Review and testing of motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V PRO. ASUS P8Z77-V PRO motherboard review for Intel Ivy Bridge processors

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Most recently, we reviewed two motherboards based on the new seventh family of Intel chipsets, thus opening a series of reviews of motherboards in the above-average category () and budget category(), now it is the turn of the middle class. The motherboard will represent it.

This motherboard is a representative of a very extensive series P8Z77, which currently includes 8 full-size boards and 2 mATX formats. From WS and DELUXE to LE and LX.

When comparing the characteristics of the boards of the series, it becomes clear that the P8Z77-V is a kind of middle peasant in the series:
- power harness is already simplified, but not too much yet,
- all the radiators are in place, but already simple and there are no heat pipes,
- the number of graphics slots is less, but still decent - three (WS has four, LX has two, but the second one is only x4).

The motherboard comes in a dark box, because the generation as a whole has not changed, then the name still starts with "P8", and the update of the platform is indicated by the allocation of poisonous in green- "Z77-V"

The box is simple in its design: no transparent windows, nested additional boxes. There is a listing on the back of the box. various technologies and solutions found in this ASUS product.

Opening the box, we immediately see the package:

Instructions for the motherboard, instructions for the ASUS Wi-FI GO module and a Wi-Fi antenna, a cover for the case, a DVD with software, a sticker for the case, and four SATA cables (according to ASUS itself, two of them are SATA 3Gb / s, and the other two are SATA 6Gb / s, although, in fact, there is no technical difference in terms of the SATA interface between them), two Q-connector modules, an SLI bridge.

Wi-FI GO and Q-connector - not every motherboard can see them in the kit.

WiFi GO is a special WiFi module (complete with antenna)...

Which is installed on a special block on the motherboard, located among the rear panel connectors:

The software, which can be found on DVD (or download the latest version from the ASUS website), allows you to use this module as a client part, connecting, for example, to a third-party wireless router, and organize an independent access point for other devices. Of course, you will not find full-scale settings, but for unpretentious use of the possibilities it will be enough. In addition, the software allows phones with an operating IOS system or Android to control a computer based on this motherboard as a media center.

And the Q-connector is a block for connecting the system speaker, Power and Reset buttons, power and activity LEDs hard drive and one block of contacts for two case USB 2.0/1.1 connectors.

As a rule, the cases have contacts for buttons, LEDs, etc. go separately, and connect them in depth system block it is not very convenient to an already installed motherboard, therefore it is much easier and faster to connect them all to such a block, where all the markings are in front of your eyes (as opposed to the motherboard, where the markings are small for the obvious reason of a minimum of free space), and it, in turn, to the motherboard. The name itself speaks of simplicity and speed - quick (English "quickly").

There is nothing else remarkable in the motherboard kit.

Under the packaging and a cardboard gasket in an antistatic bag, the motherboard itself is located:

The product is made in a simple style, combining black, blue and white colors. No bright colors. Accurate, strict, without any decorative "frills" radiators. No heat pipes.

But its functional charge is quite serious:

Three graphics slots with support for both CrossFire and SLI, not to mention that the motherboard also supports LucidLogix Virtu MVP technology (integrated graphics core processors Intel Core and an installed discrete graphics card), two PCI-E x1 and two simple PCI.

In 2012, ASUS released several motherboards based on the Z77 Express chipset, which were designed to cover the entire market segment from the low price budget to the high one. As usual, the budget class had rather poor overclocking capabilities, which could not be said about more expensive options, but they cost an order of magnitude more expensive.

The golden mean was the motherboard Asus P8Z77 VPro (V Pro), which had not only good performance, but also good overclocking features. Why, after so many years, the issue of motherboards does not become relevant again? Because not everyone who wants to build their own computer, especially a gaming one, has a budget for new and modern equipment. can be easily found at flea markets at quite affordable prices, but their basic characteristics may not be enough today, so they need to be overclocked. But to perform the same overclocking, you need a good motherboard.

The VPRO motherboard is a great value for your money today. Of course, you won't find a new one anywhere. turn out, but in the secondary market - no problem, although there are not so many of them. However, it is worth understanding everything in order.

Description

Before starting the VPro review, it is worth saying a few words about the board itself.

socket, which the VPro board works with is LGA1155. This means that the board works with all processors of the Sandy Bridge family and Ivy Bridge. at the expense good opportunities overclocking (overclocking) the most advantageous options for this model will be core i-7 2600K, 2700K and 3770 TO. Among the core i-5 family, the legendary 2500K, 2550K and 3570 are perfect TO. Certainly however, other models of these two families can also be overclocked, but the previously listed ones are in priority.

Another important innovation in the Asus P8Z77 VPro is the ability to control the rotation speed of coolers (fans) through a separate menu in the BIOS system.

The changes also affected the USB 3. 0 system. In particular, the data transfer speed when using these connectors has increased by as much as 170%. This was achieved thanks to implementation support for the UASP protocol, for which we should thank the company's engineers.

It is also worth mentioning the support for the Asus P8Z77 VPro Thunderbolt interface. This model was one of the first in the ranks of the company, which came out with a new connector. More about it will be in a special section.

And, of course, ASUS proprietary developments have not gone anywhere, such as TPU, MEM Ok, All Suite II and more. We will try to tell about all this in the review.

Overview

I would like to start the review of the Asus P8Z77 VPro motherboard by looking at its appearance, as well as various elements.

The textolite of the motherboard is painted in dark color, which undoubtedly gives the board a more rigorous and " serious" look. Thanks standard format(ATX) and size, all elements and connectors are located in their usual places, and not as it happens with mini-ATX. The CPU socket here, as mentioned earlier, is LGA1155, and it supports both the Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge generations, and from " boxes", without the need to additionally flash the BIOS.

Next to the CPU socket are 4 slots for DDR3 RAM. There is support for dual-channel mode. To do this, identical memory modules should be placed in slots of the same color. The maximum amount of RAM that the board allows you to install is 32 GB. As for the memory frequency, as indicated on the official website of the manufacturer, the motherboard supports modules with a frequency of 2400 MHz.

By the way, a little about the processor cooling system. If overclocking is planned, then you need a pretty good cooler, probably, tower type. If it is too large, then it may well happen that it blocks the nearest RAM slot. If the modules are with additional cooling, then the second connector may also be unavailable. This is worth considering.

Below the processor socket are several expansion slots, painted in different colors. The two smallest are PCI 2.0 x1. Between them are PCI-E 3.0 X16 (top) and PCI-E 3.0 X8. There are also 2 regular PCI slots. Well, it closes everything with 1 PCI-E 2.0 X4 slot. The layout is quite successful, there is a margin for distance, so you can safely install 2 large gaming video cards on the board.

As for the work of slots, it is implemented here as follows. If there is only one video card on the motherboard, then it will work in 16x/0 mode. Well, if 2 cards are inserted, then the work will take place in 8x / 8x mode. It is also important to remember that in order to ensure the operation of one video card in 16x mode, it must be inserted into the first PCI slot, i.e., which is colored dark blue.

In addition to all this, on the Asus P8Z77 VPro motherboard, you can find several controllers from a third-party manufacturer ASmedia, which are responsible for the operation PCI slots. This fact can be considered a plus, because, unlike other controller manufacturers, ASmedia has no compatibility problems with some old PCI boards.

In the lower right part of the motherboard there is a cooling radiator to remove heat from the chipset, 8 SATA ports and proprietary switches from ASUS for TPU and EPU modes. You can also find a small green LED next to them. It is needed so that in the event of any malfunctions, it is possible to establish the cause by the incoming light signal. By the way, there are 2 more such LEDs on the board - one near the processor, and the other next to the memory slots.

If we talk about SATA ports, they, like PCI slots, are also painted in different colors. 4 blue and 2 white ports are powered by Z77 Express. The first provide data transfer rates up to 3 Gb / s, the second - 6 Gb / s. Two more ports are controlled by a separate controller from the same ASMedia. The data transfer rate is 6 Gbps.

Other than that, there are 8 Gen 3.0 USB ports on the motherboard. Four of them are traditionally driven by Intel's 77th chipset. The work of the remaining four is provided by another controller from ASMedia - ASM 1042.

Interesting fact: SATA ports and USB connectors that are controlled by ASMedia controllers may be inactive. This is directly related to which of the PCI slots are currently in use.

Be sure to mention the brand " feature " ASUS - USB BIOS Flashback. This technology allows not only to safely update the BIOS firmware, but also protects it from possible problems. I especially want to allocate additional reinsurance in case something still went wrong - the BIOS chip can be safely removed from its connector, and when the problems are fixed, insert it into place.

The well-known Realtek codec, which provides support for eight-channel sound, is responsible for the sound on the Asus P8Z77 VPro motherboard. Nothing remarkable.

The network module also does not stand out in anything special - this is the Intel WG82579 V.

The rear panel of the Asus P8Z77 VPro has a lot of outputs and connectors. Here is their list:

• Combined PS / 2 connector for connecting a mouse / keyboard.
• 2 USB 3.0 ports (next to P/S2).
• 2 USB 2.0 ports (located below and are black in color).
• Thunderbolt connector, HDMI and SPDIF optical audio output.
• Next comes the classic VGA connector and one DVI.
• Below them are 2 more USB 3.0 ports and an RJ-45 connector.
• The usual audio block with six inputs completes everything.

Well, in conclusion, it is worth talking a little about the cooling system of the board itself. If you look, you can find 3 radiators:

1. On food chains.
2. On the integrated graphics chip.
3. on the chipset.

The largest radiator is installed on the power circuits (power elements) of the CPU Vcore processor. It is immediately clear that the engineers approached the matter responsibly, since the power elements are one of the most important places on the board, and it is by no means possible to allow strong heating, and even more so overheating. As for the fastening, it is reliable. The radiator is fixed with a pressure plate. As a thermal conductor, a special gasket of approximately medium thickness is used.

The integrated graphics core has a much smaller heatsink, which is logical in principle, because the heat dissipation from the IGPU is not too strong. The thermal interface is the same, and the fastening is implemented through a pressure plate. Everything is exactly the same as with the first radiator.

Well, the last heat sink is located on the Z77 Express chipset itself. At first sight It may seem that the radiator has a rather impressive size, but it is not. Here you can clearly see the desire of the developers to install something more beautiful in terms of design than effective in terms of heat dissipation. The only good news is that the 77th chipset itself does not get very hot, so this heatsink will do its job quite well.

As for the thermal pad, it is an ordinary paste, only very thick and viscous. Fastening, as in previous cases, raises no objections.

If we talk about heating, then all the heat-removing elements cope with their task without any problems. On the radiator of power circuits, the temperature under maximum load did not exceed 76 degrees. On the graphics chip - 50, and on the chipset and at all 37. And although the indicator of 76 degrees on the power batteries is quite high, it can still be considered an acceptable result. But if you raise the question of more efficient cooling, then it is best to use a low-profile cooler with a 120 mm fan instead of a tower type. Thus, the air flow will not only cool the central processor, but also the radiators of the power circuits and the integrated graphics core.

Important! Since the Asus P8Z77 VPro motherboard can only be purchased at flea markets at the moment, it is worth checking the condition immediately after purchase thermal interfaces and be sure to change the thermal paste on the chipset heatsink.

Characteristics

The main characteristics of the Asus P8Z77 VPro are shown in the table below.

Manufacturer and model
Chipset	Z77 Express
socket	LGA1155
Architecture support	Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge
Memory	DDR3 1066/1333/1600/1866/2133/2200MHz
Maximum RAM	32GB, supports XMP and non-ECC brackets
Slots	PCI Express 16 3.0/2.0, PCI Express 16 2.0, PCI Express1, PCI
Technology	ATI Quad-GPU CrossFireX or NVIDIA Quad-GPU SLI, AMD 3-Way CrossFireX, LucidLogixVirtu MVP
Nutrition	ATX12V 8pin and ATX 24pin
External connectors	PS/2, DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, VGA, LAN (RJ45), USB 3.0, USB 2.0, S/PDIF, WLAN, 6 audio outputs
Internal connectors	SATA 6.0 Gb/s, SATA 3.0 Gb/s, S/PDIF, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, Front Audio Out, System Panel Connector, MemOK, EPU, TPU
Overclocking	Ability to change the frequency of memory, processor and bus The ability to change the voltage on the memory, processor and chipset
Audio codec	ALC892 from Realtek

This is done with the technical characteristics, you can proceed to the next paragraph.

Main functions

Now, after reviewing the technical characteristics of the Asus P8Z77 VPro, we can move on to the main functions and features of the board. They will be discussed below.

FAN Xpert 2

Fan speed control. Thanks to the FAN Xpert2 technology, the user can independently adjust the rotation speed of the coolers at different temperatures through the BIOS. The most important thing is that the connected fans have a 4pin connector, not 3. This is important because such models have a PWM controller, which is just responsible for the rotation speed. By the way, there are as many as 6 4pin connectors on the Asus P8Z77 VPro motherboard.

So, after entering the BIOS menu, just go to the Monitor tab, where, in fact, the temperature of the processor, motherboard, the number of connected fans and their rotation speed are displayed. Changing the settings is easy, just scroll down the menu a little. Apart from manual settings, there are several presets, including automatic mode. In general, there is no point in going into details, everything is quite clear.

MEM OK for memory

MEM OK. Asus P8Z77 VPro got this feature for a reason. It often happens that the user wants to "upgrade" his system a little in terms of RAM and buys several new sticks of a larger volume. But what a surprise it is when a completely new memory bar is not detected by the system! The reasons can be different and the most common of them is the incompatible frequency of the memory and the motherboard. So, the MEM OK function allows you to automatically reduce the frequency of the RAM of the new bar to the most suitable one, for example, 1333 MHz, and by this " make it work.

To use this feature, just press one small button, which is located next to the memory slots. There is also a signal LED that reports errors.

Thunderbolt

Another of the main features of the motherboard is the presence of the Thunderbolt interface. Asus P8Z77 VPro was one of the first motherboards from the company to introduce this interface. His main feature is that it allows you to transfer information twice as fast as regular USB 3.0, and 20 times faster standard USB 2. 0. The maximum throughput of the new interface can reach 10 Gbps, which is simply amazing. In addition, with the appropriate adapter (adapter), you can also connect to the Thunderbolt connector external monitor, which has one of the connectors: DVI, HDMI, VGA, D-sub, etc.

BIOS

The Asus P8Z77 VPro BIOS deserves a separate section. First of all, I would like to note the ease of use UEFI system(BIOS shell). Navigation is fast, there is support for the mouse cursor. You can select the interface language. It is also very convenient to overclock and monitor all the temperature information in real time.

Generally , BIOS Asus P8Z77 VPro is completely identical to more advanced models, for example, ASUS Sabertooth, which also works on socket Z77.

Also worth mentioning is the Asus P8Z77 VPro BIOS update, which was released in September 2013. It includes important fixes and improvements that improve system stability, especially when overclocked.

Tests

Before you start testing, it is worth talking about the configuration. Since the Asus P8Z77 VPro works on LGA1155 (socket), the processor was installed on it with an Intel core i-7 2600K. RAM - 2 sticks of 2 GB 1600 MHz, video card - GTX 580 1.5 GB. The configuration as a whole is unpretentious, but it is quite suitable for tests.

CPU overclocking

Since the board is predisposed to overclocking, it is worth checking its capabilities. The multiplier is set to 48, the voltage is 1.472V, and the bus frequency is increased to 100.7 MHz- This is the most successful option that has been achieved. When increasing the frequency to 102-105 MHz the computer starts and works, but when passing the test in the Prime program, a freeze is observed, and in the very first minutes. There is no point in increasing the frequency even more, but lowering, on the contrary, has borne fruit. Thus, the frequency of the i7 2600K processor was raised to 4834 MHz.

RAM overclocking

When overclocking the memory, there were no problems either. The best option, in which everything works well, is to set the memory multiplier at x21.3. With this multiplier, the frequency increased from the standard 1600 MHz up to 2235 MHz, which cannot but rejoice.

Performance

Well, in conclusion, I would like to sum up the results of the performance test in some applications:

• CINEBENCH - 29720 points.
• LinX - 131.6674.
• Photoshop - working with filters on photo, with resolution 12000 by 9000 - 65 sec.
• WinRAR - 5245 points.
• 7-Zip - 21285 points.

In general, the results are very good and are in no way inferior to more expensive boards (if you install the same configuration on them).

Problems

Often on forums or thematic communities you can find the question of why the Asus P8Z77 VPro does not " starts". In fact, you should not be afraid, because there is nothing wrong with that. In most cases, the problem is caused by RAM, which is not entirely compatible with the motherboard. To solve the problem, you just need to press the MEM OK button located next to the memory slots .

If this does not help, then it may be worth trying to reset the BIOS settings first, and then reflash it. This is done quickly, and taking into account the support of proprietary USB BIOS Flashback technology, it is also easy. It is enough to upload the latest BIOS firmware version to the USB flash drive, plug it into any of the USB ports, and then press and hold the corresponding button on the motherboard for 5 seconds. It is located among the PCI slots. In most cases, these manipulations help solve the problem.

Drivers

Another important point related to this motherboard is the drivers for Asus P8Z77 VPro. In most cases, many owners of announcements for the sale of motherboards no longer have any kits that went with payment from the very beginning. This means that most likely no driver disks have been preserved, so the future buyer will have to search for them on the Internet on their own. It is best to do this on the official website of the manufacturer.

Prices

Here it came one of the most interesting questions- prices. To date, the cost of the P8Z77 V Pro board at flea markets is approximately 5 to 8 thousand rubles. The spread is not small, but the problem is not even this, but the fact that it is extremely difficult to find a board separately without a processor. Although, on the other hand, if you plan to purchase a kit " mother + percent", then such a purchase will be even more profitable. The only thing is that you definitely need to check everything for performance.

PrefaceOur series of motherboard reviews based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset is far from over. In the future, it is planned to study some more very interesting models, but there was a small pause that needed to be filled with something. Here it would be appropriate to recall that in the family of logic sets of the seventh series, which had the code name "Panther Point", there are immediately fourteen different sets microchips. Among them are many chipsets for mobile devices, some are intended for the business sector, and for home desktop computers In addition to the Intel Z77 Express, two more are offered - these are the Intel H77 Express and the Intel Z75 Express. Only the older Intel Z77 Express chipset has a full set of features. Among other things, it allows the maximum flexibility in dividing the processor lines of the PCI Express bus, they can be distributed according to the formulas 1x16, 2x8 or 1x8 and 2x4. The Intel Z75 Express logic set does not support Intel Smart Response technology, and it can use 16 PCI-E lanes completely for a single external video card, or divide them in half between two. The Intel H77 Express chipset is not capable of allocating PCI Express lanes at all, and it also lacks the ability to overclock processors.

There are a huge number of motherboards based on the Intel H77 Express logic, but a review of one of these motherboards is unlikely to be very popular. When you need to assemble a computer with basic functionality, the form factor of the board, its set of connectors and price come to the fore. The name of the manufacturer has a certain influence, but it is not at all necessary to read the reviews to make a choice, all the necessary information can be easily obtained from the descriptions on the websites of manufacturers or sellers. In addition, a board without overclocking capabilities will certainly be in a losing position when compared. The situation will look completely different if we take a board based on the Intel Z75 Express logic. The lack of support for Intel Smart Response Technology will not bother us at all, because we switched to using SSD a long time ago. The ability of the chipset to divide the PCI Express processor lines only between two connectors will not become a problem, because in the tests we use only one discrete video card. But it will be very interesting to know the ability of the board to overclock the processor and memory, as well as compare its performance and power consumption with previously tested boards based on the Intel Z77 Express logic.

Thus, we finally decided that for the next review we will select some kind of motherboard based on the Intel Z75 Express chipset. Imagine our surprise when it turned out that our plans were unrealistic. With some stretch, one can even say that there are no motherboards based on this set of logic. We went through the websites of all the major motherboard manufacturers - ASRock, ASUSTeK, Gigabyte, Micro-Star - but did not find a single model. The most striking thing is that such a board was not found even in the assortment of Intel motherboards. The development and production of a new chipset is costly. Why, one wonders, was it necessary to release a set of logic that will not be used for the manufacture of motherboards even by the developer and manufacturer himself? The search found references to the announcement of Biostar and Foxconn boards based on the Intel Z75 Express logic, but in a short time it was not possible to find them for sale.

However, we didn't get upset for long about the virtual absence of motherboards based on the Intel Z75 Express chipset. As for the rationality of the development and production of this chipset, this is also not our problem, let Intel think about it. We found a very interesting Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard, which could well be based on the Intel Z75 Express logic, but is based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, although it does not use all its capabilities. This article will introduce you to an overview of this board and its functionality.

Packaging and equipment

The Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard comes in a box designed in the same style as other motherboards from ASUSTeK, which are based on the Intel Z77 Express logic. However, the photograph allows you to notice how small the thickness of the package is, but there is a logical explanation for this.

Inside the box is a motherboard packed in an antistatic bag, and under it, separated by a cardboard gasket, are the accessories that come with it. Everything is almost the same as usual, but the sheet of cardboard separating the board and accessories is noticeably longer than required, and its edge is wrapped over the board, forming a kind of envelope. This bay holds relatively thick SATA cables, and at the bottom there is only a flat plug for the rear panel, a CD and paper manuals, which take up almost no space. Thanks to this original packaging method and a small number of components, it was possible to significantly reduce the standard thickness of the box.

Describing the features of the packaging, we managed to list almost the entire set of accessories that comes with the board:

two Serial ATA cables with metal latches on the connectors;
rear panel cover (I/O Shield);
user guide;
a brochure with brief assembly instructions in several languages, including Russian;
DVD with software and drivers;
"Powered by ASUS" sticker on the system unit.

Design and features

Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V LX looks quite ordinary, but it has a few features. For starters, you can pay attention to the reduced dimensions of the board. With a standard length of 305 mm, its width is only 218 mm, which is less than the traditional 244 mm for the full-size ATX format.

You can also notice the absence of radiators on the heating elements of the processor power converter. However, this fact does not in the least interfere with overclocking, and, moreover, with the operation of the board in the nominal mode, because heating digital converter"DIGI +", working according to the scheme 4 + 1 + 1, is small. In terms of memory, this board is no different from other models, allowing you to fit up to 32 GB of DDR3 RAM in four slots. For Ivy Bridge processors, the acceptable frequency range extends from 800 to 3200 MHz. There are no additional drive controllers that manufacturers like to add so much. The board is quite satisfied with two SATA 6 Gb / s ports (light gray connectors) and four SATA 3 Gb / s ports (blue connectors), which are provided by the Intel Z77 Express logic set.

The board has two slots for video cards of the PCI Express x16 type, but it does not use the ability of the logic set to divide the PCI Express processor lines between the slots. All available 16 lanes belong entirely to the top PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slot. The second PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot is provided by four lanes due to the capabilities of the chipset. Support for NVIDIA SLI is not implemented, but with the help of these two connectors it is quite possible to combine video cards using AMD CrossFireX technology. In addition to them, there are two PCI Express 2.0 x1 and three PCI slots for expansion cards.

On the back panel of the board, we find the following set of connectors:

universal PS / 2 connector for connecting a keyboard or mouse;
four USB 2.0 ports, and six more can be connected to three internal connectors on the board;
video connectors HDMI, D-Sub and DVI-D;
optical S/PDIF, as well as three analog audio connector, which work is provided by the eight-channel Realtek ALC887 codec;
two USB 3.0 ports (connectors of blue color), as well as one internal connector that allows you to output two additional USB 3.0 ports, appeared thanks to the capabilities of the Intel Z77 Express logic set;
connector local network (network adapter built on Realtek RTL8111E gigabit controller).

We can note the presence of wide and convenient "Q-Slot" mounts on the connectors for video cards, but the connectors for memory modules are ordinary. The “MemOK!” button has not disappeared anywhere, which allows the board to start successfully even if there are problems with the RAM. New is the "GPU Boost" switch, which automatically increases the frequency of the integrated graphics core in the processor. Of the "Q-Led" LED system, which helps to track down the source of startup problems, only one "DRAM LED" remained on the board, which is complemented by the "Standby Power LED" and "GPU Boost LED".

For convenience, we have summarized the list of the main technical characteristics of the board into a single table:

There are no significant remarks about the design of the board or its capabilities, although there are some shortcomings. The back panel looks half-empty, there are only three audio connectors, in order to take advantage of the eight-channel codec, you will have to use the connectors that are output to the front panel of the system unit. Not very well placed connectors for connecting fans. There are four of them, which is quite enough for an entry-level board, but they are grouped in pairs at the top and in the center, not far from the rear panel connectors. It would be nice to have at least one connector near the bottom right corner of the board to install a fan that blows over the drives. But in general, the board looks quite decent and its capabilities are more than enough for most users.

BIOS Features

In previous reviews of ASUSTeK boards, we have already seen the Asus EFI BIOS - in general, a very successful implementation of the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) standard, so this time we will just briefly go over the main sections.

By default, when entering the BIOS, we are greeted by the "EZ Mode" mode, which performs basically information functions, since almost nothing allows you to configure. You can only find out the basic characteristics of the system, get acquainted with some monitoring parameters, select an economical or productive mode of operation and set the order in which boot devices are polled, simply by dragging them with the mouse.

Using the "F7" key, you can quickly change the "EZ Mode" to "Advanced Mode", or you can use the "F3" key, which allows you to quickly jump to one of the most commonly used BIOS sections.

You can switch from “EZ Mode” to “Advanced Mode” every time you enter the BIOS, you can use the F3 key, which, by the way, works in all other BIOS sections, but it will be much more convenient if the “Advanced Mode” mode is made the starting one in the settings. In this case, the familiar “Main” section will appear first before our eyes. It provides basic information about the system, allows you to set the current date and time, it is possible to change the BIOS interface language, including Russian.

The bulk of the options necessary for overclocking are concentrated in the "Ai Tweaker" section. The main window of the section allows you to change frequencies, multipliers and voltages. To control the current voltage values, you do not need to go to the monitoring section, they are indicated right there, next to each of the parameters that allow you to change these voltages, which is very convenient. Voltages can be set both above and below the nominal value.

Some of the parameters are traditionally placed in separate subsections so as not to clutter up the main one too much. The “OC Tuner” parameter only looks like a subsection, in fact, it is used to overclock the system in automatic mode. On the separate page memory timings have been changed, their number is very large, but it is quite convenient to use the capabilities of this subsection. You can see all the timings that are set by the board for each of the two memory channels. You can change only a few of them, for example, only the main ones, leaving the default values ​​\u200b\u200bfor the rest.

In the "CPU Power Management" subsection, you can independently set the values ​​​​of the options that affect the operation parameters of the "Intel turbo boost”, however, this is not necessary, since the board independently adjusts to the overclocking parameters you specified.

Compared to other Asus boards, the number of power and power options introduced by the 'DIGI+' digital power system has been significantly reduced, but the most important ones have been retained. Directly in the BIOS, you can control proprietary energy-saving technologies that allow you to change the number of active phases of the processor's power supply depending on the level of its load. The “CPU Load-Line Calibration” technology for counteracting the voltage drop on the processor under load can not only be turned on or off, but also the degree of counteraction can be dosed.

The possibilities of the subsections of the “Advanced” section are well known to us and understandable by their names.

In the "CPU Configuration" subsection, we learn basic information about the processor and manage some processor technologies.

All parameters related to energy saving are placed on a separate page "CPU Power Management Configuration".

The "Monitor" section reports the current temperatures, voltages and fan speeds. For the processor and two case fans, you can select preset rotation speed control modes from the usual set: "Standard", "Silent" or "Turbo", or select the appropriate parameters in manual mode. Both connectors for case fans are capable of reducing the rotational speed even with a three-pin connection, which the CPU fan connector is not capable of, and the three-pin “Power Fan” connector is generally unregulated and can only inform about the number of revolutions of the fan connected to it.

In the "Boot" section, we select the parameters that will be applied at system startup. Here, by the way, you need to change the starting mode "EZ Mode" to "Advanced Mode".

Let's refresh in memory the possibilities of the subsections of the "Tools" section.

The built-in utility for updating firmware "EZ Flash 2" was one of the most convenient and functional programs of its kind. Unfortunately, the ability to save the current firmware version before updating was completely eliminated recently.

Asus boards allow you to save and quickly load eight complete BIOS settings profiles. Each profile can be given short title, reminding you of its content. Until now, the error has not been fixed, according to which the profiles do not remember disabling the output of the start image, however, the ability to exchange profiles, which was lost with the transition to the EFI BIOS, has returned. Recently, profiles can again be saved to external media and download from them.

Like on the boards of many other manufacturers, we can get acquainted with the information stored in the SPD of memory modules.

The last section is "Exit", where you can apply the changes made, load the default values, or return to the simplified "EZ Mode".

Test system configuration

All experiments were carried out on a test system including the following set of components:

Motherboard - Asus P8Z77-V LX (LGA1155, Intel Z77 Express, BIOS version 1201);
Processor - Intel Core i5-3570K (3.6-3.8 GHz, 4 cores, Ivy Bridge rev. E1, 22 nm, 77 W, 1.05 V, LGA1155);
Memory — 2 x 4GB DDR3 SDRAM Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M4X1866C9R, (1866MHz, 9-10-9-27, 1.5V supply voltage);
Video card - Gigabyte GV-R797OC-3GD (AMD Radeon HD 7970, Tahiti, 28 nm, 1000/5500 MHz, 384-bit GDDR5 3072 MB);
Disk subsystem - Crucial m4 SSD (CT256M4SSD2, 256 GB, SATA 6 GB/s);
Cooling system - Scythe Mugen 3 Revision B (SCMG-3100);
Thermal Grease - ARCTIC MX-2 ;
Power supply - Enermax NAXN ENM850EWT ;
The hull is an open test bed based on the Antec Skeleton hull.

The operating system used was Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64 bit (Microsoft Windows, Version 6.1, Build 7601: Service Pack 1), the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 9.3.0.1020 chipset driver, and the video card driver was AMD Catalyst 12.4.

Features of work and overclocking

The assembly of the test system based on the Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard did not cause any difficulties. There were no problems when installing the operating system, when updating the BIOS and in the nominal mode, the board also worked without comment. At startup, we are shown a new start image, but there are no reminders of active hot keys on it.

The output of the starting image can be turned off, but you still won’t get any hints. In addition, the board is not able to correctly indicate the frequency of the processor, it always reports the nominal value, however, information about the frequency of operation and the amount of RAM is true.

In the latest reviews of ASRock motherboards, we noted that they start and reboot very quickly. IN Board BIOS Asus P8Z77-V LX, like other motherboards from ASUSTeK, you can independently set a suitable startup delay, which is 3 seconds by default, and it reboots instantly. So fast that we even repeatedly had difficulties when we needed to enter the BIOS to correct any parameters. The board instantly goes through the starting procedure and often it was possible to stop it already at the initial stage of loading the operating system.

Despite the fact that the board does not belong to the flagship models, it has the ability to overclock, including automatic. The easiest way is to use the Asus MultiCore Enhancement function, which allows you to increase the processor multiplier to the maximum provided by Intel Turbo Boost technology at any load level. Perhaps it would be appropriate to recall the history of the appearance of this parameter in motherboard BIOS motherboards from ASUSTeK.

About a year ago, in a review of the Asus Maximus IV Extreme motherboard, we noticed that it always increases the processor multiplier to the maximum value allowed by Intel Turbo Boost technology, which is provided only for single-threaded workloads. Of course, one could even rejoice at the unexpected overclocking of the processor, but I would like each non-standard mode to be chosen consciously so that it is not imposed, and in the nominal mode the system worked as it should, and not in any other way, therefore this feature received a negative feedback from us assessment. Fortunately, the Asus Maximus IV Extreme board could still be returned to a truly nominal mode of operation. We spent standard set tests and now we don’t know how things are with this feature at the present time, whether this drawback has been eliminated, since it was one of the last reviews of LGA1155 boards at that time.

After a while, we embarked on a series of LGA2011 motherboard reviews and found that this story received further development. BIOS of motherboards from ASUSTeK has a new function key"F6", with which the automatic overclocking technology "Asus Ratio Boost" was implemented. When enabled, this setting increased the processor multiplier to the maximum multiplier provided by Intel Turbo Boost technology, and in the nominal mode the processor worked normally, as it should be according to the specifications. Everything seems to be great, exactly as we wanted, however, such an implementation still had one drawback. The tooltip with a list of "hot" keys, located in the lower right corner of the BIOS screen, is usually almost ignored, so we noticed a new feature only in the review of the Asus Rampage IV Formula board. Meanwhile, the Asus P9X79 Deluxe board, which was the first to be tested, had a similar ability, but we simply did not notice this feature during the review.

Thus, the appearance of the "Asus MultiCore Enhancement" function in the main list of parameters, which we noted in the review of the Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe board, was a logical conclusion to the story. You can allow at any load level to increase the processor multiplier to the maximum multiplier provided by Intel Turbo Boost technology, you can refuse. The parameter is easily noticeable, however, it has its own characteristics. Although it is set to "Enable" by default, it has no effect on a processor that is running in nominal mode. Only when you change the nominal operating conditions of the system, for example, use the parameters recorded in the X.M.P. profile for memory, the function turns on and adds a little more speed to the system due to a slight overclocking of the processor.

However, the ability of the board to automatically overclock is not limited to this. You can use the "OC Tuner" parameter to easily get even higher results. In our case, the base frequency was increased to 103 MHz, which affected all related frequencies, in particular, the memory frequency, and the processor multiplier was increased to x41, which, together with the effect of increasing base frequency increased its final operating frequency to 4224 MHz. It is important to note that at the same time, energy-saving technologies continued to work, reducing the processor multiplier and the voltage applied to it in the absence of load.

However, everyone knows that no method of automatic overclocking is able to compare with overclocking carried out independently, when the most optimal parameter values ​​are manually selected. Unfortunately, the board did not allow the maximum overclocking of the processor to 4.6 GHz, however, overclocking to 4.5 GHz was given to it without much effort, and at the same time the memory frequency was increased.

It remains to be reminded that we always overclock the system so that it can be used in a long-term mode, while we do not make it easier for ourselves by disabling any motherboard features, for example, additional controllers. And, if possible, we try to keep the work of processor energy-saving technologies. In this case, even during overclocking, Intel's energy-saving technologies worked on the board, reducing the voltage applied to the processor and its multiplier in the absence of load.

Performance Comparison

We traditionally compare motherboards in terms of speed in two modes: when the system is operating under nominal conditions and when overclocking the processor and memory. The first mode is interesting from the point of view that it allows you to find out how well motherboards work by default. It is known that a significant part of users are not engaged in fine tuning systems, they only set the optimal parameters in the BIOS and do not change anything else. So we are checking, almost without interfering with the default values ​​\u200b\u200bset by the boards. For comparison, we used the results obtained during testing of the boards:

ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional;
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 and ASRock Z77 Extreme6;
ASRock Z77 Extreme9 ;
Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe;
Asus Sabertooth Z77
Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 ;
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H and GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB WIFI;
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH and Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH;
Intel DZ77BH-55K;
Intel DZ77GA-70K and Intel DZ77RE-75K;
MSI Z77A-GD65.

In the diagrams, the indicators shown by the boards are sorted in descending order.

In Cinebench 11.5, we run CPU benchmarks five times and average the results.

The Fritz Chess Benchmark utility has been used in tests for a very long time and has proven itself well. It produces highly repeatable results, performance scales well depending on the number of threads used.

In the x264 HD Benchmark 4.0 test, a small video clip is encoded in two passes and the whole process is repeated four times. The average results of the second pass are shown in the diagram.

Performance measurement in Adobe Photoshop we run it using our own test, which is a creatively redesigned Retouch Artists Photoshop Speed ​​Test that includes typical processing of four 10-megapixel images taken with a digital camera.

In the data archiving test, a one gigabyte file is packed using LZMA2 algorithms, other compression parameters remain at their default values.

As with the compression test, the faster the calculation of 16 million digits of pi can be done, the better. This is the only test where the number of processor cores does not play any role, the load is single-threaded.

Since the video card is not overclocked in our reviews, only the results of the 3DMark 11 - Physics Score processor tests are used in the following diagram. This characteristic is the result of a special physical test that simulates the behavior of a complex game system with big amount objects.

Using the built-in test FC2 Benchmark Tool, we run the Ranch Small card ten times at a resolution of 1920x1080 with high quality settings and using DirectX 10.

Resident Evil 5 also has a built-in performance benchmark. Its peculiarity is that it perfectly uses the capabilities of multi-core processors. The tests are run in DirectX 10 mode, at 1920x1080 resolution with high quality settings, the results of five passes are averaged.

Batman: Arkham City also responds well to changes in processor frequency, while using DirectX 11. We repeat the performance test built into the game five times at high quality settings and average the results.

When operating in the nominal mode, the Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard demonstrates a very good level of performance, usually slightly above average. Only in the game FarCry 2, for some reason, the board showed a result lower than expected. However, nothing critical, the difference in speed compared to other boards is not too great. When overclocked, the situation changes slightly, because the board failed to overclock the processor as much as possible. The results of overclocking the processor and memory obtained on various boards are shown in the table below.

When overclocked, the Asus P8Z77-V LX board confidently stays in its group, among other boards that overclocked the processor to 4.5 GHz. Moreover, in gaming tests, it shows results much higher than expected. It even manages to get ahead of some models that were able to overclock the processor to a higher frequency.

Energy consumption measurements

Power consumption was measured using an Extech Power Analyzer 380803. The device is turned on before the computer power supply, that is, it measures the consumption of the entire system "from the socket", with the exception of the monitor, but including losses in the power supply itself. When measuring consumption at rest, the system is idle, we wait for the complete cessation of post-launch activity and the absence of access to the hard disk. The load on the processor is created using the LinX program. For greater clarity, diagrams of the growth of power consumption were constructed when the system was operating in the nominal mode and during overclocking, depending on the increase in the level of load on the processor when the number of computational threads of the LinX utility changed.

Due to incompatibility issues between the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH and Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH boards with our old CoolerMaster RealPower M850 power supply, we had to replace it with an Enermax NAXN ENM850EWT power supply. Both power supplies are very close in their technical characteristics, but the Enermax NAXN ENM850EWT turned out to be 1-3 W more economical than its predecessor. In order not to lose the results accumulated during previous tests, we decided to add 2 watts to the power consumption readings in order to be able to compare with previously tested models.

There was a time when we liked to repeat that ASUSTeK motherboards are not economical and consume more than others. This is true when it comes to flagship models with advanced features and numerous additional controllers. However, the diagrams show that subsequently there were quite a few boards from other manufacturers that consume much more than Asus boards. If we take an ordinary board, such as the Asus P8Z77-V LX, then it immediately turns out to be among the most economical. Moreover, the power consumption of the board can be reduced even more if all the energy-saving parameters are enabled in the BIOS, including the proprietary EPU Power Saving Mode technology.

When overclocked, the situation does not change at all, the Asus P8Z77-V LX board remains among the most economical. Of course, you need to take into account that a large group of boards was able to provide higher overclocking of the processor, and therefore they reasonably consume more. However, in terms of power consumption, the board looks confident even among those models that overclocked the processor in the same way.

Afterword

Based on the results of the test, the Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard leaves a very good impression of itself. It has a modest bundle, there are no numerous additional controllers, no heatsinks on the heating elements of the power converter, and it does not use the ability of the logic set to divide PCI Express processor lines. So what? There is nothing wrong. The Intel Z77 Express chipset on which the board is based provides it with quite a sufficient set of features. A huge number of users do not need eSATA and IEEE1394 (FireWire) ports, a second network controller, additional storage controllers at all. They use a single video card, and therefore they are quite satisfied with one PCI Express 3.0 / 2.0 x16 slot. From the point of view of the mainstream user, the board looks almost perfect, although the rear panel could have been richer in connectors and the fan headers could have been better placed. As for the BIOS capabilities, they almost do not differ from other motherboards from ASUSTeK, and the absence of additional heatsinks did not prevent a good overclocking of the processor and memory. When operating in the nominal mode and during overclocking, the board demonstrates a slightly above average performance level, and in terms of power consumption it often takes a leading position, it is very economical.

One can only regret that the Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard is not based on the Intel Z75 Express chipset. Indeed, in this case, it would lose almost nothing in terms of the set of features, having lost only the support of Intel Smart Response technology, but it would become a little cheaper. Price is a very significant parameter when it comes to entry-level motherboards, and the Asus P8Z77-V LX board turned out to be quite inexpensive, but still its price is slightly higher than desired. There are many models of motherboards from other manufacturers, the capabilities of which are comparable or even higher, and the price is about the same or even lower. As always, you will have to make your own decision on the advisability of purchasing this board.

The situation when a new processor requires a new motherboard with a new chipset has already occurred quite often. All motherboard manufacturers were in a hurry to introduce their new products, playing chicken and egg. However, as you already know, things are different this spring - the new Intel processors, codenamed Ivy Bridge, can be used on "old" boards. But this does not mean at all that the leaders of the component market need not worry - users who want everything newest are the most active and very interesting financially, so the release of the seventh series chipset line was received with enthusiasm by everyone.

A dozen products based on the maximum version of the chipset line - Intel Z77 - appeared in ASUS' arsenal at once. To be honest, in our opinion, this is too much: it will not be easy for users to understand the differences and numerous suffixes if we are talking about ordinary “workhorses”. In this material, we will consider the motherboard of the P8Z77-V Pro model.

Among its distinguishing features, the manufacturer mentions the use of a Digi + chip to control power circuits, the ability to use four-chip SLI and CrossFireX, and a fan control system in the Fan Xpert 2 case.

Bundle and branded utilities

Traditionally, out of a dozen models based on one chipset, only a few were awarded original packaging. Our today's hero is not lucky - an ordinary cardboard box of medium size. Its design, at first glance, almost does not differ from many other mass devices. But upon closer examination, you can notice the texture (embossing) on ​​the cardboard.

Draws on itself detailed description numerous board features. Too bad it's only in English. And these are not just technical specifications rewritten in beautiful words, but really unique device functions. We will discuss some of them in more detail below.

The delivery package for this model is quite rich: a cover for the back panel of the board with a black insert and connector labels, two SATA 6 Gb / s cables with latches (one straight connector, the second angled), two "simple" SATA cables with the same connectors, flexible SLI bridge, special adapters for easy connection of the connectors on the front panel of the case to the connectors on the board (one for buttons and indicators, the second for USB ports), bracket for the rear panel of the case with a pair of USB 2.0 ports and one eSATA, proprietary wireless Wi- Fi with external antenna, thick user manual (in English), DVD with drivers, software and documents.

The motherboard comes with a lot of utilities, some of which deserve special consideration in a separate material and we will try to return to this issue in the near future. All of them are collected in a single AI Suite II shell to simplify both installation and work with them.

From the manufacturer's website, you can download the updated version of the kit as a single archive. The kit includes utilities for monitoring system status, collecting system information, software and BIOS updates, Wi-Fi controller management (including for organizing an access point), USB port settings, power saving mode selection, power management settings, system overclocking, setting priorities network traffic, remote control from wireless mobile devices.

The TurboV utility is used to automatically overclock the system. We tested its performance in automatic mode with an Intel Core i5-2500K processor and a liquid Cooling Corsair H100. Selecting the "Fast" profile made it possible to increase the processor frequency by a third in just a couple of seconds - up to 4.3 GHz.

A longer process in the "Extreme" profile showed even more impressive results - the frequency exceeded 5.2 GHz. True, it should be noted that the second option turned out to be unstable under the load of the LinX program. In the "beautiful" 5 GHz mode (100 MHz × 50), the system passed this test as well. We also mention the presence of an automatic reset system in case of unsuccessful overclocking.

Board Features

The motherboard uses black textolite, which allows it to look both strict and stylish. She has standard size ATX (304×244 mm), so that all configuration elements could fit freely. The LGA1155 socket can be used with both 32nm and new 22nm Intel processors (codenamed Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge, respectively). It cannot be said about most modern boards that there is a lot of free space near the socket and it will be easy to install a cooling system of any format. The product in question is no exception to this rule, but everything is arranged according to the standard, and boxed coolers Of course they will install without problems. And if you are going to purchase something large and more efficient, we recommend that you first make sure that it is possible to install it.

This model has four DDR3 RAM slots. The manufacturer talks about the possibility of operating at frequencies up to 1200 MHz (DDR3-2400) inclusive in overclocking mode. XMP profiles are supported - in particular, Kingston test modules worked without problems in their "native" DDR3-2133 mode (it was enough to change only one parameter in BIOS Setup). The latches on the slots are “one-sided”, which is designed to simplify the installation of modules, although one can argue with efficiency. We didn't forget about the MemOK! button, which will help you start the system if "not very compatible" memory modules are installed.

The configuration of expansion slots is not easy. Differences in color marking do not help to understand. There are two x16 PCIe slots connected to the processor and capable of operating in x16 mode with one video card installed in the first slot, and in x8 + x8 mode with two video cards. These ports support the version 3.0 standard if the corresponding processor is installed (this is also confirmed by the use of standard-compliant ASMedia switching chips). The arrangement of these slots allows cards with three-slot cooling systems to work. The third x16 format slot version 2.0 works through the chipset and supports the maximum x4 mode. According to the manufacturer, it shares the chipset lines with other slots (both PCIe x1) and external controllers (internal USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s ports on ASMedia chips). So with the maximum use of all devices, only x1 mode can be expected from it.

The last pair - PCIe x1 slots - are located on both sides of the "main" graphics slot. So one of them will be free in any configuration (unless a large CPU cooler interferes), and the second in most cases will not be available when installing an external gaming video card, since most of them have a two-slot cooling system. In addition, these ports share PCIe lanes with a third PCIe x16 slot, and the second one also shares an external SATA 6Gb/s chip.

Numerous external controllers and a wide range of expansion ports make full use of the 8 lanes of PCIe 2.0 available in the chipset. We also note that this board supports LucidLogix Virtu MVP technology (we wrote about LucidLogix Virtu), which is designed to increase the performance of graphic applications due to the combined use of integrated and external video cards, although, in our opinion, it is more convenient to purchase a more efficient external video card than rely on this function.

An 8 MB BIOS chip is installed on the socket, but in most cases this will not be useful - this board implements USB BIOS Flashback technology. It allows you to restore a completely “killed” firmware from a USB flash drive with an image connected to a dedicated USB port. For this, it is used specialized microcircuit on board. True, the case will have to be opened - to access the button to start the recovery process.

Like many other ASUS motherboards, the P8Z77-V Pro has special LEDs that will help you identify the causes of boot problems. Moreover, this does not require a long study of documentation and codes - the indicators are located near all critical elements (processor, memory, video card port).

Most of the motherboard connectors are assembled along its bottom edge (left in the photo). Moreover, they occupy it almost completely (except for the two connectors missing in this modification of the board). This can make it difficult to access the BIOS emergency recovery button. The CMOS reset jumper is also not very conveniently located - too close to the connectors.

Power and cooling schemes

Connection to the power supply unit is carried out with standard connectors for 24 pins and 8 pins (it is possible to work with a four-pin connection with an ATX12V connector). Several Digi+ chips are used to manage the power supply of the system components. The manufacturer calls it "Dual Intelligent Processors 3" technology. In total, 12 phases are supplied to the processor, four to the graphics core (in this case we are talking about the operation of an eight-channel PWM controller with phase doubling), and two for RAM.

The elements of the processor power supply circuits near the socket are covered with relatively small aluminum radiators about 25 mm high. Note that their design is complemented by plates on the reverse side of the printed circuit board. There are no heat pipes here, which is more good than bad. You can also see a heatsink with a complex shape of the top surface on the chipset chip. It's only 12mm high and won't get in the way of installing expansion cards, except for accessing the PCIe x16 slot latches. This configuration of the cooling system is more than enough for the model under consideration. In tests with an overclocked Intel Core i5-2500K processor, we directed the flow to the power radiators from a leisurely 120mm fan, since the processor was equipped with a liquid cooling system. Under these conditions, their temperature did not cause any concern.

There are six connectors on the board for connecting fans - a “double” one for the processor and four for the case. All of them are four-pin and support automatic rotation speed control, which will allow you to create an efficient and quiet system. Note the implementation in this board of the new unique technology Fan Xpert 2. It is able to provide the necessary temperature conditions while maintaining a low system noise level. To do this, after assembling the PC, installing and connecting all the fans, you need to run special program, which will automatically calibrate the operation of the fan system: it will be able to determine the effect of each fan on the temperature system components and suggest the optimal mode of operation.

In this section, we will also mention the presence of TPU and EPU switches and indicators on the board. The first activates the function of automatic overclocking of the system with the participation of the chip of the same name. You can also use it after loading the operating system through a proprietary utility. The EPU is designed to reduce system power consumption by dynamically managing power circuits.

BIOS

BIOS implemented by UEFI technologies and is based on the AMI code. It allows mouse control (although you can't do without a keyboard) and has several localization options. One cannot look at Russian without crying - as if China has a single version of the Russian font, which can often be found in "nameless" smartphones.

The first page that the user sees after entering BIOS Setup is an implementation of a simplified version of "EZ Mode". Here you can check the configuration of the processor, memory, hard drives, view the monitoring data of the sensors built into the board (temperatures, voltages, fans), change the boot order and select one of the "optimization" modes of the processor parameters - "eco", "normal", "optimal for ASUS version.

To access the full set of settings, you need to switch to the "Advanced Mode". It traditionally contains sections:

• Main - displaying the BIOS version, setting the time and date;
• Ai Tweaker - settings for frequencies, voltages and modes for overclocking and system optimization;
• Advanced - setting CPU/PCH/SA parameters, SATA setup and USB, external controllers;
• Monitor - monitoring system sensors, setting Q-Fan to control fan speed;
• Boot - OS boot options, device selection;
• Tool - access to the utility BIOS firmware EZ Flash, overclocking profile management, displaying information from SPD memory modules (including XMP).

For novice users, we do not recommend going into Ai Tweaker, at first glance there are about a hundred parameters. Especially since efficient overclocking can be done with a proprietary utility from Windows. The remaining points are quite simple and do not cause any problems with finding the right options.

Functionality

Most of the space on the rear panel is occupied by video outputs - there are four of them for every taste: VGA, DVI-D, HDMI, DisplayPort. It is difficult to say whether such a configuration is really in demand, but the fact that no adapters are required to connect any monitor can be considered a plus. The PS / 2 connector should be written off for a long time, it is better to install another pair of USB or eSATA instead. By the way, this board has none of the latter. This is slightly offset by the fact that 4 USB ports correspond to version 3.0 of this interface. Moreover, two of them are chipset-based, and the second pair is powered by an external controller. The USB 2.0 ports are implemented by the chipset controller.

Audio outputs and network are standard - analog minijacks for 7.1 configuration, digital optical S/PDIF-Out, RJ-45 port with built-in indicators. A separate place is given to the Wi-Fi controller for connecting the antenna and the operation indication LED.

Despite the use of the modern multifunctional Intel Z77 chipset, the board in question has many additional controllers that add new features and expand existing ones. The complete list consists of:

• two USB 3.0 controllers based on ASMedia ASM1042 (PCIe x1) chips, each supporting 2 devices, two ports are routed to the rear panel, two - to the bracket connector for connecting to the connectors on the case;
• integrated audio based on the Realtek ALC892 HDA codec in 7.1 format, with an optical S/PDIF-Out connector on the rear panel of the board and an additional S/PDIF-Out connector on the PCB;
• Gigabit network controller based on the MAC controller in the chipset and Intel PHY;
• PCI bus controller based on the ASMedia ASM1083 chip (PCIe x1) to implement two slots;
• ASMedia ASM1061 (PCIe x1) SATA controller supporting two internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports.

The motherboard has eight SATA connectors for connecting drives. Of these, six chipset, two of which support the interface speed of 6 Gb / s. The remaining two are implemented on an external ASMedia controller and also support 6 Gb / s. The ports are located near the edge of the board at an angle, so that their cables will not interfere with expansion cards. Color coding makes it easy to identify the port type. External port eSATA can be implemented by connecting a complete bracket for the rear panel of the case (the connector from it is plugged into any PCB port of your choice, providing the speed and functionality of the eSATA port that you need "on the back"). The chipset controller supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, Matrix RAID and Intel technologies - Smart Response, Rapid Start and Smart Connect. By the way, ASUS decided to offer its own utility for using SSD as a cache for a hard drive.

The built-in audio codec implements standard modes with connection to analog outputs up to 7.1, and also supports work with digital sound, including HD tracks in BD and output via standard HDMI.

Z77 for the first time for Intel has built-in USB 3.0 controllers (recall that they work exactly like 3.0 today only in Windows 7, since there are corresponding drivers only for it). But ASUS decided to add a couple of external controllers as well. As a result, the user gets four version 3.0 ports and two version 2.0 ports on the rear panel, as well as connectors on the board for four more 3.0 ports and eight 2.0 ports. Board supports USB standard 3.0 UASP (you can read more about this technology in the ASUS P9X79 Pro review) for ports based on ASMedia chips, as well as fast charging of mobile devices (USB Charger+).

One of the innovations in this line of motherboards is the bundle wireless module. To be honest, the implementation, in our opinion, is chosen somewhat strangely. Today there are good USB controllers that provide high speed operation in the 802.11n standard. They are easy to select, connect and use. But ASUS went its own way - standard map half mini-PCIe format is installed in a proprietary adapter, which is placed on the motherboard in a special slot between the rear panel connectors and secured with a screw on the back side. The antenna (or several) also uses micro connectors of its own, original format. As a result, the user is faced with many restrictions - you cannot install another board, it is difficult to replace the antenna, you cannot use this product with other devices. Perhaps it was the last point that became the reason for such a design. The P8Z77-V Pro uses a Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 single-band single-band chip, supporting a maximum connection speed of 150Mbps. Note that other motherboards in this series also have more productive solutions.

The presence of two standard PCI slots on the board will be of interest to users who need to use the old standard expansion boards.

Conclusion

The announcement of a new chipset and a new line of processors once again spurred manufacturers to update their products. Wishing to maintain the high status of one of the market leaders, ASUS released a dozen models at once based on the Z77 chipset. Choosing the right one is not an easy task. And even the presence on the company's website of the product comparison function does little to help in this situation. So we recommend that you write down the exact requirements and "try on" them on the solutions on the market.

The ATX format made it possible to implement a rather interesting configuration of expansion slots on the P8Z77-V Pro, which allows simultaneous operation of three video cards. Also, this model has two PCI slots, which may be of interest to users who did not have time or could not replace the equipment with a more modern one. Note the use of Intel's own network controller, which are considered exemplary, although more expensive, and the presence of a wireless adapter of the 802.11n standard (but of the lowest configuration). Other additional controllers add four USB 3.0 ports and a pair of SATA to the chipset's capabilities. The other parameters of the product are quite consistent modern solution to build a high-performance computing system based on Intel Core processors of the past and latest generations. From branded programs and technologies, let's mention TurboV for system overclocking and Wi-Fi Go! to work with mobile devices.Medium current price (number of offers) of this model in Moscow retail: N/A()

ForewordOur reviews of motherboards often feature flagship models or some special boards belonging to special series. Everyone understands why this is happening and we have already talked about it more than once. Manufacturers willingly provide older models of boards for tests, because these products make it possible to demonstrate the entire range of modern technologies with which the manufacturer is able to equip them. Articles about functionally rich models are usually welcomed by readers, and even the authors of the reviews themselves, as a rule, study the numerous features, abilities and features of flagship motherboards with genuine interest. They just don’t get such models very often, but this is explained not only by the price, which is usually very high. After all, if it's really necessary, sometimes you can spend much more than usual in order to stock up on your needs for the next few years. But the fact of the matter is that only certain, rather limited and narrow categories of users are able to fully use all the functionality of flagship models. For most, the capabilities of older models are redundant, and therefore their acquisition is irrational. And as a result, after reading a lot of articles about all sorts of superboards, potential buyer remains at a loss, because he knows almost nothing about the most suitable ordinary models.

However, it cannot be said that we completely ignore simple and relatively inexpensive models of motherboards. The latest in a series of reviews of LGA1155 boards, an article about the ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ​​board appeared on our website, and before that, you could read reviews of Asus P8Z77-V LX, Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H and Intel DZ77BH-55K boards. However, there is no doubt that more reviews of ordinary boards are needed, and our today's article is another step designed to partially correct the obvious bias in the insufficient number of reviews of junior models.

Motherboards from ASUSTeK invariably enjoy well-deserved attention from buyers. This is understandable, because the boards are well-made, conveniently designed, have a rich set of features and are provided with extensive service support. From a very large number of models produced by the company, it is easy to single out entry-level boards, they have the letter “L” in their name, which, apparently, means “Light” in the sense of “light”. The youngest model is the already mentioned board Asus P8Z77-V LX, it is possible that the abbreviation "LX" means "eXtreme Light" - very simple. This model has only one full-fledged video card slot and no additional controllers. Compared to it, the Asus P8Z77-V LE board (probably means "Light Edition"?) has additional USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb / s controllers. The Asus P8Z77-V LK board (we can assume the decoding “A Kind of Light”) is already capable of dividing the PCI Express 3.0 / 2.0 processor lanes between two video card slots, but it has only USB 3.0 from additional controllers. The oldest of junior boards is the Asus P8Z77-V LE PLUS model, which has a full range of features: the ability to divide lines between connectors, and additional USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb / s controllers.

Yes, the ASUSTeK motherboard naming system is not so obvious, it does not always allow you to unambiguously arrange models in a hierarchy, but perhaps everything will change soon. Among the many boards belonging to the P8Z77-V series, we unexpectedly found a model with an unusually simple and unpretentious name Asus Z77-A, its capabilities are generally similar to those of the Asus P8Z77-V LX board. Thus, it is quite possible that in the future we will see more simple and understandable names for ASUSTeK motherboards - Asus Z87-A, Asus Z87-B, Asus Z87-C or Asus Z87-A, Asus Z87-A2 and Asus Z87- A3… Time will tell, but now instead of guessing, let's study one of the not the oldest, but not the youngest models, the ordinary Asus P8Z77-V LK board.

Packaging and equipment

The Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard comes in a conventionally designed box of standard length and height, but its thickness is much less than usual. In the review of the Asus P8Z77-V LX board, we told how this was achieved. An original packaging method is used, in which a few components are located on top of the board in a kind of envelope, and below it there are only manuals and a plug for the rear panel. As a result, the volume of the box is significantly reduced, without any damage to the board itself or the included accessories.

The set of components included with the board is not rich, compared to the youngest model, only a bridge for connecting video cards has been added, and the full list is as follows:

two Serial ATA cables with metal clips and L-shaped connectors are specially designed for connecting SATA 6 Gb / s devices (they differ in white inserts on the connectors);
flexible bridge for connecting two video cards in SLI mode;
rear panel cover (I/O Shield);
user guide;
brochure with quick assembly instructions in several languages;
DVD with software and drivers;
"Powered by ASUS" sticker on the system unit.

Design and features

As in the case of the younger model, Asus board P8Z77-V LX , the width of the Asus P8Z77-V LK board was reduced relative to the ATX standard, while maintaining the classic layout principles and without losing ease of assembly and use.

To support all types of LGA1155 processors, a digital power system is used that works according to the 4 + 1 + 1 formula. Unlike the younger model, part of the heating elements of the power stabilizer now covers an additional radiator, which is fastened with spring-loaded plastic latches. The same mounting method is used for the heatsink on the logic set chip. Like other boards from ASUSTeK, the model can accommodate up to 32 GB of DDR3 RAM, and the range of supported memory frequencies for Ivy Bridge processors extends from 800 to 3200 MHz. Drives are connected to standard features Intel Z77 Express logic set, additional controllers are not used. We have two SATA 6 Gb / s ports (light gray connectors) and four SATA 3 Gb / s ports (blue connectors).

Unlike the younger model, the board is capable of dividing 16 PCI Express 3.0/2.0 lanes between two video card slots, their combination is supported in accordance with NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFireX technologies. In the latter case, you can also use the third black connector, it is capable of providing PCI Express 2.0 x4 speed, but you will have to disable both PCI Express 2.0 x1 connectors. In addition to the above, there are two more PCI slots for expansion cards. The Asus P8Z77-V LK board uses an additional ASMedia ASM1042 controller, it adds two USB 3.0 ports to the rear panel.

A complete list of rear panel connectors includes the following set:

universal PS / 2 connector for connecting a keyboard or mouse;
two USB 2.0 ports, and eight more can be connected to four internal connectors on the board;
video outputs D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI and DisplayPort;
four USB 3.0 ports (blue connectors), two of which are based on the ASMedia ASM1042 controller, and two more, as well as one internal connector that allows you to output two additional USB 3.0 ports, appeared thanks to the capabilities of the Intel Z77 Express logic set;
LAN connector (network adapter built on Realtek RTL8111F gigabit controller);
optical S / PDIF, as well as six analog audio connectors, which are provided by the eight-channel Realtek ALC892 codec.

Like the younger model, the video card slots use wide and comfortable Q-Slot mounts, but the memory slots are ordinary. The “MemOK!” button has been preserved, which allows the board to start successfully even if there are problems with RAM, and the “GPU Boost” switch, with which you can automatically increase the frequency of the graphics core built into the processor. At the same time, the EPU (Energy Processing Unit) switch returned, allowing you to turn on power saving modes work, but there is still no TPU (TurboV Processing Unit) switch designed to overclock the processor, although TurboV technology is supported by the board. Of the "Q-Led" LED system, which helps to track down the source of startup problems, only one "DRAM LED" remained on the board, which is complemented by the "Standby Power LED", "EPU LED" and "GPU Boost LED". There are four connectors for connecting fans, all of them are four-pin. Compared to older models, there is no support for the USB BIOS Flashback update technology.

For convenience, we have summarized the list of the main technical characteristics of the board into a single table:

BIOS Features

In previous reviews of ASUSTeK boards, we have already seen the Asus EFI BIOS - in general, a very successful implementation of the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) standard, so this time we will just briefly go over the main sections.

By default, when entering the BIOS, we are greeted by the “EZ Mode”, which performs mainly informational functions, since almost nothing allows you to configure. You can only find out the basic characteristics of the system, get acquainted with some monitoring parameters, select an economical or productive mode of operation and set the order in which boot devices are polled, simply by dragging them with the mouse.

The "F7" key is used to switch from "EZ Mode" to "Advanced Mode", or you can use the "F3" key, which allows you to quickly move to one of the most commonly used BIOS sections.

You can switch from “EZ Mode” to “Advanced Mode” every time you enter the BIOS, you can use the F3 key, which, by the way, works in all other sections of the BIOS, but it will be much more convenient if you make “Advanced Mode” start in settings. In this case, the familiar “Main” section will appear first before our eyes. It provides basic information about the system, allows you to set the current date and time, it is possible to change the BIOS interface language, including Russian.

The bulk of the options necessary for overclocking are concentrated in the "Ai Tweaker" section. The main window of the section allows you to change frequencies, multipliers and voltages. To control the current voltage values, you do not need to go to the monitoring section, they are indicated right there, next to each of the parameters that allow you to change these voltages, which is very convenient. Voltages can be set both above and below the nominal value.

Some of the parameters are traditionally placed in separate subsections so as not to clutter up the main one too much. The “OC Tuner” parameter only looks like a subsection, in fact, it is used to overclock the system in automatic mode. Changes to memory timings are made on a separate page, their number is very large, but it is quite convenient to use the capabilities of this subsection. You can see all the timings that are set by the board for each of the two memory channels. You can change only a few of them, for example, only the main ones, leaving the default values ​​\u200b\u200bfor the rest.

In the “CPU Power Management” subsection, you can independently set the values ​​\u200b\u200bof the options that affect the operation parameters of the Intel Turbo Boost technology, but this is not necessary, since the board independently adjusts to the overclocking parameters you specified.

Compared to other Asus boards, the number of power and power options introduced by the 'DIGI+' digital power system has been significantly reduced, but the most important ones have been retained. Directly in the BIOS, you can control proprietary energy-saving technologies that allow you to change the number of active phases of the processor's power supply depending on the level of its load. The “CPU Load-Line Calibration” technology for counteracting the voltage drop on the processor under load can not only be turned on or off, but also the degree of counteraction can be dosed.

The possibilities of the subsections of the “Advanced” section are generally well known to us and understandable by their names.

In the "CPU Configuration" subsection, we learn basic information about the processor and manage some processor technologies.

All parameters related to energy saving are placed on a separate page "CPU Power Management Configuration".

The "Monitor" section reports the current temperatures, voltages and fan speeds. For all fans, you can select preset rotation speed control modes from the usual set: "Standard", "Silent" or "Turbo", or select the appropriate parameters in manual mode. All case fan connectors are able to reduce the rotational speed even with a three-pin connection, but, unfortunately, for a processor fan, control is only supported with a four-pin connection.

In the "Boot" section, we select the parameters that will be applied at system startup. Here, by the way, you need to change the starting mode "EZ Mode" to "Advanced Mode".

Let's refresh in memory the possibilities of the subsections of the "Tools" section.

The built-in utility for updating firmware "EZ Flash 2" is one of the most convenient and functional programs of its kind. Unfortunately, the ability to save the current firmware version before updating was completely eliminated.

Asus boards allow you to save and quickly load eight complete BIOS settings profiles. Each profile can be given a short name to remind you of its content. Until now, the error has not been fixed, according to which the profiles do not remember disabling the output of the start image, however, the ability to exchange profiles, which was lost with the transition to the EFI BIOS, has returned. Recently, profiles can again be saved to external media and loaded from them.

Like on the boards of many other manufacturers, we can get acquainted with the information stored in the SPD of memory modules, including the XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) profiles.

The last section is "Exit", where you can apply the changes made, load the default values, or return to the simplified "EZ Mode".

Test system configuration

All experiments were carried out on a test system including the following set of components:

Motherboard - Asus P8Z77-V LK (LGA1155, Intel Z77 Express, BIOS version 0908);
Processor - Intel Core i5-3570K (3.6-3.8 GHz, 4 cores, Ivy Bridge rev. E1, 22 nm, 77 W, 1.05 V, LGA1155);
Memory — 2 x 4GB DDR3 SDRAM Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M4X1866C9R, (1866MHz, 9-10-9-27, 1.5V supply voltage);
Video card - Gigabyte GV-R797OC-3GD (AMD Radeon HD 7970, Tahiti, 28 nm, 1000/5500 MHz, 384-bit GDDR5 3072 MB);
Disk subsystem - Crucial m4 SSD (CT256M4SSD2, 256 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s);
Cooling system - Noctua NH-D14;
Thermal Grease - ARCTIC MX-2 ;
Power supply - Enhance EPS-1280GA, 800 W;
The hull is an open test bed based on the Antec Skeleton hull.

The operating system used was Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise 64 bit (Microsoft Windows, Version 6.2, Build 9200), Intel Chipset Device Software 9.3.0.1026 chipset driver, AMD Catalyst 13.1 video card driver.

Features of work and overclocking

As always lately, we had no difficulties when assembling a test system based on the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard. However, there may be problems when connecting fans to the two connectors located in the center of the board. Access may be difficult CPU cooler on one side and a discrete graphics card on the other. We didn't use the CPU fan header on the board at all, as it doesn't allow for fan speed control with a three-pin connection. We had to use the Zalman ZM-MC1 adapter to manually switch the CPU fans to full speed during overclocking and reduce their speed when the system was operating in the nominal mode.

At startup, we see the start picture, which still does not have a complete list of active hot keys.

The display of the start image can be disabled in the BIOS or using the "Tab" key, but the prompts will not appear. In addition, the board is not able to correctly indicate the frequency of the processor, it always reports the nominal value, however, information about the frequency of operation and the amount of RAM is true.

We often note that modern boards start up so quickly that you experience difficulties when entering the BIOS, you do not always have time to press a key. There is no special button for automatically entering the BIOS on the Asus P8Z77-V LK board, you can set a start delay, but it only works for the first start, and the reboot occurs almost instantly. However, we have only ourselves and our own inattention to blame for our torments. It turned out that ASUSTeK has been offering the Asus Boot Setting utility for a long time, which, importantly, is not included in the Asus AI Suite II software package, it can be downloaded separately. The main purpose of the utility is to provide automatic entry into the BIOS, for which a single button is intended. However, you can click the "Advanced Setup" arrow at the bottom to open the advanced settings panel. It is easy to do without using the utility, at the setup stage, when you often need to enter the BIOS, you should disable the "Fast Boot" option in the "Boot" section of BIOS Setup.

Of all the latest boards tested, the Asus P8Z77-V LK turned out to be the only one that provides a truly nominal processor mode when loading default parameters. The board's BIOS also has the Asus MultiCore Enhancement parameter, which at any load level will allow you to increase the processor multiplier to the maximum value provided by Intel Turbo Boost technology only for single-threaded loads. It's a bit embarrassing that it's even set to "Enabled", but it's actually dormant until you've gone through manual configuration. Perhaps it would be more convenient if it were set to "Disabled" by default and changed to "Enabled" only when the "Asus MultiCore Enhancement" setting really starts to work. It's also a good idea to manually change the values ​​​​of all parameters related to energy saving from "Auto" to "Enabled". In our case, this simple step allowed us to reduce the system consumption at rest from 47-48 to 44-45 W, that is, not all saving technologies initially function.

Like other motherboards from ASUSTeK, the BIOS has an "OC Tuner" parameter that allows you to automatically overclock the processor, but the best results can only be achieved by choosing the optimal values ​​for the system yourself. The Asus P8Z77-V LK board failed to provide the maximum overclocking of the processor to 4.6 GHz, but it confidently increased its frequency to 4.5 GHz. At the same time, the memory frequency was increased to 1866 MHz and its timings were adjusted.

It remains to be reminded that we always overclock the system so that it can be fully used in a long-term mode. No features or additional motherboard controllers are disabled, the functionality of Intel's processor power-saving technologies is fully preserved, which reduces the processor multiplier and the voltage applied to it, disables unnecessary blocks and switches the processor to power-saving modes when there is no load.

Performance Comparison

We traditionally compare motherboards in terms of speed in two modes: when the system is operating under nominal conditions and when overclocking the processor and memory. The first option is interesting from the point of view that it allows you to find out how well motherboards work with default parameters. It is known that a significant part of users do not fine-tune the system, they only set the optimal parameters in the BIOS and do not change anything else. So we are checking, almost without interfering with the default values ​​\u200b\u200bset by the boards. For comparison, we used the data obtained in the review of the ASRock Z77 Extreme11 board. The results in the diagrams are sorted in descending order of performance, and the indicators of the Asus P8Z77-V LK board are highlighted in color for clarity.

In Cinebench 11.5, we run CPU benchmarks five times and average the results.

The Fritz Chess Benchmark utility has been used in tests for a very long time and has proven itself well. It produces highly repeatable results, performance scales well depending on the number of threads used.

The x264 FHD Benchmark v1.0.1 (64bit) test allows you to evaluate the performance of the system in comparison with the results available in the database. The average results of five passes are shown in the diagram.

We measure performance in Adobe Photoshop CS6 using our own test, which is a creatively redesigned Retouch Artists Photoshop Speed ​​Test that includes typical processing of four 24-megapixel digital camera images.

In the data archiving test, a one gigabyte file is packed using LZMA2 algorithms, other compression parameters remain at their default values.

As with the compression test, the faster the calculation of 16 million digits of pi can be done, the better. This is the only test where the number of processor cores does not play any role, the load is single-threaded.

The following diagram uses only the results of the 3DMark 11 - Physics Score processor tests. This characteristic is the result of a special physical test that simulates the behavior of a complex game system with a large number of objects.

The built-in Hitman Absolution test turned out to be very convenient. It can be launched from the game, from the start utility (launcher) and even from command line. We use the highest possible quality settings "Ultra" and a fairly high resolution.

Batman: Arkham City also responds well to changes in CPU frequency, while using DirectX 11. We repeat the performance test built into the game five times at the Very High quality settings and average the results.

We have repeatedly noted that related boards operating under the same conditions show approximately the same level of performance. The data obtained fully confirm this unwritten rule, when operating in the nominal mode, the speed of the entry-level board Asus P8Z77-V LK is almost the same as that of flagship model Asus P8Z77-V Premium. The differences are only a fraction of a percent.

It should be recalled that during overclocking, all boards provided equal conditions for the operation of RAM, but only the ASRock Z77 Extreme11 board managed to overclock the processor to 4.6 GHz, while all other models stopped at 4.5 GHz. At this frequency, we conducted all the tests to evaluate how efficiently the boards work in non-standard modes, but we mean that in reality, having an advantage in the processor frequency, the ASRock board will be faster than the rest.

We did not find any significant changes in the situation when overclocking the systems. The performance of the Asus P8Z77-V LK board is still slightly different from the performance of the older model, the differences from boards from other manufacturers may be more noticeable, but still not too great.

Energy consumption measurements

Energy consumption is measured using the Extech Power Analyzer 380803. The device is turned on before the computer power supply, that is, it measures the consumption of the entire system "from the socket", with the exception of the monitor, but including losses in the power supply itself. When measuring consumption at rest, the system is idle, we wait for the complete cessation of post-launch activity and the absence of calls to the drive. Power consumption at a single-threaded load on the processor is measured during tests for the speed of calculating the number of Pi, at multi-threaded during performance measurements in the Fritz Chess Benchmark program, and Hitman Absolution is used to ensure complex loading of the processor and video card. The results in the diagrams are sorted as consumption increases, and the Asus P8Z77-V LK board indicators are highlighted in color for clarity.

The high power consumption of flagship boards from ASRock and ASUSTeK, equipped with an additional PCI Express bus hub, is uncharacteristic for conventional models, which is simply striking against the background of the significantly lower consumption of the Asus P8Z77-V LK board, which is quite comparable to the performance of the Micro-Star board. At the same time, it should be recalled that not all energy-saving technologies work on the Asus motherboard with default settings. The idle consumption of the board can be reduced by manually changing the values ​​of all BIOS settings related to energy saving. Additional savings not only at rest, but also under load, can be achieved if you enable the EPU Power Saving Mode proprietary technology in the BIOS or using the switch on the board.

Now let's compare the power consumption of systems during overclocking with an increase in the frequencies of the processor and memory.

When overclocked, the situation does not change, the power consumption of two special models is much higher than that of ordinary ones, and the performance of ordinary boards is quite comparable and very close.

Afterword

The process of testing a motherboard and then writing a review involves many steps. First, you study the information about the model on the manufacturer's website, read the manuals, track the history of BIOS changes. Then the theoretical part is replaced by the time of direct acquaintance and study of the board. A test stand is assembled, the firmware is updated, the nuances of the board's operation in the nominal mode, the capabilities of proprietary programs and utilities are evaluated. The most difficult period is acceleration. The selection of optimal parameters and stability tests take a lot of time, moreover, it is at this stage that various problems and shortcomings are usually discovered. Reinstalling the operating system, performance and power consumption tests - it's almost a rest after intense overclocking tests. The next significantly different part of the job is writing a review. As you get acquainted with the board, you already mentally imagine how you will talk about certain points, and now it's time to sketch out an article plan, draw up tables, and prepare illustrations. Talking about the board, you seem to relive the days spent studying it, remembering not only pleasant discoveries, but also disappointing shortcomings. Moreover, it often happens that in the course of the review you describe the various advantages of the model, but you don’t want to repeat yourself, and therefore in the final conclusions you only briefly mention the positive features, but give free rein to the accumulated irritation, telling in detail about all the minuses noticed.

Having reached the final stage of the review of the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard, I was surprised to find that I can’t say anything bad about it. Like any other model, this board is not perfect, but no significant shortcomings she does not have. You can be upset by the not very good location of the two fan connectors, which can be difficult to access. It is sad that not all energy-saving technologies work with default settings, however, it is not difficult to enable them. It is a pity that the board could not provide the maximum possible overclocking of our processor instance, but it fell behind quite a bit. But on the whole, the board has a user-friendly design, a good, quite sufficient and not excessive set of features, a convenient BIOS, good performance and power consumption indicators, and a reasonable price. The board is great as a basis for building a modern computer, it does not offer anything extraordinary, but it does not have any limitations in functionality. There are models that are more complicated and more expensive, there are simpler and cheaper ones, and Asus P8Z77-V LK is an ordinary board, close to the optimal option, not mediocrity, but a "golden mean".