By Rey Basti
If you're looking for a lower price Z77 mother board, the ASUS P8Z77-V could be the best solution for a value oriented enthusiast. This is one of the latest entries from ASUS line of Z77 motherboard aiming to give you the best performance without the hefty price tag.
The P8Z77-V is built with the latest Z77 chipset that supports Ivy Bridge processors and a backward compatible with Sandy Bridge processors. If you still have one you can use it here without the need for BIOS update. As you already know, the chip is just like the older Z68, you can take advantage of the integrated GPU and at the same time you can overclock the processor with the unlock version.
The new Z77 chipset brings more improvement such as the support for PCIe 3.0, LucidLogix Virtu MVP and the inclusion of super speed USB 3.0. These features took advantage over the Z68 making it a wise choice if you're planning to build a computer under socket 1155 platform.
In spite of removing some ports to cut down its price, it shares the same state of the art features compare to other competing Z77 board such as the DIGI+ VRM which is very useful when adjusting the ideal voltage for overclocking purposes. It has a total of 12-Phase power design with 8-Phase for CPU, 4-Phase for memory and 2-Phase for iGPU. There's also the EPU and TPU dual processor that provides maximum power efficiency to save you more energy at the same time.
The whole system stays cool with its excellent fan Xpert 2 control that allows the ideal fan speed for each part of the computer that generates heat quickly. The new BIOS Flashback feature is very handy that restores your settings whenever it crashes. One of ASUS unique feature is the UEFI GUI interface BIOS that eliminates the pain with traditional keyboard control.
With its futuristic Gen3 graphics support it can handle quad SLI and Crossfire Multi GPU for optimum display smoothness. It doesn't matter if you're an NVidia or ATI fans ASUS has bridge the gap between the two.
Overclocking
The ASUS P8Z77-V was tested using an Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz Ivy Bridge processor, 2x 4GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz, Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB WD1002FAEX and SwifTech cooling system.
Hitting the normal 4.4GHz speed using the default setting with this board is easy by simply increasing the turbo ratio. An additional 900MHz on top of it shows an increased on its performance is fairly noticeable. If you want to get more out of it, disable the CPU spectrum then increase the CPU voltage by 1.275v and the CPU PLL by 1.9v.
You can reach 4.7GHz with Bus Speed of 100MHz and a multiplier of x47, the system runs smoother and stable. Running at 4.8GHz - 4.9GHz is possible here but the heat produced by the processor was getting too much and finally settled at 4.7GHz.
The board shows a strong capability with high overclocking frequencies and the Intel's Ivy Bridge processor easily gets heat up. Pairing it with Sandy Bridge will probably hit the 5GHz mark however, on the negative side; you may lose new features from Ivy Bridge processor.
Conclusion
The ASUS P8Z77-V is undeniably a solid performer, it offers an excellent stability and reliability when it comes to overclocking, just don't forget the water cooling system. That's certainly what enthusiasts are craving for with the Z77 chip, ASUS have clearly delivered what it means to be. Although, some of its ports were omitted to meet the masses price limit, this board is no way belongs to low end.
For the price it offers, you got an incredible value in it considering its rich features and performance, at $184 by this point of time it can compete with other high priced Z77 board out there. If you hate to overclock the hard way, you'll find the OC tuner very handy. Luckily, the WiFi Go! Isn't omitted which is great for wireless LAN and the BIOS FlashBack is remarkable with just a simple push of a button.
If the removed ports such as eSATA and FireWire have no use in any of your applications, although it doesn't matter to most users, the P8Z77-V is definitely your best choice.
Read more of the Best Motherboard Review here and discover the Best Z77 Motherboard of today.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rey_Basti
0 comments
Thank You for your interest !