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
MSI Z77IA-E53 Conclusion
My main criticism with the MSI Z77IA-E53 is similar to many of the other mITX motherboards on the market – the location of the socket on the board is a little insane. By being right up against the memory slots and the PCIe slots, it means that we are restricted to the Intel specifications for coolers in the x-y directions, and we cannot have large GPUs with a backplate for a mITX gaming system. Trying to fit the latest MSI Lightning GPU as well as an overclocked CPU that is not on an All-In-One liquid cooling system would seem like a tough ask. The location of the socket leads to another issue – the placement of the CPU power connector. As seen on other mITX boards with this configuration, the CPU power is found in an awkward place above the PCIe and near the rear IO. This means any cable has to either stretch over the mITX board (bad for airflow) or stretch over a GPU. Unless the PSU is coming from above, it can cause issues in building a system.
Socket placement aside, MSI have made other design decisions – by placing the on-board battery onto the back of the IO panel with adhesive should leave some PCB free for extra controllers or placement, but yet we get just the chipset standard. One of the SATA ports is partitioned off into an mSATA/mPCIe slot, leaving the gap open from some additional functionality at the discretion of the user. In terms of audio/network, we get a Realtek combo in the form of an ALC898 and the 8111E. The rear IO is also a little baffling – MSI have gone with a HDMI and VGA port, compared to some other manufacturers going dual HDMI and DVI-I to cover all the bases. Instead we get a ClearCMOS button on the IO, but no power/reset buttons or debug LED like on the Zotac.
Performance wise, the MSI stands up with the rest of the mITX boards in most of the tests. Normally we see a motherboard with monitoring software fail in the DPC Latency test, but the MSI Z77IA-E53 kept under 200 microseconds easily. The only serious downfall is an issue systemic with all MSI 7-series boards I have tested – the USB 2.0 speed. For whatever reason, we get only 25 MBps read/write on this board, compared to the 30-34 MBps we expect and get on every other manufacturer. This is not a deal breaker though.
In buying the MSI we get a nice looking BIOS and a good software package, but there needs to be something more to take my hard earned green – the wow factor of mITX is not enough, as every other manufacturer has that as well. When I compare connectivity against the other motherboards that have dual HDMI, personally I sway over to them rather than the MSI. The MSI is a nice board to play with, but it has one issue – the competition.
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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.