ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE Pro Reviews

The ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe is another solid and dependable motherboard from ASUS. We had no major or minor issues with the motherboard. It just worked. It however looks to not be for the uninitiated overclocker. Auto Tuning overclocking netted us some vCore values that I would not want to be running on a water cooling system with an Ivy Bridge processor much less an air cooler that was not up to the task. The lack of PCI legacy cards will likely be right up the ally of the more indoctrinated enthusiast and the WiFi is solid if you have a use for it. The ASUS P8ZV77-Deluxe with WiFi is selling for $267.17 with Free Prime Shipping currently at Amazon which makes it a hell of deal if you are still reading this; and surely a 4.84GHz 3770K overclock is nothing to sneeze at.

OK let's start with the obvious here. Performance wise the delta's between all of the boards in this comparison are going to be pretty slim for the most part. Intel's socket 1155 Second and Third Generation Core series processors with their integrated memory controller and core overclocking consistency have made it so that just about any board will give you a decent overclock and deliver comparable performance when you pop the same parts into it. To look at this even closer to home ASUS builds its boards to deliver the same overclocking experience in its Z77-based product stack from the lower end all the way up to the ROG Maximus V Extreme. Where the differences occur is in the feature set each board is equipped with so that just about every price point from the bottom to the top is covered. Kind of a modular approach when you look at it. When you look at how the P8Z77-V Deluxe is appointed it's clear to see that this board is at the upper end of the product stack as the Deluxe name suggests. Standard features include ASUS Dual Intelligent Processor 3 Smart Digi+ all digital voltage controls that manages current to the CPU, IGP, and DRAM with the ability to drop CPU wattage by 50%. USB BIOS Flashback that allows the user to flash the BIOS as long as there is power to the motherboard even if the CPU and DRAM are not installed. ASUS SSD Caching is far easier to setup than using Intel's utility without having to reload the OS, USB 3.0 Boost for improved transfer rates to an external drive, Mem OK, USB Charger+ and Network iControl to manage network traffic and a flawless UEFI BIOS.

There aren't many times during my writing career where I have been left speechless by a board's overall performance and overclocking prowess. I've never seen a board's auto-overclocking features come to life like what I experienced with the P8Z77-V Deluxe during testing. The UEFI BIOS and TurboV EVO software worked in sync like Batman and Robin to put the right overclocking features and system monitoring functions at the user's fingertips. Giving our PC Perspective Gold Award to the P8Z77-V Deluxe was a no-brainer and I hope ASUS continues to push the envelope to bring more innovative ideas and creative motherboards designs and custom utilities to market.

The recent CPU, chipset and platform releases from Intel have happened without much fanfare. The clock rate of the Ivy Bridge series hasn’t increased much over their predecessors’ and there are very few changes in the microarchitecture except for the revised integrated graphics core. As a result, the new CPUs are about as fast as the previous series but, due to the reduced CPU die size and the different thermal interface between the die and the heat-spreading cap, they are hotter and, consequently, overclock less successfully than their predecessors, although we might have expected the opposite outcome from the die shrink. The additional problem is that there is no test tool capable of proving that an Ivy Bridge configuration is stable. High-load tests like LinX or Prime95 do not guarantee anything anymore. There is only one point on which the new CPUs are undoubtedly better than the older ones. Their default voltage is about 1 volts, which is 20% lower compared to the Sandy Bridge series. Thus, you may want to prefer a newer CPU just because it’s more economical. As opposed to CPUs, mainboards with old 6 series chipsets are still viable. The USB 3.0 interface available in Intel’s new chipsets was long ago implemented by means of additional controllers, so there is in fact no difference between the older and newer mainboards in terms of functionality. But of course, we will be now reviewing the newer products with 7 series chipsets, with the Intel Z77 Express in the first place.

For building a Z77 Express–based PC, the Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe is a winner, offering an extensive feature set and a not-too-high price.

Asus has set the MSRP of the P8Z77-V Deluxe at $279, making it the most expensive board in our round-up. The P8Z77-V Deluxe's price premium is easily justified, however. The board includes more USB ports than the others, it includes WiFi and Bluetooth, an Intel LAN controller, it's Thunderbolt-ready, its UEFI is well laid out and offers extensive tweakability features. The board also includes a PLX PCIe switch, which offers all of its slots full PCIe connectivity. The Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe also proved to be perfectly stable throughout testing. In short, the Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe may be pricier than the rest, but if you've got the funds and want / need one or more of the board's features, we'd recommend it.

We really do like this board, it has a plethora of features and overclocks rather well for being a upper end mainstream offerings. But with that said its not really a surprise as ASUS has put a hard focus on ensuring that all of the boards can overclock to similar levels within a lineup. The inclusion of such features as the USB 3.0 Boost, Wi-Fi GO and ASUS SSD Caching add to make a rather versatile combination for any user. The ability to setup dual Cached drives is pretty cool and something I could see myself doing for sure. The Wi-Fi Router capability is also another plus as a system in the middle of my place could definitely help from lower signal issues I have had before on my wireless devices. This is really a great board but having so many features shows itself in the cost equation as it is currently second to only the ASUS Z77 WS model. Add to this that many of the features on the board are very awesome but getting people aware of them can be very difficult as many users just plug in the system and go never looking into what the true potential of the board is.

In the computer industry, innovation rapidly becomes commoditization: today's cool new feature that's unique to a single vendor's products can spread until they become standard. Even features protected by patents are often functionally duplicated. And then there's the "is this features relevant?" question. For example, on ASUS' own Rampage IV Extreme motherboard, the Subzero Sense connector allows the user to directly measure the subzero temperatures parts of the motherboard will experience with liquid nitrogen cooling. Sure, there are people who actually use this feature, but I'd guess 9 out of 10 Rampage users don't. That's why I like ASUS' Deluxe motherboards: their enhanced features are actually real-world useful. Fan XPert 2 is a revelation in fan control, and the WiFi Go! capabilities, while still at an early and imperfect stage, make it possible for a computer to integrate into your existing entertainment and networking systems, including mobile devices, with an amazing degree of functionality. And there are features I haven't even covered, such as the DTS Ultra PC II 7.1 surround sound (although at my advanced age I doubt I could discern the finer points of its operation), or USB BIOS Flashback, which lets you reflash the BIOS without needing a CPU or RAM installed on the motherboard...

Between Intel's surprisingly feature-packed DZ77GA-70K, Gigabyte's enthusiast-friendly GA-Z77X-UD5H at $199, other boards offered by those and other motherboard makers, and the 12 boards currently on offer just from Asus, you've certainly got plenty of choices when it comes to building a new PC with a new Intel CPU and the Z77 chipset. That being said, Asus' P8Z77-V Deluxe stands out as a very full-featured board and a very capable overclocker, making it an excellent foundation for tweak hounds looking to build a powerful, fully tweaked PC stacked with cutting-edge components. Just keep in mind that it lacks support for many older legacy components and peripherals, which could be a concern if you’re carrying forward equipment from an older system. But with a full list of fancy features like automatic fan-speed regulation, hard-core overclocking capabilities, and Bluetooth remote control on this board, giving up on yesterday's hardware might not be so bad.

Over at Newegg, the ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe is only cheaper to the P8Z77 WS board with both boards carrying a price tag of $274.99 and $339.99 respectively. At launch, this is simply put one of the most expensive offerings on the market. Saying that, it comes as little shock to us, outside of the Workstation offering, we'd only expect a ROG based ATX board to cost more. It's easy to justify the associated cost, though, with a strong bundle, an excellent feature set, great build quality and an overall look that is pretty impressive. The P8Z77-V Deluxe is everything you'd expect it to be considering it carries that "Deluxe" tag at the end of its model name.

With Intel having moved most so much support circuitry into the CPU in recent years, basic motherboard functions require just two main chips: the CPU itself and what we used to call the "south bridge", in this case the Z77 Express chipset. What this means is that any Z77 motherboard will have a defined set of base features and offer similar performance at stock clock speeds. Vendors must then work to distinguish their products. They can do this in a number of ways, but for the P8Z77-V Deluxe ASUS has chosen to add tons of extra features. These features come with a hefty price tag, though: for $274.99 at Newegg, this is the second-most expensive Z77 motherboard Newegg currently offers, beaten only by ASUS' own P8Z77 WS workstation motherboard at $339.99.

The ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE is a high-end motherboard, meaning it is targeted to the most advanced user, who understands the importance of the PLX PEX8608 switch chip. Since the chipset doesn’t have enough PCI Express lanes available to connect all the devices that are present on this motherboard, this chip automatically switches PCI Express lanes in order to provide the highest performance possible to the device that is requiring performance at any given moment. On motherboards without this chip, you need to manually disable devices (namely, USB 3.0 and SATA-600 ports) that you are not using if you want to achieve the highest possible performance on the ports that are being used. Feature-wise, it comes with a myriad of options: Three PCI Express x16 slots (working at x16/x0/x8 or x8/x8/x4), eight USB 3.0 ports, four SATA-600 ports, two independent eSATA-600 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a high-end voltage regulator circuit, and very good overclocking options.