Wednesday, March 13, 2013

ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard



ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard



ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Features

  • Wi-Fi GO! - Rich Features for the Home Environment: multimedia management, diverse remote control, Internet sharing and quick data sharing
  • Fan Xpert 2 - Fan Auto Tuning function for optimized speed control and settings for each individual fan
  • SMART DIGI+ Power Control - Flexible precise adjustments for System Stability, High Power Efficiency and Improved Performance Scaling on both CPU & RAM
  • USB BIOS Flashback - Plug in USB with BIOS file and just click the button for simplest BIOS update
  • TPM Header Features Enhanced Data Security Protection



ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Description

The ASUS P8Z77-V motherboard features the Intel Z77 chipset supporting the Intel LGA1155 3rd/2nd Generation Intel Core i7 Processors. ASUS offers this top-tier platform-leading solution with the exclusive Dual Intelligent Processors 3 technology integrated featuring new SMART DIGI+ Power Control - capable of achieving most precise adjustment, enhanced performance and stability, and O.C. capacity for CPU & RAM. With SMART DIGI+ , users can adjust their system to be highly efficient, providing consistent power delivery to reach higher performance on the Z77 platform than any other vendors out there! EPU conserves energy by intelligently moderating power and load requirements in real-time while TPU provides intelligent system scaling for incredible increases in platform performance while retaining stability. Fan Xpert 2 intelligently provides optimized settings for each fan on your PC and controls fan rotation speeds. Intel 3rd generation Core processors supports PCIe 3.0 for AMD CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI support. The ASUS P8Z77-V provides scalable graphics performance for the gaming and computer enthusiast or the graphical designer wanting to harness additional GPU Compute power in leading media applications. With TPM header, data security is greatly enhanced on the P8Z77-V. The Z77 Series motherboards features the latest Lucid Virtu MVP software with HyperFormance technology, optimizing graphics performance by providing outstanding gaming responsiveness, sharper visual quality and improved frame rates all with low power consumption. This latest hybrid graphics boost technology fully utilizes fast-computing iGPU and discrete graphics cards in your system to create up to a 60% discrete graphics boost performance!



I got this mobo through micro center for 199.99. Anyways this mobo packs a real punch. Here's the pros/cons/final thoughts.

Pros:
Supports SLI/Crossfirex.
Supports 3rd Gen Core i3/5/7 series.
z77 chipset.
ASUS gives you the block when plugging in the power switch cables i love that.
2 USB 3.0 headers.
PCI 3.0 Support w/Ivy Bridge processor installed only.

Cons:
Before you turn it on get the updated drivers! The ones on the CD are good but I had error messages saying it can't find the hotfix file or whatever. With the updated drivers on my usb stick it was a smooth installation.

FInal Thoughts:
This is my 2nd build. Upgraded from an 775 core 2 duo e7200. I was going to go with the new core i7 3770k but its way too much money. The 3570k will be more than enough for anything that the average gamer needs to do.

-Suggestion: You may get the error CPU fan Error: Just go into bios and set all fan warnings to ignore. Solved problem :)

Here's my rig.
Asus p8z77-vpro (pro version of this motherboard)
Intel Core i5 3570k 3.4ghz stock + CM Hyper 212+
16gb ddr3 1600mhz 4x4gb Corsair LP
120gb Intel 520 SSD SATA III
1TB HDD
2x HD6870 Sapphire 1gb ddr5 setup in crossfirex
Raidmax 850watt psu 80+gold
Samsung blu ray reader
Corsair 600t White

One quick question if anyone out there can help me. I have never setup raid before is it possible to do it with my SSD and my HDD. I want windows 7 pro on my ssd while the HDD handles everything else.

_______Update______________ 11/29/12

Everything is running smoothly. I had a few bumps in the road while updating bios versions. One of the biggest problems I had is when I flashed to bios v1406, back in July my CPU fan went to full speed (2k rpm) and it would stay at full speed the entire time. I knew it was the bios that messed it up and I wanted to go back so I went back to Asus's website to download 1206 again but I noticed that v1406 was gone and that's when it hit me I downloaded a crappy version of bios for my board :P. I waited for the next version to come out but I waited for a few days to make sure that they wouldn't take it down like they did for 1406. They never did and I updated to 1506. That unfortunately did not fix the problem, I ended up downloading all of the updated utilities fan xpert 2 and Asuite and that immediately fixed the problem with the CPU fan running at full speed.

Also if you are noticing that your download and upload speeds are terrible. This may or may not help you out. For my internet speed I have fios at 25/5mbps. When I did a speed test I was getting 10/2. So naturally I looked on google and I ended up joining tomshardware where I found my answer. Basically turn off Inetworkcontrol in Asuite. I forget the exact name but turn it off and your speeds will drastically improve. That software is bogus.

Board is still running strong, hope to have it last till 2020 :) for the next build

This was my first build myself and used this board. After turning on the system, updating the board was really easy from the Asus website. The board is full of features. I got this board over the P8Z77-V Pro because I already had a eSata bracket available which was the only really big difference minus 1 extra fan header. The 5 fan headers are plenty for my needs. The Asus AI Suite II is fantastic in my opinion. The Wi-Fi Go, Fan Xpert 2, Network iControl, USB Charger+ are great. The exclusive Q-connector is a feature all Motherboards should have. The USB 3.0 and Z77 Chipset work great. For those that don't overclock, the EPU feature is great and for those that do overclock, the TPU feature works for those. 1 board that can accomodate a large group of people and their needs/wants. There are way too many features to discuss here that this board does. I highly recommend this board, plus it looks great and overclocks very well when desired to do so.



Tuesday, March 12, 2013

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4 Review

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4


AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4

AsRock has turned itself into an amazing company. This motherboard is brilliant. Just last night, I was tinkering and broke some settings on the BIOS. Instead of having to dive into the case, there lies a "clear CMOS" button on the I/O panel.

Made my life a breeze!

There are premade overclocking features for your CPU, but I don't fully trust them. But who really cares, it's better to do it yourself anyway! Not worth a star knocked off.

This is for the AS Rock LGA1155 Z77 Extreme 4

I replaced an ASUS motherbaord with this one. There are a few things to note about some of the negative reviews that are unwarranted from those that will not be bothered to read the manual (even the quick start manual, not the thick instruction booklet).

If not for the impatience of a few, this board would be a 5 star board save for any true DOA boards that an unlucky person may have received. Some drivers needed to be installed before the board and some of the ports could be utilized to its potential.The Driver and software package disk that came with the board allowed individual installation or a complete suite install. I was able to find a driver and/or explanation in the instructions for every complaint lodged against this board so far (DIMM slot priority, USB ports, PCIe and SATA port priority) and was up and running the first attempt to boot.

PROS:
- This board looks and feels fantastic. Lots of CPU and Case fan plug ins. Lots of other options if you expand your external ports.
- Despite claims of flimsiness, I found the board to be just as sturdy as my previous ASUS board.
- Despite claims of the board being short, it is exactly the same width as my previous ASUS board.
- Side facing SATA ports allow the removal or adjustment of drives or other installed items in the lower bays without having to remove the connectors from the board.
- The I/O back plate was painted black (might be a con if you have a non black case) with colored port edges.
- The UEFI is an amazing leap forward from the BIOS (mouse support, GUI, internet connection for Flash updating etc)
- Accessibility to tweak your board and auto recovery when it doesn't work out (such as overclocking etc.)
- LCD error reporting instead of translating Morse Code beeps.

CONS: (minor and situational cons)
- If there is any obvious negative it is that obscenely large aftermarket coolers may have issue with its proximity to the DIMM slots. I have a CoolerMaster TX3 with a 2 fan Push/Pull; Ram will fit in all 4 slots even with this cooler. If there are raised heat sink fins it may touch the fan depending on the brand and how it is spread out, but are otherwise completely interchangeable without removing the CPU cooler fan. A larger such as the CoolerMaster 212 may not allow for this.
- Front Panel plug ins (at the front top of almost every case) are located at the bottom rear of the board. Your front panel's cabling may barely reach. This seems common among many boards, but as great as this board is it would have been nice if it had taken it one closer step to supremacy by putting those front panel audio ports in a more convenient place.

I've not built a pc in >5 years, but with this MB it was a breeze. It's big with lots of room. I placed 4 sticks of 1600 ram and a huge Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO cpu cooler on my 3770k intel processor and it all fit. Also I placed a Nvidia Gigabyte 670gtx(big, long card!) without a problem. The MB has a ton of fan support for cooling. This MB is made to overclock along with my components. I'm a rookie at overclocking but the software was a breeze. I've owned this for 2 months and I am still pleased. This MB had great reviews and I'm adding my 5 star to the list.


I am thoroughly satisfied with this board. I've heard some complaints about quality and I can only say they must have had a bad batch at one point, but for me and I had two of these boards at one point, these are excellent.

Navigating the BIOS is incredibly easy and informative. The layout of the board is complete logical and won't leave your hands cramped after plugging devices in.

There's nothing I can say to detract from this product. I will be an ASRock customer from now on!
The important thing is everything works. The I/O Panel Shield was missing when I got the box but I contacted Amazon and they overnighted a replacement motherboard. (Thank you Amazon. Things like this response when things go wrong is why I order from Amazon).

This part of a ~$500 computer upgrade. Motherboard, processor, case and a new SSD drive was added to existing parts. (Note: My old motherboard / AMD processor failed). My DDR3-1600 memory was 'fast enough' so I kept it. Same with the other parts. Nothing else really need to be replaced. Almost everything went together perfectly. This motherboard is mated with a i5-3470 processor, 16GB Ram, A SSD and three other hard drives, two DVD drives. My case is a full tower from Antec (Antec will sell discontinued last years top of the line cases cheap). All this and I have two open hot-swap positions for 3-1/2" hard drives plus a hot swap 2-1/2" drive position.

Things I liked: It worked out of the box. The board does have a clean layout and is a proven board - thought of as one of the best boards in it's class with positive reviews across the world. Since I do not plan to overclock (much) and my case has excellent air flow, the stock processor cooling is more than sufficient. The board has the ability to charge an iPad while connected. I tested charging with two iPods V3&4, three iPad's version V1,2 and 4 and everything says it is charging while connected. This was a nice surprise - the Asus and Gigabyte user reviews indicated problems. The bios screen is something to behold. Onboard buttons to power on / reset / clear cmos. It has enough on board USB connectors for six (6) front panel USB plus two (2) USB 3.0 on your case front (who has that many?). The instructions say that the motherboard has specialized utilities to take advantage of Windows 8 features.

Did not like: The manual. I feel though I should shut-up about it and be grateful that I have a manual at all these days. Did not include a USB3 header to USB3 Female connector. The supplied SATA cables were 90 degree cables (needed straight). This is minor stuff. Assuming that I am able to update drivers / utilities as needed through the future of this motherboard, I'm good.

Summary: If I had a couple hundred more to spend I would probably use the same motherboard and get an i7 processor. A hundred or two more and I would get a second monitor. Any more money double the ram and raid 3T drives. Than a second video card. Than I would need a larger power supply and at this point you should be in a different processor socket.
Very easy setup and lots of features. I was a little weary going with this brand since I've been attached to MSI for so long, but this really opened my eyes to other, better things. One thing I do not like is the plug arrangement that is setup on the I/O panel in the back. It seems like it was kind of slapped together with no arrangment. For example on the top you have 2 USB3 ports, then below you have your vid attachments then 2 USB ports, then 2 USB3 ports.. I would prefer all the same ports to be grouped together. Another thing I'm not particularly crazy about is the fact that there are 2 different chipsets that provide the SATA3 connections. One is Intel which provides two of them and the other two are provided by ASmedia. I know this is a shortcoming of the Z77 design and it is just weird to me that SATA3 is so limited. I came from an AMD 890fx where you get 6 full SATA3 ports ...All from one chipset. But the Intel processor is superior to AMD and that sums it all up right there. Easily overclocked my i5 3570K to 4.5GHZ using only 1.25 volts max and so easily too. I have no doubt I can take this to 5GHZ, and someday I will. Overall I'm very pleased with my purchase and would recommend this board mostly to enthusiasts because of the dual PCI-Express 3 slots and wide options for overclocking. Shipping was ultra fast and free. THANK YOU big time for that one!


Monday, March 11, 2013

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4 Reviews

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4


AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
After months of research, I originally bought this motherboard at a local computer store, but the RAID would not work. I think the Intel chipset might have been defective. Since I had an issue with the local store, I thought it would be safer to buy it from Amazon. I was afraid the local store might have a bad batch. I'll never know for sure, but this one worked perfectly. The first thing I did was enter the BIOS and configured it properly (something I always do since I run RAID on my drives). When I was in there, I noticed an option to update the BIOS (which I did). Very cool. This was the best BIOS and nicest looking BIOS I have ever seen.

I have a front panel device located between my DVD burners that allows me to have front audio, USB 3.0 and E-Sata. This motherboard provided all of the connections for the device. In addition, my case has two front USB 2.0 ports that I was able to connect to the motherboard. Overall this board had everything I wanted and works great. With an I7 processor and an SSD C Drive it boots incredibly fast. With the SATA 6.0 ports, my mirrored data drives scream. I finally have my dream computer!

The only thing I would have liked was one more set of SATA 6.0 ports so I could set up RAID 10. However, by the time I fill the 2 terabyte drives I have mirrored on the current set of SATA 6.0 ports, it will probably be time to upgrade again anyway.


The layout seems sufficient. I really like the color scheme. It had all the options I wanted at a decent price and it wasn't DOA.

One thing to be cautious about is the gpu securing mechanism is a slider. I was used to a little clip thing so I just about broke it off thinking it was like the older MB I used.


At first I was leery due to the name not being well known. I've been told by many of my peers that ASUS or GIGABYTE were the top dogs and do not settle for less. Technically I didn't since AS Rock is a subsidiary of ASUS. This board is top notch quality.

Pros- Great for windows, easy setup, recognizes Intel Core i7 3770K without the need for firmware upgrades, overclocking is way too easy.

Cons - Ubuntu 12.10 has some trouble with the onboard TXH 7.1CH sound. The PCIe x16 3.0 is tight when first installing a video card. Beware of the clip.

At first I was a bit leary not knowing much at AS Rock MBs and reading some reviews on some websites however after using multiple of these boards would highly recommend them!

They are an excellent budget MB for 1155 socket set that has a plethora of OC abilities for the price. Even supporting higher frequency RAM compared to several other boards.

I could go on for pages about how awesome this motherboard is but I'll do my best to keep it brief.

Pros:
1.)Price is amazing
2.)UEFI BIOS is probably the coolest thing to ever happen to motherboards (a graphical BIOS that works out of the box and supports mouse AND keyboard)
3.)Digital Error Display - I don't know what this is officially called, the motherboard has a small 2 digit LCD display that gives codes that can be referenced in the motherboard manual. This way if you have an error with the RAM for example, the motherboard can tell you specifically the RAM is causing the issue and save a boat load of time.
4.)Power and Reset buttons that are built on to the motherboard - makes testing components in your build very quick and easy, no case needed to turn on the computer
5.)Good looking color Scheme
6.)Includes SATA 6 cables for your hard drives
7.)Crossfire/SLI support with 2 PCI EXPRESS 3.0 slots.

Cons:
I haven't found any. I tried my build with an MSI motherboard that costs about $60 more and had memory issues, I used this board and it booted on the first try, solid like a rock. This is THE Z77 chipset board that most people should get.

I'm not saying there aren't other nice boards on this chipset, but for the price there is not a better one.



Sunday, March 10, 2013

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4 Reviews

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4


AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4


I bought this to replace my Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3. Not sure why I went with gigabyte again in the first place since I wasn't overly impressed with the board I bought when I built my q6600 system, ended up sticking with the brand and ended up disappointed again. The last straw was when I went to overclock my 2500k after a year of use and it made it impossible to get it over 4.0GHZ stable.

I decided to eat my loses since my gigabyte board started acting up more and more even after downclocking (system would turn on then off then on then off when powering up for the first time) and bought the Z77 Extreme4. I am extremely impressed with this board. It has all the features "higher end" ASUS boards have yet your not stuck paying extra money for the name. My awesome experience with the board pretty much matches what most "professional" hardware review sites say.

Asrock has officially gained a fan.

I recently ordered this MB and built my first ever gaming rig after a long time. I've to give this motherboard 5 stars as it is built of high quality components and very easy to install. Only issue is that it doesn't come with onboard wireless chip but I still give it 5 stars because you pay half the price for this board compared to Asus or Gigabyte. I would definitely recommend this board for gamers who want to get the juice out of your OC'able processor.

My rig config.
This is the best overclockable processor to build a budget gaming system. Easily OC'ed to 4.2 Ghz without getting hot.
My gig
Intel Core i5-3570K
Rosewill Challenger Case
Corsair Vengeance 8Gb
Rosewill FORTRESS 750 Platinum 80 plus certified PSU
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD
ASROCK Z77 EXTREME4 MOTHERBOARD

As i was installing this this and was worried at how flimsy it acted under stress of installing the components but as i booted it up everything worked perfect the UEFI was great i got everything installed easy except the heatsink but i always have trouble with those. Great mother board i really recommend for a semi budget build .



This is an excellent computer motherboard that matches the performance of its competitors in the $200-300 price range. Speed of everything is just incredible, especially under the Linux kernel. The latest Linux kernel works incredibly well with everything from UEFI to the drive controllers. Crunches and compiles for months on an end without crash, which leads me to say the motherboard is not only supported but indeed stable.




Saturday, March 9, 2013

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4 Reviews

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4


AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4

I've built quite a few computers over the years and have used lots of mobo brands: ASUS, Gigabyte, EVGA, etc. I put AS Rock into my last two computers and have been quite happy. The overclock options are great, the Bios is super easy to use, and the overall stability seems rock solid. I'm basically at the point I own't buy anything but AS Rock.

Just decided to try ASRock after almost always using ASUS. This board is very nice looking, well layed out. Installation was a snap, as well as OC'ing the I5-3570k I put in the system. Very happy so far and the price is very nice. My only complaint is the board is a little shorter than my Extreme6 making it miss the motherboard mounting holes in the case, so it flex's a bit when installing the ram, not a big deal.
Just buy this As Rock LGA1155 Motherboard one moth ago, because price are right and lot of features, ship with 2.0 BIOS version, update to 2.7 version through internet ( I try update BIOS with USB, but Motherboard refuse update ), run UBUNTU 12.04 boot up no problem, from BIOS screen to login screen 15 second, I put my EVGA GT 430 on first one PCIE slot, Nvidia software show the card run X16 GEN2 speed, if put it on second PCIE just run at x8 GEN2, and this ATX board has little bit short than standard ATX( I already knew it buy this board), this my first time build computer and so far so good, I can not comment WINDOWS software function on this board, because I'm not yet test Windows on it, very good value for the features, I will recommend this board.
Bought this board to pair with a i7-3770k. Boots up great and has absolutely no problems OC'ing to 4.2GHz with simply a multiplier adjustment. Mind you, I have a pretty beefy coolermaster heatsink but you can get them for like $25 and honestly, you shouldn't be using the stock one that comes with that cpu anyway.

This install was so easy, i went from asrock z68 gen3 to this z77 extrem4. bootup first try right into win7.

this motherboard is better than the z68 more options and i really need more sata hookups.

overclocked my i5 2500k to 4.2 just with the easy bois option running stable coulds prob get 4.4 with some tweaks to bios, i could not get past 4.0 stable with the z68.

overall great board its been up and running a week now.
This board is pretty awesome I had a Walmart special for a few years it done the job but was slow it only had a Athlon II x2 235e 2700 Mhz 1m Dual Core cpu with 6gb of DDR2 Ram on my new motherboard I bought a intel I-5 3570k and Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz and its running really quick was like going from a Ford to a Ferrari all in all its my first build and I'm very happy.
which is really a compliment for a a motherboard if you think about it. I put it in the case put the CPU in the mobo, booted Windows, uninstalled the old mobo's drivers and installed the new ones, and was playing games again within 30 minutes of opening the package. The genius Dr Debug will be a great feature if I ever have any issues with "why won't it boot", but I didn't.

I don't notice any improvement with XFast LAN/RAM/USB or the GPU virtualization software, but whatever. This motherboard is a great deal for the $120 or so they're asking -- just like all the stuff on the internet I read said.



Friday, March 8, 2013

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4 Reviews

AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4


AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4
AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4


I have been having all kinds of problems with Asus and Intel Motherboard lately so, decided to try one I was not familiar with. Boy! What a supprise! Install and setup a piece of cake and, board runs very well all at a lower price.

Very durable, extremely high quality. BIOS is exceptional and the layout is pleasant to use and very user friendly. Tons of options. I've owned countless different motherboards and brands over the years and this is easily one of the best.

For the price, this motherboard is one of the best options. I've never used AsRock before, but I made a gamble and it payed off ten fold. Of course I read all the positive reviews before buying this, they are true!
I'll be honest. At first, I wasn't too keen on purchasing an AS Rock motherboard.
The brand itself was virtually unknown to me. I have been purchasing ASUS motherboards for the better part of 6 years.

A friend of mine purchased this motherboard during the Christmas holiday so I took it upon myself to check it out.

After looking at all the features, I decided to purchase it for myself.
I decided to build a new gaming PC using this board as the foundation.
I couldn't be happier with the product.

What isn't mentioned anywhere that I could find is that this motherboard runs a UEFI BIOS. It's very intuitive and I had no problem at all configuring it to my liking.

The motherboard itself has a nice amount of options. The solid capacitors are a bonus and will definitely increase the overall life of the product..
Most modern motherboards have error indication LEDs, this one is no exception.

Each of the pins and connectors on the board are labeled, so you don't have to go looking through the manual to find out where to connect your front panel LEDs and buttons.

This board is fast, and by default uses the CPU's graphics power to assist your video card giving a slight boost in performance.

Paired with Corsair's 16GB DDR3 Vengeance RAM and an Intel i7-3770, it booted without incident.

Overall this is a very solid board. I highly recommend it and would definitely purchase again if given the opportunity.
I originally purchased an Intel BOXDZ77BH55K board, but had USB 3.0 Header issues, and also trouble with the Marvell STA III Controller. After Intel support sent me several motherboards in an attempt to fix the issue, I was finally awarded a refund. I then purchased the ASRock board, and could not be happier. Everything works great! I like the GUI for the bios, and the fact that you have control over the system fan speed to keep it quiet. I don't like noisy PCs.

For everyone going on about how good asrock has become & compairing them to asus, they are and always have been owned by asus (Pegatron corporation).
Asus wanted to bring out a cheap motherboard to compete with the likes of foxconn & ecs but didnt want to tarnish the asus name so came up with asrock in about 2002 & sold them for around £35, in recent years they have stepped up a gear producing quite decent motherboards.
Easy to work with and gives you more options than I can figure out. Everything went in easily with room for that second Video card. Everything obviously identified and built so you feel the quality, comes with everything I needed to complete that portion of a gaming build. The Z series is enough for most gamers, the X series is better but the cost is too high for todays gamer and the technology isnt there for that kind of build. Personal feelings are, this is the best gaming motherboard out for 2D gaming right now.

I think this makes a very good 100-ish range Z77 board. Among all noted features, I hope the gold-plated caps of the capacitors help the board sustain use for a longer period. Also I like that it has many USB headers, both 2.0 and 3.0 in addition to eSATA headers and on-board ports. Built my computer a week ago, running strong at 4.0 GHz with a 3770K. Not enough space for a huge CPU cooler but stock does just fine.

Pros: Everything above, hope this does well in the long run.
Cons: Just came with 1 SATA cable, no screws provided, non-colorcoded RAM slots make it confusing to put RAM in the correct slots (naming them A1 A2 B1 B2 may be standard but I find it hard to read in the first place, just use colors!)


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Reviews

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard



ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

A very good motherboard from Asus, after installing the hardware when I turned it on the CPU fan try to spin and i had to restart 2 to 3 times. Then it works fine. Due to this problem i had to replace the Cpu fan with Corsair Liquid CPU Cooler CWCH60 Now the system works fine.

I installed Intel Core i5 2500k, Corsair Vengeance Blue 4 GB,Seagate ST2000DM001 Barracuda 7200RPM 2 TB SATA 6 GB/s NCQ 64 MB ,Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE 22X SATA DVDRW ,Cooler Master Elite 430 ,Corsair Builder Series CX600
Corsair Liquid CPU Cooler CWCH60.


I have used this board for a a few builds now and it has been rock solid in every single one. I have had no problems for over a year now and no reported problems. No boards had to be rmad. If you need an 1155 slot board this is a very respectable choice. If you need wifi,bluetooth, and an on board audio card get the vprime but in my experience those things really are not needed by most users. The 5 year warranty is a nice piece of mind as well. I highly recommend this board.


Pros: Absolutely no problems with the install. Lots of little extras come with the board. Manual is good and addresses most issues. I was using an EVGA X58 motherboard before this and the new UEFI BIOS in the Sabertooth is so much easier to use!! Four Sata 6.0GB and four fan connectors are a plus as well. Seems to be good build quality. After several weeks of running conservatively o/c it's been rock solid!

Cons: None so far and I hope it stays that way!

Other Thoughts: Install the tiny little accessory fans first! Once everything else gets positioned, installing these is much more difficult! Paid $239.99 which is probably high but I'm very satisfied with the Sabertooth.


Fue exactamente lo que solicite. Funcionó de maravilla. Recomendada la compra ampliamente, es bastante rapida la tarjeta. Yo misma ensamble mi computadora y fue una excelente compra.



Other than the dust protector for the PCI-E and DRAM slots, I'm not sure how much real benefit the thermal armor adds, but it does create a nice clean aesthetic that other boards do not have. The board is very well laid out with good spacing and placement of drive connectors, power, fan connectors and headers. I also like that the board comes with two optional assist fans to help make sure that the board is well ventilated under the TUF Armor.

The inclusion of four USB 3.0 connectors on the back and a front panel header is fantastic. Also, one of the back panel 3.0 USB includes an option for Fast Charge, a software enabled option that provides additional charging capability for smartphones and tablets. Speaking of software, the included software suite is very robust and provides intuitive solutions for monitoring temperature and fan speeds and also provides simple tweaks to get more out of your processor and RAM without actual overclocking.

I did run into two minor issues with this motherboard. The screws for the optional fan covers were either machined oddly or screwed in wrong. For the lower optional fan, I was able to remove three screws without an issue, but the fourth screw gave me serious problems. Fearing damaging the screw or the assembly, I went through my entire collection of Phillips heads to finally find one that worked without forcing it. Also, the I/O shield has a "puffy" surface that faces towards the motherboard. This extra quarter inch of foam caused the mobo to not line up with the mounting spacers without putting pressure on the side of the board or the mounts themselves. Fortunately, the foam padding was only attached to the I/O shield with a very light adhesive and was easily removed. Just for reference on this issue, I put this board into a Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower w/ SuperSpeed USB 3.0 w/ Window w/ Black Interior ATX Case (RC-942-KKN1).



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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Reviews

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard



ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard



Great board well laid out. Bios, diagrams, installation & OC guide are comprehensive (practically idiot proof) PCIE slots are adequately spaced heat-sinks and fans on all vital components and overall it functions fantastically. No regrets


The most amazing mobo I have ever owned. The item came in a perfectly safe packaging and the installation is very easy. What I like the most was the multiple onboard sensors which told you the temperatures at various points in your motherboard. The software features included in the AI Suite II are definitely great and easy to use.
Before buying this, I did a great deal of my own homework on various other mobo's and decided to go with this one. The dust protection features and just the layout of the motherboard is lovely. A great motherboard I'd recommend to whoever wanting to buy it.



This board is awesome. Recognized everything. The Ez bios when u first load it up is pretty sweet. Bought a corsair 550d case and it comes with a front panel usb 3.0 connector, giving you an extra 2 usb 3.0 ports without having to buy a usb 3.0 pcie card. One issue that i had was that my massive noctua dh-14 cooler covers the first 2 ram slots; if this is the case you will need low profile memory that doesnt block the cooler.

If you flash your ROM, you have to KNOW WHAT YOURE DOING, and be prepared to revert back to default if needed. This is nothing new, this has ALWAYS been the case with motherboards. If you do your homework before you ever build your first PC, you would know that. I'm not sure why you would complain about this on amazon reviews when ASUS does not deserve your bad reviews. ROM flashing always has been and always will be a risky business. I have done it plenty of times, but a few times I had to revert back to default after having issues. With this unit I am not going to flash the ROM at all unless if they make a new one, which I expect they will after having issues with the current one.

This thing is a powerhouse!!!

No problem for me, this mobo is incredible. It has a very fantastic BIOS, the last BIOS UPDATE was 2 days ago, 07-03-2012.

First you can manage all the things with this mobo, when i say all is literally.

Second: there is some people talking about a problem that the mobo doesn't turn off and they are right, BUT, this issue is simply to resolve, you just have to CLEAR CMOS and the problem is FIXED!

I recommend this mobo to anyone that want a good desktop without dust... Other thing that i like, the mobo have 2 little fans that don't make a lot of noise and also you can put 5 more fans from 120 to 200mm...

Just buy it!

See you all



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Monday, March 4, 2013

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Reviews

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard



ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

I've been running this Motherboard for about a week now. I'm very happy.

Pro's
This Motherboard looks great with my build, and fits perfectly in the case. It had all the features I was looking for like PCIe 3.0, USB 3.0, SATA 3, great cooling and extensive monitoring capabilities.

Con's
The Sabertooth line does come with ASUS Auto-Tuning overclocking functionality.

Not sure if it is related to the MB, the Proc, or just the GPU, I had to uninstall the onboard Intel HD Graphics on my 3770K in the device manager before the AMD Catalyst software for my 7970 would install successfully.

Corsair C70, Case
ASUS Sabertooth Z77, MB
i7 - 3770K, OC'ed to 4.2GHz, Proc
16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600, RAM
Radeon HD 7970 GHz Ed., OC'ed at 1200MHz and 1600MHz, GPU
Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD
Corsair AX850, PSU
Corsair H100

3DMARK11 - 9705
9745 Graphics 10056 Physics 8966 Combined


i was a little worried about ordering this after all of the reviews I had read about bent pins, though that's the great thing about amazon, very hassle free in my experience return policy for defective products. For me, I checked and double checked every pin before doing anything. I love it, it looks really nice, and it performs great. I slapped an i7 3770 in this bad boy, I have had only 1 problem with the motherboard so far, mind you I have only had it a few days.

The bios flash usb thing, I loaded the latest bios onto a flash drive, as some posters had mentioned having trouble posting with the factory loaded bios, after I had everything put together, plugged it all in, waited a couple of minutes plugged in the usb drive, pressed the button, it flashed a few times, then went solid. I had the file downloaded unzipped, otherwise untouched but it would not read, I then tried putting only the base files outside of the folders, nothing, left it zipped nothing, guy at geek squad said try another flash drive, so I did, nothing. Finally I just booted into the bios screen, and flashed the latest bios from there, but yea don't think I was doing anything wrong, but I suppose its possible.

Otherwise though the board is working great.

Another problem i thought I was having ended up being windows 8...I have an hd cable hooking my vid card to my tv, and a dvi cable hooking it to my monitor, when i first booted up everything showed on my monitor, as I expected, then it all went blank...I thought it was the board or 8 just not working together, back to vista and everything is peachy, back to 8 and bam same thing, going to black screen after installing windows 8...after the post finished it was reading my tv, which was not on, as the primary display.
I only add this so incase anyone who is reading this also has their pc hooked to their tv will know about this.




This is an excellent board in every way. I have been building my own PCs for many years. This the best board I had so far.
It caused me absolutely zero problems right from the very first moment I put my new PC together. Enough options to add plenty of drives and devices. The unique cooling system works well and to my surprise is not noisy.

To me one of the best things is how much potential and option you have to overclock your system. Overclocking is something that scares a lot of people because they don't have enough insider knowledge and worry about damaging components, yet everyone wants to get the best performance out of their box.

This board makes overclocking so much easier than I thought. Without much knowledge and in about 2 hours I was able to fine tune things to get about 35% more performance. The software that comes with the board lets you do adjustments on the fly without rebooting! You can very simply tweak settings and see if they are stable.

Yes it's not a low cost board, but you get what you pay for. You won't regret going with this board.


I researched about this MB and found that it was easy to overclock. I owned a previous ASUS MB and loved it so I got another one. I only needed two PCIe video slots and four RAM slots. The BIOS has tons of options for tweeking. This is typical of ASUS motherboards. Don't need to go indepth about all the features as it's already been mentioned. If you like quality, reliability and easy over clocking get this MB.


Popped in 32GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz RAM and had no issues associated with a Asus Z77 Sabertooth LGA1155 motherboard with a Intel Quad Core i7 3770 processor aboard. I just got the rig together and working last night and don't plan to overclock too much since I didn't get the 3770K.. I am totally occupied in organizing my hard drives to perform what I need to do. So far, everything is working fine. Just one tip, after assembly and you fire the puppy up to go through the EZ Mode BIOS Setup Program in Chapter 3...pop in the supplied Asus disk to load the drivers or you'll won't make it to Chapter 4 without the Internet connection. I also initially had a 5V powered USB bus connected to power my Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. The 5V prevented the motherboard from entering POST, which cause me some hours delay to double and triple check the assembly...then I noticed that 5V mobo led brightly lit after pulling the main power cord....and thinking that this mobo has one heck of a cap somewhere...unless.....


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Sunday, March 3, 2013

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Reviews

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard



ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard




I READY HAVE PROBLEM WIHT 2 OF THIS MOTHERBOARD, CPU SOCKET CONTACT BENT.. Asus and Amazon.. Have to work together In QC INSPECTION, BEFORE SEND THIS PRODUCT OUT THE SHIPPING DEPARTMENT:: TO THE COSTUMERS HAND!! """Avoid installing WITH OUT VISUAL INSPECTION""" MAKE The CPU INSPECTION check THE SOCKET'S PIN. Today 12/16/12 I'm going to update my revew! After obtaining the new Z77 works excellent! I give it 5 star!! Very Happy!!





I build computers for clients all the time and when I get enough money to build my own I like to choose the good stuff!!!

Everything about this board is easy to use and looks so clean and beautiful when paired with other black components.

Only thing I would recommend against is using any sort of software-based Auto-Overclocking... SET THE VARIABLES YOURSELF IN THE BIOS IF YOU WANT A GLITCH FREE EXPERIENCE!

Honestly enjoy!!!!


I have owned ASUS motherboards for the last 10 years or so. This is runs smooth, overclocking when need and under clocking the rest of the time to save power. You will need to do a BIOS update to get it running the best. I had some strange things happening until I updated the BIOS. Afterwords everything worked great. It's been running for 3 months without a hitch.

Lots of features, I wish I had more time to play with them.

I have been building computers since the 486 days, this was a fun build.


I'm loving this motherboard so far. It's got some nice capabilities with premium hardware that make it a very desirable buy. It's a bit on the expensive side, but what do you expect for enthusiast hardware?

Pros:
1. Dust shield - make the board easy to keep clean.
2. High end military grade components - built to last and over-engineered to provide performance
3. Overclock potential - is very overclock friendly with both my i7-3770k and my Corsair Dominator platinum memory modules. No stability problems so far.
4. Nice set of integrated peripherals and capabilities. With just a video card I have no need for anything else.
5. Good looking board. If you want a clean look, this is the way to go.

Cons:
1. Dust shield makes it difficult to install motherboard screws. It helps a lot to use a magnetic screw driver. It can be frustrating without one.

So that pretty much covers it. It's an all around excellent motherboard.


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