1	^1.0	^1.0
Chipset	^{Intel Z87 Express}	^{Intel Z87 Express}	^{Intel Z87 Express}	^{Intel Z87 Express}	^{Intel Z87 Express}
Voltage Regulator	^{Six Phases}	^{12 Phases}	^{Four Phases}	^{Four Phases}	^{Four Phases}
BIOS	^{P2.10 (10/04/2013)}	^{0702 (08/30/2013)}	^{102 (08/07/2013)}	^{F4 (08/03/2013)}	^{V1.4 (09/30/2013)}
100.0 MHz BCLK	^{100.10 (+0.10%)}	^{99.94 (-0.06%)}	^{100.12 (+0.12%)}	^{99.77 (-0.23%)}	^{100.01 (+0.01%)}
I/O Panel Connectors
P/S 2	¹	^None	^None	¹	¹
USB 3.0	⁴	⁶	⁴	⁴	⁴
USB 2.0	²	⁴	⁴	²	²
Network	¹	¹	¹	²	²
CLR_CMOS Button	¹	¹	¹	^None	¹
Digital Audio Out	^Optical	^Optical	^Optical	^Optical	^Optical
Digital Audio In	^None	^None	^None	^None	^None
Analog Audio	⁵	³	⁵	⁵	⁶
Video Out	^{DVI-I, DisplayPort, HDMI}	^{DVI-I, HDMI, DisplayPort}	^{DisplayPort, HDMI}	^{Dual HDMI, DVI-I}	^{HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI-I}
Other Devices	^{eSATA, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Module}	^{USB BIOS Flashback, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Module}	^{Bluetooth Transceiver}	^{Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Module}	^{Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Module GO2BIOS button}
Internal Interfaces
PCIe 3.0 x16	¹	¹	¹	¹	¹
PCIe 2.0 x16	^None	^None	^None	^None	^None
PCIe 2.0 x1	^{Mini-PCIe (filled)}	^None	^Mini-PCIe	^{Mini-PCIe (filled)}	^{Mini-PCIe (filled)}
USB 3.0	^{1 (2-ports)}	^{1 (2-ports)}	^{1 (2-ports)}	^{1 (2-ports)}	^{1 (2-ports)}
USB 2.0	^{2 (4-ports)}	^{1 (2-ports)}	^{1 (2-ports)}	^{1 (2-ports)}	^{1 (2-ports)}
SATA 6.0 Gb/s	^{6 x (shared with eSATA, mSATA)}	⁶	⁴	⁴	⁴
4-Pin Fan	²	⁴	³	²	²
3-Pin Fan	^None	^None	^None	^None	^None
FP-Audio	¹	¹	¹	¹	¹
S/PDIF I/O	^None	^{Output Only}	^None	^{Output Only}	^None
Internal Buttons	^None	^MemOK	^{Power, Reset}	^None	^None
Internal Switch	^None	^None	^None	^None	^None
Diagnostics Panel	^None	^None	^Numeric	^None	^None
Other Devices	^None	^None	^None	^{Serial COM port}	^{Serial COM port}
Mass Storage Controllers
Chipset SATA	^{6 x SATA 6Gb/s (Total) Shared w/eSATA, mSATA}	^{6 x SATA 6Gb/s}	^{4 x SATA 6Gb/s}	^{4 x SATA 6Gb/s}	^{4 x SATA 6Gb/s}
Chipset RAID Modes	^{0, 1, 5, 10}	^{0, 1, 5, 10}	^{0, 1, 5, 10}	^{0, 1, 5, 10}	^{0, 1, 5, 10}
Add-In SATA	^None	^None	^None	^None	^None
USB 3.0	^{Integrated-only}	^{Integrated-only}	^{Integrated-only}	^{Integrated-only}	^{Integrated-only}
Networking
Primary LAN	^{WGI217V PHY}	^{WGI217V PHY}	^{WGI217V PHY}	^{WGI217V PHY}	^{8111G PCIe}
Secondary LAN	^None	^None	^None	^{AR8161 PCIe}	^{8111G PCIe}
Wi-Fi	^{BCM4352 PCIe 802.11ac Dual-Band}	^{BCM4352 PCIe 802.11ac Dual-Band}	^None	^{Intel 2230 PCIe 802.11n Single-Band}	^{Intel 2230 PCIe 802.11n Single-Band}
Bluetooth	^{By 802.11ac Combo}	^{By 802.11ac Combo}	^{AR3011 USB}	^{By 802.11n Combo}	^{By 802.11n Combo}
Audio
HD Audio Codec	^ALC1150	^ALC1150	^{CA0132 (Core3D) PCIe}	^ALC892	^ALC892
DDL/DTS Connect	^{DTS Connect}	^{DTS Connect}	^None	^None	^None
Warranty	^{Three Years}	^{Three Years}	^{Three Years}	^{Three Years}	^{Three Years}

Summary

About the author

Thomas Soderstrom @hardware_tom

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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28 comments

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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

52743 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

174374 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

153421 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

52743 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

162225 said:

I think that the Pro version comes with wifi-N instead of wifi-AC.

35532 said:

52743 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

162225 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.
Crashman

1422483 said:

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.

So, you like assembling everything INCLUDING CABLES outside the case? Because many of these cases don't give you access beneath the board to install a cooler support plate, so you do end up installing the cooler before you put it into the case.
Lutfij

Very nice article and a good read. Was on the fence about getting an EVGA board for my client in this form factor until the review indicated EVGA haven't mopped up their spills since the Z77 stinger issue.

Thanks Thomas!
Crashman

291971 said:

Very nice article and a good read. Was on the fence about getting an EVGA board for my client in this form factor until the review indicated EVGA haven't mopped up their spills since the Z77 stinger issue. Thanks Thomas!

No major complaints, just waiting for the price to drop
Haravikk

When it comes to the boards with limited clearance for the CPU cooler, I can't recommend the Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 14 fans enough; I ordered one a while ago that finally arrived, and was a bit dubious that the specs were too good to be true, but it actually performs very close to what is promised; extremely quiet, great airflow and strong static pressure. I do think it isn't as quiet as they claim at the higher end of its speeds, but it's definitely quieter than many bulkier fans.

Although I'm using mine as a case fan (since nothing deeper would fit) I'm now seriously considering them for use on all future CPU coolers I get, as you can use them to fit larger heatsinks (with or without better clearance if you need it) without sacrificing performance. Or you could even use them with a dual-fan cooler to improve clearance, both to the CPU itself and in height.

In a well setup case such an arrangement can be pretty sweet; just add a big vent right over the cooler with the fans drawing heat straight out of it from the biggest heatsink you can fit (press the fans right up against the case if you have to, just don't forget some anti-vibration pads if you do). Then add intake vents all around the sides wherever you can, and you have a CPU cooler that's pretty much cooling the entire case.

Sorry that's a bit off-topic, but all I'm saying is that while some of the motherboards are mentioned as having restricted clearance, I've been finding the ultra sleek vortexes can negate that issue entirely. I'd like to see more slim fans like them to choose between, but even though they're currently the only choice they are *really* good. I'm planning to use them for pretty much everything for the foreseeable future