One of the things that makes a board stand out from the crowd, beside features and price, is how well it performs. Even with a massive feature set a board is not going to do well if the performance is not there. With the Z97-I Asus is trying to push the same level of features that you would find in a larger board, but will they be able to get the same level of performance? That is what we are looking to find out today. So without much in the way of ceremony, let’s get into why you are here and see what the Z97-I is hiding inside its small frame. You can also check out our coverage of the design and features of the Z97I Plus.
Value -Value is another very subjective topic. What is expensive to some might be a deal to others. You can look at this topic in multiple ways. One is raw price and the other is what you get for the money. Each is accurate and both are correct ways to look at price/value. We tend to look at features, performance and real-property when we discuss value. However, we also take into account the raw cash cost of the item. The Z97I Plus is listed at $159.99 on most of the e-tail sites we looked at. This seems like quite a bit for such a small board. However, if you consider just the 802.11ac wireless the price becomes much more palatable (if that is what you are looking for). If the wireless does not excite you there are other features that might. The overclocking potential on the Z97I Plus is excellent so this would make a decent platform for pushing your CPU. In all the price is a little on the high-side for the basic performance of the board, but the feature set does offset that.
Conclusion -When we first looked over the Z97I Plus we felt it had great potential for performance as well as overclocking. Although we did not see the performance levels we had hoped for, we did see some very solid overclocking with the Z97I Plus pushing our 4770k to 4.8GHz without too much trouble. We also do not feel that the performance levels put the Z97I Plus out of the running. It is still a very capable board when you consider the fact that it is a Mini-ITX board. If features are what you are looking for then the Z97I Plus has a lot for you to look at. You have an M.2 SSD slot, 802.11ac wireless, great overclocking support, clean audio all in a small package. You can take the Z97I Plus and make it the basis for a very powerful SFF system. So if you are looking for a solid platform for your next micro build the Asus Z97I Plus should be on your list.
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