A Brief Look at Some Upcoming 7-Series Motherboards
by Ian Cutress on March 9, 2012 5:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- H77
- Z77
MSI
Whilst CeBIT is in full swing, MSI, along with the other manufacturers, has used the opportunity to showcase their future 7-series products. Alongside the X79 Big Bang-XPower II (which I recently reviewed and liked rather a lot), MSI is promoting their Z77A-GD80 – a 7-series motherboard with Thunderbolt support. Anand was able to have a quick look at the board at CES before the Thunderbolt port was officially added, and VR-Zone has confirmed that the model on show at CeBIT does have it on board. We expect this little extra will cause an extra $20-$30 on the price of these boards however, so it may be possible that there are Thunderbolt/non-Thunderbolt versions of various products up and down each vendor's line.
Out of the blocks, MSI is officially treating us to at least seven boards across the 7-series:
Z77A-GD80
Z77A-GD65
Z77A-GD55
Z77A-G45
Z77MA-G45
ZH77-G43
B75A-G43
MSI Z77A-GD80
In a style common of previous MSI boards, the blue-black livery is included with an SFC (Super Ferrite Choke) power delivery. We also get OC Genie buttons and voltage read points as is common on MSI's top end products. In a similar style to the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H mentioned previously, users of three GPUs on a system such as this will perhaps lose a large amount of the functionality on the bottom of the board. Nevertheless, the USB 3.0 header on board is at 90 degrees, focusing the usage of such a port for the front of the case.
Biostar
Biostar is not a company we've had much chance to look at here at AnandTech for a while, however their few motherboard releases over the past year have come and are available for purchase. For the launch of the 7-series products, Biostar plan on launching a series of five boards:
TZ77XE4
TZ77XE3
TZ77A
TZ77B
TZ77MXE
However one motherboard has graced my inbox in any shape or form - the TZ77XE4:
Biostar TZ77EX4
Biostar have also gone with a three-GPU style setup, this time plumping for a three slot gap between all the GPUs, giving air for them to breathe a little better. Aside from this, there is not a lot I can gather from the solitary, low resolution image, and solid information is not forthcoming until I receive a response from Biostar. Information will be updated when I have it!
Conclusion
We have a lot to look forward to when it comes to these new and exciting 7-series motherboards. Let us know what you would like to see!
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shatteredx - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
Lovin to see wifi on the asus boards. That's a bigger selling point for me than dual nics. Actually, can someone explain to me why you would want dual nics?tkafafi - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
Why do the new intel chipsets (series 7) still contain so many (10) usb2 ports ? Would any PC/laptop manufacturer chose to use a usb2 port instead of anavailable usb3 port from the chipset ? for e.g would they use 2 usb2 + 2usb3 instead of 4 usb3 from the chipset ?I know PC manufacturers are using this configuration (2 usb2 + 2 usb3) because now they need to support usb3 through an external controller so they are saving cost by using a 2 port controller. But once series 7 chipsets arrive with native usb3 support, there would be no cost advantage to do this. Is this to derisk any interoperability issues with older usb2 devices (i.e if for some reason usb3 ports don't work well with some existing usb2 devices) ?
Thanks
ajeto - Saturday, May 26, 2012 - link
Does any of you guys (or girls) know what is the maximum resolution you can get when you use two displays on integrated graphic ASUS P8Z77-V LE?I'm planning to use one 30" and one 24"
I know that max 2560x1600 can only be achieved via DisplayPort so i was planning to get an Active DisplayPort to DVI-D converter...
Do you think it would work to get 2560x1600 and 1900x1200 simultaneously on my displays?
Thank you for any kind of info
ajeto - Sunday, May 27, 2012 - link
Yes multiple displays are working (two at least, that i've tried), BUT i only get max 1280x800 on 30" via DVI. This should be 1900x1200 as stated in specifications.The other (24") display is working at correct 1900x1200 (via HDMI)
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention i am using i5 3570K
ajeto - Sunday, May 27, 2012 - link
Funny that it works fine on two 24" @ 1900x1200, but if i use 30" i can only get 1280x800 as max on 30" and 1900x1200 on 24"I also tested this and it works:
30" on 8600GT @2560x1600
24" on integrated @ 1900x1200 (HDMI)
and even additional (which i connected just for testing purpose and i wont be using it)
24" on integrated @1900x1200 (DVI or VGA)
but the thing is i would really like to get rid of 8600GT and use just integrated graphics (no need for 3D accel) so that's why i wanted to buy Dell-BizLink-DisplayPort-Adapter-Powered to use DisplayPort on MoBo.
But since i only get 1280x800 from DVI to my 30" i'm kinda afraid it might not work even with DisplayPort ... :(
Any ideas/solutions greatly appreciated..