ASUS P8Z77-V Thuderbolt Motherboard Review

Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
Product Name: Intel Z77 Express motherboard
Model Number: P8Z77-V
UPC: 610839185771
Price as tested: $179.99 (Newegg/Amazon)

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by ASUS.

ASUS is all about slicing up the motherboard market into very fine divisions. Want a Z77 Express-based LGA1155 motherboard? ASUS has products for every possible market segment, ranging from someone building a mini-ITX home theater system to a full-sized gaming monster. With no fewer than 18 different Z77 Express motherboards to choose from, your biggest problem will be figuring out which one best suits your needs. Even the main P8Z77 line has 13 different options, ranging from the rather Spartan P8Z77-M micro-ATX motherboard to the Caligula-like excess of the P8Z77-V Premium.

In this lineup, the P8Z77-V falls about midway in ASUS' price-and-features set. It's tempting to consider this a "budget" motherboard, but it still retains a number of value-added ASUS features:

• Four video outputs: HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI-D, and even analog VGA. Whatever monitor you want to plug in, ASUS has you covered.
• USB 3.0 Boost: Using UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) or Turbo Boost, ASUS dramatically increases the throughput for SuperSpeed USB 3.0 devices
• Support for the Thunderbolt EX card: When you're ready, add Thunderbolt connectivity
• Wifi GO!: DLNA compliant wifi supports digital media streaming, remote control of the computer, and even using the computer as a wireless router for the rest of your devices.
• DIGI+ Power Control Fully digital voltage regulation for stable running and precision overclocking
ASUS AISuite II utility software Overclock from within Windows without rebooting; take full control of all your system fans with Fan XPert 2, configure the USB ports to charge high drain devices like iPads, and more.
EPU and TPU Dual Intelligent Processors Overclock or save energy just by flicking a switch on the motherboard.
MemOK! button Gracefully recover from a failed memory overclock
USB BIOS Flashback Flash a new BIOS without installing a CPU or memory.

In addition to these features, there are the features Intel baked into the Z77 Express chipset:

• Support for up to 32GB of DDR3 memory with 1600MHz an officially supported speed
• Lucid Virtu technology seamlessly switches between a discrete video card and the integrated GPU of a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPU as needed
• Intel Smart Response technology
• Two native USB 3.0 ports and two SATA 6G ports
• More versatile use of PCI-E lanes supports an optional 8x8x4 configuration.

The features ASUS left off this board are arguably things many would not miss on a motherboard, and the performance should be every bit as good as ASUS' pricier versions. Benchmark Reviews has previously tested the ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe motherboard and awarded it a Gold Tachometer. Let's see what this one is like.

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