Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. Asus P8Z77-V LX2: Packaging and Bundle3. Asus P8Z77-V LX2: Board Layout and Features4. Asus P8Z77-V LX2: BIOS5. Asus P8Z77-V LX2: 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 HD 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

Asus' original P8Z77-V LX was, and still is, a solid entry-level Z77 motherboard. Can the P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard's subtle design changes and reduced price prove that it is ready to compete in the tough sub-£80 Z77 motherboard market?

In any entry-level market, a few pounds can be the difference between one product being purchased and the other staying on the shelf. Asus' original P8Z77-V LX was a strong competitor in the entry-level Z77 market, but its feature set forced retailers to price it a few pounds higher than alternative boards from the likes of MSI and Gigabyte.

Not content on giving up in a valuable and fiercely-contested market segment, Asus has made some slight refinements and upgrades to the LX and marketed it as the P8Z77-V LX2. Can the most notable change – sub-£80 availability – prove that Asus has an entry-level Z77 motherboard that can compete with models from the likes of MSI and Gigabyte?

Features:

• DIGI+ VRM Digital Power Design
• USB 3.0 Boost – Lightning Fast Transfer Speeds!
• Network iControl – Real-time Network Bandwidth Control
• GPU Boost – Instant iGPU Level Up!
• ASUS EPU – Energy Efficiency All Around

The P8Z77-V LX2 ships in Asus' standard Z77 packaging which consists of a black box with product name and key features outlined.

As an entry-level board, Asus provides a very slim bundle to reduce costs as much as possible. A pair of SATA cables is likely to suffice for this board's target audience.

The bundle consists of:

• 2x black SATA 6Gb/s latching cables.
• IO shield.
• Asus case sticker.
• Manuals.
• Drivers CD.

Perhaps the most noticeable difference between the P8Z77-V LX and the LX2 is the latter's aesthetic upgrade to a black PCB.

The P8Z77-V LX2 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 8.4 inches (305 x 213 mm). The reasoning behind this size reduction is to reduce production costs by implementing a smaller PCB which requires less physical material.

The size difference is clear when placing the P8Z77-V LX2 next to a standard-width ATX motherboard. 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.

A total of 32 gigabytes of DDR3 memory can be installed in the four DIMM slots. Frequencies up to 2400 MHz are supported by the Z77-V LX2, although overclocking is likely to increase that figure.  To cut costs, Asus has chosen to use double-latched DIMM slots rather than the more convenient single-latched versions that are found on many of its higher-end motherboards. Omitting the MemOK feature has also helped to reduce production costs.

The LX2's 24-pin connector is found in the ideal location which integrates it with the cable management routes of modern cases.

Neighbouring the 24-pin power connector, the front panel USB 3.0 header is located in an easily-accessible area.

Nestled between a pair of VRM heatsinks, a 4-pin connector is used to provide power to the CPU. Thanks to the low power draw of Intel's LGA 1155 processors, the ‘downgrade' from an 8-pin connector is unlikely to have a meaningful effect on system stability or overclocking potential.

Asus downgrades the 4+1+1 phase power design found in the original P8Z77-V LX to a lower-cost 4+1 phase design which is used in the LX2 motherboard. It is highly unlikely that the slight downgrade will have a meaningful affect on stability, especially given that the P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard's target audience isn't the heavy overclocking crowd.

Asus' ‘Digi+ VRM' digital power control should ensure that the power delivery components can effectively feed an efficient LGA 1155 CPU, even when overclocked.

One of the biggest design changes between the P8Z77-V LX and LX2 is the addition of a pair of VRM heatsinks on the updated board. Even in the entry-level market, consumers who value overclocking and component longevity consider VRM heatsinks to be a critical factor when deciding upon a motherboard purchase.

As far as entry-level motherboard go, Asus' choice of expansion slots is almost perfect for the specific target audience. PCI slots are still a requirement, as the P8Z77-V LX2 targets users with a strict budget who will want to continue using their legacy cards with their new motherboard.

Why only ‘almost perfect' you ask? We aren't impressed by Asus' decision to remove an entire expansion slot to make room for the battery, and then position a PCI-E x1 directly in the blocking-area of a dual-slot graphics card. It would make far more sense to position the battery and wasted slot directly beneath the graphics card's x16 lane, and move the PCI-E x1 slot down one position to make it usable. Does anybody actually access the battery regularly enough to make its positioning more important than the usability of a convenient expansion slot?

Don't expect uncapped CrossFire performance from the P8Z77-V LX2. While the motherboard supports CrossFire configurations, the lower PCI-E x16 expansion slot is limited to x4 bandwidth. This is a perfectly acceptable design choice for an entry-level motherboard that is unlikely to see dual-card action.

To cut costs, Asus opts for six outwards-facing SATA ports, as opposed to the more-expensive right-angled or stacked variants. All of the ports operate from the Z77 chipset, including the pair of white 6Gb/s connections. Limited to SATA 3Gb/s speeds, the blue ports are best-suited for mechanical HDDs, optical drives or older SSDs.

An additional pair of SATA 6Gb/s ports powered by an external controller would have increased the P8Z77-V LX2's price, so Asus opted to sacrifice them.

As well as the usual front panel, speaker and USB headers, Asus' P8Z77-V LX2 features COM and SPDIF headers. Problems could be caused by the incorporation of only two USB 2.0 headers.

We understand the cost-cutting decision to opt for two USB 2.0 headers, rather than more, but much of the P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard's target audience will be using cases with front panel USB 2.0 ports, and perhaps a card reader. Connect those two devices, and the board's internal USB 2.0 connectivity is already saturated. An extra header would give added flexibility, while having a minor effect on price.

A basic rear IO consists of four USB 2.0 ports, an additional two of the 3.0 variety, a pair of PS/2 connections, HDMI and VGA outputs, Gigabit Ethernet, and a trio of audio ports.

We don't have any complaints about the array of connections, although the audio outputs are limited even by entry-level standards. An optical audio port would be welcomed by some users.

Motherboard rear ports:

• 1 x PS/2 keyboard (purple)
• 1 x PS/2 mouse (green)
• 1 x D-Sub
• 1 x HDMI
• 1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
• 2 x USB 3.0
• 4 x USB 2.0
• 3 x Audio jack(s)

Aesthetic appeal comes in the form of Asus' trademark blue heatsinks.

Two 4-pin fan headers are located above the DIMM slots, one of which controls the CPU fan speed. One additional 4-pin fan header and a 3-pin connection are found above the upper PCI-E x1 slot – an excellent location for connecting rear and side case fans.

The onboard controllers featured on the Asus P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard are: Asmedia ASM1083 for the PCI slots, Asmedia ASM1442 for the digital video connections, Realtek 8111F for Gigabit Ethernet, Realtek ALC887 for multi-channel HD audio, Nuvoton NCT5535D for monitoring, and Asus' Digi+ VRM and EPU chips.

Motherboard slots and connectors:

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

Firstly, we are pleased to report that our Roccat Kone XTD mouse worked perfectly in the Asus P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard's UEFI BIOS. This is a positive point as we have experienced problems when using certain mice in the UEFI BIOS of other motherboards in the past.

Launching into the UEFI BIOS, users are met by Asus' sleek and informative opening page.

System information is provided on the main page of the P8Z77-V LX2 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 LX2's CPU and Memory voltage limits won't constrict 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.

As with many of Asus' Z77 motherboards, the P8Z77-V LX2 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'.

Equipped with an identical-by-function, but different-by-name power control subsection to the P8Z77-V LK motherboard, Asus allows users to change a fair amount of voltage and power settings for the CPU via the P8Z77-V LX2's Digi+ VRM page in the AI Tweaker menu.

The number of settings that can be changed is impressive and should suffice for the majority of the P8Z77-V LX2's entry-level 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 LX2 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.

As is the case with rest of Asus' P8Z77 line-up, the P8Z77-V LX2 can be configured to make use of 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 LX2 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:

Using the P8Z77-V LX2's Auto OC feature, a CPU overclock of 4223MHz was achieved by way of a 103MHz base clock and 41x multiplier. A slight increase in CPU voltage was also applied; we registered a maximum of 1.200V during Prime95 load. 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 entry-level users who 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.

As with the -LK version of the motherboard, the P8Z77-V LX2's helpful Digi+ VRM 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%. The CPU Power Duty Control was also set to Extreme, while the CPU Fixed Frequency remained untouched.

Our CPU Load-line Calibration was initially set to Regular, but we later changed this to Ultra 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 LX2 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.

We noticed that it was very difficult to get the Asus P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard to provide exactly 1.300V to our CPU. Different Load-line Calibration settings adjusted the load voltage above and below the 1.300V mark, but never within 10 millivolts. Using the ‘Ultra High' Load-line Calibration setting, our Core i5 3570K chip was supplied with a maximum of 1.312V under full load.

4.7GHz is a very strong overclock for an entry-level motherboard which features a somewhat basic 4+1 phase power design.

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 2666 MHz.

Knowing that Asus' similarly-powered P8Z77-V LK motherboard could push our Team Xtreem LV kit to 2666 MHz, we were a little disappointed to see the P8Z77-V LX2 hit a limit of 2600 MHz, as proven by Super Pi's instability. Nevertheless, a frequency of 2600 MHz with a voltage of 1.7V and slightly relaxed timings is a very impressive result for an entry-level motherboard.

Our 2600MHz 11-12-12-28-1T memory overclock validation can be viewed here.

To test the Asus P8Z77-V LX2 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 LX2 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 lower- and upper- mid-range Z77 motherboards in the Asus P8Z77-V LK and Asus P8Z77-V. 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. All 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 LX2 (BIOS 1701 – newest)
• Asus P8Z77-V LK (BIOS 0908)
• Asus P8Z77-V (BIOS 1504)

Comparison AMD Test System:

• Processor: AMD Bulldozer FX-8350 4.00GHz
• Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme9 (BIOS V1.10)
• 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

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.

Asus' P8Z77-V LX2 exhibits strong PCMark 7 performance, topping the chart at overclocked settings.

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 shows that the P8Z77-V LX2 is able to compete with higher-priced Z77 motherboards.

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.

3DMark 11 performance is comparable to more expensive Z77 motherboards.

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.

3DMark performance on the P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard is solid.

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.

Unigine's Heaven benchmark gives an indication that Asus' motherboard is a solid choice for gaming systems. The overclocked settings deliver the same score, however the minimum frame rate is increased from 24 frames per second to 26.6 frames per second.

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 suite of tests proves that Asus' entry-level P8Z77-V LX2 doesn't enforce any performance-limiting bottlenecks.

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.

Cinebench performance is equally as strong as other Z77 products.

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.

Super Pi performs as expected on the Asus P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard.

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.

WinRAR performance is very similar to the other two Z77 motherboards that have been compared.

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.

MKV playback is a simple task for the P8Z77-V LX2-based system. The lower result, in comparison to the competing Z77 motherboards, is likely due to a systematic error caused by the CPU usage measurement software, and therefore shouldn't be viewed as a meaningful advantage.

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.

Media encoding tasks are handled well by the P8Z77-V LX2.

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 some slight variations between the performances of each Z77 motherboard, although none of the differences are of a particularly noteworthy margin.

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.

A pair of Z77-native SATA 6Gb/s ports is used on the P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard. These ports are capable of allowing a fast SSD, such as Kingston's HyperX 3K, to show its full performance 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.

Utilising the USB 3.0 ports provided by the Z77 chipset, Asus' P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard offers similar performance to its higher-priced siblings.

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.

Battlefield 3 performance isn't affected by the P8Z77-V LX2's lower price tag, in comparison to the other Z77 motherboards.

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.

Crysis 2 doesn't show any preference towards a particular Z77 motherboard; the P8Z77-V LX2 offers identical performance to the competing mid-range parts.

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.

Asus' P8Z77-V LX2 shows similar Metro 2033 performance to the competing Z77 motherboards.

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.

In terms of power consumption, the P8Z77-V LX2 sits between Asus' pair of mid-range motherboards. The P8Z77-V features additional controllers, and uses more power accordingly.

The P8Z77-V LK and LX2 boards sport a very similar set of features, but the latter seems to be slightly less efficient. With such a small difference between the power consumption of both motherboards, we are happy to put the variation down to individual samples, not the product designs.

The Asus P8Z77-V LX2 is a competitively-priced and stable motherboard that allows consumers to make a cheap-and-easy entry into the Z77 market.

Impressing us with its overclocking performance, Asus' P8Z77-V LX2 proves that you don't need to spend a great some of money on a motherboard to push an LGA 1155 chip to a high frequency. Fed by a 4+1 phase power delivery system, 1.300V got us to a 4.7 GHz CPU frequency without problems, although the Load-line Calibration settings weren't ideal.

Memory overclocking is also impressive, with our Team Xtreem memory kit being pushed to a frequency of 2600 MHz. Granted, frequencies this high are unlikely to appeal to the majority of this board's target audience, but it does prove that a strong power delivery system is built into the P8Z77-V LX2.

Given the entry-level market segment in which the P8Z77-V LX2 competes, it is a fair to say that the Auto OC feature is a convenient tool for users who aren't confident overclockers. We made a few clicks and the Asus P8Z77-V LX2 took our Core i5 3570K CPU to a frequency of 4223 MHz.

We weren't overly impressed by the Auto OC feature's decision to reduce our memory speed, but this slight disappointment is outweighed by the positive aspect of a CPU frequency past 4.2 GHz.

Upgradability and legacy support are two positive aspects of the P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard. A pair of PCI slots allows users to recycle their older WiFi or sound cards without having to fork out for a newer model. Two PS/2 ports have the same effect of reducing upgrade interferences. Only the slim number of internal USB 2.0 headers causes slight concern, in regards to upgrades and legacy support.

Apart from the lower PCI-E x1 slot's wasteful positioning, Asus has managed to achieve a good board layout on the P8Z77-V LX2. Outwards-facing SATA ports will increase the difficulty of cable management, but their cost-reduction is a positive point that can't be overlooked, especially for large-scale system builders such as PC Specialist or Cyberpower.

A pleasant aesthetic appeal is likely to be further down the priority list for an entry-level product, but nevertheless, a dark PCB and Asus' trademark black and blue colour scheme ensure that the P8Z77-V LX2's users are able to build an attractive system, if they so desire.

Priced at £78.92 from Scan, the Asus P8Z77-V LX2 faces stiff competition from MSI's slightly cheaper Z77A-G43 and Gigabyte's feature-rich GA-Z77-D3H.

With strong overclocking performance, an intuitive UEFI BIOS and an easy-to-use Auto OC feature, Asus' P8Z77-V LX2 is a strong competitor in the entry-level Z77 motherboard market.

Pros:

• Strong overclocking capability.
• Intuitive UEFI BIOS.
• Easy-to-use Auto OC feature.
• Attractive design.
• VRM heatsinks.

Cons:

• No Q-connector.
• Only two USB 2.0 headers.
• ‘Wasted' expansion slot is disappointing.

KitGuru says: A solid entry-level Z77 motherboard with strong overclocking potential and Asus' intuitive UEFI BIOS interface.

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