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Asus P8Z77-V Premium review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £250
inc VAT

This Ivy Bridge motherboard has everything you’ll ever need, but it’s overkill unless you need Thunderbolt

Specifications

LGA1155, ATX, Intel Z77 Express chipset, supports: 2nd/3rd Generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7

http://www.aria.co.uk
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The Asus cache program also worked fine with a mechanical hard disk and an SSD plugged into the Marvell SATA ports. We couldn’t understand how to work the application at first, but once we’d deleted the cache that the program had automatically set up and re-enabled it, caching worked perfectly.

This board really is packed with features. On the rear you have two USB2 and four USB3 ports, as well as a couple of eSATA and Thunderbolt ports. There are 7.1 analogue surround sound outputs and an optical S/PDIF output, two Gigabit Ethernet ports and HDMI and DisplayPort graphics outputs. The motherboard comes with a box to fit in your 3 1/2in drive bay which has a couple of USB3 ports, and there’s also a Wi-Fi module and antenna.

Asus P8Z77-V Premium

You have plenty of expansion options, too, thanks to two SATA3 and two SATA2 ports on the Intel controller and four SATA3 ports on the Marvell storage chip. There are four PCI Express x16 slots and the board supports four-way SLI or CrossFire. There are also a couple of PCI Express x1 slots. When fitted with an Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K processor, we saw an overall score of 115 in our benchmarks, which is what we expect from this chipset and processor.

Asus P8Z77-V Premium

Asus’s P8Z77-V Premium is a top-specification Ivy Bridge motherboard with every feature you could possibly need. For most people, though, it will be overkill. The SSD caching function works on any motherboard with an Intel Z77 chipset, so if you’re willing to find somewhere to mount a separate SSD you’ll still able to take advantage of the chipset’s caching functions. If you’re desperate for Thunderbolt’s high speeds, this is the only motherboard that currently has the port, but the vast majority of people will be fine with USB3. Nonetheless, if you want the most feature-packed Intel motherboard there is, the P8Z77-V Premium is the model to have.

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Basic Specifications

Rating ****
Processor socket LGA1155
Form factor ATX
Size 305x244mmmm
Processor support 2nd/3rd Generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7
Processor external bus 100MHz
Chipset north bridge Intel Z77 Express
Chipset south bridge Intel Z77 Express
Passively-cooled north bridge yes
Integrated graphics No
Supported memory type DDR3 1066, 1333, 1600, 1866, 2133, 2200, 2400, 2600, 2800
Maximum memory speed PC3-22400
Memory slots 4
Maximum memory 32GB
Dual-channel support yes

Buying Information

Price £250
Supplier http://www.aria.co.uk
Details www.asus.com

Internal Ports

Power connectors 1x 24-pin ATX, 1x 8-pin ATX
PCI-E x16 slots 4
Dual graphics architecture 4-way SLI, 4-way CrossFire X
PCI-E x4 slots 0
PCI-E x1 slots 2
PCI slots 0
Fan headers 6
Floppy ports 0
IDE ports 0
Serial ATA ports 3
RAID chipset (max disks) Intel Z77 Express (2x SATAIII, 4x SATAII), Marvell 9230 (2x SATAIII)

Features

Wired network ports 2x 10/100/1000
Sound (ports) Realtek ALC898 (6x analogue, optical S/PDIF out)
USB2 ports / headers 6/3
Firewire ports / headers 0
Legacy ports none
Other ports 2x eSATA, Thunderbolt, HDMI, DisplayPort
Cables included 6x SATA
Brackets included USB3 front panel, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth adaptor
Software included none

Setup and Overclocking

Voltage adjustment CPU/RAM/Chipset
CPU clock max adjustment 300MHz

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