Asus Z97 Deluxe Review - [H]ard|OCP

[Exotath]

http://hardocp.com/article/2014/04/28/asus_z97_deluxe_lga_1150_motherboard_review

 

 

The Bottom Line

 

Overall ASUS has done a great job with the first Z97 motherboard that we have gotten to take a look at. Its AI Suite III overclocking software has evolved well and is certainly a benefit to any enthusiast will to give the software a shot, even if you think BIOS-only tweaking is the way to go. The ASUS Z97 Deluxe is an incredibly complete package both in terms of hardware and software. There is certainly some maturation that needs to come forth in terms of IO drivers, at least for Windows 7. The overclocking Dual Intelligent Processors 5 software is some of the best we have seen and quite frankly it might be able to give a better overclocking result than you can tweak by hand, at least in a short period of time.

 

While the Z97 chipset is short on new features when compared side by side with the Z87, it seems to be a bit better for overclocking our Haswell processors. We are going to have to see some more results from our readers and forum-goers to get a wider sample of results before we make a solid call on that though.

 

As for the Z97 Deluxe motherboard, the packaged version we are testing is likely to sell for somewhere around the $400 mark. That is a steep price if you are not in the market for Thunderbolt, NFC, or Wireless Charging abilities. Luckily, the Deluxe will be heading up the product stack price-wise currently, and we will see Hero, Gene, Sabertooth, Mark 1, Mark 2, and "A" versions trickle all the way down to the $150 space. As always, we are going to see some enthusiast specific models coming our way that will have circuitry and designs with advanced overclocking in mind.

 

From an award standpoint, we are going to have to also take a "wait and see" approach. The ASUS Z97 Deluxe certainly has a lot of value if you can leverage its extremely wide feature set. It is very early going in the Z97 arena and surely this platform from ASUS needs some fine polishing, but we are sure that its engineers are already on it.

 

Performance wise the Z87 and Z97 seem on par, trading small blows in some areas. Interesting about the improved overclocking for existing Haswells though.

[terrytek]

http://hardocp.com/article/2014/04/28/asus_z97_deluxe_lga_1150_motherboard_review

 

 

Performance wise the Z87 and Z97 seem on par, trading small blows in some areas. Interesting about the improved overclocking for existing Haswells though.

I thought Z97 would be for Haswell E, no?

 

Oh wait, that's X99. 

[Brogen]

After reading through the article, I concluded that Intel isn't changing the socket size for their next chips.  Or is it implying that the Z97 chipset will be compatible with the 4th and 5th gen?  I don't really know can someone give me some feedback on this?

[Exotath]

After reading through the article, I concluded that Intel isn't changing the socket size for their next chips.  Or is it implying that the Z97 chipset will be compatible with the 4th and 5th gen?  I don't really know can someone give me some feedback on this?

 

Z97-1150 will work with Haswell and Haswell refresh, and I believe Broadwell. But not Haswell-E.

 

Z87-1150 is current Haswell only.

[LukaP]

Z97-1150 will work with Haswell and Haswell refresh, and I believe Broadwell. But not Haswell-E.

 

Z87-1150 is current Haswell only.

i just want to add.

 

x79 - 2011 socket - Sandy Bridge Extreme, Ivy Bridge Extreme

x99 - 2011-3 socket - Haswell Extreme (possibly Broadwell Extreme)

[LifesCompanion]

Still can't get used to the circle heat sink... I'm just so used to clean/square things... 

[terrytek]

Still can't get used to the circle heat sink... I'm just so used to clean/square things... 

IK. It just looks so bleghhhhh.

[LifesCompanion]

IK. It just looks so bleghhhhh.

I swear most of the Z97 boards that have been "leaked" or "featured" (same thing) look really meh. 

Aesthetically, I really liked the Z87 boards from pretty much every vendor but this generation seems half assed... fingers crossed for X99. 

[terrytek]

I swear most of the Z97 boards that have been "leaked" or "featured" (same thing) look really meh. 

Aesthetically, I really liked the Z87 boards from pretty much every vendor but this generation seems half assed... fingers crossed for X99. 

Yeah, Z97 boards look pretty ugly. Everything before them are pretty cool, even the old P45 boards.

[jezza39]

Z87-1150 is current Haswell only.

 

Surely a cheeky bios update will allow support for the new chips won't it?

[LukaP]

Surely a cheeky bios update will allow support for the new chips won't it?

nope. intel said no to that

[WinNut]

Why does it require a PLX chip? I find that strange, but I think the PLX chip is there to drive the SATA Express port and the NGFF slot.

[LukaP]

Why does it require a PLX chip? I find that strange, but I think the PLX chip is there to drive the SATA Express port and the NGFF slot.

NGFF (M.2) works off the PCIe x1 (0 and 1) slots. id imagine SATAE works off one of those too

[WinNut]

NGFF (M.2) works off the PCIe x1 (0 and 1) slots. id imagine SATAE works off one of those too

So basically if I populate the SATAE and NGFF slot that will disable the PCI-E x1 slot 0 and 1? If I ever built a rig that would be a big trade off and require serious consideration and thought.

[LukaP]

So basically if I populate the SATAE and NGFF slot that will disable the PCI-E x1 slot 0 and 1? If I ever built a rig that would be a big trade off and require serious consideration and thought.

i read it on the back of the box on the TTL overview. go check it out

[jezza39]

nope. intel said no to that

Wow that's such a kick in the guts for people who bought Z87 boards compatible with one gen of CPUs

 

Did they say why they won't offer the update?

[Exotath]

Wow that's such a kick in the guts for people who bought Z87 boards compatible with one gen of CPUs

Did they say why they won't offer the update?

It is more on the chip than the board. The refresh chips just simply won't be compatible.

[jezza39]

It is more on the chip than the board. The refresh chips just simply won't be compatible.

 

So they released Z87 with some of the C states not yet working, and now they're killing its future usefulness  

[Brogen]

Z97-1150 will work with Haswell and Haswell refresh, and I believe Broadwell. But not Haswell-E.

 

Z87-1150 is current Haswell only.

 

 

i just want to add.

 

x79 - 2011 socket - Sandy Bridge Extreme, Ivy Bridge Extreme

x99 - 2011-3 socket - Haswell Extreme (possibly Broadwell Extreme)

 

 

Okay thanks for clearing that up!

[Victorious Secret]

Whoa wait, so Z87s will ONLY be Haswell only? Or Haswell Refresh? 

Seriously? I got one chip out of Z87? If true? What a bunch of BS.

[Faceman]

"The overclocking Dual Intelligent Processors 5 software is some of the best we have seen and quite frankly it might be able to give a better overclocking result than you can tweak by hand, at least in a short period of time."

 

In regards to the automatic overclocking capabilities provided by Asus on the Z87 boards:

 

     I have an Asus Z87-A, i5-4670k, 1600Mhz RAM, and Hyper 212 EVO.  It was my first time overclocking, and everyone advised me to do it manually.  After many days of trial and error doing it manually, my patience was wearing thin.  I decided to research the automatic overclocking that AI Suite III provides.  Coming out of the research phase, I was confident that no harm would be done to my CPU, and if I disliked the results, I could always go back to where I left off in my manual OC pursuit.  The results I got blew me away.

 

4.7Ghz 2-core, 4.6Ghz-4core @ 1.275v with a high of 77C

 

The results I achieved using the auto-overclock were much higher than I imagined I could get doing this manually, naturally I was very pleased.

 

    In the first video done by Paul from Newegg.com, he tests 7 different i7-4770k's using the Asus Auto Overclocking Software at 3 different RAM speeds.  The silicon lottery is very prevalent here.  Your results are going to vary, it is very much luck of the chip.  The lowest overclock out of the 7 processors he tried was 4.4Ghz @ 1.275v -- not bad.  The highest he got was 4.8Ghz - 2 cores, 4.7Ghz - 4 cores.  For an automatic overclock, I would say these are very nice results considering it only takes 15minutes for the software to do its thing, then you run whatever stress test you want(remember to set voltage to manual/constant).

     In the second video, JJ from Asus shows us the entire process, the video is 30 minutes long and contains some stress testing on top of the auto-overclocking process.  Naturally, for this video they probably hand selected a very capable overclocking CPU.  The results he got were 4.8Ghz on all 4 cores @ 1.275v.

 

I wanted to share my personal experience with the automatic overclocking because it is a very viable option, and successful results can be had.  I am sure Asus improves this software each year, and the results of the Z97 should be no different.

[JonD7]

I want more boards to look like this... tempted to buy it just because I love the look.

[Brogen]

Whoa wait, so Z87s will ONLY be Haswell only? Or Haswell Refresh? 

Seriously? I got one chip out of Z87? If true? What a bunch of BS.

 

Does this surprise you?  Ivy bridge series took an chipset upgrade.  Remember Z77?