Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe

It?s little wonder that Asus triumphs across so many PC hardware categories: The company never quite knows when to quit. We?ve seen this on its Editors? Choice?winning motherboards of the past, such as the P9X79 Deluxe (for Sandy Bridge?Extreme processors), and we?re seeing it again now with the latest honoree, the P8Z77-V Deluxe. It may be a tad on the expensive side (it runs $284.99 list), but it offers a broad, forward-thinking feature set that other similarly priced LGA1155 motherboards have trouble matching. You can find boards with still more bling if you really want them, but the blend offered with the P8Z77-V Deluxe is impossible to beat at this price.

Based on the full-size ATX form factor, the P8Z77-V Deluxe can accept processors from both the current third-generation Core (aka ?Ivy Bridge?) and second-generation (?Sandy Bridge?) families, providing slightly more versatility than Intel usually allows. The motherboard also utilizes Intel?s Z77 Express chipset?the most powerful of those in the company?s mainstream line?which gives you the ability to overclock the CPU and even specify a solid-state drive (SSD) for use in data caching with Intel?s Smart Response Technology, or SRT. (We covered SRT in greater detail in our review of the Intel SSD 311 Series.)

As you might expect, the P8Z77-V Deluxe offers a considerable amount in terms of hardware and connectivity options. Starting with video, it has two display outputs, HDMI (for maximum resolutions of 1,920 by 1,2020) and DisplayPort (2,560 by 1,600), for use with the processors? integrated graphics systems. If you prefer to go the discrete route (which we always recommend), there are three PCI Express (PCIe) version 3.0 x16 slots; one always operates at x4, but you can use the others as either a single x16 or two x8s. LucidLogix?s Virtu MVP technology will switch dynamically between on-chip video and your discrete card if both are present. (Four PCIe x1 slots complete the expansion slot lineup.)

Four memory slots on the P8Z77-V Deluxe support up to 32GB of dual-channel DDR3 1600 RAM (or DDR3 2800 when overclocked). On the Intel storage controller you can connect four 3Gbps SATA II drives and two 6Gbps SATA drives (using RAID Levels 0, 1, 5, and 10); a secondary Marvell PCIe 9128 controller drives two additional SATA III ports. (The two eSATA ports work by way of yet another controller, from ASMedia.)

Joining the HDMI, DisplayPort, and eSATA ports on the P8Z77-V Deluxe?s rear panel are four USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet jacks (one Intel 82579V, one RealTek 8111F), optical S/PDIF out, and six analog ports (controlled by the RealTek ALC898 chipset) for setting up an eight-channel surround-sound system. Finally, a button flashes back to the motherboard?s default BIOS, so you can make changes without fear you won?t be able to get the system to boot again).

Should you still be hungry for these types of ports, headers on the motherboard make it possible to add up to six more: two USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0. There?s also a header for an even more interesting kind: Thunderbolt. This lets you add the ultra-fast transfer technology later, and only if you want; Asus also offers the port itself on its (considerably more expensive) P8Z77-V Premium.

Don?t worry about wireless capabilities on the P8Z77-V Deluxe, either. Plug in the included Wi-Fi GO! card, and your system will also have 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (supporting both 2.4GHz and 5GHz) and Bluetooth 4.0. (Antennas for both come in the box.) With the included Wi-Fi Go! software you have easy access to the other systems and DLNA-compliant devices on your home network, so you can listen to music and view videos and use a Remote Desktop program to control your computer from anywhere (even your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet).

Asus provides plenty of additional extras as well. Two Q connectors ease some of the frustration of hooking up your case?s front-panel wiring or USB ports by letting you do more of the precision work outside the case first. Then there are the design features the motherboard boasts: Smart Digi+, which gives you finer-grain control over voltage regulation of key components (the CPU, integrated graphics, and RAM) when overclocking, as well as automated power saving and 20-phase power design for the CPU and graphics and two-phase power design for the RAM (all utility-controlled). The on-disc software library is also extensive, with a hefty selection of overclocking and BIOS utilities, as well as helpful tools like USB 3.0 Boost for increasing transfer speeds by tailoring USB 3.0 ports? performance to the devices you connect to them. Asus? graphical UEFI remains one of the best on the motherboard market, with both normal and advanced modes that give you just the access you need to system-tweaking features.

Although most similarly priced motherboards that use the same chipset deliver roughly equivalent performance, in our tests the Z77H2-AX routinely came out near the upper end of the scale. When using a Core i7-3770K, our test system turned in the best results we saw in our Adobe Photoshop CS5 (2 minutes 46 seconds), CineBench R11.5 (7.57 for all CPU cores, 1.66 for just one), Futuremark PCMark 7 (3,893), Geekbench 2.2.7 (16,260), POV-Ray 3.7 RC5 (3 minutes 12 seconds with all cores active, 13 minutes 54 seconds with only one working), and data rates of 230MBps in TrueCrypt 7.1a.

In terms of power usage, the Z77H2-AX was not the leanest Ivy Bridge motherboard we?ve yet tested?all things considered, that?s the Intel Desktop Board DZ77GA-70K. As measured with an Extech Datalogger, it finished second highest when idling (77.6 watts, behind the 85 watts of the ECS Z77H2-AX) and second lowest under full load (138.9 watts, just above the Intel?s 136.3 watts).

The ECS Z77H2-AX wins in the looks department; its gorgeous gold plated elements make it look more adult than the Asus? P8Z77-V Deluxe?s blue, white, and black, and the ECS offers a couple of features the Asus doesn?t (dual full-speed PCIe x16 slots and a Mini PCIe jack). It?s also weighed down by a noticeably higher price ($309.99 list), somewhat lower ease of use, and eye-poppingly higher power usage.? For those reasons the P8Z77-V Deluxe is our Editors? Choice; it?s definitely the best all-around board you can currently get for the foundation of your LGA1155 system.

More Chipset and Processor Reviews:
??? Intel Desktop Board DZ77GA-70K
??? Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
??? ECS Z77H2-AX
??? Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
??? Intel Core i5-3470
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