ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard Review


TurboV EVO
The first option, TurboV EVO, acts as a go-to in-Windows overclocking tool. The ability to change BCLK frequency (aka FSB), CPU and RAM voltage, along with advanced voltages like the CPU PLL voltage and VCCSA voltages, it should be useful to those wanting to play around with overclocking, or for those who are tweaking their existing overclock. Along the top of the pane there is the option to Auto Tune your CPU. Using this will auto-overclock your processor, and adjust voltages on-the-fly. Your system may crash and will probably restart several times during the OC Tuner run, but don’t worry, as this is all part of the process. Once completed, your CPU will have “levelled up” and you can enjoy an overclock with little or no effort from you. You can also access this feature by clicking “Auto Tune” at the far left of the navigation bar.

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard

I let the software auto-tune my CPU, and here are the results of the “extreme” setting:

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard

Digi+ Power Control
The next piece of software the Ai Suite offers is the precise control of the power phases on the motherboard. When you first select the tool via the drop down menu, you are shown a swivel pane that allows you to choose from CPU Power Control, Smart DIGI+, and DRAM power control.

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard

The CPU power control pane allows you to change settings that are all-too-often missing from these software suites; LLC. It offers slider bars to change your CPU LLC, iGPU LLC, as well as CPU Current Capability which will increase the total amount of potential power delivered to the CPU, and an iGPU equivalent. Then there’s the option to adjust the voltage frequency, in which leaving it set to auto will let the software/motherboard decide what is best. Spread Spectrum can increase system stability, but can limit your maximum overclock. If you opt to manually control the voltage frequency, the higher you go will increase your chances of a maximum potential overclock, but make sure you monitor your temperatures. There are also 3 presets, Standard, Optimized, and Extreme, as well as the ability to manually adjust the CPU Power Phases.

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard

The DRAM Power Control pane allows you to increase the DRAM voltage frequency, increase the thermal maximum for the DIMMs, and increase the DRAM Current Capability for more headroom. Again, there are also presets; two of them this time. Optimized and Extreme.

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard

The Smart DIGI+ pane allows you to click a button to instantly increase frequencies and voltages to your core components, giving you greater overclocking ease. Alternatively, you can limit the maximum power your CPU receives for power saving and efficiency.

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard

EPU
The EPU part of the Ai Suite allows you to utilize one of ASUS’ Dual Intelligent Processors at a software level. There are three settings; Auto, which will adjust the EPU usage on-the-fly and create a stable, ever-changing environment. High Performance, which will only apply EPU to non-critical components, and maximum power savings which will undervolt and utilize EPU on as many components as it can. It also gives you the option to configure the EPU power savings based on your own preferences.

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard

Fan XPert 2
Fan XPert 2 is a fan control utility for all fans currently connected to the motherboard. It can control non-PWM (3 Pin) fans to act as such, and can allow you to set presets for quietness, standard performance, turbo performance, or just have them running at full speed. If you want, you can let the software configure these settings for you, by putting your machine at load briefly and configuring the fans around your thermal arc. This excellent tool is also available in the BIOS under the Monitoring tab.

See this video for a demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgNRz5Omom8

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard

Probe II
Probe II is a monitoring tool that will alert you if your voltages, temperatures, and other parameters fall below or exceed a scale that you can choose. It’s pretty handy when overclocking or testing a component for failures or performance issues.

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard

Sensor Recorder
Sensor Recorder can record fluctuations in voltage, temperature and fan speed and graph it for you for ease of access and quick glances at how your system is performing. Again, a handy tool for an overclocker.

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro Intel Z77 Motherboard