ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Loved the ease with which I was able to build a new system with this board. The system is very fast and the board responded well to all the components that we installed. The on-board WiFi is a nice bonus for a computer that is located in my son's room (which is down the hall from the router location). I also love the included utilities that allow for monitoring and adjusting various components (Fan X-pert, for example). The GUI BIOS is one of the easiest BIOS that I've had the opportunity to work through.
This board along with the other components has made for a very fast custom desktop that my son will enjoy for a little while before we have to upgrade. By all appearances, upgrades will be fairly easy.
I've built a couple PC's with Intel MB's (back in the Pentium4 days) and have been very happy with their quality and performance. I tried to do that recently and had a really bad experience with compatibility (with an Intel processor!!!). I have known of Asus for many years, just never used their stuff. Well...I'm a convert now!
This MB is well laid out and FULL of features! It's good enough for a low-mid gamer, and perfect for high-end general-purpose machines (what I just built). Fully integrated graphics with 4 different output types, lots of expansion slots, gigabit ethernet plus wireless-N w/ external antenna, built-in HD audio, the list goes on... Honestly, the only thing it doesn't have that I would expect (and it's "big brother" deluxe or pro versions do include) is an eSATA port. But with the growing options in USB3, I don't think that's critical at all.
The software (both BIOS and Utilities) assortment is the major clincher for my conversion. This puts the Intel utilities (even today's offerings) to shame. Everything is customizable down to the last detail. I had fun looking through all the options, but other than setting my boot order in BIOS and setting a fan controller to a min speed instead of allowing it to be turned off when not needed (after "auto-tuning" the fans), I left almost everything else on "Auto". Honestly, the chipset and software are very capable and I've not found anything yet where I feel tweaking the settings will be beneficial.
This is a great full-featured board at a great price! If you don't need gamer-level customization, but don't want stripped-down entry-level features with limited connectivity, this one is a great fit right in the middle.
Edit 2.12.2013 - apparently the board will run Linux, but I cannot personally attest to that.
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Build details (hardware from Amazon):
This board
Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155
Corsair Vengeance Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1866 MHz (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9R) (2x4Ghz)
Windows 7 Pro 32 bit Service pack 1
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I'm not going to go over or list the board features, all that is well documented on the Asus website, but I will highlight missing stuff or unexpected included features.
First off, the ONLY operating systems the board will officially support are XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8. You Linux types (I are one of those:-) ) need to look somewhere else for your build. [EDIT: apparently Linux will run on the board but I have no direct experience.] If you are still using Vista, I will ask why? Dump that turkey. If I remember correctly, XP won't support USB 3.0 or SATA 3 which are board features.
This Asus board replaced a two year old Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P build that started spontaneously shutting down (like you pulled the plug) and occasionally giving me the 'blue screen of death', ironically an almost identical build (my big tower) has had stability problems almost from day one of the build. Replacing the power supply and memory didn't cure the problem, so time for a new build.
Before my two Gigabyte builds, I had an Asus board that ran faithfully for three or four years and I only retired it due to being too far behind the performance curve, so it seemed like a no-brainer to return to the warm fuzzy feelings I've always had for Asus mobos.
This board has a good layout with everything nicely positioned for easy access. One very minor complaint is the SATA connectors face forward and not straight up from the board. Since both side panels are easily removable on my Gigabyte mid-tower case, there was no problem with connector access. Note if you need Firewire (1394) or Bluetooth, this board does NOT have those features. It does have Wi-Fi GO! - an included WiFi module (only 2.4 Ghz band) that you need to install *BEFORE* you mount the board in the case.
A *very* cool build feature is a separate little header where you can plug in your HDD LED, power, reset, speaker connectors and then you plug that header onto the appropriate pins on the mobo. This is so much easier than trying to get the individual connectors onto the correct pins on the mobo.
This board easily overclocked from 3.4 Ghz to 4.1 Ghz with Asuss' AutoTune, I was very surprised at how effective that feature is - even when rendering video, my CPU temps never go above 60C (at maybe 60% CPU load.) And all of this is with the stock Intel cooling fan. With the relatively mild overclocking (it should OC to at least 4.5 Ghz if you have better CPU cooling), it is extremely stable - I have yet to have a stability issue over a several day period (I have not run Memtest or stressed the CPU though.)
Speaking about cooling, the board will accommodate two 4-pin CPU fans and three 4-pin chassis fans (you can use three or four pin fans.)
Since I'm not a gamer, the on-board iGPU graphics is fine, if I ever feel the need for better video performance, I'll drop a graphics card in.
An install tip for you, if replacing a motherboard and keeping your existing operating system and hard drive (not a fresh OS install), you need to make a change in the BIOS before you can boot into Windows. Go into the BIOS settings and select Advanced> Advanced> SATA Configuration> SATA Mode Selection> and select IDE mode. Then install the drivers. This setting automatically changed back to AHCI after the drivers were installed and we rebooted.
Asus is doing a great job of releasing BIOS updates, the latest is 1616 as I write this review, one of your first tasks should be to update the BIOS.
Asus' utility suite, AI Suite II (2.01.01), works and works well, I'm puzzled about the all of the negative reviews and feelings about this suite. One minor gripe is with the Probe II monitor utility. Here you can set alarm parameters for voltages, temperatures (CPU and mobo) - the complaint I have is the lowest fan alarm rpm you can set is 600, problem is my chassis fans will spool down to 300-400 rpm. I'd rather have the fans spool down than run them at a minimum of 600 rpm to keep the dust bunnies out of the case.
Wi-Fi GO! is interesting. I played with the remote desktop feature on both my Acer Android tablet and my iPhone 3gs, both worked and worked well. Also, Wi-Fi GO! provides plain old WiFi connectivity, there is no need to use any of the gee-whiz features of the application utility.
A caveat when you install AI Suite II - Avast did not like the software and kept it from execution, I had to exclude the Asus program directory from the Avast scan. Your security application might also have issues with the Asus suite since it is accessing the hardware/BIOS. (I got tired of Avast nagging me to upgrade so I uninstalled it and installed Microsoft Security Essentials.)
The documentation is very good and not written in 'Chinglish', Asus must have very good technical writers very conversant in English. One documentation weakness is not a thorough explanation of the zillions of BIOS tweaks you can make. In most cases the option descriptions are very basic and many of them left me puzzled as to why/what/how.
Final thoughts:
Good board that easily met and surpassed my requirements and expectations. I also liked the Asus utility suite. I chose the Core i5-3570K to keep the build costs down a bit, but for a performance build consider a two core (with hyperthreading) or a four core i7.
If still undecided about the PZ77 Asus boards, there are many very good YouTube videos out there - look for those videos that feature JJ from Asus - he is their Senior Technical Marketing guy and extremely knowledgeable about the board series. (In fact, even if you are buying the board, watch some videos!)
This motherboard is very nice. I built a system from scratch with a i7-3770K CPU and 32 GB RAM with a eVGA video card hooked up to three 24 inch monitors and the system runs fast and quite. It was very easy to install the motherboard and connect everything. Had the system up and running in a few hours. I would also highly recommend the Velocity Micro GX2-W case. It is very easy to install everything in this case and it has nice prewiring.
Been a long time ASUS user and this is the first time I've had to return one. Board just wouldn't boot. As soon as I hit the power button, it would shutdown. I triple checked, remounted everything 3x. I was worried that I might have fried the CPU, so I took the same parts moved them to an older Asus motherboard and all was well.
I asked Amazon for a replacement. I'll update if I get another dud. I'm giving it 3 stars because I hope ASUS comes through and I give it a more favorable review. The board has everything I want.
-- update 11/2
Amazon got it to me in a day :)
As I expected, this motherboard is excellent quality. I don't know what this new BIOS does but Win 7 reboots in under 10 seconds, it's just amazing.
No need to go into pros, this is excellent motherboard. The UEFI BIOS is awesome. Boot time is unbelievable. Performance is darn good. 4.4Ghz on i2500k easy.
Some cons:
1) Not enough SATA cables for all the SATA ports? Why only 4 cables when there are 8 ports?
2) I couldn't find instructions on Wi-fi and how to connect the antenna. I tried twisting it on but I think it's just snap on.
3) It's not clear you need to instal the Wi-fi Go module and affix it with the screw BEFORE placing the motherboard in a case.
4) The 90 SATA connectors does not work well if using a 2 in 1 SSD adapter in 3.5" bay. Should just be straight. Perhaps it's an advantage for smaller cases ?
5) Why isn't there an ISO of ALL the utilities on ASUS website? It's a real pain to download each and every utility and install one by one. I don't install CD/DVDs anymore.
6) USB3 front-panel connector is too shallow. Feels unsecure.
