Now that we have taken a look at most of the rest of the P8Z77 line up we are going to check out what was originally the flagship for the mid-range line the P8Z77-V Deluxe. Earlier today Asus announced and addition to the P8Z77 line which puts this right below the top-end. That does not take anything away from the –V Deluxe with its USB 3.0 Boost, Dual Band WiFi Go (with Bluetooth), SLI and Crossfire support and more. We will be taking a deeper look at the performance very soon, but for now let’s see what Asus has packed into the P8Z77-V Deluxe and if it is worth the $275 that it will cost you.
Features -
In the current market motherboard (and indeed almost all component) performance is very close. The days of a large performance advantage between boards using the same chipset are long gone. That is unless someone makes a HUGE mistake (like runs traces completely wrong). Now, the thing that differentiates different products is the features. These are things like power management, extra slots, better audio CODECs etc. It is these items that R&D teams work so hard to drop into what are really identical pieces of hardware at their most basic level.
Excellent -
WiFi Go/Bluetooth Module
USB 3.0 Boost
USB BIOS Flaskback
Smart Digi+ Controls
SSD Caching (using stock SSDs)
Network iControl
FanXpert2 Fan Controls
Asus’ feature set on their channel boards ( the P8Z77 line) has gotten better and better. We are seeing them really move toward putting features at each level that make sense. An example of this is the extra SATA ports with SSD caching. On the lower end board like the –V and the –M Pro these features would most likely go unused so there is no reason to drop them in.
The same thing can be said for the WiFi god module that is on the P8Z77-V Deluxe. On the P8Z77-V the WiFi Go module is not a dual band wireless device and also does not have the option for Bluetooth. Again these extras might not be used at the lower price point where someone might not see the point of having a dual band wireless router. However, having that included with the system allows you to remotely control your PC with an iPhone or Android smartphone. You can also stream media directly to other PCs using DLNA transfer. On top of that you can also set up wireless keyboard and mouse control using the new module. It is quite impressive and we cannot wait to test it out in the lab.
In the middle (sort of good) -
DTS Ultra PC II
DTS Connect
Dual GBe LAN
These features are nice and certainly add value to the board, but with the other features that are on this board they are less impressive as they would be on their own (but still impressive)
Floor Mats -
Q-Connector
Q-Shield
MemOK!
These features are still nice (and believe me there are more than the list above), but are not going to be the reason you buy this board. If you are already getting an Asus motherboard you know that it will come with these included (along with many others) and that is probably the reason you picked Asus in the first place.
Overall Asus has one of the best general feature sets we have seen on a line of motherboards. It is very complete from top to bottom.
