Inexpensive but reliable Z77 boards

[Pheran]

I'm looking for an inexpensive Z77 board for an Ivy Bridge CPU that will run Win7 64-bit. I won't be doing much overclocking but it's nice to have full control over everything if I need it. I've already got a Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H ($112 at Amazon) in my ESXi server, which works fine, so I'm thinking of buying another one of those. Any other good boards I should consider in the $120 or less range?

 

[utahraptor]

I would think about the Asrock Extreme 4.

 

[maevinj]

I like my asrock Extreme 4 mb. Very stable so far.

 

[jacktesterson]

I would think about the Asrock Extreme 4.

This

 

[2is]

Gigabyte Z77-D3H is another excellent budget Z77 board. The only downside is the 2nd PCIe slot is a 2.0 instead of 3.0 and only has 4 lanes. If you think you may ever go dual cards, Asrock would be the better option. If you have no such intentions, you can save a few $$$ for the Gigabyte.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

I have heard good things about both the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 and the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H both of which I wouldnt have a problem using myself.

 

[Rhezuss]

I'd go with ASRock. They're great and it's my next mobo when i'll upgrade to IB in the coming months!

 

[Tsavo]

Gigabyte Z77-D3H is another excellent budget Z77 board. The only downside is the 2nd PCIe slot is a 2.0 instead of 3.0 and only has 4 lanes. If you think you may ever go dual cards, Asrock would be the better option. If you have no such intentions, you can save a few $$$ for the Gigabyte.

Other big downside is no manual VCORE adjustments. Auto only. Same goes for the other cheap Gigabyte Z77 offerings.

 

[Smoblikat]

ASrock Z77 E4

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

im starting to dislike Gigabyte especially with their 20 products it's confusing to figure out which is which. Z77AHDOH-4 is annoying. WTF is with their naming scheme.

I went with ASRock for my past 2 boards (Z77 and Z68) and have been very happy.

The advantage over Gigabyte and Asus is that ASRock offers VT-d. Extremely useful for NAS building.

 

[2is]

Other big downside is no manual VCORE adjustments. Auto only. Same goes for the other cheap Gigabyte Z77 offerings.

I own this board, mated to a 2500k. I assure you there are manual vcore adjustments in addition to manual dram voltage, phase control options and several LLC settings. As an entry level Z77 board and single GPU setup, you can't beat it.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I'm looking for an inexpensive Z77 board for an Ivy Bridge CPU that will run Win7 64-bit. I won't be doing much overclocking but it's nice to have full control over everything if I need it.

Had this board for 4 months now, not exactly feature-rich but very reliable. No significant issues have been witnessed. Onboard sound, actually does sound great. Good layout, small factor. Not exactly perfect, but for the price... I couldn't really complain (paid circa $100).

 

[Tsavo]

I own this board, mated to a 2500k. I assure you there are manual vcore adjustments in addition to manual dram voltage, phase control options and several LLC settings. As an entry level Z77 board and single GPU setup, you can't beat it.

I stand corrected then. Which board, exactly, do you have? I just got a Gigaybte Z77-DS3H that has nothing for Vcore or LLC. I need to send it back because it reboots every few hours, even on stock settings. Mild OC to 4.2 or stock, doesn't matter, just reboots every few hours. It has the latest BIOS, too.

 

[Tsavo]

Actually, I'm just going to order a Z77X-D3H to replace this one.

 

[2is]

I stand corrected then. Which board, exactly, do you have? I just got a Gigaybte Z77-DS3H that has nothing for Vcore or LLC. I need to send it back because it reboots every few hours, even on stock settings. Mild OC to 4.2 or stock, doesn't matter, just reboots every few hours. It has the latest BIOS, too.

I have the GA-Z77-D3H with my 2500k OC'd to 4.5GHz. Temps are the only factor keeping me from attempting to go any higher.

 

[Tsavo]

I have the GA-Z77-D3H with my 2500k OC'd to 4.5GHz. Temps are the only factor keeping me from attempting to go any higher.

Pretty decent board then? It does have manual Vcore and LLC? Looking at the Z77X, it has a lot of stuff that I won't use, so the D3H might be a better buy for me.

 

[2is]

Good enough that it makes me wonder if it was really necessary to spend twice as much for my Asus P8Z77-V Pro I'm running on my Ivy build.

I can post screen shots of the BIOS if you're interested. (yes it has manual vcore, as well as an offset option though gigabyte calls it "dynamic" vcore or something to that effect)

 

[Tsavo]

Good enough that it makes me wonder if it was really necessary to spend twice as much for my Asus P8Z77-V Pro I'm running on my Ivy build.

I can post screen shots of the BIOS if you're interested. (yes it has manual vcore, as well as an offset option though gigabyte calls it "dynamic" vcore or something to that effect)

Thanks for the offer, but I believe you.

Just want to bang my head on something hard atm because I have to ship off another mainboard for being defective, all within a month's time.

 

[2is]

Just thought I'd offer it to put your mind at ease.

For the record, I actually built my Ivy system before my Sandy one. It was my first build since my Q6600 purchase 4+ years ago and due to my excitement, I went pretty high end on everything. My Q was relegated to a secondary gaming box which I do use fairly often but I just wasn't happy with BF3 performance on it after playing it on the new system. Fry's had the 2500k on sale for 169AR so I snagged it along with the GB board and the cheapest 8GB DDR3 set they had. Slapped everything together for a "cheap" but very capable 2nd gaming machine. I spend literally half as much on those three components as I did on my Ivy build and as far as gaming goes, the only appreciable difference is the 680 in the Ivy system vs a 5870.

 

[Marckitop]

hello I need to know if the board has DS3H Z77-Vcore voltage to set it is very important, I want to see screenshots.

 

[Marckitop]

please the only network that can help you know are!!

 

[lehtv]

Marckitop, unfortunately there is no option to set vCore with Z77-DS3H, see here: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1998/14/

Even without it, you should be able to get a stable OC a bit past 4GHz

 

[ehume]

Hmm.

The guy with the 2500k sees a Vcore adjustment capacity.

The review with the 3770k cannot see Vcore adjustment.

Hmm.

 

[liamjf]

I am pretty sure 2is has the D3H whereas the review and other sites mention the lack of v core adjustment with the slightly cheaper DS3H

I am trying to confirm if this is true 100% as I wish to overclock (slightly) my soon to be purchased 3570K. Hopefully this helps (me as well!)

Cheers, Liam.

 

[NickelPlate]

On my 8th month with my GA-Z77-D3H and no complaints. It's been a solid board and right in your price range and plenty of BIOS options. I did build over Christmas for my brother with Gigabyte's SLI version of this board which is not in your price range but it also has been a solid performer.