Five $220-280 Z77 Express-Based Motherboards, Reviewed

[Crashman]

Expanded graphics card support, enhanced on-board features that include Thunderbolt on some models, and more-robust voltage control are all good reasons to consider paying a little extra for a higher-end motherboard. Today we examine five top choices.

Five $220-280 Z77 Express-Based Motherboards, Reviewed : Read more

 

[roberta]

As u have reviewed SIX (6) motherboards, the article's title should be:
"Six $220-280 Z77 Express-Based Motherboards, Reviewed"

 

[mayankleoboy1]

No SATA and USB tests ? data transfer speed differences will typically be noticable in everyday usage.
Also, the time taken to show the windows loading screen/ BIOS page..

 

[Guest]

admit it.
you really liked the black/grey dimms and PCI slots of the gigabyte better than the blue/black of the MSI!

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]roberta[/nom]As u have reviewed SIX (6) motherboards, the article's title should be:"Six $220-280 Z77 Express-Based Motherboards, Reviewed"[/citation]Let's see what the article says:

The one motherboard in today’s line-up with a 48-lane PCIe 3.0 bridge is ECS’ Golden Z77H2-AX. Unfortunately, this platform climbed $40 beyond the budget limit of today’s round-up in the time we've been reviewing it. We're tired of seeing board vendors playing pricing games based on our review schedule (this isn't the first time we're seeing a curiously-timed price move). So, since we put the work in to review ECS' submission, we're including our already-gathered data and simply withholding the board from any award candidacy.

[citation][nom]mayankleoboy1[/nom]No SATA and USB tests ? data transfer speed differences will typically be noticable in everyday usage.Also, the time taken to show the windows loading screen/ BIOS page..[/citation]Would have covered windows load time except that it wasn't markedly different. That is, after disabling empty SATA controllers. If you count the time that it takes to get the "No Device Found" error on boards that have extra SATA controllers, you're penalizing a board for having more features.

Andrew Ku tests drive controllers. I'm trying to get him to "write the book" on controller performance, since dozens of boards use only a few different controllers. As for testing things like Z77 controller performance on board A vs Z77 controller performance on board B, it's a waste of time unless something is broken. So the article looked for "broken stuff". See the red bar on the first chart:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z77x-up5-th-z77a-gd80-z77-oc-formula,3305-22.html
With nothing broken, there's no excuse to test the Z77 controller six times. Back to me begging Andrew Ku for a comprehensive comparison of every SATA controller currently available on mainstream-brand enthusiast boards.

 

[JeanLuc]

Arghh! Why the hell are you overclocking the base clock on Z77!! That will most likely cause permanent damage to your CPU.

 

[Guest]

You left out a key aspect for overclockers which is vcore offset.
This allows ocer's to achieve higher overclocks while still retaining the power saving functions, instead of being forced to either reduce the overclock, or be forced to run high voltage 24/7.
MSI doesn't have this key feature.

 

[Onus]

I would think that the Sabertooth's five year warranty merits at least a mention in any value conclusion.

 

[ttg_Avenged]

I'll just stick with sandy bridge. Doesn't seem like I'm losing much at all.

 

[luciferano]

[citation][nom]JeanLuc[/nom]Arghh! Why the hell are you overclocking the base clock on Z77!! That will most likely cause permanent damage to your CPU.[/citation]

Overclocking the BLCK is very unlikely to cause any damage, it's just likely to not give much of a stable overclock.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]jtt283[/nom]I would think that the Sabertooth's five year warranty merits at least a mention in any value conclusion.[/citation]I actually missed that, having checked the lesser brands just to make sure those still had their three year warranty. Will add it.

 

[RedJaron]

Five year warranty is definitely nice. I really don't understand the point of their "thermal armor" though. Anyone care to explain that to me?

And as much as I like ASRock, I realy wish they'd put more PWM headers on their boards.

 

[slicedtoad]

^thermal armor = marketing (and looks)

 

[Why_Me]

The Asus Sabertooth got it's arse handed to it in the over clocking results, it runs hot and is a power hog, it's expensive...yet I see a photo of it on the last page along with the Gigabyte board that didn't do much better than the Sabertooth. What did I miss?

 

[eddieroolz]

Proud owner of a Sabertooth Z77 board for 4 months. This thing has been like an immovable rock. For me the price was $220, and easily justifiable in a high-end build.

 

[Crashman]

The Asus Sabertooth got it's arse handed to it in the over clocking results, it runs hot and is a power hog, it's expensive...yet I see a photo of it on the last page along with the Gigabyte board that didn't do much better than the Sabertooth. What did I miss?

Features for the money, overclocking for the money, warranty? Maybe you missed that the HORRIBLE heat wasn't hot? Or that the HORRIBLE inefficiency wasn't very inefficient?

 

[GabZDK]

Really good review Toms, and yes the results are a little more towards Thunderblot usage, but hey thats trend with this new line of mobos right??

On a side note, in a future I would love to see a comparison including boards like the Z77X-UP7 from Gigabyte, haven't got a chance to see that one in action

 

[sherlockwing]

While you should reward ASUS for the 5 year warranty on the Sabertooth, you should also note that ASUS RMA department in US is horrible, multitude of horror RMA stories can be found on OCN and other forums. So while that warranty is nice in other markets, but maybe not for US.

 

[Guest]

Why didn't you compare Asus ROG MAXIMUS V FORMULA instead of Asus SABERTOOTH

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]rayhands0me[/nom]Why didn't you compare Asus ROG MAXIMUS V FORMULA instead of Asus SABERTOOTH[/citation]Because Asus send the Sabertooth.
[citation][nom]windguess[/nom]this is not a Benchmark competition, this is stupid warranty fight and thunderbolt award.Why not I send you a mobo with 50yrs warranty and 10 thunderbolt ports? tom's hardware sucks![/citation]No, it's just you. Really, the boards perform almost identically, because all properly designed boards perform identically, and the only two ways to get non-identical performance is to cheat (force people to overclock by default) or screw up (and get lower performance).

The problem isn't the review, the problem is that only two people didn't realize that the performance is supposed to be identical. Those two people are you, and the person who gave you the "thumbs up".

 

[Onihikage]

It was a few months ago that I picked the winner (ASUS Z77) for the build I'm using now. Nice to see I chose well.

 

[Cash091]

[citation][nom]Onihikage[/nom]It was a few months ago that I picked the winner (ASUS Z77) for the build I'm using now. Nice to see I chose well.[/citation]
That board is a thing of beauty! I have mobo envy... I love my Gigabyte, but REALLY wanted the Sabertooth... should have waited a bit more and saved up.

 

[sentralservers]

Helpful article. Has anyone tried or tested Asus Rampage IV Formula? I will be interested to know the peformance of this motherboard.

 

[rubiased]

This review is either BIASED or Dont have all the facts... ECS Z77H2-AX have been $269.99 for over a month.

https://www.google.com/search?q=z77h2-ax&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=shop&source=og&sa=N&tab=wf&ei=7m-AUIj4Ga3UmAWl-4D4Cw

PLUS ECS HAVE 99 HOUR SERVICE.

THIS REVIEW is wrong on so many level... its time to move to a different site.

 

[rubiased]

look at who pays for the banner~ what can you say.....