Five Z87 Motherboards For Your Mini-ITX Build, Reviewed

[Crashman]

Z87 rules the PC enthusiast market by exposing the Haswell architecture's full feature set. We're particularly interested in mini-ITX-based platforms able to integrate Z87 in a compact form factor. Five boards contend for supremacy of compact computing.

Five Z87 Motherboards For Your Mini-ITX Build, Reviewed : Read more

 

[lp231]

Here is another MSI ITX board

 

[PEJUman]

Why would one pay extra for ASUS's power delivery if it didn't yield any additional OC/DRAM stability? In the end, ASRock features & cheaper price should be a better option here.

 

[Crashman]

Here is another MSI ITX board

Yes, they've sent one for another article. If the site did multiple items per manufacturer the article would take weeks to finish. That wouldn't be a problem if all Tom's Hardware did was motherboards

Why would one pay extra for ASUS's power delivery if it didn't yield any additional OC/DRAM stability? In the end, ASRock features & cheaper price should be a better option here.

ASRock's cheaper features also made it a competitor with the cheaper boards for the value award. Since it competed well for both awards, it had to get a different award.

 

[nukemaster]

While some may not like the layout, the Gigabyte and MSI layout should work well in some cases like the SG05 from SilverStone. The top mounted power and sata ports help keep wires out of the air flow path.

More room between the PCI-E and CPU LGA is nice on the Asus as are all the features.

I am still running an older H55n usb3 24/7 and it has been quite stable and cool and low on power consumption. Shame that this new gigabyte board has higher power and temperature levels.

 

[xkm1948]

Since most of them has built in Wi-Fi. Will it be better to include a Wi-Fi test column?

 

[Crashman]

Since most of them has built in Wi-Fi. Will it be better to include a Wi-Fi test column?

We formerly had a controller reviewer, and I'd like to see someone take on this task again. A separate article on the controllers (with everything else identical) wouldn't tell you anything about the antennas included with different products, but antennas are cheaply replaceable.

 

[KrazyKap]

Is the Asus Z87 Pro the same as the Deluxe? Seems to be region specific but I can't find the difference. Help? I've just bought the Pro for myself as it is only slightly more than the MSI or Gigabyte options.

 

[unipablo]

I think that the Pro version comes with wifi-N instead of wifi-AC.

 

[vertexx]

Let's just roll some dice and toss out some awards, eh? Couldn't help but laugh through the conclusion.

Overall it's good to see the roundup. Would have liked to see post times. With SSD storage, motherboard post times are now becoming the longer wait in a system boot up.

Also interested in thoughts on reasons for Z87 mobos for a standard non-overclocking build. For a non-overclocked gaming ITX PC, say with an I3 or low-end I5, are there any compelling reasons to pay the Z87 premium over, say an H81, which can run $100 cheaper?

 

[rolli59]

Nice review and boards, conclusion is all good buy's depending on what features you want except the EVGA.

 

[rwpritchett]

From the article:

A non K-series processor can still get a 9% overclock from Asus’ Z87I-Deluxe, in addition to the four 100 MHz bins of headroom available to those processors.

I thought Intel did away with allowing non-k processors to use the four 100 MHz bins with Haswell. It only applies to Sandy and Ivy. At least that was what has been reported:

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2013/06/14/haswell-overclocking/1

 

[nukemaster]

Here is another MSI ITX board

Spoiler

Now that looks interesting.

 

[Half Life]

You know I am told that in the west, they give an award to every kid in the kindergarten during an competition so no one feels left out.

 

[clonazepam]

Add the cost of a LED fan to mask that color scheme of the Asus Of these, I'd go with the ASRock, but overall, I think I'd go AMD for this form factor.

 

[Christopher Shaffer]

The Z87E-ITX’s CPU interface is positioned to the far right, putting more space between the CPU cooler and graphics card. Placing it there forced ASRock to move its eight-pin EPS12V connector to the left of the CPU’s input voltage regulator, where it could be unreachable under mid-sized coolers. Builders may be forced to attach this cable before installing a wide, low profile cooler.

I don't see how this is even a consideration. How many people have the need to plug in the connector AFTER installing the cooler? Or for that matter, BEFORE removing the cooler? The only need to move this at all would be during a PSU swap, which is probably very infrequent for most.

 

[lp231]

I think that the Pro version comes with wifi-N instead of wifi-AC.

Here is another MSI ITX board

Spoiler

Now that looks interesting.

Yep that does look interesting.
Some other itx boards, not as cool as that MSI, but worth sharing.
http://www.asus.com/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/P9DI/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Q87T/
http://www.asrock.com/server/overview.asp?Model=E3C226D2I
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4463#ov

Not ITX but worth sharing too
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/CSB/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/VANGUARD_B85/

 

[palitusa]

I can't wait to see the new MSI Z87i GAMING mini-itx with the 760 ITX VGA for review!

 

[Stevemeister]

Really not that much difference in terms of overall performance between the boards so its a question of what features are most important to you - do you want to game or make a HTPC. For the gamers can we start to lobby Intel to go back to using solder for the thermal interface on their high end processors - most of us would pay the extra $5 or so it probably costs to do this versus using their current solution - then Asus's VR's would start to show some value.

 

[lp231]

I think that the Pro version comes with wifi-N instead of wifi-AC.

Yep the Deluxe has Wifi AC and pro has Wifi N

 

[RobertDiffin]

I'm just glad to see more ITX attention/information.

 

[Crashman]

The Z87E-ITX’s CPU interface is positioned to the far right, putting more space between the CPU cooler and graphics card. Placing it there forced ASRock to move its eight-pin EPS12V connector to the left of the CPU’s input voltage regulator, where it could be unreachable under mid-sized coolers. Builders may be forced to attach this cable before installing a wide, low profile cooler.

I don't see how this is even a consideration. How many people have the need to plug in the connector AFTER installing the cooler? Or for that matter, BEFORE removing the cooler? The only need to move this at all would be during a PSU swap, which is probably very infrequent for most.

So, you like assembling everything INCLUDING CABLES outside the case? Because many of these cases don't give you access beneath the board to install a cooler support plate, so you do end up installing the cooler before you put it into the case.

 

[Lutfij]

Very nice article and a good read. Was on the fence about getting an EVGA board for my client in this form factor until the review indicated EVGA haven't mopped up their spills since the Z77 stinger issue.

Thanks Thomas!

 

[Crashman]

Very nice article and a good read. Was on the fence about getting an EVGA board for my client in this form factor until the review indicated EVGA haven't mopped up their spills since the Z77 stinger issue.

Thanks Thomas!

No major complaints, just waiting for the price to drop

 

[Haravikk]

When it comes to the boards with limited clearance for the CPU cooler, I can't recommend the Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 14 fans enough; I ordered one a while ago that finally arrived, and was a bit dubious that the specs were too good to be true, but it actually performs very close to what is promised; extremely quiet, great airflow and strong static pressure. I do think it isn't as quiet as they claim at the higher end of its speeds, but it's definitely quieter than many bulkier fans.

Although I'm using mine as a case fan (since nothing deeper would fit) I'm now seriously considering them for use on all future CPU coolers I get, as you can use them to fit larger heatsinks (with or without better clearance if you need it) without sacrificing performance. Or you could even use them with a dual-fan cooler to improve clearance, both to the CPU itself and in height.

In a well setup case such an arrangement can be pretty sweet; just add a big vent right over the cooler with the fans drawing heat straight out of it from the biggest heatsink you can fit (press the fans right up against the case if you have to, just don't forget some anti-vibration pads if you do). Then add intake vents all around the sides wherever you can, and you have a CPU cooler that's pretty much cooling the entire case.

Sorry that's a bit off-topic, but all I'm saying is that while some of the motherboards are mentioned as having restricted clearance, I've been finding the ultra sleek vortexes can negate that issue entirely. I'd like to see more slim fans like them to choose between, but even though they're currently the only choice they are *really* good. I'm planning to use them for pretty much everything for the foreseeable future