Asus P8Z77-V LX Motherboard Review

It would be fair to say that we are quite impressed with the Asus P8Z77-V LX as it performs extremely well for a budget oriented motherboard.  It's also attractive looking for a value offering and features Asus' trademark black and blue colour scheme.  We're also very happy that Asus use the same excellent UEFI interface from their performance motherboards on their value range too.

We managed to achieve an impressive 4.7 GHz stable overclock with this motherboard when we paired it with our Intel Core i7-3770K processor.  This is noteworthy for a very competitively priced motherboard like the P8Z77V-LX.  It achieved very similar performance results to the much more expensive ASRock Z77 Xtreme6 which is a great feat.

That said, we managed to achieve a similar overclock with the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H motherboard that we reviewed a few weeks ago, which is around £12 cheaper. For this audience that may be the main buying decision.

Like the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H, the P8Z77-V LX isn't ideal for users who plan to use a dual graphics card setup as the second PCI Express x16 slot is limited to x4 bandwidth and the board only supports CrossFireX, not SLI.  It's also not ideal for serious overclocking due to the lack of cooling for the voltage regulation circuitry.  This may cause issues in the long run, especially if the case airflow isn't up to scratch.

For users who are looking to build a no-frills Ivy Bridge system, this motherboard is a good choice.  Our only concern is that it doesn't really offer any more than the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H which only costs £77.52 whereas the P8Z77-V costs £89.72. We could argue that the bios is better, but we feel that people interested in saving as much money as possible won't care.

In this budget sector, price is all important and for £12 less the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H is the better deal. If Asus can drop the price to compete against Gigabyte then it would win our MUST HAVE award.

EDIT: 16 October 2012 – Asus have managed to drop the price of the P8Z77-V LX to £81.32 inc vat. This means we can now award this fantastic value for money board our highest rating.

Pros

• Overclocks well.
• Excellent UEFI.
• Attractive colour scheme.

Cons

• Not as cheap as alternatives.
• Unsuitable for dual graphics.
• Only two SATA-600 ports.

KitGuru says: An impressive motherboard but needs to come down in price before it's a must have.

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