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
Final Words
Despite being a motherboard reviewer for the past couple of years, my foray into the world of mini-ITX based products was initially into the realm of the unknown. I am by no means a HTPC specialist or enthusiast by virtue of circumstance (the small amount of color blindness and a large dollop of tone deafness does not help either), until I decided to fork over some money for a mITX gaming case and get to work. On posting some mITX news regarding a couple of the boards reviewed in this article, the responses I received from the readers of AnandTech pointed towards a request for large mITX review, and thankfully all the big players came to the table with their offerings.
Trying to fit everything on a 17cm x 17cm PCB is not easy. Some manufacturers (MSI, Zotac, ASRock) opt for placing the chipset above the socket for more space along the edges of the motherboard, although this compromises the position of the CPU 8-pin power connector and the size of the CPU heatsink that can be used. Others (ASUS, EVGA) place the socket on top like more typical ATX offerings, with ASUS going a step further and actually removing the VRM off the main motherboard altogether.
We also see a mixture of network, audio and video output offerings along the range. The Zotac offers a pair of Realtek NICs, whereas as all other offer either a single Realtek (MSI), a single Broadcom (ASRock), or a single Intel (EVGA, ASUS). The lower tier manufacturers (EVGA, Zotac) slump a little in the audio codec with an ALC889, MSI has the ALC892, and ASUS/ASRock get the ALC898. EVGA fail to offer a WiFi module, whereas all the others give a standard 802.11 b/g/n except ASUS, whom also enable 5 GHz compatibility. Readers wanting WiDi either have to look at the Gigabyte 7-series mITX or the ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe/WD model.
Manufacturers differ wildly in their package, BIOS and software offerings. Few packages arise above a few SATA cables and antenna – Zotac add in a mDP to DP connector, a USB 3.0 bracket and an 8-pin extension cable, whereas ASRock throw in a DVI-I to VGA converter and EVGA think best to supply molex to SATA power cables. Almost everyone has a graphical BIOS interface except EVGA, who are hoping for one with the 8-series and Haswell. Software also varies from near nil (Zotac, EVGA) to a myriad of programs (MSI, ASRock) to a complete all-in-one package (ASUS).
Gigabyte H77N-WiFi |
MSI Z77IA-E53 |
Zotac Z77-ITX WiFi |
ASRock Z77E-ITX |
EVGA Z77 Stinger |
ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe |
|
Price | $120 | $145 | $161 | $150 | $200 | $185 |
CPU OC | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
PCIe 8-Pin | Middle-Left | Bottom-Left | Bottom-Left | Middle-Left | Top-Left | Top-Right |
LAN |
2 x Realtek 8111E |
Realtek 8111E |
2 x Realtek 8111E |
Broadcom BCM57781 |
Intel 82574L |
Intel 82579V |
WiFi | 802.11 b/g/n WiFi/WiDi | 802.11 b/g/n WiFi | 802.11 b/g/n WiFi | 802.11 b/g/n WiFi | - |
WiFi 2.5 GHz + 5 GHz |
Audio |
Realtek ALC892 |
Realtek ALC892 |
Reaktek ALC889 |
Realtek ALC898 |
Realtek ALC889 |
Realtek ALC898 |
SATA 6/3/m | 2 + 2 | 2 + 2 | 2 + 2 + 1 | 2 + 2 + 1 | 2 + 2 | 2 + 2 |
USB 3/2 | 4 + 6 | 4 + 6 | 4 + 8 | 6 + 6 | 6 + 6 | 6 + 8 |
Fan Headers | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Video Outputs |
HDMI x 2 DVI-I |
HDMI VGA |
2 x HDMI mDP |
HDMI DP DVI-I |
HDMI mDP |
DVI-I HDMI DP |
PS/2 Port | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
In The Box |
2 x SATA Cables 2 x Antenna |
2 x SATA Cables 1 x Antenna |
4 x SATA Cables 2 x Antenna USB 3.0 Bracket mDP to DP Connector 8-pin CPU Extension |
2 x SATA Cables 2 x Antenna DVI-I to VGA |
4 x SATA Cables Molex to 2x SATA Power Molex to 3x SATA Power |
4 x SATA Cables 2 x Magnetic Antenna |
Performance does not show any clear winner, though there are some noticeable results. The ASRock draws more power than the rest under discrete GPU loading and is significantly slower on our WinRar testing. The MSI suffers in USB 2.0 speed quite dramatically, especially when compared to the USB boosting techniques used by ASRock for USB 2.0 – ASUS use different techniques to boost their USB 3.0 speed, which we have tested in the past to provide a better benefit under small transfer sizes. ASUS scored significant wins in WinRAR and FastStone, and the discrete GPU performance is also noteworthy.
As a result of all the testing, I have decided to give one recommendation and one bronze award to the following:
ASRock Z77E-ITX: Recommendation
The ASRock Z77E-ITX provides a solid package that hits the price/performance ratio square on the jaw. Their BIOS and software packages provide a better all around experience than most of the competition, and the ease of use ticks all the boxes. Placing the mSATA on the reverse of the motherboard is a great idea. Where some companies are trying to innovate on the hardware, ASRock are attacking both hardware and software, with perhaps some room for improvement. But at $150 (or in the sales) it is definitely worth a look.
ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe: Bronze Award
While the ASUS may not strike bang-for-buck, it does hit the target of being the best board in this roundup without hitting the prize for being the most expensive. With a daughterboard for the VRMs, the P8Z77-I Deluxe willfully expands the available PCB area without an ounce of regret, paving the way for future designs of a similar nature on other products. We get the best audio codec out of the bunch, the best Ethernet NIC, a (personally) preferred socket/chipset orientation, stellar performance in selected benchmarks, and one the best BIOS/Software combinations available. Also, USB ports and video outputs galore, with perpendicular ring antenna combined with a 5 GHz WiFi module. Minor defects are what separate the great from the supreme products, but the great ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe should be in the back of your mind no matter what Z77 mITX you decide to purchase.
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IanCutress - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Gigabyte wanted their H77 reviewed instead, which we reviewed recently: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6427Athelstan - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Thanks for the review. I'm curious why you mention the audio chip on all of these board. For the intended purpose, wouldn't the audio be over HDMI, making the onboard audio unused in most cases? Even then, all of the boards have optical out, making the audio chip to have very little to do other than to pass along the bitstream from the media thought the optical connection.IanCutress - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
The audio chip also controls the front panel audio, and even if the audio was going through the HDMI, external speakers for a HTPC may be used via the audio jacks. In my personal usage scenario, my video out is via DVI-D to a 2560x1440 Korean panel via a dGPU, meaning all my audio still goes through the normal audio jacks. The other reason is that if I did not mention it, someone in the comments would ask why wasn't the audio chip mentioned. There is a price difference between the ALC889, ALC892 and ALC898, though manufacturers obviously get these on bulk deals (or at a discount when bought with the Realtek 8111E/F) and I am not privy to that information.Ian
Taft12 - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Speaking of audio, could you let us know the differences between those 3 Realtek audio chipsets? Is there any sound quality difference, or is it only features?mczak - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
The 892 has somewhat crappy ADC/DACs quality-wise (that said most likely signal routing etc. on the board will have a much bigger effect on sound quality than the quality of the DACs, so using a higher quality chip can still easily result in worse quality than using a cheap chip with more care taken). The 889 and 898 seem quite similar there on paper.I think just about the only thing you'd really miss is the dolby digital live / dts connect features (encode multichannel audio to digital if you're using the digital outputs). But these are pure software features, so you can get them with the 892 as well - I believe though the board manufacturers are more likely to license them with the more expensive chips (I don't know if you could "upgrade" your chip with unofficial means there...). Realtek actually seems to list different ordering numbers depending on these features - interestingly there while all 3 of these chips are listed as a version without any of DDL/DTS Connect, only the 889 has a version with both of them, while the 892 only has a version with DTS Connect, and the 898 only has the version without them - the datasheet still lists those features as optional however.so maybe they just stopped using different ordering numbers (the 889 clearly is the oldest of the 3).
Athelstan - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
*grins* Good point. If you don't mention it someone else would be asking for it.Stacey Melissa - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
I'm running the ASUS board, and installed the AI Suite for a different ASUS Z77 board in order to get access to Fan Expert 2, which has far better fan control than v.1. Wish I could remember which Z77 board it was, but all I did was check the download pages for various Z77 boards to find one that included AI Suite with Fan Expert 2.IanCutress - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
MSI include a program as part of the package to update the software, making sure you have the latest available. ASUS and Gigabyte need to do this ASAP, so people can take advantage of things like Fan Expert 2 without having to visit the website. System integrators often just install the drivers and software on the CD when selling a system, and then the user never updates it unless told to by either (a) friends or (b) the software itself.Ian
mfenn - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Am I the only one who is getting tired of the liberal copy-pasting of content between motherboard (and SSD) reviews on this site? I don't need to waste my time reading about the MSI design competition in every single review.I understand the need to provide background information to readers who may not peruse every single review, but that's why Tim invented the hyperlink. Link to the old review or to a purpose-built "company profile" page.
Sabresiberian - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 - link
Adding info some may be familiar with is preferable to leaving it out. If you don't want to read it, then I suggest you just skim or skip it entirely. :)