My Config:
Case: Fractal Design R4 Black /w window
CPU : i5 3570K @ 4.2GHz /w Zalman CNPS9900Max Blue ***
RAM : 8GB Patriot Viper 3 1600 @ 1800 9/9/9/24/1, 1.475v **
PSU : XFX PRO 750W XXX Edition
GPU : XFX Radeon 7750 Single Slot
SSD : OCZ Vertex 3 64GB for boot + various SATA2/3 mechanicals for storage.
Pics (haven't taken any of it built)
*** I can get 4.5 stable, but it's "uncomfortably" hot (around 75+C), 4.7 is the highest I went for but it would get to 90C under load, way too hot... 4.2 seems perfect @ -0.165 offset which is about 1.1v under load, stays under 65C (22C ambient) under any test.
** It'll run @ 8/8/8/20/1 but it really doesn't make any performance difference, neither does 2000MHz which actually runs much slower.
It's actually my second Z77 Ext4 since I fried my first... accidentally shorted out Cha Fan 1 which fried a trace next to the lowest PCI-E 1x slot... in an attempt to fix it, I shorted that trace with one of the PCI-E leads which as well as no longer booting (powered on, no lights, some fans worked)... it became suicidal and the Southbridge would become well over 100C (guesstimate, untouchably hot) within about 15 seconds.
Got the new board, everything ran fine again... so, I at least have a few swappable parts in case anything goes wrong with my second one...
...I see on this board that I don't know about.
THX - Whatever you use to play music/videos probably has equal features built in. It's just sound settings.
AXTU is for lazy people... just reboot and set things in the BIOS/UEFI.
XFast Lan/RAM/USB... nope... XFast RAM (Part of AXTU) can/could be useful but only for setting up a RAM drive which can be done better by more competent software.
UEFI, yup, that ASUS board has it too.
"OMG" might be useful if you have kids, or are setting up the computer in a cafe... all it does is enable/disable the network based on a schedule, something that can be done in any OS.
Lucid Virtu... could be useful, isn't yet.
1. Keep the stock BIOS unless you have problems, get it all configured and stable... then upgrade if you want to.
2. All you need is the BIOS you want to flash... though I would suggest keeping a copy of your current one as well. I actually find v2.5 slightly better than 2.7 (I can get stable clocks with about 0.01 to 0.015 less voltage than with 2.7, on both boards)
3. No advice, some people prefer enabling/setting RAID first, others after.
...
I have a question though, on my first board the optical S/PDIF would turn off, on my second... it won't... the only difference between the two, is the first came with BIOS 2.2, the second with 2.5... both ending up with 2.7... gone through every settings possible, it's just always on... not that it' a huge issue, just an annoying red shape projected on the wall...lol
Bit of a haphazard graph (2 LibreOffice Calc graphs, merged into one)... but, so far these are my "stable" (didn't want to push 4.6 through a full test) under/overclocks:
Ambient is about 22 to 23C, didn't bother tracking wattage much... I'll probably do a thorough test from 1.6 to 4.6 at 200MHz steps at some point.