ASUS P8Z77 WS Workstation Motherboard Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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ASUS P8Z77 WS Workstation Motherboard Review - The ASUS P8Z77 WS is the latest in the ASUS "Workstation" series and has virtually every feature but the kitchen sink thrown into it. If you are looking for a board that can fill almost any role while utilizing a desktop LGA1155 processor, then this motherboard is worth a serious look. Maybe 4-way 8 Lane PCIe 3.0 gets your attention?
 
Interesting looking board and nice layout for the expansion slots, a dual graphics card system could potentially have cleaner airflow and be quieter than it would be with one of the more typically configured motherboards.

Is there a PLX chip, NF200 or some other method used to support the four-way 8 lane PCIe 3.0? if so does it any significant latency that could be noticed by gamers as input lag?
 
IanM said:
Is there a PLX chip, NF200 or some other method used to support the four-way 8 lane PCIe 3.0? if so does it any significant latency that could be noticed by gamers as input lag?
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nVidia is no longer producing the NF200; without a chipset department for R&D everything is moving to PLX for PCIe 3.0. I see some PLX chips on the board layout pictures; I'm pretty sure they are just switches as opposed to multiplexers. Given their widespread use I wouldn't think there is a big problem with latency or we would be hearing complaints.
 
night_2004 said:
nVidia is no longer producing the NF200; without a chipset department for R&D everything is moving to PLX for PCIe 3.0. I see some PLX chips on the board layout pictures; I'm pretty sure they are just switches as opposed to multiplexers. Given their widespread use I wouldn't think there is a big problem with latency or we would be hearing complaints.
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They are just switches. Z77, when combined with Ivy Bridge has enough PCI-Express lanes to handle 4-Way SLI @ 8x8x8x8.
 
Thanks for this review. I am considering this board and have been a fan of ASUS' WS series. I still have a WS board powering 920 i7 and before that one powering a Yorkfield quad. I ilke that they put in an onboard power switch this time and it appears to have the same power components (DIGI VRMs) as the ROG series boards. Would a review of the Z77 Gigabyte Sniper 3 board be in the works?
 
RPC66 said:
Thanks for this review. I am considering this board and have been a fan of ASUS' WS series. I still have a WS board powering 920 i7 and before that one powering a Yorkfield quad. I ilke that they put in an onboard power switch this time and it appears to have the same power components (DIGI VRMs) as the ROG series boards. Would a review of the Z77 Gigabyte Sniper 3 board be in the works?
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I don't know what Kyle has on his bench, but I do not have that board in my posession right now. As for the VRM's being the same as the ROG series, I doubt it. According to ASUS, (assuming I understood correctly) the ROG series boards share almost nothing design wise with any of the other boards.
 
I used the p67 version for awhile. it was a great solid board,till i got my crosshair v.The layout was one of the best ive seen in a while.
 
I know VT-D is a processor extension on certain CPU SKUs.
Asus' previous desktop-class boards do not support VT-D(only VT-X), so I was wondering if this workstation-class board added that feature. Asus' product documentation does not mention it.

Your article does not mention whether VT-D was tested. On a high-end motherboard, it's conceivable an end-user may use virtual machine functionality. Evaluating VT-D compatibility would be helpful. thanks.
 
Dan_D said:
ECC memory is supported with the use of Xeon processors which this board does officially support. However, you can not use ECC memory with standard Core i3 / i5 /i7 CPUs.
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Hmm, I checked the CPU support list under the ASUS webpage for this board, it doesn't list any Xeons. The memory support list indicates you can use ECC modules, but no ECC functionality with desktop processors. On the contrary, the P8C WS has all Xeons listed, and the memory support list officially supports ECC...
 
bloodypulp said:
I know VT-D is a processor extension on certain CPU SKUs.
Asus' previous desktop-class boards do not support VT-D(only VT-X), so I was wondering if this workstation-class board added that feature. Asus' product documentation does not mention it.

Your article does not mention whether VT-D was tested. On a high-end motherboard, it's conceivable an end-user may use virtual machine functionality. Evaluating VT-D compatibility would be helpful. thanks.
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It wasn't mentioned because we did not test the feature. The Intel Core i7 3770K we used for our testing does not support VT-d at all. It only supports VT-x. Being primarily focused on gaming and overclocking, we do not normally evaluate such features which is why we only touch on them briefly. The board should support VT-d as it should support all the features of the Xeon CPUs it is compatible with. When workstation boards like this are evaluated, it is an evaulation based on the fact that these boards are often used as enthusiast boards as well. It is from this perspective that we test them. Were we to truly evaluate these as workstation products, we would need to change our benchmarking suite, or add to it, then we would really need to do so with a Xeon CPU, and ECC memory.

I don't see it happening. I'd love to do the work, do not get me wrong, but so few "workstation" boards overlap with the enthusiast segment for this to make any sense. You may have noticed we do not cover pure workstation and server solutions either.
 
Maxx_Power said:
Hmm, I checked the CPU support list under the ASUS webpage for this board, it doesn't list any Xeons. The memory support list indicates you can use ECC modules, but no ECC functionality with desktop processors. On the contrary, the P8C WS has all Xeons listed, and the memory support list officially supports ECC...
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I'll see if I can dig it up, but I remember reading documentation somewhere stating it supported Xeons.

EDIT: I know where I got that impression. The back of the box itself states under the CPU feature "> LGA1155 socket for Intel(R) Xeon(R) E3 series processor" You may even be able to see it in the review photos.
 
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Dan_D said:
I'll see if I can dig it up, but I remember reading documentation somewhere stating it supported Xeons.

EDIT: I know where I got that impression. The back of the box itself states under the CPU feature "> LGA1155 socket for Intel(R) Xeon(R) E3 series processor" You may even be able to see it in the review photos.
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If you guys ever get your hands on a E3 Xeon (V2 or not), please do try this. I am very curious. The P8C WS just released is very similar to this board with ECC support as per ASUS. I just can not get my head around to what ASUS considers ``workstation`` if Xeons and ECC RAM are not advertised as supported.
 
ASUS has some workstation boards wich support Xeon/ECC, but that is because they don't use the consumer chipset. In that board, they use Z77, and their website does not list Xeons or ECC (unlike with some other WS boards). I highly doubt it is supported.

And that's too bad, I deeply want a board with ECC support, yet still have a desktop-oriented layout and IO (which is what the WS series of ASUS provide).
 
pankkake said:
ASUS has some workstation boards wich support Xeon/ECC, but that is because they don't use the consumer chipset. In that board, they use Z77, and their website does not list Xeons or ECC (unlike with some other WS boards). I highly doubt it is supported.

And that's too bad, I deeply want a board with ECC support, yet still have a desktop-oriented layout and IO (which is what the WS series of ASUS provide).
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Same here. P8C WS is the only hope for now. Unless Supermicro comes out with something C216 based.
 
pankkake said:
ASUS has some workstation boards wich support Xeon/ECC, but that is because they don't use the consumer chipset. In that board, they use Z77, and their website does not list Xeons or ECC (unlike with some other WS boards). I highly doubt it is supported.

And that's too bad, I deeply want a board with ECC support, yet still have a desktop-oriented layout and IO (which is what the WS series of ASUS provide).
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The chipset should make no difference with regard to ECC support. That's a function of the processor now. But without a Xeon, I can't test this, nor would it work with actual ECC functionality.
 
nice workout guys, thnx for the review. Excuse my ignorance - we only just got electricity here in outer Melbourne:rolleyes: - you mention in the review we are lucky to get the Intel V NIC on our boards, could you expand on that please as I agree this NIC seems great for BF3, d/loads etc. and I can spike up to 18MB(about 140Mbps on a DOCSIS 3 cable) per sec d/load off the Aussie EA server, where the Realtek onboard the Gigabyte board using the same line won't go much over 100Mbps - is it just about CPU utilization?
Thnx again!!
 
ivansoze1 said:
nice workout guys, thnx for the review. Excuse my ignorance - we only just got electricity here in outer Melbourne:rolleyes: - you mention in the review we are lucky to get the Intel V NIC on our boards, could you expand on that please as I agree this NIC seems great for BF3, d/loads etc. and I can spike up to 18MB(about 140Mbps on a DOCSIS 3 cable) per sec d/load off the Aussie EA server, where the Realtek onboard the Gigabyte board using the same line won't go much over 100Mbps - is it just about CPU utilization?
Thnx again!!
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Features, CPU utilization, actual sustained throughput, etc. With regard to internet use and even gaming to an extent, there is no functional difference between a Realtek, Marvell, Killer NIC or Intel server NIC. Where these NICs shine is large file transfers on local area networks. The Intel 82574L is an entry level server NIC. Being that there are two NICs on this board, features like adapter teaming and fault tolerance can be utilized out of the box.

This board isn't designed with a feature set specifically for gaming. It has features which overlap between the entry level workstation and enthusiast markets.
 
I'm the only one around these forums with a z77 WS board. Wish there were more users, so that Asus don't end up overlooking this board down the road in terms of support and updates.
 
christpunchers said:
I'm the only one around these forums with a z77 WS board. Wish there were more users, so that Asus don't end up overlooking this board down the road in terms of support and updates.
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If I were going LGA1155 this is the board I'd get. I'm still leaning toward LGA2011 for my next upgrade though.
 
Dan_D said:
They are just switches. Z77, when combined with Ivy Bridge has enough PCI-Express lanes to handle 4-Way SLI @ 8x8x8x8.
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Pardon me, my n00b is showing on this one. How does that work? I thought Z77 had 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes wired to the CPU and another 4 PCIe 2.0 lanes wired to the Z77 chipset.
 
Dan_D said:
If I were going LGA1155 this is the board I'd get. I'm still leaning toward LGA2011 for my next upgrade though.
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I only really bought this for 3 reasons:

1) possibly higher binned vs. the rest of the P8Z77 line due to its position in the line up

2) P/S2 port; can't figure out why Asus would ditch the PS/2 port for many of their z77 items... if they really cared about gamers they would leave a PS/2 port in there

3) PCI-E slot placements.There's free space between the first x16 and the second x16 slot. They rotated the top x1 slot towards the bottom of the case, so you get more room for your add in cards. Great for sound cards, since it's further away from the video card in a non-sli config.
 
christpunchers said:
I only really bought this for 3 reasons:

1) possibly higher binned vs. the rest of the P8Z77 line due to its position in the line up

2) P/S2 port; can't figure out why Asus would ditch the PS/2 port for many of their z77 items... if they really cared about gamers they would leave a PS/2 port in there

3) PCI-E slot placements.There's free space between the first x16 and the second x16 slot. They rotated the top x1 slot towards the bottom of the case, so you get more room for your add in cards. Great for sound cards, since it's further away from the video card in a non-sli config.
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1.) Binning of the board is pretty much irrelevant. Everything that determines your overclock range beyond the board's electrical system is up to the CPU. The electrical design of all P8Z77 boards is pretty robust in general and all the one's I've seen were good for similar results from the lowest to the highest end. I tested two P8Z77 WS's and both overclocked the same. They overclocked no better than any other board in the P8Z77 series or even the Sabertooth Z77. In fact the Sabertooth did slightly better. For LN2 and competition overclocking boards in the series may be more limited. That said, I wouldn't be looking at the P8Z77 line at all, but rather the ROG line if I were doing that.

2.) As a gamer, I find the attachment to the PS/2 port puzzling. I know the N-key rollover is a big deal, but the so called limit of 6 NKRO has never been a real limitation for me. And the P8Z77 WS is not a gamer's board. It is a board that sort of fits between gaming and workstation use. I think the PS/2 port makes far more sense for integration into KVM type setups than for use in gaming. I've heard crap about using mice and keyboards with PS/2 ports being faster, but I don't believe any difference like that is perceptable to a human. I'm sensitive to input lag, refresh rates, and things like that, yet I've never felt limited by plugging a keyboard into a USB port.

3.) Agreed. This board has an excellent layout for expansion cards.
 
It's interesting that this review is posted the same day that ASUS announces the availability of the P8Z77-V Premium. The premium appears to have many of the same feature sets plus some of the features from the Delux board.

Do you folks have a premium board in hand yet and will you be posting a review of it in the near future?
 
Dave C. said:
It's interesting that this review is posted the same day that ASUS announces the availability of the P8Z77-V Premium. The premium appears to have many of the same feature sets plus some of the features from the Delux board.

Do you folks have a premium board in hand yet and will you be posting a review of it in the near future?
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I do not. I have no idea what Kyle has.
 
Dan_D said:
so few "workstation" boards overlap with the enthusiast segment for this to make any sense
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that is no surprise when there are so few workstation boards in the first place :)

you did your benchmarks at 3.4ghz. 1275v2 does that too. and it has more other features than 3770k.

you overclocked to 4.8ghz at the end of the article. 1275v2 cant really do that, but it can do 4.5ghz with 105mhz bclk.

a board like P8C WS gets you 32GB ECC memory which you can fill to the brim and be confident it isnt breaking anything for the life of the system. and no cheap marvell bits!

I think there are some other enthusiast options out there.
 
bloodypulp said:
does this board support VT-D ?
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The P8Z77 WS does not appear to support VT-D.
See this thread where on page 15, Raja@ASUS mentions "VT-d is a no for sure".

I'm very interested in this board but I'd like some clear notice about Xeon, ECC memory, VT-x, VT-d support (or lack of) instead of having to hunt the answers all over the forums.

"I've just got a USD 300+ motherboard, a guy on a forum told me it works with ECC memory. I hope he was right". :) Notice how on the official site ECC support is not mentioned. They should at least say it's supported depending on the CPU. For P8C77 on the other hand, ECC memory is cleary mentioned on the specification page.
 
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Good afternoon Kyle. I am wondering if you have plans to review the Z77 Asrock Extreme9 motherboard? I would love to see how these two motherboards compare.
 
So, this board can do

x16/x16/0/0 or
x16/x8/x8/0 or
x8/x8/x8/x8

But i'm wondering if it can do x16/0/x16/0.
I'd like to use the first PCI-E 3.0 and the third PCI-E 3.0 slot for my SLI set up, so the first GPU get more space and air.
 
Nicolas554 said:
So, this board can do

x16/x16/0/0 or
x16/x8/x8/0 or
x8/x8/x8/x8

But i'm wondering if it can do x16/0/x16/0.
I'd like to use the first PCI-E 3.0 and the third PCI-E 3.0 slot for my SLI set up, so the first GPU get more space and air.
Click to expand...

Yes. You can do x16x0x16x0 using the blue slots.
 
So I just RMA'd a G1.Sniper 3 board because it could not handle Tri-SLI with nV surround. Can anyone verify that this board can do it? I'm really close to pulling the trigger on buying this. I really don't want to go X79 cause all I need now is a motherboard.
 
RPC66 said:
So I just RMA'd a G1.Sniper 3 board because it could not handle Tri-SLI with nV surround. Can anyone verify that this board can do it? I'm really close to pulling the trigger on buying this. I really don't want to go X79 cause all I need now is a motherboard.
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I wish I could verify that first hand. All I can say is the specifications for the board, and the included 3-Way SLI bridge tell me you should be fine.
 
My WS board just crapped out on me. Will not allow for multi beyond 35x. Only 8 of the 16GB Dimms are detected. Will not run my ram (1866mhz kit) beyond 1600mhz. And in the BIOS, anything related to the iGPU has completely disappeared altogether. After a month of promising benchmarking and some light use, I can't believe this thing is dying. Going to RMA after my vacation.
 
christpunchers said:
My WS board just crapped out on me. Will not allow for multi beyond 35x. Only 8 of the 16GB Dimms are detected. Will not run my ram (1866mhz kit) beyond 1600mhz. And in the BIOS, anything related to the iGPU has completely disappeared altogether. After a month of promising benchmarking and some light use, I can't believe this thing is dying. Going to RMA after my vacation.
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all products break
 
bAMtan2 said:
all products break
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Yep. In fact I had a minor issue with one of the test P8Z77 WS boards. My issue was with one of the USB 3.0 ports. ASUS sent us another and the second sample was perfect.
 
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