Intel Z77 Motherboard Review with Ivy Bridge - ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI
by Ian Cutress on May 7, 2012 7:40 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- MSI
- Gigabyte
- ASRock
- Asus
- Ivy Bridge
- Z77
Conclusion – ASRock Z77 Extreme4
I had high expectations of the ASRock product due to what we have seen in previous chipsets. Over time, they have developed this knack of offering a good performance product at a great price, and a large amount of free kit in the box to sweeten the deal.
The Z77 Extreme4 is the lower end enthusiast board coming out from ASRock at release (compared to a total 20 models listed on their website). Therefore, when it comes in at $135, we should like this price. In the box is not substantial, with just a pair of SATA cables and an SLI finger, but we are treated to the ASRock BIOS and Software package. The big addition on the package is the Internet Flash software, allowing users to update their BIOS to the latest without needing to download it in an Operating System.
Performance wise, ASRock seem to be lacking the enhanced Turbo option utilized by other motherboard manufacturers by default, so we may see it in future BIOS builds. The XFast LAN software also shows superior performance in incompressible transfers or real-world transfers compared to standard USB throughput.
By making this board a little bit smaller than ATX, this board is cheaper than the rest and I really like the styling. As long as you remember to adjust the default CPU fan speed, this inexpensive board would be a good choice for an Ivy Bridge build.
Conclusion – ASUS P8Z77-V Pro
Whenever a reviewer deals with a variety of products at different price points, thoughts go through the mind of a reviewer about where that additional money has gone. If you look at an ASUS board, the usual culprits pop up - vastly improved fan controls, superior BIOS and software, digital power delivery, and a general feel that the board is solidly built. ASUS has gone another step further with their Z77 range, and on the Pro this means an Intel NIC as standard, onboard WiFi, USB Flashback, all four Ivy Bridge video outputs available, USB 3.0 Boost, Q-LED for POST diagnosis, and even a Thunderbolt header which connects to a future ASUS Thuderbolt add-in card (sold separately).
Performance on the P8Z77-V Pro is bolstered by the MultiCore Enhancement BIOS setting, which invokes maximum turbo mode for any core loading by default giving multi-threaded results an advantageous score. I feel this sort of setting will quickly become the standard, as motherboard manufacturers try to provide the best bang for buck on their products.
Despite the mishap regarding my CPU cooler (which is of an old design), there is not much I can complain about on the P8Z77-V Pro. It overclocked a set of G.Skill DDR3-2666 memory to DDR3-2950 with a little increase in voltage without issue, and it overclocked the CPU rather vigorously to give 4774 MHz, even if it was a little toasty under load.
At $225/$235, the motherboard spectrum for Ivy Bridge will separate the very cheap and the very functional. For a long-term build, the ASUS P8Z77-V Pro is a solid choice, and even has ASUS Premium Service warranty if you are in North America.
Update: I have just been informed that the Pro will soon drop in MSRP to $209. This makes it even more affordable.
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bji - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - link
Don't intelligently designed modern operating systems use as much unused RAM as is available as filesystem cache? I know Linux does, I would expect Windows 7 does as well. In which case, I have to wonder what the value of a RAM disk except to make your persisted data completely volatile and lost on a power outage.Turning the unusable RAM beyond 4 GB into a RAM disk when a 32 bit operating system is in use is the only marginally useful feature that you mentioned, but you have to be stuck with a 32 bit OS for that to be of any value.
Using a RAM disk comes at the cost of vastly increased complexity for managing persisted files (having to copy things from RAM disk to persistent storage before shutting down) and vastly increased risk of loss of data on unexpected power outage. All of the RAM disk useability features in the world won't help with those issues.
Zoomer - Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - link
Temp, cache or scratch files would be good uses of a ramdisk. Other than that, there's really no point.kstan12 - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - link
i would *love* to read a review of ivy bridge that doesn't include an engineering sample. my i7-3770k seems to want a lot more voltage @ 4.7 than what i see in reviews online. i know one might clock higher than another but it seems these ES samples use less voltage. am i wrong here?and where did you get the updated bios for the asus p8z77-v pro? i can only download 0906. :-)
IanCutress - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - link
Hi Kstan12,My ES is stepping 9, which is identical to retail. It's all about the luck of the silicon at the end of the day.
Ian
kstan12 - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - link
oh ok, so you would just compare the stepping, thanks! maybe i'm not so good at overclocking too.love reading your articles...you explain things quite well, good work!
vegemeister - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
Unless you bought it retail, they could have easily given you a cherry-picked chip. There is a lot of variation in semiconductor manufacturing, even on the same stepping.Zoomer - Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - link
If that's the results from a cherry picked chip, there would be a very compelling reason to choose SB over IVB for overclockers.JSt0rm01 - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - link
But I feel like the release schedule has slowed way way way down. We need amd to step back up to the plate. We need more competition. I have been waiting on the new xeon parts for what seems like forever.-------------
Also, after being a member of the anandtech forums for 10 years I was permanently banned by the moderators there because they wanted to censor a website (ffdt.info) that had conversation that was critical of their moderation. I find that the free flow of all information on the internet is critical. For a tech website such as this to limit the flow of information is offensive the core of these beliefs and its all because certain people in positions of illusory power deem that information detrimental to their positions.
bji - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - link
To your first point, x86 development HAS slowed way down and the trend will continue. With consumer computer usage turning more to cell phones and tablets, the market for faster x86 parts can no longer sustain the billions of dollars of R&D necessary to advance x86 state of the art. Intel is probably in the process of reducing their x86 R&D budgets in anticipation of this.This will not change, even if AMD makes a comeback. I have predicted in the past that the fastest x86 part ever to be produced will be no faster than 50% faster than the current fastest Ivy Bridge. I stand by that prediction.
Sadly, the heady days of rapid advances in x86 tech are over, as anyone who witnessed the early/mid 2000's and can compare them to now will testify to.
JSt0rm01 - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - link
Its unfortunate for power users. I will probably end up with a 2010 6-core mac pro to replace my aging 2006 macpro (please no anti-apple I use certain software and my industry is almost 100% apple I also have been building my own pcs since 1998) but what comes after that? I've already held this macpro for longer then I've had any computer. I guess what comes next? Will arm processors in 15 years be monsters of computational power?-------------
Also, after being a member of the anandtech forums for 10 years I was permanently banned by the moderators there because they wanted to censor a website (ffdt.info) that had conversation that was critical of their moderation. I find that the free flow of all information on the internet is critical. For a tech website such as this to limit the flow of information is offensive the core of these beliefs and its all because certain people in positions of illusory power deem that information detrimental to their positions.