ASUS Z97-DELUXE Motherboard Performance Review

By David Ramsey

Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
Product Name: LGA1150 Intel Motherboard
Model Number: Z97-DELUXE
Price As Tested: DELUXE $289.99 (Newegg), DELUXE NFC WLC $399.99 (Newegg)

Full Disclosure: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. provided the product sample used in this article.

Benchmark Reviews provided you with an early look at the hardware features built into the ASUS Z97-DELUXE LGA1150 motherboard in this article. However, due to embargoes in effect at the time, we couldn’t provide performance figures. Now we can.

With Intel being the sole supplier of chipsets for their processors, all motherboards with the same CPU and supporting chipset will provide pretty much the same performance at stock settings. Vendors strive to distinguish their products with additional features, which can be as disparate as a clever new BIOS or entirely new hardware capabilities grafted on via custom or third-party silicon. From a performance perspective, ASUS has historically added value with enhancements to standard interfaces, such as their accelerated USB 3.0, and hardware and software features that make overclocking easier, even for the novice. With the Z97-DELUXE they’ve even added entirely new high speed interfaces: M.2 and SATA Express. If you’re looking for a future-proof board for your next rig, this could be it.

Test Methodology

However, in this article we’re concerned with pure computational performance. I’ll go over the features the motherboard provides to enable you to get the best from your silicon, and examine the variety of automatic tuning features it has. I’ll run benchmarks with the board at its stock settings, as well as with the settings reached with its automated overclocking features. Last, I’ll test under the highest overclock I can reach “by hand.”

Test System

• Motherboard: ASUS Z97-DELUXE
• Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K “Haswell” CPU
• System Memory: 8G (2x4G) DDR3-2133 at 11-12-11-30 timings
• Video Card: NVIDIA GTX580 reference card
• CPU Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow
• Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium x64

Benchmark Applications

• AIDA64 Enginner v4.30.2900
• SPECViewPerf 11
• x264HD 5.0

Let’s start with a look at the UEFI BIOS in the next section.