Z77 mITX Round-Up: Five of the Best – MSI, Zotac, ASRock, EVGA and ASUS
by Ian Cutress on December 31, 2012 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- MSI
- ASRock
- EVGA
- ZOTAC
- Asus
- Ivy Bridge
- Z77
- mITX
ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe BIOS
The BIOS from ASUS has been a rock solid part of their motherboard package since the advent of graphical BIOSes on mainstream motherboards hit a couple of years ago. ASUS divides functionality at the top level, providing an easy mode with images and bars to help identify the main points of the product, as well as a one button click for greater performance and boot priority. The other side of the coin is in advanced mode, where the feature sets are laid out to make sense to the user, and all options take the form of the old text-based BIOS. This lays the plans down for other features of the system, like USB BIOS Flashback.
While the BIOS from ASUS is one of the best on offer out of all the motherboard manufacturers today, there is room for improvement in all of them. The beating heart of a graphical BIOS should be functionality, representation of those functions, and usability. Very rarely do I ever see all three meshed together. Part of this is down to the size of the BIOS – even ASUS limit themselves to a 64 megabit BIOS chip, meaning 8 MB of storage to play around with for all the initialization procedures and protocol. It makes efficiency important in BIOS coding, and vendors are unwilling to double the size of the BIOS because of the additional cost. With the motherboard market in decline, innovation in this area is unlikely any time soon, but with bulk buying deal, ASUS could lead that charge. Then all would be left to do is to encourage the BIOS engineers and developers to create something.
The ASUS BIOS however is one of the best available today. The front ‘easy’ mode screen is full of information that a system builder or diagnostician needs before opening up a case – we get access to the motherboard model, BIOS version, CPU installed, the size of the memory installed, CPU and system temperatures, fan speeds, voltages and the boot order. There are options to apply a basic turbo mode, a power saving mode, a Boot Menu to select which device to boot from and shortcuts to advanced mode features.
Stepping into the advanced mode gives us a tabbed interface of options. When first entering we are presented with the Main screen, which offers similar data to the easy mode, as well as security options.
The next tab along is the AI Tweaker, where all the cool stuff happens. Users can choose to overclock their system through this menu, with options for CPU multiplier, CPU base frequency, MultiCore Enhancement, XMP on the memory, separate memory straps, and associated voltages. There are separate menu options as well to deal with memory timing, power management, and the DIGI+ VRMs.
The Advanced menu is for enabling and disabling the functionality on board – this extends to processor functionality (to disable sleep states), SATA functionality, USB functionality, Rapid Start, Smart Connect, integrated graphics, PCIe configuration and onboard devices such as audio, network, WiFi and Bluetooth.
Fan controls are hidden in the Monitor tab, which gives us details on temperatures, fan speeds and voltages. The fan options are relatively basic compared to those offered in the OS, despite the fact that the graphical BIOS way of thinking should offer some form of stepped graphical control over fan speeds. I look forward to seeing it on future BIOS designs.
The Boot tab allows users to adjust the boot order or select a device for a single boot override. Users of Windows 8 can also take advantage of the Fast Boot option which reorganizes the initialization procedure at POST in exchange for not being able to get into the BIOS without a BIOS reset or selecting an OS software option.
The ASUS BIOS also supports BIOS flashing if the correct file is on an attached storage device, although not directly from the internet. A newer feature in ASUS’ offering allows users to save BIOS profiles direct to a USB stick as well.
Another feature to mention is USB BIOS Flashback, which allows users to update a BIOS without having a CPU, memory or a graphics device installed. With the correct BIOS file and filename on a USB stick, by pressing a button on the IO panel, it will update the BIOS onboard (exact procedure is listed in the manual).
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ryedizzel - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Thank you so much for this Z77 roundup as I'm currently shopping for a new mobo and have been piecing together reviews from various sites. But as usual I always check here first, then Tom's, then Hardocp (in that order). Keep up the great work in 2013!Aikouka - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Ah, if only I held off on building my silent HTPC for a little bit longer. The hardest part about working with a Streacom case (other than building it) is finding a good motherboard that doesn't put too much in the way of the heat pipes. That's one reason why I was considering going with a board with mSATA, and I'm pretty certain that I stumbled across that ASRock board. Unfortunately, I looked at the photos, and didn't see a mSATA port, so I passed on it. Who would have thought to look at the back? Boy, do I feel like a bit of a dummy now! =$Although, speaking of the back mSATA connector, I recall seeing you touch on it on the recommendation page, but do you think it would work well on most cases? If I remember correctly, mSATA drives are fairly thin, so it might be fine. Going back to the Streacom, it does look like the ASRock offering would work well in regard to clearance even disregarding the mSATA port as the light gray SATA ports should clear the heat pipes. The USB3 port won't though.
philipma1957 - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
I built 2 asrock builds with the msata as the only drive. btw this z77 review with no regard to oc is pretty weird.I have a 3770k with a hd7970 gpu and an msata in a small case the cooler master elite it is a very fast powerful machine. I use the asrock and love it. it does have a flaw the msata slot is sata II
Ananke - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
I have i3-3225 (the same as in the article). In my opinion, for the money, the best is ASUS P8H77-I.It does have 6 SATA ports - a must for a file server. So, basically install Windows 8 on a SSD, add HDDs and create Storage Space - 5 SATA will allow you to create software RAID 5, without the need of SATA extension controller. BIOS is nice and stable. The board is $100 on Newegg.
The ASUS Z77 Deluxe is nice, if anybody needs all the additional functionality in a small form factor. However, only 4 SATA - means no good for video, file, backup server. You get the "overclocking" ability though. I doubt how practical is overclocking into so small space, probably to a handful of people. Teh board costs $185.
So, I would say $100 is better than $185, plus you get all the 6 SATA ports - priceless.
DarkStryke - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Not everyone who games wants to have a huge tower. I've built more then one system based around the silverstone FT03-mini that runs a 3750k / Z77 deluxe-i and a GTX 670.I bring mine to lan parties and people are amazed at the power in such a small box, and it's just as fast as any desktop single GPU alternative.
Ananke - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
ASUS P8H77-I is a mini ITX board - the cheaper variant of the reviewed deluxe board. It costs $100.ggathagan - Wednesday, January 2, 2013 - link
I agree; the H77 makes much more sense for most ITX builds.I built a system with the P8H77-I, a GTX670 and the FT03-MINI.
I don't think the daughter card of the Z77 Deluxe would have fit in the case.
tramways - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
I registered here because the reviewer is lamenting that some boards use the ALC889 instead of the ALC892 codecs.The 889 like the 882 before it and the 898 after it is a much better codec than the 892.
The 883,888,892 codecs are the cheaper low performance DAC/ADC chips.
I would buy a board with the ALC889 or preferably the ALC898,but not with the ALC892.
all the best in 2013
Paul
limki - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
too bad I already ordered mine last week ... MSI Z77IAto tell the truth, i don't really mind [ at 136€ its a bit pricier than asrock with my supplier]
the conclusion for this board seems a bit biased to me
but hey, if you're not looking for a tiny powerhouse, you don't need z77
- in SUGO 05(and most small cases), MB is horizontally and PSU is above it, so cables and airflow will always be nasty
- using a discrete GPU, you don't care about not having DVI or DP
- no additional controller (USB/SATA) -> I don't plan on using more than 2(won't fit into case), so why bother?
//btw is the SATA 6/3/m correct 2+2? shouldn't be also 2+2+1?
- and if I'm to take the "military grade" stuff at least half seriously, ...
EnzoFX - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Do the post times include those pesky AHCI driver loading screen? I hate that it adds so much more to the boot process.