ASUS Z87-Deluxe LGA 1150 Motherboard Review @ [H]

[FrgMstr]

ASUS Z87-Deluxe LGA 1150 Motherboard Review - The ASUS Z87-Deluxe motherboard is one fine piece of hardware. Its feature set and ASUS' attention to detail not only raise the bar but break the old bar over its knee. If you’re looking for a home for a Haswell CPU, then you’ve got to see the Z87-Deluxe in action and all the very usable features it packs in.

 

[twzTechman]

Great review - especially after reading the Asus Z87-A review. After too many issues with Gigabyte and MSI boards, I have been sticking with Asus for my last few boards. My question is - Is the deluxe really worth the extra $125 or so over the A version? For me, the most benefit I can see is the better Intel LAN with the deluxe. Otherwise, the A version would most likely meet all my needs just fine.

 

[Damar]

Excellent lunchtime read here at work!

My MB is sitting at home still boxed waiting for my Vengeance Pro sticks to arrive today, then I'll be putting it all together within a week or so.

Thanks for confirming I made a wise purchase on the MB!

 

[c3k]

Thanks. But, minor to most, but important to me: does Asus still use the horrible flashing light when the Mobo is in sleep mode? I'd hope there's an option in the BIOS to change the light's behavior. No, I'm not interested in taping over it: I use it to check on activity.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[Kor]

I've using the same board for a few weeks now and has been completely solid with my 2400mhz Corsair Dominator. Still jealous of that 4770K you have there, mine needs 1.284v manual to stabilize at 4.6 (it will prime solidly at 1.281 but will still randomly die here and there).

 

[Danny Dawg]

That is a nice looking board-- would almost have to put that one under (plexi) glass.

 

[powruser]

I had this board and had to swap for Maximus VI Hero. Had memory issues on 1007 BIOS, fine on original BIOS. Sad to see review was done with beta BIOS that isn't available to public. If you check Asus' forum, others are having memory issues with the board as well.

 

[Dan_D]

I've using the same board for a few weeks now and has been completely solid with my 2400mhz Corsair Dominator. Still jealous of that 4770K you have there, mine needs 1.284v manual to stabilize at 4.6 (it will prime solidly at 1.281 but will still randomly die here and there).

This one passes the 4.6GHz test at 1.20v. I've taken it to 4.7GHz on some boards. I'm still getting to know it and what it can do. I suspect there is more potential in it that I've yet to discover.

 

[trick0502]

This one passes the 4.6GHz test at 1.20v. I've taken it to 4.7GHz on some boards. I'm still getting to know it and what it can do. I suspect there is more potential in it that I've yet to discover.

Mine runs stock at 1.2 under load

 

[Kor]

This one passes the 4.6GHz test at 1.20v. I've taken it to 4.7GHz on some boards. I'm still getting to know it and what it can do. I suspect there is more potential in it that I've yet to discover.

How are the thermals on it? This thing will spike up to 90, hell on sustained small fft AVX stuff in prime it will live in the low 90's (it's a good thing it doesn't have to do that 24/7).

 

[5E7EN]

This one passes the 4.6GHz test at 1.20v. I've taken it to 4.7GHz on some boards. I'm still getting to know it and what it can do. I suspect there is more potential in it that I've yet to discover.

Hi Dan, new member here, love your site. Was wondering what ambient room temps were - I currently live in Australia, where it is pretty chilly for here, my point being an overclock with a 4770K, with a closed loop W/C, of 4.5 - 4.7 is easy here, given ambient room temps are in the 6 -11C range, with low humidity, so heat dissipation is 'relatively' easy. I'm guessing you guys are @least double that in the room, plus a bit of humidity, makes lots of fans a necessity??? I have a 3770K, which I didn't want but that's a different OT rave. Anyway, this chip is doing 5K MHZ and staying under 70C, even during stress testing, Prime95tt, OCCT, etc and good 'old' BF3 MP on 64p maps. We did take 2 weeks to burn the chip in but I think in summer it will not be doing 5K so easily...Anyway, I reckon your 4770K will do 'amazing' things during your Winter...thnx also for the review, always recommend Asus boards, they have a good track record...except for the Striker Ex....still haunts me...

 

[Kor]

Hi Dan, new member here, love your site. Was wondering what ambient room temps were - I currently live in Australia, where it is pretty chilly for here, my point being an overclock with a 4770K, with a closed loop W/C, of 4.5 - 4.7 is easy here, given ambient room temps are in the 6 -11C range, with low humidity, so heat dissipation is 'relatively' easy. I'm guessing you guys are @least double that in the room, plus a bit of humidity, makes lots of fans a necessity??? I have a 3770K, which I didn't want but that's a different OT rave. Anyway, this chip is doing 5K MHZ and staying under 70C, even during stress testing, Prime95tt, OCCT, etc and good 'old' BF3 MP on 64p maps. We did take 2 weeks to burn the chip in but I think in summer it will not be doing 5K so easily...Anyway, I reckon your 4770K will do 'amazing' things during your Winter...thnx also for the review, always recommend Asus boards, they have a good track record...except for the Striker Ex....still haunts me...

FYI I'm in AUS as well, the 4770K doesn't benefit as much from winter as you would hope

 

[Juan_Jose]

Great review - especially after reading the Asus Z87-A review. After too many issues with Gigabyte and MSI boards, I have been sticking with Asus for my last few boards. My question is - Is the deluxe really worth the extra $125 or so over the A version? For me, the most benefit I can see is the better Intel LAN with the deluxe. Otherwise, the A version would most likely meet all my needs just fine.

Overclocking wise the boards will essentially be the same. We have done 4.8GHz ( assuming your cpu and cooling allow for it ) without any issues. The Deluxe of course will have a cooler runnign VRM due to beefier heatsinks and more robust power components. In regards to the rest it comes down to the feature you are looking for callouts on the Deluxe would

Onboard Wifi Dual Band 802.11AC with Bluetooth 4.0
A PLX to allow for more concurrent PCIe controller usage essentially you can use more controllers at one time even in multiple GPU configurations
Additional SATA and USB3 ports
More PCIe expansion
Dual Nics ( One being an Intel i series Nic and the other being a Realtek similar to the -A )
USB Bios Flash Back for easy updating or recovery of your UEFI ( no CPU, Memory or GPU required )
More Fan headers

Overall you really get quite a bit more but the -A or even our Plus are both great boards. You should by based on your feature set want in your build but not based on performance or overclocking expectation as we have designed and coded the UEFI to be consistent in this regard.

Thanks for the support!

 

[Juan_Jose]

I had this board and had to swap for Maximus VI Hero. Had memory issues on 1007 BIOS, fine on original BIOS. Sad to see review was done with beta BIOS that isn't available to public. If you check Asus' forum, others are having memory issues with the board as well.

Which memory modules. 1007 is the same UEFI provided to HardOCP for testing the beta was only for SATA2 SSD testing. We have done extensive testing on the Z87 series and our boards have no issues hitting 2133, 2400, 26xx and greater speeds but there are considerations with Haswell relative to the IMC quality. I will definitely follow up with Raja here to look at what other users may be experiencing but you want look out for a big memory validation test we will be releasing to the community showcasing the consistently of memory functionality and stability. Regardless appreciate your feedback!

 

[powruser]

Which memory modules. 1007 is the same UEFI provided to HardOCP for testing the beta was only for SATA2 SSD testing. We have done extensive testing on the Z87 series and our boards have no issues hitting 2133, 2400, 26xx and greater speeds but there are considerations with Haswell relative to the IMC quality. I will definitely follow up with Raja here to look at what other users may be experiencing but you want look out for a big memory validation test we will be releasing to the community showcasing the consistently of memory functionality and stability. Regardless appreciate your feedback!

16GB (8GB x 2) of Crucial Ballistix Elite DDR3-1866 CL9 1.5v. Here's the thread at Asus' forum where we tried to fix it:

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?33779-Z87-Deluxe-BSOD-after-BIOS-update.&goto=newpost

My new RAM is 2400 as opposed to 1866 so IMC should be good. It was very strange issue. Was fine on original BIOS, flash new and would crash, flash back and fine again.

Thanks for your response!

 

[Damar]

Put mine together today, and I love just about everything about it.

Other than the fact I cannot for the life of me get the AI Suite III installed and working. Comes up with a generic/useless error after reboot.

Oh well, guess I'll be in the BIOS doing my OC the old fashioned way.....

 

[Dan_D]

Hi Dan, new member here, love your site. Was wondering what ambient room temps were - I currently live in Australia, where it is pretty chilly for here, my point being an overclock with a 4770K, with a closed loop W/C, of 4.5 - 4.7 is easy here, given ambient room temps are in the 6 -11C range, with low humidity, so heat dissipation is 'relatively' easy. I'm guessing you guys are @least double that in the room, plus a bit of humidity, makes lots of fans a necessity??? I have a 3770K, which I didn't want but that's a different OT rave. Anyway, this chip is doing 5K MHZ and staying under 70C, even during stress testing, Prime95tt, OCCT, etc and good 'old' BF3 MP on 64p maps. We did take 2 weeks to burn the chip in but I think in summer it will not be doing 5K so easily...Anyway, I reckon your 4770K will do 'amazing' things during your Winter...thnx also for the review, always recommend Asus boards, they have a good track record...except for the Striker Ex....still haunts me...

In Texas our winters aren't all that severe. And even if they were I doubt it would help as much as you'd imagine. In any case I'm playing with the settings on lots of different boards. I think this chip will OC a little better in some situations if I can dial it in right. The problem is that every time I change boards I've got to figure out what that setup likes. With my old 3570K I knew exactly what it took on most boards but there was still some variance with each.

Well the ASUS boards all behaved about the same. It varied a lot more using anything else.