ASUS Z97-DELUXE (NFC & WLC) Review

[AkG]

Hardware Installation

Hardware Installation

In order to test how different hardware combinations will fit onto this board, we installed a Noctua NH-U12S, a 16GB dual channel kit of G.Skill Trident X memory, and a PNY GTX 780 XLR8 OC video card.

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The GTX 780 is a long length, dual slot GPU so it should so provide a good reference for other premium video cards and highlight any spacing issues. The NH-U12 is a moderate sized aftermarket CPU cooler so it should provide a good reference for other coolers so we can see if there any clearance issues around the CPU socket. We installed the memory in the sockets closest to the CPU to ensure clearance with 4 DIMMs.

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As expected the Deluxe has a decent amount of room between the memory slots and CPU socket. Because of this there should be no clearance issues with all slots populated with standard height RAM. Of course, very deep CPU cooling solutions will overhang the first and possibly second slots, so proper heatsink selection will still be important.

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Also expected users will likely run into clearance issues with any air based CPU cooling solution - even thin profile ones - if they also opt for a memory cooler. This is par for the course for 1150 systems and if your RAM truly needs active cooling we recommend taking the plunge into CPU water cooling to reduce compatibility problems.

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On the positive side, our Noctua NH-U12S had no issues physically clearing the MOSFET heatsinks, and we don't foresee any obstacles with even the largest of coolers. However, since these heatsinks do wrap around three sides of the CPU socket, the amount of room between them and a typical heatsink's mounting bracket is limited. So while large air based CPU cooling solutions will technically fit, many will take a contortionist to install all four mounting bolts.

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Switching from air to water cooling proved rather uneventful as there is more than enough room between the waterblock and its adjacent components. Once again the gap is rather small and larger water blocks could be a tricky proposition, but installing a typically designed block should prove to be a much easier proposition than installing a tower cooler.

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Thanks to the PCI-E slot layout there will be plenty of room between the CPU socket and GPU. By moving the first 16x slot down one space, ASUS has neatly sidestepped any potential problems between the two core components. We honestly wish more companies used an x1 port for the first PCIe slot as it should be the defacto standard.

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Overall, the layout and design of the ASUS Z97 Deluxe is well above average and it does allow for a fairly hassle-free installation, though one that is not completely issue free. As long as you are aware of these potential problems and take them into account when making your other hardware component section, you shouldn’t run into any major problems.

 

[AkG]

Test System & Testing Methodology

Test System & Testing Methodology

To full test the built in over-clocking abilities of a given motherboard, we have broken down testing into multiple categories:

Stock Turbo Boost - To represent a 4770K at stock with turbo enabled.

5-Way Software OC - To represent a Deluxe Z97 at best proven stable overclock achieved via included software based overclocking (4.6GHz).

Manual OC –To represent an experienced overclocker that is looking for the optimal long term overclock to maximize system performance while keeping voltage and temperatures in check (4.7GHz).

We chose benchmark suites that included 2D benchmarks, 3D benchmarks, and games; and then tested each overclocking method individually to see how the performance would compare.

The full list of the applications that we utilized in our benchmarking suite:

3DMark 8
3DMark 2013 Professional Edition
AIDA64 Extreme Edition
Cinebench R11.5 64-bit
SiSoft Sandra 2013.SP4
SuperPI Mod 1.5mod
RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.2.5
Sleeping Dogs Gaming Benchmark
Metro: Last Light Gaming Benchmark
Tomb Raider
BioShock Infinite


Instead of LinX or P95, the main stability test used was the AIDA64 stability. AIDA64 has an advantage as it has been updated for the Haswell architecture and tests specific functions like AES, AVX, and other instruction sets that some other stress tests do not touch. After the AIDA64 stability test was stable, we ran 2 runs of SuperPI and 2 runs of 3DMark to test memory and 3D stability. Once an overclock passed these tests, we ran the full benchmark suite and then this is the point deemed as “stable” for the purposes of this review.


To ensure consistent results, a fresh installation of Windows 8.1 was installed with latest chipset drivers and accessory hardware drivers (audio, network, GPU) from the manufactures website. The BIOS used for overclocking and benchmarking was version 1301 and the Nvidia drivers used were version 332.21.

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Our test setup consists of an Intel Haswell 4770K, ASUS Deluxe Z97 motherboard, one NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card, 16GB of G.Skill Trident X 2133 9-11-11-31 1.6v memory, a Intel 335 180GB SSD, and a WD Black 1TB. All this is powered by an EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 1000 watt PSU.

For cooling we used a Corsair H105 AIO w/ four 140mm fans attached. For hardware installation testing we also used a Noctua NH-U12S and a XSPC Raystorm waterblock.

Complete Test System:

Processor: Intel i7 4770K Retail Lot# 3335B824
Memory: 16GB GSkill 2166 Trident X 9-11-11-31 1.6v
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
Hard Drive: 1x 180GB Intel 335 SSD. Western Digial Black 1TB.
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2
CPU Cooler: Corsair H105 AIO

Special thanks to EVGA for their support and supplying the SuperNOVA 1000 P2.
Special thanks to G.Skill for their support and supplying the Trident X RAM.
Special thanks to NVIDIA for their support and supplying the GTX 780

 

[AkG]

Feature Testing: Audio & Wireless Performance

Feature Testing: Audio & Wireless Performance

Onboard Audio

While the ASUS Z87 Deluxe is mainly orientated towards mainstream consumers, the upgraded onboard audio is one of its main selling features. As such, it behooves us to see exactly what this upgrade brings to the table. To do this we have used RightMark Audio Analyzer.

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While ASUS has always included a good audio controller - the Realtek ALC1150 - this is the first time they have done a great job at providing it with both an EMI free environment and stable, clean power without opting for an add-on board arrangement like they did for certain RoG boards.

While we are impressed with the thought that went into the design, there is still a lot of room for improvement since, on paper at least, the Deluxe still trailing GIGABYTE's Gaming series in this regard. While they include a well regarded audio controller, Gigabyte uses the more-gaming orientated Creative Core3D solution which tends to be more adaptable to other uses as well.

802.11AC Wireless

As with the included onboard audio, the included 802.11AC wireless abilities of the ASUS Z87 Deluxe is one of its main selling features. To see exactly how good this 802.11AC upgrade brings to the table we have used some of our standard wireless testing scenarios. These tests include both real world file transfer performance and real world signal performance. The router used was an Asus RT-AC68U 'AC1900' router.

To test signal strength we use inSSIDer, a program which can graph signal strength of all wireless signals being received by the computer’s wireless NIC. For real world testing we have taken 10GB worth of small file and large file mixture and pushed from one wireless connected computer to a second computer connected via wired Ethernet. Testing will be done via MS RichCopy. For clarity sake we have averaged both the transmission and reception performance into one aggregate number.

For the past few generations ASUS have consistently included very wireless controllers with their higher end boards and the new Deluxe is no exception. While it may only be slightly better than previous the models, we can’t forget that ASUS was one of the first to actually include 802.11AC capable wireless devices with their boards so they blazed the trail in this category. By the same token an improvement is an improvement.

When excluding previous ASUS motherboards from the equation the Z97 Deluxe stands head and shoulders above the average motherboard in both connectivity and signal strength performance. Now if they would only go to a 3x3 configuration and leave the slightly antiquated 2x2 design that everyone is still using we would be truly happy.

 

[AkG]

Feature Testing: Software Auto-Overclocking

Feature Testing: Software Auto-Overclocking

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To us software that deals with automatic overclocking has to do three main things: be intuitive to use and take the pain out of overclocking, provide clear and concise explanations of what and why it is doing what it is doing, and above all else provide stable overclocking results which you can trust. Up until the Z97 Deluxe, there wasn’t a single solution that could claim stewardship over every point but that’s changed with an intuitive group of features that helps novices overclock their systems.

The Dual Intelligent Processors 5 application is where all the fun happens even though there are some basic auto-overclocking options in the BIOS as well. Its interface may be a bit overwhelming at first but the sections are clearly explained. However, while a certainly amount of user input is welcomed, someone can simply start up the application, open the TPU tab and let ASUS’ algorithms do the rest as they optimize a number of motherboard-controlled elements.

The most important aspect of this so-called 5 Way Optimization is its lack of reliance on presets. Unlike the arbitrary “one size fits all” multiplier and voltage approach other manufacturers take with their software automatic overclocking, it will slowly increase your processor's clock speed and voltage, test for stability, and repeat until a sweet spot has been found. So while 5 Way Optimization is slow (upwards of 25 mintues and numerous reboots to achieve a stable clock speed) it is a totally hands free experience; simply sit back and wait for it to work its magic.

ASUS has even included a handy addition that allows you to specify a clock speed to start from, the length of stability testing and even what maximum temperature you feel comfortable with. The application then does its best to stay within these settings while still pushing your CPU and RAM to their respective limits.

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Those are all great additions but ASUS then goes above and beyond by also optimizing power consumption during idle periods and then tests and creates a fully customized temperature-based fan profile. Some of these fan-side abilities are due to the drastic hardware and header current improvements that have built onto the Deluxe. ASUS has found an innovative way to take advantage of the control they brought to the table. We would be hesitant to stick San Aces on each of the integrated fan headers, but after working with this board as much as we have, it probably could take them.

Will this software replace knowledge and experience? No. Neither will it replace a good mentor hovering over your shoulder but it does not just wave its hands in the air and call itself 'magic' like most do. If you actually watch what it is doing you will pick up on what actually goes into a successful full package overclock. Are you listening GIGABYTE?

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While both of these areas are very important, what makes or breaks a software package has to be the stability of any overclock it implements. It is all well and fine to give a great overclock that is 'fast' and 'quiet', it is another to actually make it stable. Recently GIGABYTE failed this portion and lowered our opinion of their software. In the case of the G1 Gaming the overall package was more than enough to win us over, but it ultimately failed to provide stability. The Deluxe on the other hand took its time and attained a stable yet quite high overclock.

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Your CPU cooling system is what is going limit a typical Intel 4770K long before this software hits its limits. In the end it decided to drop back to 4600MHz for all four cores with adaptive voltage that hit a maximum of 1.320V during stress testing, DDR3-2133 for our memory, and -begrudgingly- left UNcore at 3900. This is a great result in and of itself and if we had better cooling it probably could have done even better. More importantly, we’d consider this overclock 24/7 stable.

 

[AkG]

Manual Overclocking

Manual Overclocking

Even though the ASUS Deluxe series has never been marketed directly to the overclocking enthusiast these boards still have a stellar reputation when it comes to providing some clock speed overhead. This reputation has been built upon the fact that unless you are looking for a stripped down board for liquid nitrogen cooling or pushing insanely high voltages the Deluxe series will always rock solid. ASUS knows that overclocking potential has become more and more important to the typical mainstream consumer looking for a feature rich experience and over the past few generations have steadily improved their Deluxe's abilities.

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These factoids in combination with our already stellar software 'auto' overclocking results meant that we went into this phase of testing with rather high expectations. This is why we were a bit disappointed. To be fair we honestly don’t blame the Deluxe for the minor improvement we were able to eke out over the software results. The fault solely lies with Haswell’s lava-hot temperatures that exceeded the capabilities of our dual bay 140mm water cooling setup. If our chip had been better we are sure that our results would have been even higher. By the same token the software overclocking results would probably also been improved.

This is the first board that has easily exceeded our personal abilities to stress test beyond its capabilities, or at least beyond our comfort zone. Given the insane heat the 4770K pumps out, going beyond 1.350V is simply not a good idea for long term overclocking. Nonetheless, we got to just above 4.7GHz on our chip which isn’t all that bad.

To reiterate, this is not a failure of ASUS but Intel. More specifically if you really want to push your shiny new Z97 Deluxe to its limits you will want to delid. Given the more mainstream orientation of the Deluxe motherboard we don’t even blame ASUS for not including a 'De-Lid' guard like MSI has been as of late.

In fact when we do remove our expectations out of the equation and look at the Deluxe Z97 from a purely logical point of view there really is not much to dislike. Sure the default 'training wheel' Easy Mode BIOS interface will be quickly overridden, but once you actually get into the meaty and highly detail orientated BIOS nearly any overclocker will quickly be impressed. When you add in a reboot to BIOS option for quick and painless fine-tuning during the later stages of overclocking the Deluxe ticked all the right boxes for us.

On the hardware side of the equation the extremely robust voltage subsystem made for quick and stable power delivery. Unlike the recent Gaming G1, there was absolutely no voltage droop to deal with and this board was rock stable no matter what we did to it. In fact, it is also one of the most forgiving motherboards we have tested recently. No matter how many hard lockups, the Deluxe was there ready and willing to get us back into the game.

Overall doing our best to keep the 4770K from turning into a mini-Chernobyl was certainly a task, but one that was eminently enjoyable. When you are ready to go beyond what the software can do, this motherboard will be ready and waiting. Just don’t be surprised if it 'persuades' you to buy Intel overclocking insurance and 'makes' you push your CPU beyond its limits.

As already mentioned we easily hit 4.70Ghz on the CPU, with all four cores set to a 47x multiplier and a Uncore of 4.40Ghz. This is only a minor improvement over what the Asus Z97 Deluxe software could do, but one area we did easily manage to blow past the software results was in the RAM overclocking department. By loosening the timings we easily hit DDR3-2400. Needless to say a combination of 4.7GHz CPU, with 4.4GHz Uncore, and DDR3-2400 RAM levels resulted in a fast, yet very stable system. Whether or not the additional days' worth of effort were worth it compared to the push button simplicity of the software is debatable, but considering how much fun this motherboard is to work with we consider it time well wasted.

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The ASUS Deluxe series has never been considered an 'overclocking' motherboard so while we doubt that many consumers will actually do 'non-K' / non-CPU ratio multiplier overclocking, base clock manipulation is - just as everything else was - an easy and straightforward process. With very little effort we were able to obtain the highest BCLK speed we have ever been able to squeeze out of this particular CPU: 171.97MHz.

 

[AkG]

System Benchmarks

System Benchmarks

In the System Benchmarks section we will show a number benchmark comparisons of the 4770K and Deluxe Z97 using the stock speed (turbo enabled), 5-way Optimization (4.6Ghz), and our manual overclock(4.7Ghz). This will illustrate how much performance can be gained by the various overclocking options this board has to offer.

For reference the CPU speeds, memory speeds, memory timings, and uncore speeds used for these tests are as follows:

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SuperPI Benchmark

<i>SuperPi calculates the number of digits of PI in a pure 2D benchmark. For the purposes of this review, calculation to 32 million places will be used. RAM speed, RAM timings, CPU speed, L2 cache, and Operating System tweaks all effect the speed of the calculation, and this has been one of the most popular benchmarks among enthusiasts for several years.
SuperPi was originally written by Yasumasa Kanada in 1995 and was updated later by snq to support millisecond timing, cheat protection and checksum. The version used in these benchmarks, 1.5 is the official version supported by hwbot.</i>

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CINEBENCH R11.5

<i>CINEBENCH 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.

In this system benchmark section we will use the x64 Main Processor Performance (CPU) test scenario. The Main Processor Performance (CPU) test scenario uses all of the system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene (from the viral "No Keyframes" animation by AixSponza). This scene makes use of various algorithms to stress all available processor cores. The test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor.</i>

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Sandra Processor Arithmetic & Processor Multi-Media Benchmarks

<i>SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. The software suite provides most of the information (including undocumented) users like to know about hardware, software, and other devices whether hardware or software. The name “Sandra” is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means "defender", "helper of mankind".
The software version used for these tests is SiSoftware Sandra 2013 SP3. In the 2013 version of Sandra, SiSoft has updated operating system support, added support for Haswell CPUs, as well as added some new benchmarks to the testing suite. The benchmark used below is the Processor Arithmetic benchmark which shows how the processor handles arithmetic and floating point instructions. This test illustrates an important area of a computer’s speed.</i>

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PCMark 8 Benchmark

<i>Developed in partnership with Benchmark Development Program members Acer, AMD, Condusiv Technologies, Dell, HGST, HP, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Samsung, SanDisk, Seagate and Western Digital, PCMark 8 is the latest version in FutureMark’s popular series of PC benchmarking tools. Improving on previous releases, PCMark 8 includes new tests using popular applications from Adobe and Microsoft.
The test used in below is the PCMark 8 Home benchmark. This testing suite includes workloads that reflect common tasks for a typical home user such as for web browsing, writing, gaming, photo editing, and video chat. The results are combined to give a PCMark 8 Home score for the system.</i>

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AIDA64 Benchmark

<i>AIDA64 Extreme Edition is a diagnostic and benchmarking software suite for home users that provides a wide range of features to assist in overclocking, hardware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring. It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives.

The benchmarks used in this review are the memory bandwidth and latency benchmarks. Memory bandwidth benchmarks (Memory Read, Memory Write, Memory Copy) measure the maximum achievable memory data transfer bandwidth. The code behind these benchmark methods are written in Assembly and they are extremely optimized for every popular AMD, Intel and VIA processor core variants by utilizing the appropriate x86/x64, x87, MMX, MMX+, 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE4.1, AVX, and AVX2 instruction set extension.

The Memory Latency benchmark measures the typical delay when the CPU reads data from system memory. Memory latency time means the penalty measured from the issuing of the read command until the data arrives to the integer registers of the CPU.</i>

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[AkG]

3D and Gaming Benchmarks

3D and Gaming Benchmarks

In the 3D and Gaming Benchmarks section we will show a number benchmark comparisons of the 4770K and using the stock speed (turbo enabled), highest stable software overclock of 4.5Ghz and our manual overclock. This will illustrate how much performance can be gained by the various overclocking options this board has to offer.
For reference the CPU speeds, memory speeds, memory timings, and uncore speeds used for these tests are as follows:

3DMark Fire Strike Benchmark

The latest version of 3DMark from FutureMark includes everything you need to benchmark everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. And it's not just for Windows. With 3DMark you can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It's the most powerful and flexible 3DMark we've ever created.
The test we are using in this review is Fire Strike with Extreme settings which is a DirectX 11 benchmark designed for high-performance gaming PCs. Fire Strike features real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.

Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark

Resolution: 1920x1200
Anti-Aliasing: 4X
Anisotropic Filtering: 16X
Graphic Settings: High
Originally intended to demonstrate new processing effects added to Half Life 2: Episode 2 and future projects, the particle benchmark condenses what can be found throughout HL2:EP2 and combines it all into one small but deadly package. This test does not symbolize the performance scale for just Episode Two exclusively, but also for many other games and applications that utilize multi-core processing and particle effects. As you will see the benchmark does not score in FPS but rather in its own "Particle Performance Metric", which is useful for direct CPU comparisons.
Please note: For clarity sake we have removed the SLI numbers from the chart as this benchmark is not SLI aware and the result for both single and dual GPU were the same.

Sleeping Dogs Gaming Benchmark

Sleeping Dogs is an open world action-adventure video game developed by United Front Games in conjunction with Square Enix London Studios and published by Square Enix, released on August 2012. Sleeping Dogs has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are the Extreme display settings and a resolution of 1920x1200. World density is set to extreme, high-res textures are enabled, and shadow resolution, shadow filtering, screen space ambient occlusion, and quality motion blur are all set to high.

Metro: Last Light Gaming Benchmark

Metro: Last Light is a DX11 first-person shooter video game developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver released in May 2013. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features action-oriented gameplay. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play. Scene D6 was used and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are Very High for quality and a resolution of 1920x1200. DirectX 11 is used, texture filtering is set to AF 16X, motion blur is normal, SSA and advanced physX turned on and tessellation is set to high.

BioShock Infinite Gaming Benchmark

BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games, and published by 2K Games released in March 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are UltraDX11 for quality and a resolution of 1920x1200.

Tomb Raider Gaming Benchmark

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game. Published by Square Enix released in March 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are Ultimate default settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 1920x1200.

 

[AkG]

Conclusion

Conclusion

The history of ASUS’ Deluxe series goes back several years with motherboards that ran the gamut from barely acceptable to absolutely incurable. Over the last few iterations this lineup has been steadily improving under the tutelage of extremely strong engineering and consumer outreach teams. The Z97 Deluxe continues this lineup’s upswing and is a truly incredible motherboard, arguably one of the best currently available from any manufacturer.

While there are lower priced options around and others that offer similar overclocking capabilities, the Deluxe will appeal to anyone that wants every possible feature thrown into the mix. We’re actually reviewing the SKU that has a few additions tacked on in the form of add-on units for NFC Express 2 and wireless charging abilities. These may be a bit superfluous to some folks but they do offer a more all inclusive solution. ASUS also offers a less expensive version of the Z97 Deluxe without these, one which provides a “purer” experience.

There are so many stars of this show, it’s nearly impossible to highlight them all in this conclusion. Suffice to say every feature is extremely well thought out and implemented which helps the Deluxe exude an air of quiet refinement that none of its competitors can lay claim to.

While the Z97 Deluxe will always be hampered by the inherent overclocking limitations of Haswell and Devil’s Canyon processors, it still provides an incredibly stable platform for overclockers to work from. The BIOS has been polished into near perfection and offers up a clever mix of novice-focused aides alongside a dizzying array of options for enthusiasts. The real triumph here is how ASUS has managed to have these two sides of the same coin work so seamlessly together, without either one stepping on its alternate’s toes. It’s all so very well done.

The 5-Way Optimization needs mentioning here as well since it’s simply one of the best software overclocking tools we’ve ever come across. Instead of applying arbitrary settings regardless of your processor’s inherent abilities, it optimizes a custom overclock for your particular processor and cooling setup by continually stress testing between frequency increases. This leads to an overclock which is both stable and reasonably high without putting any undue stress on your expensive components.

Are there areas where ASUS still needs to improve? Sure. Their audio solution is pretty good but it is still a few steps behind what GIGABYTE offers on their higher end boards (on paper at least). Gamers may also look elsewhere since the Deluxe is so feature packed that there ends up being less expensive options in ASUS’ own stable that will allow them to achieve comparable performance while dedicating more cash towards a GPU purchase.

An excellent layout, two SATA Express connectors, a great BIOS, drool-worthy software overclocking capabilities, impressive secondary connectivity options and more, the Z97 Deluxe’s list of achievements is nothing short of incredible. If you are looking for a motherboard that offers everything you could possibly want and features you may never want do without again, ASUS’ current flagship should top the list.

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