ASUS Z97-Deluxe Mainboard Review

This mainboard looks good, easy to tweak, provides excellent performance at nominal mode and with CPU overclock. And it’s simple good platform, because it’s a flagship mainboard designed and manufactured by large and well-known company.

It is not easy to choose the most appropriate mainboard out of dozens of available models. There are product comparison mechanisms at the manufacturers’ websites, but they are generally limited to basic specifications such as chipset, CPU support and I/O ports. Last year ASUS tried to improve its model selector by offering a detailed list of its Z87-based products which helped compare them by several dozens of criteria including the availability of certain features and technologies. A Customize Table button would let you hide secondary parameters or remove mainboards you were not interested in. The list could be sorted by any field. You could click a model name to view the corresponding product photo. And you could export all data as a CSV file. We often used that table to choose ASUS mainboards to test. It was handy and detailed so we could immediately see even minor differences between similar models.

ASUS compiled another such table for its new breed of LGA1150 mainboards which can be found on the dedicated promo page. As before, you can manually remove unwanted mainboards or insignificant parameters. And to help you with your choice, you are prompted to answer four simple questions about the purpose of your computer and about your overclocking, wireless and form-factor preferences.

1 pick you perfect motherboard

Based on your answers, the huge table is automatically truncated to just a few models. We’ve tested this feature and it does provide adequate results. You may find the ASUS Z97-Deluxe model listed among yours, so today we’re going to test this mainboard in our review.

Packaging and Accessories

The ASUS Z97-Deluxe mainboard is a flagship model, so its packaging differs somewhat from ASUS’s standard. The box has a front flap. Behind the flap, there is a large window for you to have a good view of the mainboard. There’s a model name and logos on the front of the box. On the back, you can find specifications, a product picture, and descriptions of key features.

2 z97 deluxe packaging

The mainboard is wrapped into an antistatic pack. Its accessories can be found underneath:

  • Six SATA 6 Gbit/s cables with metallic locks (three with two straight connectors and three with one straight and one L-shaped connector)
  • One flexible bridge to connect two graphics cards in SLI mode
  • Wi-Fi antenna
  • I/O Shield
  • ASUS Q-Connector adapters that help you connect the mainboard to the computer case’s buttons, indicators and USB 2.0 port
  • User manual
  • Brochure with details on special features of ASUS’s Z97-based mainboards
  • DVD with software and drivers
  • “Powered by ASUS” sticker for your computer case
3 mainboard packed in antistatic pack

Design and Features

Mainboards are high-tech products which must be functional in the first place. Their exterior design is of secondary importance. The Z97-Deluxe looks cute, though, with its round chipset heatsink and golden inserts in the VRM heatsinks. The mainboard has a 16-phase DIGI+ voltage regulator with premium components. The central heatsink doesn’t cool anything by itself. It is connected to a VRM heatsink with a heat pipe and enlarges the overall heat dissipation area.

3 z97 deluxe chipset heatsink

The Intel Z97 chipset supports six SATA 6 Gbit/s ports, two of which are integrated into the mainboard’s SATA Express connector which shares its bandwidth with an M.2 connector (for 60 and 80mm SSDs). An ASMedia ASM1061 controller adds two more SATA 6 Gbit/s ports whereas an ASMedia ASM106SE controller adds one more SATA Express connector. Thus, the mainboard allows to attach up to 10 SATA drives but there are nuances we’ll talk about shortly.

4 intel z97 cihpset sata 6gbit ports

PCI Express lanes are used not only for PCI Express slots but also to connect additional onboard controllers. The lack of free PCIe lanes is typical of Intel’s existing chipsets and this problem is only expected to be solved in the next chipset generation. Mainboards with Intel’s 9 series chipsets need an additional two PCIe lanes to implement M.2 or SATA Express connectors. The ASUS Z97-Deluxe has a lot of onboard controllers, so it uses an ASMedia ASM1187e switch to transform one PCIe lane into seven. This doesn’t solve the mentioned problem completely, though. The PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot uses four chipset-based PCIe lanes and shares its bandwidth with the additional SATA Express connector and the controller that outputs two back-panel USB 3.0 ports. You can have only two out of these three controllers/connectors working simultaneously. The third gets disabled automatically when the other two are in use.

5 z97 deluxe pci express

The mainboard makes partial use of the chipset’s capabilities in sharing CPU-based PCIe lanes. The 16 lanes can be shared between two rather than three PCIe 3.0/2.0 slots. Graphics cards can be combined into multi-GPU configurations up to Nvidia Quad-GPU SLI and AMD 3-way CrossFireX. In the latter case you can use the PCIe 2.0 x16 slot for the third card. It is based on the chipset’s PCIe lanes and works at x4 speed. Besides that, the mainboard offers four PCIe 2.0 x1 slots for expansion cards.

The mainboard’s back panel is densely populated:

  • HDMI, DisplayPort and mini-DisplayPort video outputs
  • Wi-Fi / Bluetooth module AzureWave AW-CE123H
  • Four USB 2.0 ports (with four more available via two onboard headers)
  • Six USB 3.0 ports (blue connectors, based on the Intel Z97 chipset and an ASM1042E controller; an ASMedia ASM1074 hub makes four more USB 3.0 ports available via two onboard headers)
  • Two Gigabit Ethernet connectors (based on Intel’s WGI217V and WGI211-AT controllers)
  • One optical S/PDIF and six analog audio outputs (based on an 8-channel Realtek ALC1150 codec)
6 z97 mainboard back panel

One of the special features of the ASUS Z97-Deluxe is its integrated wireless module AzureWave AW-CE123H, which is based on a Broadcom chipset and supports dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0. In the audio department, the Crystal Sound 2 technology should be mentioned. It means that the mainboard has opamps to support high-impedance headphones. The left and right audio channels are wired in different PCB layers and the entire audio subsystem is insulated from the rest of the mainboard components to minimize interference. These are rather conventional features that can be found on other mainboards but Crystal Sound 2 has one special feature, too. It is called de-pop and eliminates the popping sound when you connect your audio equipment.

The mainboard’s schematic shows a few additional features. There are six 4-pin fan connectors, two of which are for a CPU cooler. All of them can regulate the speed of both 4- and 3-pin fans. There is a connector for an additional temperature sensor whose readings can be used to regulate the speed of the fans. The mainboard carries Power, Reset, Clear CMOS, USB BIOS Flashback (firmware update feature) and MemOK! buttons. The latter helps the mainboard start up in case of certain memory-related problems. We can see the two familiar switches TPU (TurboV Processing Unit) and EPU (Energy Processing Unit), which overclock the computer and enable power-saving mode, respectively. TPU has two positions for two overclock methods (with and without increasing the base clock rate). Besides them, there is a new switch called EZ XMP. It enables memory modules’ overclocking profile. The DirectKey Connector can be output as an individual button or attached to your computer case’s Reset button so that you could automatically enter the mainboard’s BIOS after starting up.

7 z97 mainboard schematic

The mainboard supports ASUS’s Q-Design technologies which are meant to simplify the process of building and running an ASUS-based computer. Q-Code is a POST indicator for diagnosing boot problems. You can also quickly and easily, although less accurately, identify the cause of any boot-related issues by looking at the Q-LED indicators (CPU, DRAM, VGA and Boot Device LEDs). Then, we have broad graphics slot latches (Q-Slot), single-sided memory slot latches (Q-DIMM), and a set of adapters for connecting the mainboard to a computer case’s buttons, indicators and USB 2.0 connector (Q-Connector). The 5X Protection technology covers a number of engineering solutions that make the mainboard more reliable and long-lasting such as protection against overloads, short circuits and electrostatic discharges. The digital voltage regulator DIGI+ delivers stable power while the solid-state capacitors and the steel I/O Shield coated with a thin layer of chromium oxide (to prevent corrosion) increase the mainboard’s service life. And, finally, the 5-Way Optimization technology combines ASUS’s exclusive features (TPU, EPU, DIGI+ Power Control, Fan Xpert 3 and Turbo App) which can help you optimize your computer for higher performance, power savings or energy efficiency.

The specifications of the ASUS Z97-Deluxe are summed up in the following table:

8 asus z97 deluxe specs

BIOS Functionality

We examined the interface and features of ASUS’s new UEFI BIOS in our review of the ASUS Z97-A mainboard. The Z97-Deluxe has the same BIOS, so we will just browse through its pages without delving deep into details.

As before, the BIOS opens in EZ Mode by default but the latter looks differently and offers much more capabilities than in the earlier BIOS interface revision. You can set up date and time, change the interface language, learn some basic information about your computer, and load default settings. Then, you can set up your memory, drives, fans and boot devices. The EZ System Tuning feature helps you choose an overall system operation mode. Q-Fan Tuning is for fan regulation and EZ Tuning Wizard will help you overclock your computer or build a RAID.

9 z97 new uefi bios

EZ Mode is only meant for basic setting-up. To access more settings, you should switch to Advanced Mode by pressing F7. You can make the BIOS interface open in Advanced Mode, too.

When in Advanced Mode, you can see a new menu above the list of sections. It lets you set up date and time, change the interface language and proceed to the frequently accessed features, namely the list of My Favorites options (F3), Q-Fan Control (F6), and EZ Tuning Wizard (F11). The Quick Note option (F9) can be used to write down some important notes for yourself while the older list of active hotkeys is now concealed behind an intuitive question-mark icon (as always, you can evoke it by pressing the F1 key). The Main section still reports basic system information and allows you set up date and time. You can also change the language for the BIOS interface to use and enter user and admin passwords in the Security subsection. However, even this small section doesn’t fit fully into a single screen. The Security subsection is not visible by default anymore. You need to use your mouse wheel or arrow keys to access it but the scrollbar has been redesigned into an inconspicuous element with no arrow icons. If you don’t know beforehand, you can hardly guess that you don’t see all of the section options by default.

10 z97 uefi bios advanced mode

Monitoring data about clock rates, temperatures and voltages is output on the right while context-sensitive information is displayed lower. So the biggest downside of the new interface is that our view is smaller vertically because there’s the new hotkey menu at the top and the Last Modified option (which lacks a hotkey) with the F7 link (to return to EZ Mode) at the bottom. Of course, our view has become broader horizontally but that was hardly a problem with the previous BIOS interface.

The Main section is not the first on the list, though. It is preceded by My Favorites which helps collect frequently used BIOS options in one place. Empty by default, it suggests that you press F3 and select what options you want to save from a list of BIOS sections. There used to be some limitations about what options you could save, but not anymore. Still, the My Favorites section (like any other section for that matter) cannot be set as the start screen, which looks like a limitation to us.

Most of the overclocking-related options are collected in the Ai Tweaker section. It contains an enormous number of adjustable parameters and you don’t even see all of them by default because they are set up by the mainboard automatically. You will find a lot of previously hidden options as soon as you get down to manual setting-up.

11 z97 qfan tuning

For example, additional parameters appear as soon as you set the Ai Overclock Tuner option at X.M.P. (to automatically set up your memory subsystem parameters) or Manual. Some of the setup options are available in individual subsections in order not to clutter the main section. There is a separate page for memory timings with lots of options. Using the scrollbar, you can see all the timings set up by the mainboard for the two memory channels. You can adjust just some of them, leaving the others at their defaults.

12 z97 ai tweaker timing control

There’s a separate BIOS subsection related to the digital power system called DIGI+. You can control ASUS’s exclusive power-saving technologies one of which allows changing the number of active phases in the CPU voltage regulator depending on load. CPU Load Line Calibration can now be not only enabled or disabled but also set to a certain level (it helps counteract the voltage drop occurring on the CPU under load).

13 z97 ai tweaker external power control

ASUS mainboards offer a lot of Internal CPU Power Management options with some exclusive technologies. You can set up a number of parameters of the CPU-integrated voltage regulator to increase the response time and lower the power consumption in idle mode.

14 ai tweaker internal cpu managment

The voltages of the Ai Tweaker section can be set higher or lower than the default level. The current values are conveniently shown right next to the adjustment options. The CPU voltage can now be changed in three different ways: by fixing it at a certain level, by adding or subtracting a certain value (offset mode) and in adaptive mode. We discussed the differences between these three ways in our ASUS Z87-K review. The Ai Tweaker section ends here but we still haven’t found a group of very important settings that control CPU power-saving technologies. Well, that’s a typical downside of many mainboards from many brands because all of them use AMI BIOS for their UEFI BIOS implementations. And AMI BIOS has a few questionable layout solutions.

The options of the Advanced section should be familiar to you and their names are self-descriptive. They are related to the chipset and additional controllers. You can also enable Intel Rapid Start and Intel Smart Connect here.

15 z97 cpu configuration

The CPU Configuration subsection reports you basic information about the CPU and allows to control some CPU-related technologies like virtualization. Still we don’t see any of Intel’s CPU power-saving features because they are placed on a separate page called CPU Power Management Configuration. There are only four options here by default because CPU C States is set at Auto and the rest of the options are hidden. We changed CPU C States to Enabled to show you how many there are. They can affect the computer’s idle power draw, so you may want to specify them manually instead of letting the mainboard do that. In the example below we only need to set Package C-States Support.

16 advanced cpu configuration managment configuration

The Monitor section is where you can check out the current temperatures, voltages and fan speeds. Fan management has been enhanced in the new BIOS. The Q-Fan Tuning option lets you calibrate your fans, for example. You can select a speed regulation mode for any of the fans supported by the mainboard: Standard, Silent, Turbo or max speed. Or you can set them up manually, too. In the latter case, you can use the Allow Fan Stop option to allow the mainboard to halt a fan altogether. Many modern mainboard have lost the ability to regulate 3-pin CPU cooler fans, but ASUS’s recent models can do that. All of the fan connectors, both system and CPU ones, can reduce the speed of 3-pin fans. Besides CPU and mainboard temperatures, the mainboard reports chipset and VRM temperatures as well as the reading from an auxiliary sensor. System fans (all six of them) can be regulated basing on any of these temperatures.

17 z97 qfan tuning

System startup options can be found in the Boot section. It’s here that you can change the start mode from EZ to Advanced. While setting the mainboard up for the first time, you may want to disable the Fast Boot parameter to make it easier to enter the BIOS interface.

18 z97 fast boot

Next goes the Tools section with a couple of most important subsections plus a nearly useless one. You can see the new Setup Animator option here. It lets you disable the animations to make the BIOS interface faster.

19 asus ez flash 2 utility

The integrated BIOS update tool called EZ Flash 2 is perhaps the handiest and most functional among the utilities of its kind. The support for NTFS partitions is only implemented in the BIOS update tools from ASUS and Intel as yet. Unfortunately, the option of saving the current BIOS prior to updating it has been removed altogether.

20 asus ez flas 2 utility

ASUS mainboards allow you to store and load up to eight profiles with full BIOS settings. Each profile can be given a descriptive name. BIOS profiles can be shared by saving and loading them from external disks. The profiles do not save the option of turning the startup picture off.

21 asus overclocking profile

Like on mainboards from many other brands, we can now see the information written into the memory modules’ SPD unit, including XMP profiles. It is not handy that we find it in the Tools section because memory timings are adjusted in a different part of the BIOS interface.

The last section, Exit, is where you can load BIOS defaults, apply or discard your changes. You can do all this via the hotkeys, though. The F7 key in the bottom right corner of the page lets you get back to EZ Mode whereas the Last Modified option, which lacks an assigned hotkey, shows a list of your last changes which is retained even after you reboot your computer. So you can always check out which BIOS changes you made the last time.

22 ez mode last modified

Similar to the Last Modified feature, a popup window shows the list of changes every time you are about to apply them. It provides an easy way to control your changes to BIOS options. This window also makes it easy to compare the current settings with what is written in the BIOS profiles. By loading a profile you will see all of its differences from the current settings in the window that opens up.

23 ez mode save changes & reset

Summing up our BIOS overview, we should acknowledge that ASUS’s UEFI BIOS has been revised dramatically. It has a lot of new features and options. Its EZ Mode is not useless anymore. There are more user-defined parameters. There are special wizards that can help you overclock your computer or build a RAID. You still have to switch to Advanced Mode for fine-tuning but EZ Mode is good enough for initial setting-up. The extended fan management capabilities must be noted, too. You can set up your fans flexibly right in the BIOS without any additional tools and utilities.

We won’t criticize the new fonts or color scheme because it’s a matter of taste. What we don’t like is the new page layout. In the right part there is monitoring information about clock rates, temperatures and voltages while reference information is displayed at the bottom of the page. So the biggest downside of the new interface is that our view is smaller vertically because there’s the new hotkey line at the top and the Last Modified option with the F7 link (to return to EZ Mode) at the bottom. Of course, our view has become broader horizontally but that was hardly a problem with the previous BIOS interface. Even small BIOS sections don’t fit into a single screen. The small viewport also makes it too easy to scroll past the option you need.

Although the UEFI BIOS from ASUS has a new interface, it doesn’t bring about significant changes. There are new setup options but the overall menu structure has remained the same. My Favorites or any other section cannot be used as the start screen, so there’s no point in selecting favorite options. Important power-saving technologies are still hidden deep in the BIOS structure. The ASUS SPD Information subsection is useless because it is separate from where you change memory frequencies and timings. Your turning-off of the startup picture is still not saved in BIOS profiles. ASUS’s BIOS is very good overall, but it is just annoying that the manufacturer hasn’t done anything for years to get rid of some of its minor flaws.

Exclusive Software Tools

A few years ago, ASUS replaced its various software tools with the unified AI Suite. The downside is that you have to download quite a heavy software pack even if you only plan to use but one utility. It is not a big problem with today’s high-speed data transmission channels, though, and there are quite a lot of advantages. Thanks to the single installer and shell, AI Suite is easy to install, update, launch and remove. The utilities it contains serve different purposes but have a unified interface and are designed to work together. The contents of the suite have changed over time, so here we will give you a brief description of the utilities included into AI Suite III.

As usual, you have to download the whole AI Suite III but you can install only specific utilities out of it. Moreover, you can choose the destination path while installing whereas many exclusive utilities from other manufacturers are only installed on the system disk.

24 asus ai suite 3

After the OS boots up, the EZ Update utility will automatically check out for updates and you will see a small panel in the bottom right corner of the screen which disappears instantly. You will see it again when you move your mouse pointer to it. Using it, you can quickly change your power-saving mode, choose a fan regulation preset and view system notifications. The panel can be disabled if you don’t find it useful.

25 ez update utility

The start screen of the AI Suite III bundle is called “Dual Intelligent Processors 5”. It provides information about the current status of your computer and allows to proceed to setting up the individual subsystems.

26 dual intelligent processors 5

The blinking arrow in the top left corner suggests that you run the 5-way Optimization procedure before using the utilities. The procedure is carried out automatically but you can access advanced settings for the TPU (TurboV Processing Unit), EPU (Energy Processing Unit), DIGI+ Power Control and Fan Xpert 3 features. In the top right you can choose a performance and power-saving profile. Monitoring data are displayed at the bottom of the program window. Clicking on any field will show you that data as graphs or diagrams. The gear icon at the right edge of the monitoring panel opens settings where you can specify voltage, temperature and fan speed thresholds.

The central part of the Dual Intelligent Processors 5 screen provides access to setting up specific subsystems, TPU being the first of them. With TPU, you can overclock your computer by adjusting its base clock rate, CPU frequency multipliers and voltage range.

27 asus cpu frequency

The Fan Xpert 3 utility lets you choose a predefined mode or manually set up the correlation between the speed of each fan and temperature. There’s a window in the bottom left corner insisting that you should calibrate your fans beforehand.

28 asus fan xpert 3

The DIGI+ Power Control utility is about the digital voltage regulators of the CPU and memory (the latter is available on the second tab). You choose a value on the left and read its illustrated description on the right.

29 asus digi+ power control

The new Turbo App tool helps optimize your system priorities for specific applications.

30 asus turbo app tool

The EPU utility lets you set up the power-saving modes: Auto, Performance, Max Power Saving and Away Mode.

31 asus epu utility

The rest of the AI Suite III utilities are easy to find, too. There’s an icon in the top right corner of each AI Suite window which shows a list of installed utilities. They will help you quickly recharge your mobile device, check for updates, learn system information, boost USB 3.0 speed, and help update the mainboard’s firmware.

32 asus ai suite III

The AI Suite III bundle is the main but not the only source of ASUS’s exclusive software tools. There are ASUS HomeCloud programs which help organize remote access to your computer or stream multimedia files. Using the Wake on WAN feature, you can start up your computer and control it remotely from your smartphone or tablet. The Wi-Fi GO! feature helps synchronize files between your computer and smartphone and allows using a smartphone as a keyboard and mouse. The Cloud GO! feature provides a single interface for cloud services (ASUS WebStorage, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive) with data backup capabilities. The small ASUS Boot Setting utility automatically loads the BIOS interface the next time you start up your computer. The Turbo LAN feature uses the cFosSpeed traffic optimization technology and allows to specify traffic prioritization for different applications via an easy-to-use interface.

33 asus turbo lan

Summing up this section of our review, we can say that ASUS provides a lot of useful software tools with its mainboards. They simplify the process of setting up and managing your computer and even enhance the mainboard’s capabilities.

Testbed and Methods

We performed all our tests on a testbed built out of the following components:

  • Mainboard: ASUS Z97-Deluxe rev. 1.03 (LGA1150, Intel Z97, BIOS 1203)
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K CPU (3.6-3.8 GHz, 4 cores, Haswell, 22nm, 84 W, LGA1150)
  • DDR3 SDRAM: 4x8GB G.SKILL TridentX F3-2133C9Q-32GTX (2133 MHz, 9-11-11-31-2N, 1.6 volts)
  • Graphics card: Gigabyte GV-R797OC-3GD (AMD Radeon HD 7970, Tahiti, 28 nm, 1000/5500 MHz, 3072 MB of GDDR5 memory with 384-bit bus)
  • Disk subsystem: Crucial m4 SSD (CT256M4SSD2, 256 GB, SATA 6 Gbit/s)
  • Cooling system: Noctua NH-D14
  • Thermal interface: ARCTIC MX-2
  • PSU: Enhance EPS-1280GA 800 W
  • Computer case: Antec Skeleton

We used Microsoft Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64-bit (Microsoft Windows version 6.3 build 9600) with latest updates and the AMD Catalyst 14.4 drivers.

Opertational Specifics

We had no problems assembling our configuration with the ASUS Z97-Deluxe and updating the mainboard’s firmware to the latest version. As is typical of all ASUS mainboards, the startup picture only mentions that you can press Del or F2 to enter the BIOS interface. ASUS persists in not telling us anything about the other active hotkeys. For example, you can press F8 to open a menu for choosing an out-of-order boot device but you can only learn about that from the user manual.

34 asus in search of incredible

You can disable the startup picture with the Tab key (temporarily) or in the BIOS (permanently), but you won’t see any prompts, either. What you will see is information about the mainboard’s model name, BIOS version, CPU model, the amount and frequency of system memory, the number and type of USB devices, and the connected disks. The real CPU clock rate is not reported, though. The mainboard doesn’t count in any CPU overclocking you’ve done or any changes to the CPU frequency multiplier due to the Intel Turbo Boost technology. This downside is especially annoying as we know that ASUS’s ROG series products can correctly report both nominal and actual CPU clock rates.

35 american megatrends

Modern mainboards start up very fast and this may even present a problem for users of ASUS mainboards. It is only at the first launch that the mainboard lets you enter its BIOS. After that, the startup procedure gets so fast that you hardly have any time to hit the required key. The ASUS Z97-Deluxe lacks the DirectKey feature which would lead you right to the BIOS interface but has the so-called DirectKey Connector you can attach your computer case’s Reset button to. The DirectKey is not convenient, though. Instead of rebooting and entering the BIOS, it shuts the computer down first. Then you have to power it up again to find yourself in the BIOS. You can use the ASUS Boot Setting utility instead. Its functionality is okay, but you have to install it first. Moreover, it only runs under Microsoft Windows. So when you’re setting up your mainboard after purchasing it, you may want to disable the Fast Boot option in the Boot section, which is turned on by default.

The mainboard seems to provide standard conditions for the CPU by default but that’s not really so. If you manually enable all of Intel’s power-saving technologies on the CPU Power Management Configuration page (in the CPU Configuration subsection of the Advanced section of the mainboard’s BIOS), you will make your computer substantially more economical. You can also get some additional power savings by optimizing CPU Power Phase Control in the DIGI+ VRM page of the Ai Tweaker section. Then, you can also enable Power Decay Mode in the Internal CPU Power Management page and choose the balanced mode for the CPU Integrated VR Efficiency Management option.

Like with other ASUS mainboards, you can enable the ASUS MultiCore Enhancement option to increase the CPU frequency multiplier to its maximum level, which is normally used by Intel Turbo Boost for single-threaded loads only. It is set at Auto by default and doesn’t work. To enable it, you should do some overclocking, like changing your memory subsystem parameters with an XMP profile. For more substantial overclocking, the OC Tuner feature or the onboard TPU switch should be used. Such automatic overclocking technologies are far from perfect, though. You can get better results by overclocking your computer manually.

The best way to overclock is without increasing voltage, but it is impossible to just set the CPU frequency multiplier higher and leave the rest of the settings intact. In this case, the mainboard will automatically increase the CPU voltage, and the CPU-integrated regulator will increase that voltage even higher at high loads. That is likely to end in overheat and, in any case, that’s no energy-efficient overclocking at all. To avoid this, you have to change CPU Core Voltage to Manual. In this case, the mainboard and the integrated regulator don’t increase the voltage anymore.

36 asus fully manual mode

You may also want to disable CPU Load-Line Calibration and Internal PLL Overvoltage, which may only be necessary for extreme overclocking.

Energy efficient overclocking is only possible if you don’t increase voltage. It will ensure higher performance and, despite the increased power consumption, you can expect long-term savings due to the reduced amount of energy spent for each computation. Energy efficient overclocking is going to be environment-friendly as we showed in our Power Consumption of Overclocked CPUs review. However, when we test mainboards, we want to check them out under different conditions and loads, so we choose what overclocking method ensures the highest results. Higher clock rates and voltages mean harsher test conditions and it is under such conditions that we can better see any flaws or problems in mainboard design.

We used to increase voltage in the offset mode and the LGA1150 CPUs also support a similar adaptive mode, but such methods do not work well with Haswell-based CPUs. The fact is as soon as the default voltage is changed even by a tiny value, the Haswell’s integrated regulator will spot it and increase the voltage further at high loads, which means high heat dissipation, high temperature and, eventually, overheat. To avoid this, the Haswell must be overclocked at a constant voltage. The downside is that the CPU’s power-saving technologies cease to work: the CPU frequency multiplier drops at low loads but the voltage doesn’t drop anymore and always remains at the constant and high level. This is the only way to deal with the integrated voltage regulator, though. Moreover, it doesn’t affect the computer’s power draw in idle mode. That’s why we overclock our CPU to 4.5 GHz in our mainboard reviews, fixing the voltage at 1.150 volts and using the XMP settings for our memory modules.

37 quad core intel core i5 4670k aida64

When we overclock by fixing the CPU voltage at a certain level, some of the power-saving technologies get disabled. The CPU’s frequency multiplier is lowered at low loads but its voltage always remains high. Anyway, we stick to this overclocking for the duration of our tests, especially as it doesn’t affect the computer’s idle power draw much.

38 quad core intel core i5 4670K aida64

By the way, earlier we published an article called Haswell and LGA 1150 Platform: Right Operation and Overclocking where we explained the basic rules for optimizing LGA1150 platform parameters and for overclocking Haswell-based CPUs on mainboards from different brands. There you will find our illustrated recommendations on enabling Intel’s power-saving technologies and increasing CPU power targets as well as on how to overclock Haswell-based CPUs with and without voltage adjustment.

Performance

Nominal Mode

We usually benchmark mainboards in two test modes: at the default settings and with the CPU and memory overclocked. The first mode is interesting because it shows how well the mainboards work with their default settings. It is a known fact that most users do not fine-tune their systems, they simply choose standard BIOS settings and do nothing else. So here is the performance you can expect from the mainboards if you don’t tweak their settings (the results of the ASUS Z97-Deluxe are colored differently).

We run the CPU test of the 3D rendering suite Cinebench 15 five times and calculate the average result.

39 cinebench cpu test

We have been using Fritz Chess Benchmark for a long time already and it proves very illustrative. It generates repeatable results and its performance scales perfectly depending on the number of computing threads.

40 fritz chess benchmark

x264 FHD Benchmark v1.0.1 (64-bit) helps us test video transcoding performance. The original version of the benchmark with the version r2106 coder could make use of AVX instructions but we use version r2334 to enable the new AVX2 instruction set available on Haswell-based CPUs. The results are the average of five runs of the benchmark.

41 x264 benchmark

We benchmark performance in Adobe Photoshop CC using our custom test that is based on the Retouch Artists Photoshop Speed Test and consists of typical processing of four 24-megapixel images captured with a digital camera.

42 adobe photoshop

We use WinRAR 5.10 Beta 4 to benchmark the speed of archiving an Adobe Photoshop CC distribution. As in the previous test, a lower number means a better result.

43 winrar

Metro: Last Light is a very beautiful video game but its frame rate depends heavily on the graphics card. So we had to use the Medium Quality settings to maintain playability at a screen resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The diagram shows the averaged results of five runs of the integrated benchmark.

44 metro last night mq

F1 2013 is less demanding on the graphics subsystem than the previous game. At 1920×1080 pixels we chose the highest settings by enabling Ultra High Quality and all image-enhancing options. The diagram shows the averaged results of five runs of the integrated benchmark.

45 f uhq

The new version of Thief is not acclaimed by critics, yet its visuals are top-notch. It’s got an integrated performance benchmark and lets you enable AMD’s Mantle technology. We had to choose Low Quality settings to see any effect from overclocking the computer. You wouldn’t need to overclock your CPU to enjoy the game, though.

46 thief lq

Similar mainboards are prone to deliver similar performance under the same conditions, just as we see in the diagrams. The mainboards exchange their positions from one diagram to another, yet the difference between them is never really large. Now let’s see how our configurations perform with the CPU and memory overclocked.

Overclocked Mode

47 cinebench cpu test
48 fritz chess benchmark
49 x264 fh benchmark
50 adobe photoshop cc
51 winrar performance
52 metro last night performance
53 f1 uhq performance
54 thief lq pefrormance

Once again we see no difference between the mainboards, so the ASUS Z97-Deluxe performs as expected in both the default and overclocked modes.

Power Consumption

We perform our power consumption measurements with an Extech Power Analyzer 380803. This device is connected before the PSU and measures the power draw of the entire system (without the monitor), including the power loss that occurs on the PSU itself. In the idle mode we start the computer up and wait until it stops accessing the system drive. The mainboards are sorted in the order of ascending power consumption. The results of the ASUS Z97-Deluxe are colored differently for the sake of readability.

55 idle power consumption

As opposed to the simpler Z97-A model, which needs less power than the others, the feature-rich Z97-Deluxe consumes much more. None of these mainboards uses optimal settings, though, so let’s turn on all CPU-related power-saving technologies by explicitly enabling CPU C-State options, which are set at Auto by default, to see which mainboard is really the most economical.

56 idle eco power consumption

Each mainboard, except the Gigabyte, lowers its power draw but the ASUS Z97-Deluxe remains the least economical of all. It doesn’t differ much from the average level, yet the difference is clear.

We want to remind you that we install an AMD Radeon HD 7970 graphics card into our test configurations. If we instead used the CPU-integrated graphics core, the overall power draw would be lower than 30 watts. Haswell-based CPUs are indeed very economical when idle, so it is a shame that the mainboards do not ensure this advantage by default. You have to correct some BIOS options for that.

For power consumption tests under high load we run the LinX 0.6.4 utility, which is a graphics shell for Intel’s Linpack test and supports AVX instructions. It is heavier on the CPU than ordinary applications, yet it is just an application nonetheless. It is quite possible that there are some other programs that can be just as heavy. That’s why we stick to using LinX for the purpose of checking the computer out for stability and for measuring its power consumption.

Both mainboards from ASUS are more economical than their opponents but only because ASUS’s non-ROG products drop their CPU clock rate at high loads. Thus, they consume less at the expense of lower performance.

57 cpu load linx

The LinX utility we use in our power consumption tests is a real CPU heater but its basis, Linpack, is a benchmark which measures computer performance in gigaflops. To show you the difference in performance, we carried out additional LinX tests after setting the CPU power targets higher in the ASUS mainboard’s BIOS (to avoid the CPU frequency drop at high load). It turns out to be quite substantial at about 5%.

58 linx performance

Well, we know that changing a Core processor’s clock rate by 100 MHz translates into a 2 or 2.5% difference in its computing performance. Our Core i5-4670K drops its frequency from 3.6 to 3.4 GHz on ASUS mainboards at high load, which results in a 4-5% performance hit. This effect is only going to be observed at really high loads. That’s why we didn’t see any difference between the mainboards in our performance tests in the previous section of our review.

Now let’s see how much power the mainboards need in idle mode when overclocked. We don’t have a special Eco mode here because we always use as many power-saving technologies as possible while overclocking. That’s why the standings are the same as in the Eco mode without overclocking. Compared to the Eco mode, the mainboards need the same amount of power or a mere 1 watt more. Take note that the ASUS and MSI mainboards consume less at the overclocked settings with increased voltage than in the first diagram (i.e. at their default settings). It proves once again that default settings are not optimal and you should enable power-saving technologies on your LGA1150 mainboard manually in order to achieve minimum power consumption. This isn’t true for the Gigabyte, though. The power-saving modes just do not work on it. The more functional ASUS Z97-Deluxe needs slightly more power than the Gigabyte, anyway.

59 idle overclocked

By the way, you have to count in the graphics card’s power draw at high loads to calculate the overall system consumption. We use high CPU loads in our power consumption tests, but if we load the AMD Radeon HD 7970 by running some heavy game, the total power draw will be close to 250 watts at default settings and even higher at overclocking.

When overclocked and working at high load, the MSI Z97 MPOWER and the ASUS Z97-A need the same amount of power. Being a flagship model, the ASUS Z97-Deluxe consumes more but, despite its numerous extra controllers and advanced power system, turns out to be more economical than the entry-level gaming product from Gigabyte.

60 cpu load linx overclocked

The high power consumption of the ASUS Z97-Deluxe isn’t a good thing, of course. But we should keep it in mind that this is the outcome of its broad functionality. Its power-saving technologies work perfectly. It is just a common fact that more sophisticated mainboards need more power than their less advanced cousins, even though there may be exceptions.

Conclusion

The ASUS Z97-Deluxe did as expected in our tests. It is a nicely designed product that ensures normal performance in typical applications both at its default settings and in overclocked mode. Well, that’s just what we can demand from a flagship product of ASUS, the world’s leading mainboard manufacturer. The mainboard’s power consumption is above average, which is explained by its numerous extra controllers and features: two additional SATA controllers, two USB 3.0, two LAN controllers, a wireless module, and a PCIe switch. The ASUS 5X Protection technologies ensure stable power, long service life, and protection from overload, short circuit and electrostatic discharges. Crystal Sound 2 improves audio quality. The Q-Design technologies make it easier to assemble and run your computer. Thanks to the exclusive software bundle, 5-Way Optimization technology and various buttons and switches, you can actually choose a required operation mode for your computer without even entering its BIOS. If you do enter the BIOS, you will find a redesigned EZ Mode but you still have to switch to Advanced Mode to enjoy full control. The ASUS Home Cloud software supports remote access and multimedia streaming. The Wi-Fi GO! feature will help connect your computer to your tablet or smartphone. Overall, the ASUS Z97-Deluxe is very good but comes at a high price. Such product is meant for those who really need its extensive functionality.

About The Author

XbitLabs Team

We are a team of enthusiasts thriving to provide you with helpful advice on buying tech.

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