MSI Z77IA-E53 Pro Reviews

So what should we do if we really want to build a high-performance LGA 1155 computer on a Mini-ITX platform today? Our recommendation would be to start from the contrary. First of all you need to exclude those mainboards that limit the overclocking. These are Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI, that doesn’t have any functionality to adjust the voltages, and EVGA Z77 Stinger, which doesn’t work with the memory and has several issues in the BIOS. Then we need to eliminate those mainboards, which cannot save power when the CPU is idle and disable all processor power-saving technologies during overclocking. This will take MSI Z77IA-E53 off the list. Finally, we will exclude slower mainboards, which will mean the end of the race for Zotac Z77-ITX WiFi. As a result, the only two choices remain ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE and ASRock Z77E-ITX. Asus product boasts very well thought-through design, high performance and a WiFi controller supporting 5 GHz frequency range. However, it suffers from some frustrating issues in the BIOS, heats a lot and is quite expensive. ASRock mainboard, on the contrary, is very affordable, comes with a well-balanced BIOS and an additional mSATA slot, but doesn’t support Bluetooth and has somewhat awkward layout.