ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe Review - Know Your SKU
by Ian Cutress on May 12, 2012 8:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Asus
- Z77
LAN Speed Test
LAN Speed Test is a freeware program designed for testing the network connection between two PCs on a home network. The speed of the transfer is limited by the lowest common denominator on the network, so if you have gigabit Ethernet capable computers but a 100 Mbit capable router, you are limited to 100 Mbit transfer. Note that this is really a formality – if a network port is rated at 1 Gbps, then chances are that it should hit at least 90+% of this value. The main test here is CPU usage, and how much is offloaded by the controller. For this test, we use LAN Speed Test to transfer 1000 x 1 MB files across a home network with a 1 Gbps lowest common speed to the same machine each time, in a read/write scenario.
Due to a new slight variation in our LAN testing, the LAN Read numbers for our Z77 lineup are void - as soon as we can get time to test the previous boards, we will include the numbers back again. In terms of sequential write testing however, the Deluxe does well on the Realtek NIC.
USB Speed
For this benchmark, we run CrystalDiskMark to determine the ideal sequential read and write speeds for the USB port using our 240 GB OCZ Vertex3 SSD with a SATA 6 Gbps to USB 3.0 converter. Then we transfer a set size of files from the SSD to the USB drive using DiskBench, which monitors the time taken to transfer. The files transferred are a 1.52 GB set of 2867 files across 320 folders – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are the videos used in the Sorenson Squeeze test.
USB results, in particular the USB 3.0 results, are rather impressive - both the ASMedia and Intel controllers out perform the Intel controllers on other boards in our absolute copy test, and even more so when under USB 3.0 Boost modes.
SATA Testing
We also use CrystalDiskMark for SATA port testing on a C300 drive. The sequential test (incompressible data) is run at the 5 x 1000 MB level. This test probes the efficiency of the data delivery system between the chipset and the drive, or in the case of additional SATA ports provided by a third party controller, the efficiency between the controller, the chipset and the drive.
SATA testing on the Deluxe shows no abnormalities.
DPC Latency
Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests, such as audio, will be further down the line. So if the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled. If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time, resulting in an empty audio buffer – this leads to characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. Having a bigger buffer and correctly implemented system drivers obviously helps in this regard. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is processing DPCs from driver invocation – the lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds and taken as the peak latency while cycling through a series of short HD videos - under 500 microseconds usually gets the green light, but the lower the better.
The agressive BIOS settings of the P8Z77-V Pro and Deluxe have helped both of them get the best ever results in our DPC Latency test.
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maximumGPU - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
i recently build a pc around an Ivy processor, and that's the motherboard i went for.Very happy with it, and the software bundle you get with Asus mobos is really useful.
One annoyance thought is that the cpu temperature reported in Fan Xpert did not seem to match the temperature readings i get from Real Temp or other software, especially under load. And since fan control is tied to that reading it makes it rather pointless.
Did you encounter that Ian?
Great review too.
Lonyo - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
I've noticed that as well, to the point where the numbers in the Asus software don't seem to update properly OR match the numbers in Realtemp, making the Asus software pretty useless for checking temperatures, and something I'm not entirely comfortable with in terms of controlling fan speeds, since it would be based on temperature readings I'm not comfortable with.webs0r - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
Run AIDA64 alongside fanXpert. You will find that ASUS uses the sensor named "CPU" rather than the individual core temps.While it reports lower than the core temps, it moves in line with the CPU temperature, and is a good proxy for fan control.
I would not worry about this at all.
So you should put the CPU under various loads and monitor in AIDA where temps get to, and construct your fan profile as you desire to balance the cooling power with noise.
I'm not sure what realtemp reports, it may not report the overall CPU sensor if it is only reporting each core temp.
The ASUS software is not useless/pointless at all.
maximumGPU - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
under Prime, both Aida and Asus mobo report 33 deg, while real temp shows 50-52 across all cores, which certainly makes more sense than the other reading.That makes fan controlling based on the number reported by the deluxe pointless.
mdev - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
I'm currently preparing to start building my new Ivy Bridge setup, with the ASUS P8Z77-V Pro motherboard.I'm interested to know if this would be the case with the Pro too. Is ASUS aware of this issue?
webs0r - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
You are all wrong, it is not pointless!Are you using the latest beta version of AIDA? It will show you both the 4 core sensors AND the CPU sensor.
So on mine (4.4ghz), right now my
CPU = 22
Cores = avg 28
Running IBT
CPU = 54
Core = avg 70
So what does this tell us??
1) In terms of *absolute temperature readings* they are probably all inaccurate to some degree.
2) Of course the die temp is going to be higher than the overall CPU sensor die, they are monitoring different places on the CPU.
3) By looking at the pattern in AIDA, I know that the CPU sensor idles around 25 and scales to 55+ when the cores get HOT (70+). So - I can control the fans with this. It scales in line. It is a proxy for the CPU temp. As good as any. It doesn't matter that it is not equal to the average of the die temps. As long as it goes higher when the CPU gets hotter - you get the same end result? Get it??
If it went the other way or didn't move while the CPU got hot, then that's a problem.
So I made a fan ramp that stays at minimum until 25 deg, ramps slowly until 50 deg and ramps a bit faster until 55 deg, then caps out to the loudest I want the fan to be at 55deg. This gives the exact behaviour I want, thus it is not useless.
althaz - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
Ian, it's great to see somebody take on board suggestions from their readers and apply them so quickly!In the Z77 roundup people asked for stripped and default POST times and here they are in the next review just a couple of days later.
Fantastic review all-around and I eagerly await the incoming Intel board reviews (so I can decide what to buy :)).
BlueReason - Sunday, May 13, 2012 - link
I believe he said such tests would be included in the future, not in this review. Not sure how that could be confused with a bar chart of test results, but the mind works in mysterious ways.arvee - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
Can you elaborate at all on the thunderbolt support in this? Will an add on card be as good as an integrated solution like on the MSI Z77A-GD80?tyger11 - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
I think I heard somewhere taht the add-in card via the TB header is a single channel, and the future mobos with it onboard will be dual channel. I could be misremembering.