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This mainboard occupies an intermediate position between the high-end and entry-level mainboards from Asus based on Intel Z77 Express chipset. It has richer functionality than the entry-level models, boasts more powerful voltage regulator, supports USB BIOS Flashback technology. At the same time, it is not as energy-efficient as the entry-level products.
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">The typical mainstay for the overclocker is the ATX size, with ample room for large coolers and multi-GPU setups. Is micro-ATX up to scratch? ASRock thinks so at $190 with the Z87M OC Formula, offering direct competition to the ASUS ROG Gene models. </span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">After reviewing the Z87 OC Formula, the full sized ATX ASRock OC SKU, I was hoping almost for a renaissance from ASRock at the $190-200 segment for overclocking. As I mentioned in the ATX review, for Ivy Bridge at $240 we had the Z77 OC Formula which was, in my own words, ‘the best ASRock motherboard I have ever tested’. For around 25% cheaper on Haswell our board is smaller, but still built on the same principles envisaged by NickShih, ASRock’s in-house overclocker. The question comes whether the reduction in size cripples our functionality compared to the previous platform, or if it really is the cost effective solution against the Z87 OC Formula or something in the same price bracket, such as the Gigabyte Z87X-OC which is at $200. This latter motherboard will be the focus of a later review for sure.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">Typically I write these reviews after testing. As I test the motherboard, make note of my results/comments/issues, and then sit down to write either the day after or during the next few days if possible. The path of the Z87M OC Formula takes a slightly different turn, as during my testing I was in constant contact with fellow overclockers discussing the pros and cons of the motherboard while they were using it for the professional overclocking league cup. ASRock seeded almost every team that requested a sample, taking a different philosophy to most other manufacturers – ASRock handed out boards to any professional that requested one at launch to get feedback.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">This is in contrast to most manufacturers who rely on HQ or regional offices that will seed a handful of teams or local users in exchange for posting overclocking scores, forum reviews, or help debug/advise with user experience. All ASRock wanted with the Z87M OC Formula was the professionals to use it, give feedback, and post scores if they manage to get any. ASRock are comfortable with the fewer sales of an already niche product if enough power users can help improve the system. I have asked my fellow overclocking team-mate and UK Overclocker K404 to write his experiences for AnandTech to aid our readers in understanding what goes through a competitive overclocker’s head when they get a new motherboard as a comparison to my mainstream analysis. This will feature at the end of the review.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">As mentioned above, the main competition to the Z87M OC Formula comes from the Gigabyte Z87X-OC, another overclocking motherboard available at $200. For the green, the M-OC Formula is kitted out with a few overclocking features – a Slow Mode switch, an LN2 Mode switch, a BIOS Select switch and the same power delivery system as the full-size ATX OC Formula. The main bulk of overclocking features are in the BIOS and software, featuring an almost identical set to the bigger brother.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">Aside from the six SATA ports and eight USB 3.0 ports, ASRock have fitted this board with an mSATA (shared with a SATA port), an eSATA (shared with a SATA port), a mini-PCIe (for WiFi cards), and single-latch memory slots. In terms of the new features from the A-Style series ASRock is promoting, we get HDMI-In, Home Cloud and Purity Sound. ASRock also likes to promote their use of an 8-layer PCB with micro-ATX, and inclusion of a higher quality thermal paste (GELID GC-Extreme) with the package to help users with their overclocks.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">The main issue from a home-user standpoint for me is ASRock’s issue with MultiCore Enhancement. ASRock cannot decide whether to have it enabled by default or not, and will happily supply reviewers with media BIOSes that enable it by default, but then supply public BIOSes with it disabled. This artificially inflates multithreaded scores for stock benchmarks if a reviewer stays with the media BIOS. ASRock asked me for my suggestion on which motherboards in their range should have this feature enabled by default – I replied that any Extreme ATX should (Extreme3 and up) as well as the OC Formula (ATX and mATX) motherboards. Anything below this is a cost sensitive platform where the extra energy/heat used by the feature might not be appropriate. We will see the results in due course, and as a result I tested our CPU portion of our benchmarks with MCE both enabled and disabled so ASRock can see the enhancements. The GPU benchmarks are with MCE disabled, for ‘out-of-the-box’ performance on BIOS 1.30, the latest public version at the time of testing.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">For performance, with MCE disabled, the ASRock cannot keep up with its bigger brother in the multithreaded tests due to the MHz deficit, but with MCE enabled it is comparable to the Z87 OC Formula in most tests. The ATX model had the upper hand in some memory-limited benchmarks, but the mATX wins outright in power consumption.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">For most home users, the mATX model will be sufficient. Despite this the Z87 Extreme6/AC which we reviewed at launch can be found for $10-$20 more. For that price difference we get a full ATX, more USB/SATA, HDMI-In and essentially the same every day experience. In most 24/7 overclocking tests on our Haswell CPU we are more limited by the CPU, and both the Extreme6/AC and the M-OC Formula offer similar experiences (with albeit more options on the M-OC Formula). For extreme overclocking, the micro-ATX is certainly worth a look (K404 was very happy with his), but for a daily machine, the Z87 Extreme6/AC which we gave a silver award might be preferable in terms of bang-for-buck.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/7175/asrock-z87m-oc-formula-review-matx-oc-at-200" target="_blank">Read more...</a></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">When I had previously seen the MSI ‘Power’ range of Z87 motherboards in press releases and at media events, it was a little perplexing to see the differences between them with a quick glance. Within the spectrum we have the </span><span style="font-size: small;">MPower</span><span style="font-size: small;"> (the enthusiast motherboard), the XPower (the overclockers model) and the</span><span style="font-size: small;">MPower MAX</span><span style="font-size: small;"> (a bridge between the two). All three, at quick glance, looked similar, with the larger heatsinks of the MPower MAX and XPower defining their position ahead of the MPower. Now when I actually got the XPower in for review, the first thing I noticed was the length of the motherboard, and instantly drew parallels to the MSI X79 Big Bang XPower II – this board has effectively nine PCIe slots of size. This limits the number of cases it can be fitted in, increases cost, but allows a good deal of wiggle room for routing, tracing, and features on the motherboard.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">As a result, the XPower tries to hit the high notes that make all the PR numbers light up – a full fat 32 phase power delivery, the PLX8747 chip for four-way SLI, a PLX bypass for single GPU users, 802.11n WiFi (2x2:2 Centrino N-2230 which means 2.4 GHz), a Killer E2205 Gaming NIC, 10 SATA ports, two onboard USB 3.0 headers, 12 total USB 3.0 ports, the Realtek ALC1150 audio chip, goodies in the box and a three year warranty. It aims to be the halo board for the MSI range, and at $440 it has the price to match, although the 2.4 GHz WiFi is clearly not a halo solution and was not up to standard in my 2.4 GHz crowded apartment block.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">After testing, several things become clear. The most positive stance on the box is that at stock speeds, the MSI Z87 XPower comes out as a well rounded board benchmark-wise. It is clearly designed for multi-GPU in a big way and wants to provide that efficiency, even if it means being a 9-slot motherboard. </span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">It is however still in the early stages of development – the BIOS is not yet mature, even for reputable 24/7 use. The BIOS shipped with the board (1.1b4) had issues retaining XMP between boots, the latest public BIOS at the time of writing (1.0) enabled XMP but had stability issues, and the latest beta BIOS still requires a manual in order to learn to adjust all the OC settings. This is on top of an excruciatingly long POST time, which was 25 seconds with two GPUs POSTing to Windows 7 (this is in comparison to the best Z87 boards needing less than 10 seconds). Other issues that cannot be fixed overnight are the long traces from the audio codec to the rear IO audio, resulting in lower performance of the ALC1150 than some ALC898 solutions in both dynamic range and THD+N.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">When the MSI Z87 XPower is stable and functioning the way you want/need it to, the motherboard does draw more power than the other Z87 motherboards we have tested due to the extra controllers and PLX chip used. For example the Z77X-UP7 had 32 phases and was in a similar position, compared to the motherboards that used <16 phases and were more power efficient than standard 8-phase ATX solutions.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">$440 is a big ask from MSI, which is placated some by the inclusion of a mouse mat and goodies in the box, and from a design perspective the XPower does look the part. However the BIOS needs to mature/ultimately be more stable (which will come in time), and I can imagine that reducing the power delivery to 16 phases then pushing that money into a 5 GHz WiFi solution would make this a better product for the casual user. The MPower and MPower MAX are $235 and $260 respectively, with the MPower being a 24/7 friendly and the MPower MAX geared for overclockers, suggesting that at just over half the price MSI has better options unless you (a) want MSI and (b) need 3xSLI and above with avenues to (c) sub-zero overclocking.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/7209/msi-z87-xpower-review-our-first-z87-with-plx8747" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">The Z77 version of this board hit several important milestones in the motherboard market. At $230/$240 it overclocked well, provided a nice user experience, and came with overclocking features that competitive overclockers liked, all in that cheap price bracket. The Z87 attempts to go a bit further, and at an extra cost over the Z77 model ($328 vs. $230) it has to provide in that price bracket something special. ASRock are known for implementing some off-the-wall ideas, and for Z87 we get:</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Conformal Coating</span>: Using a superhydrophobic coating on the motherboard, traces and IC joints are protected from moisture (although the slots where we connect other components are still susceptible).<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">HDMI-In</span>: By adding a HDMI-In port onto the motherboard, as we saw on the Z87 Extreme6/AC, we can sort of consolidate various elements of our entertainment center (PC, console, tablet, laptop) with one video cable going into the monitor rather than several.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">802.11ac</span>: One of ASRock’s big pushes is to engage the new high speed protocol. Several of the motherboards in ASRock’s range come in both flavors with ~$20-30 price difference, but others such as the Z87E-ITX are in an AC flavor only.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Purity Audio</span>: All motherboards $200 and up now use ‘Purity Audio’, which is ASRock’s marketing term for their ALC1150 solution, using an EM shield for the codec, separating the audio traces into a separate layer on the PCB, and additional headphone amplifiers to support 600 ohm headphones.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">With the high praise bestowed upon the Z77 OC Formula, other manufacturers raced to provide something similar at the $200-$240 price segment. There seems to be a lot of sales in that region, and ASRock have jumped the gun a little with this full sized ATX Z87 OC Formula/AC motherboard now at $328 (non-AC a little less), ASRock also created a micro-ATX version (the Z87M OC Formula) at $200, although it comes with fewer features than the full fat edition.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">In terms of actual user experience and performance, ASRock are producing a well performing and easy to use platform from which to base the rest of their products (at least on the absolute performance and BIOS side – the software side still needs some polish beyond XFast). Using our new i7-4770K CPU we were able to push the motherboard to 4.6 GHz at 1.32 volts without any freezing issues in the BIOS (see the BIOS section). At stock the Z87 OC Formula implements MultiCore Turbo, giving good performance in CPU tasks – the XFast USB software provides more superb USB performance data as well.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">I rather like the ASRock BIOS – it comes across as very easy to read, and the OC Formula has a long list of NickShih (their in-house overclocker) approved overclock profiles for users to attempt in order to get the best automatic overclock for the system. Using these automatic overclock options as a guide, our CPU sample was able to adapt at similar speeds but lower voltages – the ASRock profiles of course have to cater for all manner of voltage hungry CPUs. In terms of memory overclock, we were able to push our G.Skill DDR3-3000 memory kit above 3150 MHz, stable.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">There are a few areas where ASRock need to improve. Firstly the jump in price will come as a bit of a shock – the $230 price point for the Z77 version of the OC Formula was perfect and Gigabyte are in a prime position to take up that market if the Z87M OC Formula (the micro-ATX version) does not capture the audience. At the new $328 price point, features like the superhydrophobic coating might seem like a gimmick, but I can see some extreme overclockers might be glad for this feature and would hope others follow (depending on the extra BOM [bill-of-materials] cost). The software from ASRock also needs a tweak – the new A-Tuning (called Formula Drive on OC Formula boards) is still a work-in-progress, and there are plenty of avenues through which to develop the software into something that can compete against the better software packages.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">For most users looking at the Z87 OC Formula/AC, it might be worth just turning the head slightly to the micro-ATX version. At $130 cheaper it seems to offer an almost identical package (with slightly fewer controllers, no 802.11ac and no hydrophobic coating), ideal for single and dual GPU setups. That is, I fear, going to be the Z87 OC Formula’s biggest challenge.</span></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/7167/asrock-z87-oc-formulaac-review" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">This mainboard occupies an intermediate position between the high-end and entry-level mainboards from Asus based on Intel Z77 Express chipset. It has richer functionality than the entry-level models, boasts more powerful voltage regulator, supports USB BIOS Flashback technology. At the same time, it is not as energy-efficient as the entry-level products.</span></span></p>
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<div><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-p8z77-v-le-plus.html" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></div>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);">While Anand deals with the detailed analysis of the Haswell CPU architecture and performance, a CPU is almost nothing without an accompanying chipset to provide connectivity and an interface with which to interact with the CPU. For our Z87 launch article all the major manufacturers sent us a motherboard to test, around the $200 mark, in order to showcase what we as users can expect from them in a reasonable price bracket. We also have managed to get hold of more of the nitty-gritty behind the Z87 platform, which has several features worth noting and talking about.</span></span></span></p>
<p><font size="2"><a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/6989/intel-z87-motherboard-review-with-haswell-gigabyte-msi-asrock-and-asus-at-200" target="_blank">Read more...</a></font></p>
The functionality and features of this mainboard could have been fit for a flagship board of the past, but today it is just enough to place this product in the very mainstream segment, making it the junior model from Asus on Intel Z77 Express chipset. And it is probably the first time that we see wireless support implemented in a far not the top mainboard model like that.
There are a lot of mainboards out there with a variety of onboard controllers and an extensive list of functions. Of course, there are simpler and even more affordable mainboards, but perfection like Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H is a very rare occurrence among them.
This mainboard will suit perfectly for a contemporary system, it doesn’t boast anything extraordinary, but also doesn’t have any functionality limitations of any kind. There are more complex and more expensive, as well as simpler and more affordable products out there, while Asus P8Z77-V LK is a regular mainboard, most optional solution, the so-called “golden medium”.
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);">With time quickly approaching the launch of Haswell, leaks on both motherboards and CPU performance are coming out of the woodworks. Similar to our advance Ivy Bridge coverage, here is a current roundup of everything we were allowed to show or is currently in the public domain.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/6970/haswell-z87-motherboard-preview-50-motherboards-from-asus-gigabyte-asrock-msi-ecs-biostar-and-evga" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></p>