ASUS Z97 Deluxe LGA 1150 Motherboard Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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ASUS Z97 Deluxe LGA 1150 Motherboard Review - Today ASUS is launching its Z97 series DELUXE motherboard based on Intel’s new Z97 Express chipset. Intel's Z97 chipset is little more than a refresh of the Z87 Express chipset. Despite this, the Z97-Deluxe we are reviewing today builds on ASUS’ lengthy tradition of innovation and attempts to set the bar even higher than before.
 
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Ultima99 said:
I wonder if this will have a Haswell Refresh chip.
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No it will not. I have the "refresh" CPU on hand but it is not the K sku. Still testing with it, but have not had a lot of time for it just yet. I don't really think it will amount to much in terms of pushing you to make an "upgrade."
 
Yeah but I was more excited about the boards anyway. That seems like the area for improvement besides the TIM on Haswell.
 
And now i wonder how much will they screw up the lower models. My personal issue with them is when you can choose a PCI-E port or a SATA controller, but not both at expense of let's say running another PCI-E port at x1 instead of x4 (case of my P8Z77-V).
 
Yeah I was wondering about NDA too

Very nice to see an M keyed M.2 slot supporting PCIe x4 performance. Can't wait to see a good NVMe drive that takes advantage of all that bandwidth.
 
Does the line that separates the audio section light up on this board like it does on the ROG ones?
 
FatBoyNotSoSlim said:
Did you guys jump the gun? Intel's NDA isn't up for another week or two...
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HardOCP is not under an NDA / Information Embargo with Intel with the information presented here. Not that it matters, but no information in this article was presented to us by Intel.

But let's please try to keep this thread on topic. If you have any questions further on this subject, please PM me. Thanks.
 
this is a much better looking mb then the z87 counterpart. im glad that yellow went away. that said i cant wait to see some m.2 benchmarks. that is the only thing really interesting about this z97 chipset.
 
Impressive MoBo and great review.

I'm glad to see the Z97 boards out, and I am rather anxious to see what the HWL refresh can do when paired up. If there is one thing that would get me to upgrade from my Z77 platform, it's going to be a CPU with solder under the IHS.

Regardless, I can't wait to see an IPC and OC comparison between Haswell and the upcoming refresh on the same MoBo.
 
Does this board come with DDL/DTS Connect capable audio driver?
The lack of PS/2 keyboard connector would be disappointing for those with mechanical keyboards.
 
ashmelev75 said:
The lack of PS/2 keyboard connector would be disappointing for those with mechanical keyboards.
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Wat???.. That should be a really old keyboard .. I only see low-end mobo with PS/2 connector.. O_O and thats years ago.. (Since the time of my asusp8z68 v-PRO..) I have a razer blackwidow and a corsair K70 and both are USB.. O_O.
 
Araxie said:
Wat???.. That should be a really old keyboard .. I only see low-end mobo with PS/2 connector.. O_O and thats years ago.. (Since the time of my asusp8z68 v-PRO..) I have a razer blackwidow and a corsair K70 and both are USB.. O_O.
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Well, you see, NKRO (n-key rollover) requires an interrupt based handing of key presses and PS/2 can do that natively. USB keyboards are polled, in order to do that a bunch of virtual devices is required (~20 for full size keyboard) to simulate 6-key rollover. Also USB key-press potentially can be delayed by the other traffic on the USB bus. And there are issues with key blocking and ghosting on USB.

Forgot one more thing - turning on the computer by pressing a space bar on PS/2 keyboard. Does not work with USB. :p
 
Araxie said:
Wat???.. That should be a really old keyboard .. I only see low-end mobo with PS/2 connector.. O_O and thats years ago.. (Since the time of my asusp8z68 v-PRO..) I have a razer blackwidow and a corsair K70 and both are USB.. O_O.
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Actually very high end gaming boards have PS/2 ports on them. The Rampage IV Black Edition for example. That's a $500 motherboard and definitely not low end. The GIGABYTE G1 Sniper 5 is another gaming oriented motherboard that's expensive, certainly not low end and equipped with a PS/2 keyboard / mouse port.

ashmelev75 said:
Does this board come with DDL/DTS Connect capable audio driver?
The lack of PS/2 keyboard connector would be disappointing for those with mechanical keyboards.
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Yes. It does DTS Connect.
 
cyberjihad said:
isn't ps2 a fastive more native connection than a usb keyboard?
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I like to think so. Plus my old mechanical keyboard from a previous century is still usable.

Plus, it helps avoid this BIOS error: "USB Keyboard Failure. Press F1 to Continue" ;-)
 
Wonder if the M2 slot can take an M2 wifi like the Intel 7260, meaning something non-Asus :)
 
The Gigabyte UD5H black edition with 5 year warranty looks slick so far.
Good to see they all continue to try and upgrade the sound solution.

12 total connections is massive and it's unlikely you will run out.

With sata express one could take a pair of Samsung pro's and raid 0 them and still not saturate the bandwidth.
 
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clockdogg said:
I like to think so. Plus my old mechanical keyboard from a previous century is still usable.

Plus, it helps avoid this BIOS error: "USB Keyboard Failure. Press F1 to Continue" ;-)
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I wonder if this still holds true in the modern world with UEFI and such. I know in the old days PS2 was definitely a more native interface, but now? I'd be curious to see testing on a modern system.
 
Would it not make more sense to explain the lower temperatures as simply having better TIM application when you installed the CPU on this mobo? Possibly combined with lower ambient as well? Or simply whatever software you used to read the temperature doesn't properly read from a Z97?

I see no reason why you would have TRUE lower temperature just because you switched out the motherboard the CPU sits on other than the ones I listed above.
 
What an over priced, AIO monstrosity. While it might be possible to create a use every single feature on this board, it would not be smart. What really grids me is the 10 SATA ports, wifi and of course the price. Anyone using all the onboard SATA ports on this board better rethink their storage strategy. No 802.11ac and the 802.11n performance sucked. 18 USB ports, really? To me Asus thinking with this board was stuff it with practically useless features to warrant the jacked up price.....At least it works and keeps the CPU cooler.
 
ecktt said:
What an over priced, AIO monstrosity. While it might be possible to create a use every single feature on this board, it would not be smart. What really grids me is the 10 SATA ports, wifi and of course the price. Anyone using all the onboard SATA ports on this board better rethink their storage strategy. No 802.11ac and the 802.11n performance sucked. 18 USB ports, really? To me Asus thinking with this board was stuff it with practically useless features to warrant the jacked up price.....At least it works and keeps the CPU cooler.
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As I said this motherboard isn't for everyone. It does far more than most people would ever take advantage of. That said, people who buy boards like this often do so for 75% or so of the features and a "what if" mentality on the rest of it. And that solution does support 802.11AC. And we've seen close to that number of USB ports for some time now.

In regard to wireless performance n fairness I've seen allot of variance on the WiFi testing. I'm not testing this stuff under pure lab conditions. I try to be consistent with antenna placement and everything else but there are allot of variables where that's concerned. I don't place allot of faith in the numbers themselves. The testing primarily proves that the wireless works more than anything. In the real world I've yet to ever see wireless be 100% reliable or hit it's theoretical maximums when it comes to performance.
 
Araxie said:
Wat???.. That should be a really old keyboard .. I only see low-end mobo with PS/2 connector.. O_O and thats years ago.. (Since the time of my asusp8z68 v-PRO..) I have a razer blackwidow and a corsair K70 and both are USB.. O_O.
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Not necessarily - both Microsoft and Logitech have mechanical USB wireless keyboards available, and have for years (my own Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 6000 V.3 is such a critter, and IT dates back to XP). Don't assume that mechanical means PS/2 and wired; especially since it's been untrue for at least a decade, if not longer. Gamers prefer mechanical wired keyboards (mainly the wired part) due to RFI issues with wireless keyboards (and pointing devices as well to be honest) - another reason is that well-built mechanical keyboards with solid mechanical switches (Razer, Logitech, CherryMX, Microsoft) hold up! Every Microsoft keyboard I have ever owned has been mechanical - this one was also wireless (which banished wiring clutter), and the fact that it was mechanical AND wireless closed the deal (not just the fantastic price). Because it is both USB and wireless, it can be used with any PC (or Mac) that supports USB. (No - I did not stutter; I DID say Macs - as in real ones.)
 
If I am not mistaken that uses a laptop scissor style switch. While technically mechanical it isn't the same thing as a Cherry MX type switch or similar.
 
ecktt said:
What an over priced, AIO monstrosity. While it might be possible to create a use every single feature on this board, it would not be smart. What really grids me is the 10 SATA ports, wifi and of course the price. Anyone using all the onboard SATA ports on this board better rethink their storage strategy. No 802.11ac and the 802.11n performance sucked.
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Prices have leaked and while the Deluxe with NFC, wireless charger and Thunderbolt card that's reviewed here is $400, the Z97 Deluxe without them is $289. Still not cheap but not $400.

Also, the chart in the review is wrong, the Z97 Deluxe does support 802.11ac (dual band). The screenshot of the specs that's embedded in the review lists 802.11ac and so does the Asus Z97 Deluxe page on their site which is now live:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z97DELUXE/specifications/

Honestly, this is a pretty messy review. I understand there's no need to reinvent the wheel every time and that a lot of language from past reviews will be reused but that still doesn't mean the old language shouldn't be edited to fit new text. For example, the section on Thunderbolt testing is a mess. The introductory Thunderbolt paragraph appears to be the boilerplate language that explains Thunderbolt has been added to the testing suite and says LaCie Little Big Disk will be used. Then, two paragraphs down, there's the new language that say the review didn't test Thunderbolt after all:

We also lacked a Thunderbolt II compliant device for Thunderbolt II testing despite this motherboard actually having the ThunderboltEX II card included in the box. We will rectify both these issues in future reviews but for now we simply weren’t able to test these two features.
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Even if a Thunderbolt 2 device isn't available, why wasn't Thunderbolt 1 performance measured with the Little Big Disk? Correct me if I'm completely missing it but I don't see any test numbers for Thunderbolt in the I/O charts. And then at the end, Kyle's conclusion refers to

As Dan’s IO testing ferreted out, there are some issues with Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 Asmedia drivers on the Z97 Deluxe
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What are these issues with Thunderbolt drivers? As far as I can tell from the review, there were no Thunderbolt tests, let alone a discussion of driver issues with Thunderbolt. If tests were done and drivers problems were found, they should be presented in the review rather than a obliquely referred to without any explanation.
 
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Kyle, when you test the Haswell refresh non-K and K versions, is it possible to verify whether the Haswell refresh K versions are compatible with existing 8-series boards?

There's been some rumor that refreshed Haswell K versions will not work with 8-series boards, but only on 9-series (Z97, for example). Only non-K refreshed Haswell processors will work on both the 8- and 9-series. That is something I'd like to see cleared up.

Thank you.
 
ddarko said:
Prices have leaked and while the Deluxe with NFC, wireless charger and Thunderbolt card that's reviewed here is $400, the Z97 Deluxe without them is $289. Still not cheap but not $400.

Also, the chart in the review is wrong, the Z97 Deluxe does support 802.11ac (dual band). The screenshot of the specs that's embedded in the review lists 802.11ac and so does the Asus Z97 Deluxe page on their site which is now live:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z97DELUXE/specifications/

Honestly, this is a pretty messy review. I understand there's no need to reinvent the wheel every time and that a lot of language from past reviews will be reused but that still doesn't mean the old language shouldn't be edited to fit new text. For example, the section on Thunderbolt testing is a mess. The introductory Thunderbolt paragraph appears to be the boilerplate language that explains Thunderbolt has been added to the testing suite and says LaCie Little Big Disk will be used. Then, two paragraphs down, there's the new language that say the review didn't test Thunderbolt after all:



Even if a Thunderbolt 2 device isn't available, why wasn't Thunderbolt 1 performance measured with the Little Big Disk? Correct me if I'm completely missing it but I don't see any test numbers for Thunderbolt in the I/O charts. And then at the end, Kyle's conclusion refers to



What are these issues with Thunderbolt drivers? As far as I can tell from the review, there were no Thunderbolt tests, let alone a discussion of driver issues with Thunderbolt. If tests were done and drivers problems were found, they should be presented in the review rather than a obliquely referred to without any explanation.
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The Thunderbolt drive enclosure we have didn't work and that's because it is a Thunderbolt 1 device that has preproduction firmware on it. Due to this firmware it has compatibility issues with the latest iteration of Thunderbolt. This was something we tracked back to the manufacturer. In this case that's LaCie. So the Thunderbolt functionality wasn't tested. The only thing I did was install the drivers for the ThunderboltEX II card that's included with the board. This information is in the review itself.

We are working on getting a different Thunderbolt II compatible enclosure to test Thunderbolt performance in future reviews.

InternationalHat said:
Ah good, $400 and $289 motherboards for < $300 processors. lol Asus.
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Why is that "lol Asus?" They have motherboards with just about every feature you can imagine integrated into them and other offerings which are more budget oriented. And guess what, GIGABYTE, MSI and others will do exactly the same thing.
 
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I believe that this board still supports the Virtu technology that lets you switch to the integrated GPU for low power usage. When it first came out it didn't work well. I'd like to see how that works on this board.
 
I'm confused if this board actually has a plx chip or not, you state it does, anandtech review says it doesn't but that the WS mobo does. Though if you look at the WS mobo, only this board and that board have that center heatshink which would make me think it does indeed have a plx chip.

Can you clarify if it does or doesn't have one?
 
munkle said:
I'm confused if this board actually has a plx chip or not, you state it does, anandtech review says it doesn't but that the WS mobo does. Though if you look at the WS mobo, only this board and that board have that center heatshink which would make me think it does indeed have a plx chip.

Can you clarify if it does or doesn't have one?
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Sorry for the confusion, it does not have a PLX chip.
 
Dan_D said:
Sorry for the confusion, it does not have a PLX chip.
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Be nice to update Page 1 of the Review, just came across this as I was toying with the idea of switching over to a PLX enabled Z97 mobo to get SLI 1080's and thought this board fit the bill as it had PLX and the right price. Almost bid on it till I double checked the PLX support elsewhere!
 
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