Which Z77 motherboard?

[DigDog]

Simple enough question : which Z77 mobo has everything done right for the best price?

I'v been out of the mobo game for a while so i don't really know, and you can save me wading though a couple hundred pages on Scan; wanting a 2x16 PCIe for SLI, don't really know anything else i might need; will have SSD so sata 6gb is a must, also will run a 3570k, and the primary function is gaming.

discuss:

 

[vailr]

These four Z77 boards all have Intel gigabit NICs:

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128545
MSI Z77A-GD55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130644
Intel BOXDZ77BH55K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121606
ASUS P8Z77-V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131820

Anything cheaper among these brands, and you get less robust power chokes, Realtek or Broadcom NICs, etc.
The Intel and Gigabyte boards use secondary Marvell SATA controllers. The Asus uses a secondary Asmedia SATA controller, which seems superior to Marvell.
Don't know about the MSI board.

 

[JonBlack]

Do you have any brand preferences or a price range? That might help us guide you in the right direction.

If you are looking for the most bang-for-the-buck on the Z77 platform, then take a serious look at the ASRock Z77 Extreme4.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Cheapest one with all the features you wanted

 

[HexiumVII]

Asrock extreme 4 z77, only $135, has pretty much all the features of the top end boards, 8+4 phases, Broadcom BCM57781 NIC (not sure how good it is, but its not a realtek [my last 2 X58 boards had realteks, no real problems), and the higher end Realtek ALC898 sound found only in the $280 Asus Z77 Deluxe (not even the Sabertooth has it!). What really pulled me over is that it has eSata. I'd use the $70 saved to buy a better video or monitor.

 

[n0x1ous]

well if you really need 2 x x16 pcie you are going to have limited choices to boards with a PLX chips such as the Gigabyte sniper 3 or the Asus ROG boards. Though the Z77 are PCI E gen 3 with ivy bridge but only with radeon 7000 and gtx 680 so far.

I went with the Giga UD5H myself as it checked all the boxes for me at a good price but havent booted it yet as i wait for the 3770k

 

[Avalon]

I went for the ASrock Extreme 4. It was the cheapest board not using a cheap power delivery and had a lot of features similar to $50+ more expensive boards. Will have it in two days.

 

[blackened23]

ASUS!

But i'm an asus fanboy :thumbsup:

 

[Avalon]

ASUS!

But i'm an asus fanboy :thumbsup:

Asrock used to be a part of Asus. That's kind of the same thing right

 

[DigDog]

apparently the asrock extreme 4 is the choice for pretty much everyone, as it's got pretty much everything (including virtu) and it's far cheaper than the sniper (i'm a gigabyte fanboy )

i was totally wrong on the 2xPCIe, as most of these boards are 1xPCIe but it's 3.0, which equals 2x PCIe 16 which in turn equal two of the ol' 16x PCIe slots, so essentially unless i want to triple SLI a MARS even 2x8 will run anything without chokes.

ASRock then it is.

---------------

btw, i also had realtek and never had any problems, even my 883 audio sounds fine. didn't know Intels were superior.

 

[Avalon]

Yeah I was pretty big on Gigabyte since I switched over to Intel when Conroe landed, coming from AMD/DFI land. Although, my past few motherboards (P45, P55, and Z68 based) all had memory related issues, they were extremely picky. So hence the switch of brands to Asrock *crosses fingers*

 

[bononos]

Asrock extreme 4 z77, only $135, has pretty much all the features of the top end boards, 8+4 phases, Broadcom BCM57781 NIC (not sure how good it is, but its not a realtek [my last 2 X58 boards had realteks, no real problems), and the higher end Realtek ALC898 sound found only in the $280 Asus Z77 Deluxe (not even the Sabertooth has it!). What really pulled me over is that it has eSata. I'd use the $70 saved to buy a better video or monitor.

Intel integrated/nics are supposed to be better by having higher throughput, offer better pings in online games and lower cpu utilization. Whether its true now I don't know. A roundup/comparison would be useful
How the 3rd party chip is integrated (via PCI vs PCI-e bus) is important since PCI doesn't have a lot of spare bandwidth.

 

[vailr]

How the 3rd party chip is integrated (via PCI vs PCI-e bus) is important since PCI doesn't have a lot of spare bandwidth.

Shouldn't be an issue with the Z77 chipset, since there's no native Intel support for the older PCI bus with that chipset. Z77 boards with PCI slots will necessitate having some 3rd-party PCIe-to-PCI "translation" chip for support.

 

[philipma1957]

Please delete



this was supposed to be a new thread will try to fix it.

 

[LostPassword]

will these boards support ivy bridge out the box? no bios update needed?
looking at the asrock myself

edit: thanks

 

[ShintaiDK]

will these boards support ivy bridge out the box? no bios update needed?
looking at the asrock myself

All 7 series boards supports Ivy out of the box.

 

[LostPassword]

actually, now that i think about it, i don't really overclock. save some money just getting a biostar

edit: guess back to the asrock. lol

 

[Don Karnage]

actually, now that i think about it, i don't really overclock. save some money just getting a biostar

NO BIOSTAR! My 2nd XE4 died on me lastnight. Don't waste your money

 

[Remobz]

These four Z77 boards all have Intel gigabit NICs:

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128545
MSI Z77A-GD55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130644
Intel BOXDZ77BH55K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121606
ASUS P8Z77-V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131820

Anything cheaper among these brands, and you get less robust power chokes, Realtek or Broadcom NICs, etc.
The Intel and Gigabyte boards use secondary Marvell SATA controllers. The Asus uses a secondary Asmedia SATA controller, which seems superior to Marvell.
Don't know about the MSI board.

Thank you for this.

 

[blackened23]

I got my P8Z77-V deluxe setup yesterday and I LOVE it! Came from a P8Z68 pro gen 3

There's a reason asus costs a few more bucks...they're the best! :thumbsup:

 

[GothAmKing]

TO ALL ASSRock FANBOYZ

CLICK_THIS

 

[Medikit]

TO ALL ASSRock FANBOYZ

CLICK_THIS

That's too bad, I don't think it is surprising to see a poor build quality on a budget board but I think those of us who are ASROCK "fanboys" like to think that this is a company with a history of creating quality boards at an affordable price.

I will say that past build quality doesn't always predict future build quality but if going the budget route it is probably best to wait till after the reviews start piling up on these new 7 series boards.

 

[fastman]

I will say that past build quality doesn't always predict future build quality but if going the budget route it is probably best to wait till after the reviews start piling up on these new 7 series boards.

+1

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

TO ALL ASSRock FANBOYZ

CLICK_THIS

I wouldn't trust anything HardOCP says, in all honesty. They don't have very good... reputability.

Are there any reviews from good sites?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I got my P8Z77-V deluxe setup yesterday and I LOVE it! Came from a P8Z68 pro gen 3

There's a reason asus costs a few more bucks...they're the best! :thumbsup:

They're not that great, in all honesty.

The ASUS board that had comparable features to mine costed something like $200, and the color scheme wasn't nearly as good.