ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe vs Premium

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

Okay i recently just got this ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe motherboard. it's awesome however it isn't the highend model. That honor goes to the ASUS P8Z77-V Premium which isn't out yet.

I've been reading lots of reviews about this motherboard comparing the 2.


Premium

Pros:
- has thunderbolt directly integrated onto the mobo
- has msata SSD integrated onto the mobo
- has 4 ssd caching sata3 ports, 2 more sata3 ports, and 3 sata2 ports
- has 4 pcie 3.0 x16 lanes for Graphics cards (perfect for multi gpu setups)
- has the newer PLX gen 3 chip
- has dual Intel Nics (your able to do teaming as such for better performance)

Cons:
- only has 2 usb3 ports at the back
- only has 2 pcie x1 slots



Deluxe

Pros:
- has more usb 3.0 ports at the back compared to the premium
- has more pcie x 1 slots available for lots of add in devices requiring them

Cons:
- has dual nic however only 1 is an intel, and the other is a realtek. If your only using 1 ethernet port it's not a big deal, but if your planning to do teaming, forget it. But i was told that teaming the nics isn't going to be that big a deal.
- no msata SSD
- the quick cache SSD feature will effectively only work for 1 HDD because the Deluxe only has 2 ports for this Asus feature, 1 of them having to be used for your own supplied SSD, while the other being used for the HDD you want to provide the Quick Cache SSD feature to. So if you want to provide more HDDs with this feature, this is not possible. Not unless you plan to use the intel raid setting to get it that way. But the Asus method doesn't require raid, as it offers SSD caching for HDDS which are on AHCI which is perfect for me. Sadly the deluxe effectively only will do this for 1 HDD. So this is essentially a demo of the feature .... so the premium makes more sense for me.
- only has 2 PCIE gpu lanes. the third one isn't for graphics cards, as it will be used for the thunderbolt add in card
- thunder bolt add in card is a separate purchase and will cost you 30-40 USD according to Anandtech when he interviewed Jay from Asus.



In summary:

The deluxe model is awesome, and i can live with most of the stuff it lacks compared to the premium, but what really disappointed me was the lack of SSD quick cache feature ports compared to the Premium.

So if i had a choice, i'd personally spend on the premium. But that will cost a bomb :X




Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe Reviews
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=2216&pageID=11751
http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-p8z...w/15685-1.html
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...erboard/1528/1
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5728/i...-and-biostar/7
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...=908&Itemid=69
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...=902&Itemid=69
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...=901&Itemid=69


Asus P8Z77-V Premium sneak peeks
http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-p8z...ial/15700.html
http://pcper.com/news/General-Tech/A...oard-announced
http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-p8z...deo/15658.html
http://www.bjorn3d.com//articles/ASU...Bjorn3d.com%29
http://www.overclockers.com/asus-fla...8z77v-premium/



PS: there is a useful comparison chart for the Asus Z77 motherboards ( - the premium that isn't out yet) which you can see here
http://event.asus.com/2012/mb/P8Z77_...ableModels.htm


also that the only mobos with thunderbolt are selected models by MSI, Asus and EVGA :X as far as i know ...

[Enigma5]

Nice overview of the board!

You mention in the cons only 2x PCI-E x1 slots, but I mean who uses more than 1 PCI-E x1 device?

Also as far as only having 2x PCI-E graphics cards slots. I would assume 80-90% of users buying this board will only need the 2 slots.

Just my 2 cents

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

Nice overview of the board!

You mention in the cons only 2x PCI-E x1 slots, but I mean who uses more than 1 PCI-E x1 device?

True. the most i personally would do is add in a PCIE x 1 sound card ( Xonar Phoebus *cough cough). And there is still 1 more PCIE x 1 for some random device (maybe a 10gbe ethernet port card ??? /shrug )

Also as far as only having 2x PCI-E graphics cards slots. I would assume 80-90% of users buying this board will only need the 2 slots.

Just my 2 cents

Yeah that is true as well. Personally because my own budget is limited, i've always treated sli and multi gpu setups as a meh. it's way too expensive, and it can only be justified especially if your planning on a 27'' size lcd screen with high 2k+ resolution or using multi monitor setups. This is why i wasn't that sad about that difference between the deluxe and premium, but it is indeed something to be pointed for others who are hardcore and want to add tri oh maybe quad gpu setups :X


my biggest question though is, what exactly is the difference between the PLX gen 2 vs the PLX gen 3 ? o.O;

[stagione]

You pointed out it had the PLX PEX8608 chip, however there was no mention that the PLX chip, is not the PLX PXE 8747 that people had been hoping for, whereas Anandtech did, and even explained why that would have mattered.



Another thing this and the other review didn't mention was that the deluxe isn't the highest end model by Asus for their Z77 series of motherboards. It is in fact the Premium model which is due out sometime soon.

As such you ought to compare this Deluxe with the premium to show what is the differences between the 2 such as...

1. the premium has thunderbolt directly integrated onto the motherboard. In the anandtech video review with asus, this was pretty much hinted at. Whereas the deluxe has thunderbolt headers which provides the option for an add in card costing roughly 40 USD, that will add in thunderbolt connectivity. This is the difference in regards to the thunderbolt feature between these 2 mobos.

2. the Premium uses a new model PLX Gen3 chip which can offer full 4-Way SLI and CrossFireX support on the board as the PLX chip offers more lanes available to the GPU slots.. Whereas the deluxe uses a Gen2 if i'm not mistaken.

3. the Premium has Onboard mSATA Port with pre-installed 32GB SSD produced by Nanya integrated directly onto the motherboard, whereas the deluxe doesn't. This feature is useful for people don't already have an SSD who want to benefit from fast caching on their drives.

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

thats my quote

but even then it wasn't too clear exactly what anandtech meant. i don't know how to contact him directly to ask :/