With the P8Z77-V Premium
ASUS has a new flagship motherboard in their portfolio when it comes to their performance products. What they've done basically their engineers took a P8Z77-V Deluxe and added a Thunderbolt interface to it. Voilà there is the P8Z77-V Premium. 
The P8Z77-V Premium is ASUS' high end performance motherboard regarding Intels latest Z77 chipset. Therefore we're really curious what they've come up with from the layout and design as well as feature perspective.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Specs and Delivery
| CPU | Intel Socket 1155 3rd/2nd Generation Core i7/i5/i3/Pentium/Celeron (22/32nm) |
| Chipset | Intel Z77 Express |
| Memory | Dual Channel 4 x DIMM, max. 32GB, DDR3 2800 (OC) / 2666 (OC) / 2600(OC) / 2400 (OC) / 2200 (OC) / 2133 (OC) / 2000 (OC) / 1866 (OC) / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz, non-ECC, un-buffered memory, XMP 1.3 |
| Multi-GPU | NVIDIA 4-Way SLI AMD 4-Way CrossFireX LucidLogix Virtu MVP Technology |
| Slots | 4 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (dual x16 or x16, x8, x8 or quad x 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| Audio | Realtek ALC898 7.1-Channel HD Audio Codec |
| Storage | 2 x SATA 6.0 Gbps (Intel, grey) 3 x SATA 3.0 Gbps (Intel, blue) 1 x mini-SATA 3Gbps with 32 GB SSD onboard 4 x SATA 6 Gbps (Marvell 9230, blue) 2 x eSATA 6 Gbps (ASMedia, red) |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth v4.0 |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 / 5 GHz) |
| LAN | 1 x Gigabit LAN (Intel 82579V) 1 x Gigabit LAN (Intel 82583) |
| I/O internal | |
| I/O Back Panel | |
| Forfactor | Extended-ATX (30.5cm x 27.2cm) |
Regarding the delivery you'll find more than needed. For instance: you get a quad- and a triple-SLI bridge which feature a PCB. Furthermore there is a flexible SLI-bridge but unfortunately there is no CrossFire-Bridge. Also included in the delivery is a front panel box which gives you two additional USB 3.0 ports. Furthermore there are the two Wi-Fi ring moving antennas which help with the Wi-Fi Signal.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Features
| Digi+ Power Control | Since quite some time ASUS has been equipping its boards with digital power designs. Using the right software it is not only possible to adjust voltages while being in Windows one can now also control impedances. |
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| Thunderbolt | ASUS ships the P8Z77-V Premium with native Thunderbolt support. Utilizing the x4 lanes of PCI Express together with the iGPU integrated DisplayPort output, the P8Z77-V Premium is capable of delivering a simultaneous bi-directional throughput of 10 Gbps data via this Thunderbolt port. This port is also capable of displaying video content with up to 2560 x 1600 resolution. Fruthermore it is also possible to realize a triple display solution using only the iGPU. |
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| BT3.0/4.0 Dual Band Wi-Fi 802.11n | ASUS ships the P8Z77-V Premium with Bluetooth 3.0/4.0 and IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support. Furthermore you get two antennas to increase wireless range. |
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| EPU | If you activate the EPU this chip monitors all possible voltages and clock speeds and automatically sets them to guarantee an energy efficient operation of you system. |
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| TPU | As soon as one activates the TPU this chips monitors all possible voltages and clock speeds using the according software. The difference to the EPU is that TPU will provide as much performance as possible. Therefore it can increase clock speeds and voltages. |
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| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Layout
Already at a first glance the ASUS P8Z77-V Premium looks very good with it harmonic design. The colors look suite nicely and the different blue tones on a black PCB are calming. The layout itself is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers.
ASUS equipped the P8Z77-V Premium with a 16+4+2 phase VRM design whereas the CPU can rely on 16 phases, the integrated graphics unit gets four phases and the memory gets its own two phases. Furthermore ASUS put a digital power design on the board, which comes meanwhile in the third generation. With their digital power design they promise that it emits less electromagnetic radiation than its analogue counterpart. Therefore ASUS claims that the system stability can be enhanced even further, especially during extreme overclocking.
Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the P8Z77-V Premium. Officially supported are DDR3 - 2800 (OC) / 2600 (OC) / 2400 (OC) / 2200 OC / 2133 (OC) / 1866 (OC) / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 with up to 32 GByte capacity. The DIMM-slots are quite close to the CPU socket which might cause some compatibility problems with big coolers especially when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders.
The power design is being held at adequate temperatures via passive cooling blocks. The PCH is also being covered by a passive cooling block. The aluminium blocks around the CPU socket are quite big but still there is plenty of space to easily install even todays biggest air coolers.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Connectors and I/O
Totally ASUS provided the P8Z77-V Premium with eight angled and one straight SATA ports which should be enough for any office PC, gaming system or enthusiast build. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons. ASUS even thought of a debug display which is very useful if you should once experience issues with one of the components in your system. Another, rather unusual, feature can be found in the bottom right corner of the PCB. ASUS chose to put a 32 Gigabyte SSD into the mini PCIe slot. If you should own a standard hard drive but no SSD you can activate Intel Smart Cache and accelerate your system like this.
Totally you'll find six fan headers on the P8Z77-V Premium which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped midrange or high-end-system with fresh air. The fanheaders are located around the CPU socket as well as at the bottom edge of the mainboard.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS equipped the P8Z77-V Premium with two USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, two eSATA ports, two gigabit ethernet ports, an optical out as well as an analogue audio panel. Furthermore there is also an HDMI and a DisplayPort connector. Like the name of the board suggests there is also the new Thunderbolt port. Last but not least ASUS decided to place a BIOS reset button at the back panel.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Conclusion
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| At a first glance ASUS leaves a good impression with its P8Z77-V Premium. Once more we very much like the design of this P8-Series motherboard. The color scheme has a high value of recognition. We also like the cooling blocks covering PCH, PLX chip and VRM. They are not too big leaving plenty of space to easily install a big CPU cooler. | - Design | - | |
| Layout | + | - | |
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Generally the ASUS P8Z77-V Premium's layout is well thought. Once more very practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. 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 also well thought an therefore nothing needs to be criticized at this point. Looking at the DIMM slots we see that they are not too close to the CPU socket, which means that you wont have issues installing a big CPU cooler. What we don't understand is why ASUS chose to put a small 32 Gigabyte caching SSD on a high-end motherboard. Users who pay this kind of money are very likely to already own a high-performance SSD. And if they don't they are very likely to buy one when the buy this board. |
- Angled SATA connectors
- Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Thunderbolt |
- 32 GB mSATA SSD on high-end Board? |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Discuss this article in the forums
Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch