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
Zotac Z77-ITX WiFi Conclusion
At the time of writing this conclusion, each 7-series mITX motherboard I have tested has used the same layout in their design – the CPU socket goes near the bottom and the chipset is at the top. I am beginning to wonder who thought this was a good idea – having everything this way round means that the socket presses up against the DRAM and PCIe slots, restricting cooler size and compatibility. It means that the CPU Power connector is in an awkward place onboard and power cables will have to stretch over the board to reach it – this is less of an issue on the Zotac board due to the included 8-pin extension cable in the box. The argument for this layout is usually a robust ‘well it puts the IO on the edge of the motherboard’. But the IO usually has the long thin cables designed to go anywhere – I have no issue stretching my SATA cables over my RAM to fit, or a front panel audio cable. However, big bulky power cables across the board and restrictive cooling due to socket area placement are not enticing prospects.
Enough of socket placement aside, the Zotac Z77-ITX WiFi has a number of good points to be mentioned. The video outputs on board are a novel interpretation of the ‘three digital output’ allowances. Normally we get a DVI-D, HDMI and a DP on almost all other mainstream channel Z77 motherboards – however Zotac have shaken up the market. We get two HDMI outputs (for dual screens, or sending video one way and audio the other), and a mini-DisplayPort. The mDP port is bolstered by the mDP to DP cable found in the motherboard box, meaning every modern digital display (except Apple’s Thunderbolt display) is covered. Kudos to Zotac on this design choice.
Also in hardware, we get dual Realtek 8111E GbE NICs alongside integrated WiFi, making sure all networking options are open. Unfortunately we do not get any network management software in the box to complement this design choice, despite the fact that Realtek has some proprietary software which should be almost free to include. We also get the perennial favorite of reviewers, system builders and troubleshooters alike – the power/reset switches (kind of rare for a mITX board) as well as a two-digit debug. Despite the extra cost these afford, I believe they are well worth the money on every motherboard in the market. Other hardware features onboard are an mSATA, two fan headers and an extended heatsink covering the power delivery.
There are also some poor hardware choices in this build, such as the Realtek ALC889 audio which failed our RMAA 192 kHz test. Almost all motherboard options I see are Realtek ALC892 or above, which should offer a better audio experience. It should also be mentioned we do not get any Realtek audio software included in the package either.
On the software side, the driver CD requires a manual installation of all the drivers rather than the painless silent install we are becoming used to. There are no software utilities to speak of for overclocking or fan controls – the only way to control the fans is via the BIOS. For the BIOS itself, we really only have a colored skin on top of the normal BIOS options, rather than anything embracing the graphical BIOS concept of interactivity. As a downside as well, SATA configuration on the BIOS tested defaulted to IDE rather than the preferred AHCI.
In the modern motherboard industry it is very hard for a smaller manufacturer like Zotac to get a design win. In certain aspects Zotac have achieved it, plugging in some functionality into this mITX board that no other manufacturer has. But it gets let down by other design decisions and the lack of interoperability between the user and the system itself. Putting a Zotac motherboard in a build all comes down to price, and given that I have seen it on Newegg for $130 one week then $163 the next means that you may have to pick and choose the best moment if you want this board.
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ryedizzel - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Thank you so much for this Z77 roundup as I'm currently shopping for a new mobo and have been piecing together reviews from various sites. But as usual I always check here first, then Tom's, then Hardocp (in that order). Keep up the great work in 2013!Aikouka - Monday, December 31, 2012 - link
Ah, if only I held off on building my silent HTPC for a little bit longer. The hardest part about working with a Streacom case (other than building it) is finding a good motherboard that doesn't put too much in the way of the heat pipes. That's one reason why I was considering going with a board with mSATA, and I'm pretty certain that I stumbled across that ASRock board. Unfortunately, I looked at the photos, and didn't see a mSATA port, so I passed on it. Who would have thought to look at the back? Boy, do I feel like a bit of a dummy now! =$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.