Asus P8Z77-V LK Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. Asus P8Z77-V LK: Packaging and Bundle3. Asus P8Z77-V LK: Board Layout and Features4. Asus P8Z77-V LK: BIOS5. Asus P8Z77-V LK: Overclocking6. Testing Methodology7. System: PCMark 78. System: 3DMark Vantage9. System: 3DMark 1110. System: 3DMark11. System: Unigine Heaven Benchmark12. Processor: SiSoft Sandra13. Processor: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit14. Processor: Super Pi15. Processor: WinRar16. Processor: MKV 1080P Performance17. Processor: Media Encoding - MediaEspresso18. Processor: Media Encoding - HandBrake19. Motherboard: SATA Performance20. Motherboard: USB 3.0 Performance21. Gaming: Battlefield 322. Gaming: Crysis 223. Gaming: Metro 203324. Technical: Power Consumption25. Closing Thoughts26. View All Pages

With the company's solid set of options in the Z77 motherboard market, Asus is aiming to conquer the intermediate segment that lies between the entry-level and mid-range price categories. Enter the P8Z77-V LK motherboard.

Sitting between the entry-level P8Z77-V LX and mid-range P8Z77-V motherboards in Asus' Z77 arsenal, the P8Z77-V LK's features seem to be a mixture between both the cheaper and pricier options.

Unrestricted CrossFire and SLI support is present, thanks to the use of an x16 and an x8 PCI-E slot. With six USB 3.0 ports, a high-quality Realtek audio chip, and a 4+1+1 phase power design, the Asus P8Z77-V LK looks to be a very feature-rich board, given its sub-£100 price tag.

Is the P8Z77-V LK the motherboard that can take control of the circa-£100 Z77 territory?

Features:

• DIGI+ VRM Digital Power Design
• USB 3.0 Boost – Faster USB 3.0 Transmission with UASP (170%)
• Network iControl – Real-time Network Bandwidth Control
• LucidLogix® Virtu Universal MVP™ – Up to 60% Hybrid Graphics Boost!
• Quad-GPU SLI and Quad-GPU/3-Way CrossFireX Support!

Asus supplies the P8Z77-V LK motherboard in a black box which is home to plenty of product advertising. Many of the key features, such as Digi+ Power Control, Asus USB 3.0 Boost, and LucidLogix Virtu MVP, are outlined on the box's rear side, alongside an image of the motherboard.

Asus supplies a very basic bundle with the P8Z77-V LK motherboard. We can appreciate the fact that Asus is trying to cut costs, but an extra two SATA cables would have made little difference to the motherboard's price while proving as a convenience for many users.

Our biggest disappointment with the bundle is the omission of Asus' ultra-convenient Q-connector. We are surprised that Asus chose not to include it in the bundle as it is a useful feature that is unique to only a few motherboard manufacturers.

The bundle consists of:

• 2x black SATA 6Gb/s latching cables
• 2-way SLI bridge
• IO shield
• Asus case sticker
• Manuals
• Drivers CD

Similar to rest of Asus' P8Z77 series of motherboards, the P8Z77-V LK features a simplistic baby blue, dark blue, white, and black colour scheme. The board's PCB isn't as attractive as some of its higher-end siblings – it is more of a brown colour than a dark black.

The P8Z77-V LK motherboard does not conform to the standard ATX form factor of 12 x 9.6 inches (305 x 244 mm). Instead, it is a slightly narrower at around 12 x 9.17 inches (305 x 233 mm). The reasoning behind this size reduction is to reduce production costs by implementing a smaller PCB which requires less physical material.

Don't worry; the narrower dimensions will not affect compatibility with ATX-capable cases. It just means that the right-hand column of motherboard stand-offs is rendered unnecessary.

Four DIMM slots allow the P8Z77-V LK motherboard to accept up to 32GB of dual channel DDR3 memory with a frequency in excess of 2600MHz (with a 22nm Ivy Bridge CPU). Asus has chosen to use double-latched DIMM slots rather than the more convenient single-latched versions that are found on many of its motherboards.

Positioned on the end of the motherboard's right edge, the 24-pin connector's wise location integrates it with the cable management routes of modern cases.

A 4-pin fan connector and the front panel USB 3.0 header are located in an easily-accessible area. The USB 3.0 header operates via the Z77 chipset's ports.

Asus positions the 8-pin CPU power connector away from the board's edge and in the vertical orientation. This makes it more awkward to reach with the power supply's CPU cable, while also decreasing the effectiveness of cable management.

Positioning the connector along the board's edge in the horizontal orientation would have been a smarter move.

The P8Z77-V LK uses a basic 4+1+1 phase power design. Although this design is entry-level, when coupled with Asus' ‘Digi+ VRM' digital power control, the P8Z77-V LK motherboard should have no problems powering and overclocking an efficient LGA 1155 CPU.

With only one low profile VRM heatsink being used, the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard's CPU area shouldn't cause interferences when using a large CPU cooler.

Asus deserves credit for its wise choice of expansion slots and their sensible positioning. A trio PCI-E x16 length slots, a pair of PCI connectors, and a couple of PCI-E x1 ports make a very effective combination for a circa-£100 motherboard, giving users plenty of expansion options.

The dark blue and white PCI-E x16 slots are both capable of housing high-performance graphics card, thanks to their x16 and x8 bandwidth allocation (x8/x8 when slots both are populated), respectively. Asus wisely provides a three slot gap between each of these connectors to allow for effective cooling when using multi-GPU configurations.

The lower PCI-E x16 length slot operates at a maximum speed of PCI-E 2.0 x4 bandwidth. This makes it useful for expansion cards or even a PCI-E-based SSD.

Six right-angled SATA ports are positioned in the bottom-right corner of the P8Z77-V LK motherboard. All of the ports operate from the Z77 chipset. The white ports are capable of SATA 6Gb/s speed, whereas the blue coloured variants operate at SATA 3Gb/s bandwidth.

Four USB 2.0 headers, a COM port, a 4-pin fan connector, the EPU switch, and the appropriate front panel audio and connections headers are located along the motherboard's lower edge. The clear CMOS jumper and power LED are located above the front panel connections header.

One of our favourite inclusions on many of Asus' motherboards is the MemOK button. Its concept is simple: system not booting due to incorrect memory settings? Simply push the MemOK button and the system will power up with a stable memory configuration.

This convenient and simplistic tool can save a large amount of time when overclocking memory or when troubleshooting.

Positioned next to the MemOK button is the GPU Boost switch which can be used to enhance the graphics performance of an LGA 1155 chip's integrated GPU.

The P8Z77-V LK motherboard's selection of rear IO ports gives users freedom when attaching many USB devices. The omission of an eSATA port is unlikely to concern most users, but the lack of a rear panel clear CMOS button is disappointing.

Motherboard rear ports:

• 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s)
• 1 x DVI
• 1 x DisplayPort
• 1 x HDMI
• 1 x VGA
• 1 x LAN (RJ45) port
• 4 x USB 3.0
• 2 x USB 2.0
• 1 x Optical S/PDIF out
• 6 x Audio jack(s)

Asus uses attractive, dark blue heatsinks on the P8Z77-V LK motherboard. The sinks' designs employ Asus' unique appearance.

Four fan connectors are found on the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard, all of which are 4-pin. Asus' decision to position the CPU fan header above the PCI-E x1 slot is an odd one which makes cable management more difficult; it would have been much better to position the header in the tried-and-tested location along the motherboard's upper edge.

The onboard controllers featured on the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard are: Asmedia ASM1083 for the PCI slots, Asmedia ASM1042 for two of the rear USB 3.0 ports, Asmedia ASM1442 for the digital video connections, Realtek 8111F for Gigabit Ethernet, Realtek ALC892 for multi-channel HD audio, Nuvoton NCT6779D for monitoring and fan control, and Asus' Digi+ VRM and EPU chips.

We didn't run into any problems when working with the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard. Installing components such as a graphics card was made easy by Asus' intelligent motherboard layout.

Motherboard slots and connectors:

• 1 x USB 3.0 connector supports additional 2 USB 3.0 ports)
• 4 x USB 2.0 connectors support additional 8 USB 2.0 ports
• 1 x COM port connector
• 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
• 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
• 1 x CPU Fan connector (4 -pin)
• 3 x Chassis Fan connectors (4 -pin)
• 1 x S/PDIF out header
• 1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector
• 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector
• 1 x Front panel audio connector (AAFP)
• 1 x System panel
• 1 x MemOK! button
• 1 x EPU switch
• 1 x GPU Boost switch
• 1 x Clear CMOS jumper

Firstly, we are pleased to report that our Roccat Kone XTD and NZXT Avatar S mice both worked perfectly in the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard's UEFI BIOS. This is a positive point as we have experienced problems when using both of these mice in the UEFI BIOS of other motherboards in the past.

System information is provided on the main page of the P8Z77-V LK motherboard's UEFI BIOS.

Frequency and voltage settings can be accessed via the AI Tweaker page. We are pleased to note that the P8Z77-V LK's CPU and Memory voltage limits won't constrict mid-range users' overclocking flexibility; both settings can be adjusted well above ‘sensible' day-to-day levels.

The AI Overclock Tuner can be set to three different modes – Auto, Manual, and XMP. We selected the XMP mode which automatically configured our XMP memory with the correct frequency, timings and voltage.

During testing, we noticed that the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard uses an aggressive ‘stock' CPU frequency of 3.8GHz. This arises from the 3.8GHz Turbo Boost speed of our Core i5 3570K chip, but Asus takes it one step further by applying the clock speed increase in all scenarios. This can be considered as ‘free performance'.

Asus allows users to change a fair amount of voltage and power settings for the CPU via the Digi+ Power Control subsection of the AI Tweaker page.

The number of settings that can be changed isn't quite as diverse as that of some of Asus' higher-end motherboards, but it should be sufficient for most of the P8Z77-V LK's target audience.

A wide range of memory frequency and timings settings can be selected. This should allow for enhanced flexibility when trying to push a memory kit's frequency or tighten its timings.

Navigating to the Advanced section of the P8Z77-V LK motherboard's UEFI BIOS gives users access to specific configuration settings, such as those for the CPU, graphics subsystem, and SATA ports.

An appropriate set of motherboard-related voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds can be viewed via the Monitor page.

The P8Z77-V LK can be configured to make use of Asus' pre-defined fan settings which are tailored for specific scenarios. These scenarios are: Silent, Turbo, and Standard. Users are also free to set their own fan speed profile which can be linked with minimum and maximum speeds, as well as target CPU temperatures.

When the operational speed of the CPU fan is below the UEFI-defined threshold, a warning message can be provided to prevent any unwanted overheating problems. The speed threshold can be changed, dependent upon a user's preference and the specific fans being employed.

The Boot page allows users to set a time-delay between the system POST and Windows booting. This is useful for entering the BIOS while using a keyboard which can take a few seconds to activate, for example.

Up to eight UEFI settings profiles can be saved to the P8Z77-V LK motherboard, all of which can be named. We must praise Asus for providing users with a relevant number of profiles; it gives extra freedom when tinkering with a variety of overclocking settings.

Asus' EZ Flash 2 Utility is a convenient feature which makes flashing the BIOS a simple procedure. We simply connected our basic USB flash drive, navigated to the correct folder, opened the BIOS file and the motherboard did the rest.

CPU Overclocking:

Asus' P8Z77-V LK motherboard includes an Auto OC feature. After selecting the Auto OC option and rebooting, the motherboard had tweaked our system's configuration.

A CPU overclock to 4223MHz was achieved by way of a 103MHz base clock and 41x multiplier. A slight increase in CPU voltage was also applied. Our memory was reduced to the 18.66x divider which, with the 103MHz base clock, resulted in a frequency of 1921MHz. Timings were not adjusted.

This is a quick and easy method for users that aren't confident overclockers to achieve a noticeable performance boost. We were impressed by the motherboard's configured CPU settings, but slightly disappointed by the drop to an 18.66x memory divider; the 20x divider would have still presented a sub-stock, and hence stable, frequency for our 2133MHz Patriot memory.

The automatic overclock validation can be found here.

Pleased but not satisfied by the Auto OC configuration, we went in search for a higher CPU overclock.

The P8Z77-V LK motherboard's helpful Digi+ Power Control settings allowed us to enhance our overclocking capabilities. We set the CPU Power Phase Control to Extreme and CPU Current Capability to the maximum – 120%. Both the CPU Fixed Frequency and CPU Power Duty Control remained untouched. Our CPU Load-line Calibration was initially set to Regular, but we later changed this to Very High to provide a closer match to our set CPU voltage during load conditions.

Power saving settings were disabled.

We applied a static voltage of 1.300V to allow the P8Z77-V LK to push our i5 3570K chip, while still operating within safe limits for daily usage. For 24/7 overclocks, we would recommend tailoring the Offset voltage to a setting which provides a stable frequency, allowing the motherboard to only increase the CPU's voltage when the additional power is required.

Our maximum stable overclock was 4.7GHz, achieved via a 47x multiplier and 100MHz base clock. We tried to push for 4.8GHz, but this frequency wouldn't even boot with our specific settings.

4.7GHz is a very strong overclock for a circa-£100 motherboard which features a 4+1+1 phase power design. It gives us an indication that the P8Z77-V LK is using efficient power delivery components which provide solid performance.

Our 4.7GHz validation can be viewed here.

Memory Overclocking:

While a system's maximum memory frequency may be heavily swayed by the CPU's individual memory controller, the motherboard's performance can also help to obtain higher speeds.

We switched to our 2133MHz set of Team Xtreem LV memory. This kit was chosen as it is geared for overclockers, with its large heatsinks and tight timings, and we know that it is capable of frequencies in the region of 2600MHz.

Knowing that the Team Xtreem LV kit was capable of 2600MHz, we were pleased to see that the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard didn't show any signs of limiting its overclocking potential. We actually managed to push all of the way up to a frequency of 2666MHz with a voltage of 1.7V and slightly relaxed timings.

For reference, using identical timings and voltage settings, our higher-priced Asus P8Z77-V motherboard ‘only' managed to push this memory kit to 2600MHz with complete stability. This lower performance could be related to the P8Z77-V board's older BIOS version, however.

Our 2666MHz 11-12-12-28-1T memory overclock validation can be viewed here.

To test the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard, we paired it with an Intel Core i5 3570K processor and 8GB of 2133MHz memory from Patriot. We will be outlining the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard's performance with the Core i5 3570K CPU at its stock frequency of 3.4GHz (3.8GHz due to Asus' aggressive ‘Turbo' settings which are continuously active) and when overclocked to 4.7GHz.

We are also including the performance of a mid-range sibling in the Asus P8Z77-V motherboard. Benchmark data from an ASRock 990FX Extreme9 and FX8350-based AMD system is also included to highlight the performance of competing platforms.

All systems are kept as identical as possible to eliminate variables. Both Z77 test systems are completely identical, with the exception of each motherboard that is used for testing. The only differences between the Z77 test systems and the AMD version are the CPU and motherboard.

Motherboard Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz
• Memory: 8GB Patriot Viper 2133MHz 11-11-11-27
• Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Dual-X
• System Drive: 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120M
• Case: NZXT Phantom
• Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum-1000
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Compared Z77 Motherboards:

• Asus P8Z77-V LK
• Asus P8Z77-V

Comparison AMD Test System:

• Processor: AMD Bulldozer FX-8350 4.00GHz
• Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme9
• Memory: 8GB Patriot Viper 2133MHz 11-11-11-27
• Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Dual-X
• System Drive: 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120M
• Case: NZXT Phantom
• Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum-1000
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Settings:

• AMD Catalyst 13.1 VGA drivers
• Asus P8Z77-V LK BIOS 0908 (newest)
• Asus P8Z77-V BIOS V1504
• ASRock 990FX Extreme9 BIOS V1.10

Software Suite:

• 3DMark
• 3DMark Vantage
• 3DMark 11
• PCMark 7
• Unigine Heaven Benchmark 3.0
• SiSoft Sandra 2013
• Cinebench 11.5 64 bit
• Super Pi
• WinRAR 4.20
• VLC Media Player 2.0.5
• CyberLink Media Espresso 6.7
• HandBrake 0.9.8
• ATTO
• Battlefield 3
• Metro 2033
• Crysis 2
• ASUS AI Suite II V2.01.01

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

PCMark 7 shows that the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard is able to offer very similar all-round performance to its more expensive sibling, the P8Z77-V.

Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.

3DMark Vantage proves that you won't notice any significant performance differences between the two Z77 options.

3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading.

After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page.

Both Z77 motherboards exhibit very similar 3DMark 11 performance.

3DMark is Futuremark's latest benchmark. It can be used to benchmark and compare everything from mobile devices, such as smart phones, tablets and laptops, to high-end gaming systems. The benchmark is available for Windows, Windows RT Android and iOS.

With 3 separate tests, each of which is intended to be used alongside a specific classification of hardware, 3DMark is a very versatile benchmark. Ice Storm is intended to be used with mobile devices, Cloud Gate is good for use with laptops and home PCs, and Fire Strike can be used to push the performance of gaming PCs.

We used the ‘Fire Strike' benchmark which is designed to be used on gaming PCs. We opted for the Normal setting, NOT the Extreme mode.

As with the previous Futuremark benchmarks, 3DMark proves that the cheaper Asus P8Z77-V LK can easily match the performance of the company's higher-priced P8Z77-V.

Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.

Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk.

Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:

• Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
• Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
• Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
• Multicore CPU support
• Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
• Powerful C++ API
• Comprehensive performance profiling system
• Flexible XML-based data structures

We use the following settings: 1920×1080 resolution. Anti Aliasing: off. Anisotrophy: 4, Tessellation: normal. Shaders: High. Stereo 3D: disabled. API: Direct X 11.

The Unigine Heaven benchmark follows the trend of showing that the Asus P8Z77-V LK doesn't have any underlying performance issues that hamper its performance, in comparison to a pricier Z77 option.

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.

It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.

Native ports for all major operating systems are available:

• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86)
• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64)
• Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64)
• Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01)
• Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02)

All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of:

• SMP – Multi-Processor
• MC – Multi-Core
• SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading
• MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions
• GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics
• NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access
• AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86
• IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit

Sandra's set of synthetic benchmarks prove that the performance of both Z77 motherboards is identical. Neither board features any type of inexplicable performance deficit.

CINEBENCH R11.5 64 Bit is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all – it’s completely free.

Asus' P8Z77-V LK motherboard is about 2% faster than the company's higher-priced P8Z77-V at stock CPU settings. Multiple retests of Cinebench confirmed the P8Z77-V LK's minor performance advantage.

The performance differential could be related to slightly different base clock or memory frequency settings being automatically applied by the P8Z77-V LK, or the 2% variation could represent a fluctuation in Cinebench's accuracy.

Super Pi is used by a huge audience, particularly to check stability when overclocking processors. If a system is able to calculate PI to the 2 millionth place after the decimal without mistake, it is considered to be stable in regards to RAM and CPU.

We used Super Pi's '32M' benchmark setting.

Both Z77 motherboards are able to push the Core i5 3570K CPU to almost identical Super Pi times.

WinRAR is one of the most popular archive manager programs available. It can backup your data and reduce the size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format. You can try WinRAR before buy, its trial version is available in downloads.

We measured the time taken to archive and extract our 4.4GB 720p MKV file.

The above charts prove that the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard is able to push an entire system to identical WinRAR performance to its higher-priced sibling.

The Matroska Media container is a very popular, open standard Multimedia container which is usually found as .MKV files. It is a very popular format in enthusiast circles and can be played directly in VLC or Windows Media Player with suitable codecs installed.

We played our High Definition MKV movie using the latest version of VLC Media Player.

Neither motherboard has a negative effect on CPU performance which could come about by applying an error to the i5 3570K's base clock setting.

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats.

Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology.

New and Improved Features

• Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously.
• Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention.
• Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices.
• Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment.
• Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A.
• Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier.

For our testing today we are converting a 4.4GB 720p MKV file (1h:58mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power.

Hardware acceleration is disabled to provide an accurate interpretation of the CPU performance.

CyberLink's Media Espresso software proves that neither Z77 motherboard has a performance advantage when it comes to converting HD content using raw processing power.

HandBrake is a fantastic free program that can be used to convert video files to many common formats for portable devices. HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multi-platform, multi-threaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

We used the latest V 0.9.8 version.

For our testing today we are converting a 4.4GB 720p MKV file (1h:58mins) to MP4 format, using HandBrake's ‘Normal' profile, for playback on High-Resolution devices. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power.

HandBrake shows a slight variation between the two Z77 motherboards' performance. In reality, the performance difference of around 2.6% could be down to random errors and certainly isn't indicative of a noteworthy problem for the P8Z77-V LK motherboard.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

The P8Z77-V LK motherboard's SATA 6Gb/s ports, which operate from the Z77 chipset, are working correctly; the Kingston HyperX SSD was able to reach its full speed potential.

With its emergence as the new standard for high-speed portable devices, USB 3.0 performance on a modern motherboard needs to be good to ensure that data transferral bottlenecks aren't created.

We tested USB 3.0 performance using an ADATA SP300 SSD connected to an Icy Box IB-223StU3 USB 3.0 enclosure. ATTO was the benchmark used.

USB 3.0 ports on the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard are equally as capable as those found on the P8Z77-V board – no surprise given the fact that both products use the same Z77 chipset.

Using the USB 3.0 Boost feature which is supported by the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard, a healthy increase in our drive's read speed was obtained.

According to EA, Battlefield 3 garnered 3 million pre-orders by the day of its release. It is unknown at present whether these figures are worldwide or just for the US. The pre-order total makes it “the biggest first-person shooter launch in EA history”, according to the publisher. The engine is beautiful on the PC and very demanding of the partnering hardware.

We used the game's demanding ‘Ultra' setting to push today's gaming hardware. Nobody plays games at 1024×768 with low image quality settings.

The stock-clocked Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard is able to top our Battlefield 3 performance chart, but not by as great a margin as one would initially think. The performance difference between the Z77 solutions is due to the rounding of the FRAPS figure. Actual performance differences are a few tenths of a FPS, at most.

Released in March 2011, Crysis 2 was the highly-anticipated sequel to Crytek's triumphant predecessor. The CryEngine 3 game engine is able to deliver stunning visuals of New York's urban scenery as well as the intense conflict. Those stunning visuals and intense battles demand powerful PC hardware.

We used the game's ‘Very High' setting to offer an intense challenge for the gaming hardware while also making playable frame rates a possibility.

We are also utilising the DX11 and High Res Textures pack as well as the game's latest patch – version 1.9.

Asus' P8Z77-V LK looks like a solid option for gamers due to its ability to match the performance of the pricier P8Z77-V.

Metro 2033 is a first-person shooter video game with survival horror elements, based on the novel Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. The game is played from the perspective of Artyom, the player-character. The story takes place in post-apocalyptic Moscow, mostly inside the metro system, but occasionally missions bring the player above-ground.

We used the game's ‘High' setting to offer an intense challenge for the gaming hardware while also making playable frame rates a possibility.

The P8Z77-V LK was able to outperform the P8Z77-V in our Metro 2033 runs. This could be related to possible variations between the memory speed of each board or a different latency between the CPU and graphics subsystem. The rounding of Metro 2033's benchmark also has an effect.

We measured the power consumption with the system resting at the Windows 7 desktop, representing idle values.

The power consumption of our entire test system is measured at the wall while loading only the CPU using Prime95's Small FFTs setting. The rest of the system's components were operating in their idle states, hence the increased power consumption values (in comparison to the idle figures) are largely related to the load on the CPU and motherboard power delivery components.

Power consumption was also recorded while playing Battlefield 3, representing gaming values.

Although we measure the power consumption of our entire system, analysing the stock-clocked P8Z77-V LK and P8Z77-V motherboards' power consumption figures, we can make accurate estimations as to the difference in power consumption between each board.

The Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard appears to require 9W less power than the P8Z77-V. This reduced consumption is related to the P8Z77-V LK's fewer onboard controllers, in comparison to the P8Z77-V.

With excellent overclocking potential and a balanced set of features, the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard packs a punch which makes it a very competitive option against higher-priced, mid-range competitors.

Using a 4+1+1 phase power design, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Asus P8Z77-V LK's overclocking performance is limited; it's not. We had no problems pushing our Core i5 3570K chip to 4.7GHz with a voltage setting that is perfectly safe for daily usage.

The board may have been able to push our processor to a higher frequency with a greater voltage. We weren't comfortable going past 1.300V, however, especially when a section of the motherboard's power phase is un-cooled.

Memory overclocking performance was truly excellent. The P8Z77-V LK pushed our memory modules to a frequency of 2666MHz – 66MHz greater than what our higher-priced P8Z77-V board could achieve.

We were very impressed with the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard's UEFI BIOS. The interface is sleek, modern, and very easy to use. A help and explanation section located to the right of the main page is also very useful for less-confident overclockers. A total of eight OC profiles give practising overclockers an opportunity to tinker with settings without having to worry about sacrificing their previous configuration.

For us editors, as well as users trying to troubleshoot problems, the UEFI BIOS' screenshot function is a very convenient feature. Equally convenient is the P8Z77-V LK UEFI BIOS' compatibility with mice – a function that many motherboard manufacturers cannot employ correctly.

Asus has employed a sensible set of expansion slots with a wise layout. Dual card CrossFire and SLI configurations are possible with worthwhile slots remaining accessible and usable. The right-angled SATA ports are situated in the board's bottom corner – a location which puts them away from long, interference-causing graphics cards.

The P8Z77-V LK does have some inconvenient layout choices, however. The CPU fan header is positioned above the uppermost PCI-E x1 slot, rather than the perfectly-adequate upper edge of the motherboard. Cable management is made more difficult due to the 8-pin CPU connector's position which isn't along the board's edge.

We were pleased to see the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard using a high-quality – Realtek ALC892 – audio CODEC, and an add-on Asmedia ASM1042 controller which provides two additional USB 3.0 ports. The main disappointment to some users will be the board's scarce amount of SATA 6Gb/s ports.

Available for £90.92 from Scan, the Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard is priced appropriately to make it a tough competitor in the intermediate segment between the entry-level and mid-range Z77 motherboard markets. It is around £10 more expensive than the entry-level Asus P8Z77-V LX, but is more feature-rich, and is around £10 cheaper than Gigabyte's Z77X-D3H and MSI's Z77A-GD55, but offers a very similar set of features.

For users wanting a capable Z77 motherboard which has the features of a mid-range product, but with a price tag which is closer to the entry-level parts, Asus' P8Z77-V LK motherboard is an excellent choice which has the ability to compete with higher-priced options.

Pros:

• Excellent UEFI BIOS interface.
• Very good overclocking potential.
• Dual card CrossFire and SLI support at x8/x8.
• Six USB 3.0 ports.
• Competitive price.

Cons:

• No Q-connector.
• Some slightly irritating layout decisions.

KitGuru says: A feature-rich motherboard with excellent overclocking potential. Asus' P8Z77-V LK offers a large chunk of performance for its sub-£100 price tag.

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