ASUS Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac Preview
Category : Z97
Published by Hiwa Pouri on 29.05.14
With the ASUS Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac, ASUS have yet another interesting motherboard in it's portfolio, which is based on Intels latest Z97 chipset. We find for instance SATA Express as well as M.2 and there is even a beefed-up audio solution. Other than that ASUS have been working on the design once more and in our opinion these board appeal to a much wider audience than the previous generation.
Article in English |
Artikel in Deutsch |
Article en français |
Articolo in italiano |
The Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac is a new ASUS Z97 motherobard, that comes with quite a few interesting features.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z97 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR3, 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB DDR3, 3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
|
| Slots |
|
| Sound | Realtek ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
|
| Storage | Intel Z97 chipset
|
| Network |
|
| Internal Connectors |
|
| Extrenal Connectors |
|
| Forfactor | ATX Form Factor (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (64 Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
- User's manual
- ASUS Q-Shield
- 4 x SATA 6Gb/s cable
- 1 x ASUS 2T2R dual band Wi-Fi moving antennas - Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compliant
- 1 x SLI bridge
- 1 x Q-connector (2 in 1)
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Features
ASUS 5X Protection |
In this case the ASUS marketing department has been thinking about a new name for a set of features. "5X Protection" is the word they associate with the following things. First of all there is a six phase Digi+ power design, which is built around an ASP1103 chip. Second, you get ASUS DRAM OCP, which provides short circuit protection. Other than that there is the so called ESD guard that features additional protection regarding electrostatic discharge. Last but not least we find capacitors, which have been rated for 5000 hours. Overall this sounds like a reasonable featureset for a high-end Mini-ITX motherboard. |
 |
ASUS Fan Xpert 3 |
ASUS Fan Xpert 3 provides customizable settings for fans that have been attached directly to the onboard fan headers. With the Fan Auto Tuning feature, ASUS Fan Xpert 3 automatically detects and tweaks all fan speeds and in the end reduces unwanted noise. |  |
M.2 Support |
The new Z97 ITX motherboard from ASUS features an M.2 slot moved to the back part of the board this board can be euqipped with SSDs in M.2 format. M.2 is wired directly to the Z97 PCH via two PCI Express lanes, therefore offering x2 bandwidth. In other words up to 10 Gbps can be pushed over the bus through this slot, almost doubling performance of SATA-III. |  |
Crystal Sound 2 |
Also the classic series from ASUS are getting beefed-up audio meanwhile. In this case there is an EMI shield in place for the audio chip and the circutry is isolated from the rest of the motherboard. Other than that ASUS is using high quality capacitors, which should be offering warm sound. |  |
| EPU | EPU automatically detects the current system load and moderates power usage. It offers a system-wide energy optimization and is able to reduce fan noise. |  |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Layout
With the release of Intels Z87 chipset ASUS's design team chose to bring quite some change to the design of their classic series motherboards. ASUS was brave enough to ditch their highly successful black/blue color scheme and replace it a color scheme kept in black, gold and yellow. Meanwhile ASUS again reworked the design of their classic series motherboard make it more calm by removing yellow from the equation. They've also changed the tone of the gold color they're using a champagne-ish color.Regarding the layout ASUS has been able to squeeze an astonishing number of features onto a standard ATX motherboard. Obviously ASUS is compliant with Intels guidelines regarding clearance around the CPU socket. There even is some margin between the CPU socket and the DIMM slots. Apart from that the build quality of the board is excellent and in this regard there is nothing to complain about.
The ASUS Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac features a fully digital 12+2 phase power design. The CPU gets twelve phases and the memory gets a stable current supply from two individual phase. Apart from that there are high-quality, Japanese solid state capacitors, which have been specified 5000 hours.
Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac. Officially supported are DDR3 3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz. There is enough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders. Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 1.3.
On the Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac the PCH is being cooled by a passive cooling block. A closer look at the area where the VRM is, shows there are two additional, passive heatsinks. Design as well as build quality are excellent, which is typical for ASUS' Z97 series motherboards.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Connectors and I/O
Totally ASUS equipped the Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac with six angled SATA ports, which can be found below the 24-pin ATX power connector. Apart from that there is also a SATA Express connector as well as an M.2 slot. Therefore it should be problem whatsoever to equip office PCs as well as workstations with plenty of drives. We also like the fact, the diversity of storage connectors, which is definitely up-to-date these days. On this board there are also practical onboard power- and reset-buttons as well as a debug display.
Totally you'll find six fan header on the Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac which is enough, to provide a well equipped Office PC, workstation or gaming rig with fresh air. The fan headers are located in close proximity to the CPU socket as well as spread over the motherboard. ASUS decided to use 4-pin PWM headers in all six cases. Therefore it is possible to adjust rotation speed in the BIOS or in Windows.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS equipped the Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac with four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, two USB 2.0/1.1 ports, one gigabit ethernet port, an HDMI connector, a DisplayPort output, DVI out, VGA out as well as an optical out and an analogue audio panel. Furhtermore there are two connectors to attach antennas, which are included in the delivery.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Conclusion
| Overall | + | - | |
| At a first glance the Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac leaves a good impression. You get a reasonable feature mix. There is a decent power design, plenty of SATA connectors, as well as a SATA Express header and an M.2 slot. It's these storage connectors, that add a lot of versatility to this board. What's also practical is the fact, there is a WiFi module on this board and on the I/O-panel you can attach two antennas. In case of the color scheme we're happy to see that the new Z97 Classic-Series from ASUS isn't as flashy as the Z87 motherboards anymore. | -
Design - Layout |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
| Generally the ASUS Z97-Pro Wi-Fi ac's Layout is very well thought. Once more very practical are the angled SATA connectors, of which there are six, as well as the power- and reset-buttons. We want to underline that this board feature great storage versatility, since there is a SATA, SATA Express as well as M.2 support. Also the debug display is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Furthermore the placement of the PCI-Express x16 slots is well thought an therefore nothing needs to be criticized at this point. There are for example two slots between the first and the second PCI-Express x16 slot. Should you decide to build an SLI/CrossFire setup, then the first card will still be able to get plenty of fresh air. Another thing that is good with this board is the fact, that there as plenty of space between the CPU socket and the heatsinks on the power design as well as between the CPU socket and the DIMM slots. Something else we like is the fact that ASUS equipped this board with WiFi, which supports 802.11 b/g/n as well as ac standards. In case the board can connect to either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz networks. | - Space around the CPU
socket
- SATA Express - WiFi - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Angled SATA connectors |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |