Updating BIOS using USB BIOS Flashback. Review and testing of ASUS GRYPHON Z87 motherboard Test system configuration

PrefaceIn connection with the transition to the new Microsoft Windows 8.1 operating system and a slight change in the configuration of the test bench, we have begun the second series of reviews of motherboards based on Intel Z87 logic and designed for LGA1150 processors. List of tested models has already exceeded one and a half dozen and we can say that we have managed to get acquainted with the bulk of the most interesting boards. Of course, it is unrealistic to test absolutely all boards, if only because manufacturers are systematically expanding their range and regularly announcing new models. In addition, a number of boards that are quite attractive from different points of view have not yet fallen into the sphere of our interests. For example, of the ASUSTeK motherboards intended for gaming and overclocking enthusiasts, which belong to the “ROG” (The Republic of Gamers) series, we tested only one model, but there are five varieties of such LGA1150 boards, and a series of high-reliability boards with an extended warranty period, “TUF” (The Ultimate Force) remained completely outside our attention.

As a matter of fact, we were going to study the traditionally armored Asus Sabertooth Z87 model in the next review, but then we thought about it and changed our plans. The fact is that, first of all, we usually test full-size ATX form factor boards or even large-sized E-ATX models, meanwhile, microATX boards are gradually becoming more and more attractive. They are the same width as ATX boards (although they may be smaller), and they are shorter and equal in length to the width; they are usually square with sides of 244 mm. The difference in length is reflected in the number of slots for expansion cards, of which there can only be four, and not seven, as on ATX boards. It may seem that microATX boards differ from full-size ones only by their shorter length and because of this, fewer connectors, but this is not entirely true. Modern computers rarely include more than two expansion cards; four slots would be sufficient in most cases. This is not why enthusiasts dislike microATX models, but because they are inconvenient to assemble and modify.

The optimal locations for placing elements on boards have long been known. Most manufacturers follow the principles that have been proven over the years, and ATX boards with an unsuccessful design have almost ceased to be seen. The main rule when creating an ATX board is to place all the necessary capabilities in the most convenient way. For a microATX board, this rule sounds similar, but the essence is fundamentally different - you need to somehow place the necessary elements in a limited area. As a result, you have to suffer with microATX boards, where the video card connector is so close to the processor socket that it is impossible to install a large cooling system. Where it is difficult to change or add memory modules, since you cannot open the latches because they rest against the video card. Where a large expansion card covers the SATA ports, the power connector sticks out somewhere in the middle of the board, and you don’t even have to think about the optimal location and a sufficient number of other elements, such as fan connectors. The reduced dimensions of the board do not greatly affect the reduction in the dimensions of the system unit, so the enthusiast, without losing practically anything, switched to ATX boards and for a long time forgot about the slightly more compact and inexpensive, but very inconvenient microATX models.

However, all this was in the past, but now the situation is changing. Modern logic sets include all the necessary basic capabilities and support current interfaces, so there is no need to use a large number of additional controllers to create a board. Even if additional chips are required, their production rates have decreased and network controller or audio codec chips have become much more compact than before. Large IDE, FDD and LPT connectors have disappeared from the boards; modern SATA and USB occupy less area, which also saves space. It is quite possible that we have been held captive by outdated misconceptions for too long. By choosing ATX motherboards, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to purchase a microATX model of equal capabilities, only a little cheaper. In this regard, we decided to make a short excursion and, as part of the second series of reviews, study several microATX boards from different manufacturers. Not forgetting the need to look at the “TUF” series motherboard, we decided that the Asus Gryphon Z87 motherboard would be a good starting model.

Packaging and equipment

The design of the box with the Asus Gryphon Z87 motherboard is somewhat different from the usual models from ASUSTeK, but the principles remain the same. On the front side we see the name of the board and logos, among which stands out an emblem reminiscent of the five-year warranty period. On the reverse side you can find an image of the board and its rear panel of connectors, a short list of technical characteristics and information about some features.

The list of included accessories was unusually long for such a small board. It includes:

four Serial ATA cables with metal latches, half with straight, half with L-shaped connectors, all cables are specifically designed for connecting SATA 6 Gb/s devices (distinguished by white inserts on the connectors);
flexible bridge for combining two video cards in SLI mode;
plug for the rear panel (I/O Shield);
a set of “Asus Q-Connector” adapters, including modules to simplify the connection of buttons and indicators on the front panel of the system unit, as well as a USB 2.0 connector;
user guide;
poster with brief assembly instructions;
reliability certificate indicating the testing methods for components;
notification of a five-year warranty period;
DVD with software and drivers;
“Powered by ASUS” sticker and “TUF INSIDE” decal for the system unit.

Design and features

The descriptions of the basic capabilities of the various motherboards that we test often look similar, almost identical, which is not at all surprising, since they are all based on the Intel Z87 chipset. And now we can say that the Asus Gryphon Z87 board supports all modern models of LGA1150 processors. In this she is helped by a digital power system that works according to the 8 +2 formula, created on the basis of high-quality elements. However, already at this moment, differences can be detected, because the element base, undergoing intensive testing, is approximately the same as in products intended for the needs of the army or for creating servers, allowing ASUSTeK to provide a five-year warranty period for “TUF” series boards. Four slots for DDR3 memory modules can accommodate a maximum capacity of 32 GB, as on other models, but the maximum frequency is 1866 MHz, and not the usual 2933 or even 3000+ MHz. However, you should not be afraid of this limitation. The board's BIOS allows you to set any available coefficients to set the memory operating frequency, so our modules worked on the board at a frequency of 2133 MHz no worse or slower than on other models.

Six SATA 6 Gb/s ports are quite enough for a small board; it successfully manages without additional drive controllers, like many other models of this form factor, but the set of connectors for expansion cards is again non-standard. Since the Intel Z87 chipset allows dividing PCI Express processor lines, it would be quite expected to see two PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, although many models make do with just one. However, the Asus Gryphon Z87 board has three PCI Express x16 slots, and supports technologies for joint operation of AMD Quad-GPU CrossFireX or NVIDIA Quad-GPU SLI video cards. The first two connectors belong to the third generation of this interface and can share PCI-E 3.0 processor lines (1x16 or 2x8) among themselves. The third is based on second generation chipset lines and provides maximum x4 speed. In addition, the board is equipped with one PCI Express 2.0 x1 connector, but there is no room for the usual PCI connector.

Refusal of outdated interfaces is a conscious decision that is typical for many ASUSTeK boards. On the Asus Gryphon Z87 you won't find a serial COM port, you won't find PS/2 connectors for a keyboard or mouse on the rear panel, and there's even no D-Sub analog video output. In general, the rear panel of connectors is not inspiring; there is too much unused free space left, but the basic set of necessary interfaces is present:

four USB 2.0 ports, and four more can be connected to two internal connectors on the board;
DVI-D and HDMI video connectors;
four USB 3.0 ports (blue connectors) appeared thanks to the capabilities of the Intel Z87 chipset, and two additional USB 3.0 ports can be output using one internal connector;
local network connector (the network adapter is built on a gigabit Intel WGI217V controller);
optical S/PDIF, as well as six analog audio connectors, which are provided by the eight-channel Realtek ALC892 codec.

By the way, we completely forgot about one characteristic feature of motherboards that belong to the “TUF” line. Only the logos and characteristic camouflage coloring indicate that the Asus Gryphon Z87 model belongs to this series, but where is the famous armor? It exists, but is no longer installed initially; it can be purchased separately if desired. The Gryphon Armor Kit includes panels for both sides of the motherboard, a screwdriver and the necessary set of fasteners, dust plugs and a small 35mm fan. So our complaints are not entirely fair, the free space above the DVI-D video output was left on purpose, even in the plug for the rear panel connectors there are holes for air exchange in this place, since this optional fan is planned to be placed behind it.

More than once we have seen plugs that prevent infrequently used connectors from becoming clogged with dust. Modern motherboards almost always come with video outputs on the rear panel, but many of them are designed for use with discrete graphics cards. Therefore, some manufacturers began to install protective covers and plugs for video outputs, and some models come with several inserts to protect USB connectors. In addition to the listed plugs, the set of “TUF” series boards includes “Dust Defenders” brackets for unoccupied slots of expansion cards and memory modules, but plugs for audio connectors were found for the first time. Very nice.

We just have to look at the board diagram to evaluate the convenience of its design and pay attention to additional features. For example, for small microATX motherboards it is usually considered sufficient to have only three fan connectors, but the Asus Gryphon Z87 has an unprecedentedly large number of fan connectors. There are seven connectors in total, two of them are processor connectors, and the only three-pin one is intended for a small additional fan. Of the buttons, the first one to mention is “USB BIOS Flashback”, which will help you update the firmware without completely assembling the system, just supply power to the board. In addition to it, there is a “MemOK!” button, which makes it possible to start successfully even if there are problems with RAM, and a “DirectKey” button, which allows you to enter the BIOS without additional actions.

It is worth noting the “Q-Design” technology complex, which simplifies the assembly and operation of a system based on ASUSTeK motherboards. The Asus Gryphon Z87 board is equipped with almost all the capabilities included in this complex, with the exception of the POST code indicator, however, the “Q-LED” LEDs (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED) will help determine the source of problems at startup; with their help, diagnostics are less accurate, but much simpler and faster. “Q-Slot” are convenient wide latches on connectors for video cards, and “Q-DIMM” are one-way latches on connectors for memory modules; on a small board they could not be more appropriate, since they will allow you to replace or add modules without having to remove the installed video card . Q-Shield is a plug for the rear panel (I/O Shield), but instead of pressed-out tabs that try to get inside the connectors during installation, there is a soft electrically conductive gasket on its reverse side. “Q-Connector” is a set of adapters that includes modules to simplify the connection of buttons and indicators on the front panel of the system unit and one internal USB 2.0 connector.

We have compiled all the main technical characteristics of the Asus Gryphon Z87 motherboard into a single table, and by clicking on it, you can open a summary comparative table with the specifications of all previously tested LGA1150 board models:

ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Professional;
ASRock Z87 Extreme4;
ASRock Z87 Extreme6/ac ;
Asus Maximus VI Hero;
Asus Z87-Deluxe;
Asus Z87-K;
Asus Z87-Pro;
Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5;
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H ;
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC ;
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ;
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5H ;
Intel DZ87KLT-75K ;
MSI Z87-G43 ;
MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING ;
MSI Z87 MPOWER.

BIOS Features

In previous reviews, we have repeatedly examined in sufficient detail the capabilities of the BIOS of LGA1150 boards from ASUSTeK. This time we have a small board, but its BIOS is almost exactly the same, only its color scheme is different, so let’s just quickly go through the sections and refresh our memory of the main features. As before, by default when entering the BIOS we are greeted with the simplified “EZ Mode”. It allows you to find out the basic characteristics of the system, select an economical or productive operating mode, and set the order in which boot devices are polled by simply dragging them with the mouse. In addition to the ability to set the correct time and date, as well as select the fan operating mode, you can apply “X.M.P.” profiles. for memory modules and view information about connected drives. The "F7" key is used to switch from "EZ Mode" to the "Advanced Mode" mode, or you can use the "F3" key, which allows you to quickly move to one of the most frequently used BIOS sections.

Every time you enter the BIOS, you can switch from “EZ Mode” to “Advanced Mode”; you can use the F3 key, which, by the way, works in all other sections of the BIOS, but it will be much more convenient if you set the “Advanced Mode” starting in the settings. In this case, the familiar “Main” section will appear first before our eyes. It provides basic information about the system, allows you to set the current date and time, and it is possible to change the BIOS interface language, including Russian. In the “Security” subsection you can set user and administrator access passwords. However, the “Main” section is no longer the first in the list; a new “My Favorites” section has appeared before it. It's designed to bring together all the settings you use most often in one place. Initially, the section is empty and contains only reference information on how to add or remove options using the mouse or keyboard. It must be said that there are a number of prohibitions for selecting parameters, and they apply not only to entire sections or subsections, but even to individual parameters that contain submenus. The list of options displayed by pressing the “F3” key has been eliminated from such annoying restrictions, which can now also be edited by deleting unnecessary ones and adding necessary items. So maximum flexibility can only be obtained from sharing the “My Favorites” section and the menu with the most commonly used links, which is not at all as convenient as it could be in the absence of restrictions. In addition, the “My Favorites” section seemed to be on the sidelines; it cannot be selected as a starting one, like any other section, so this is also a drawback.

The bulk of the options necessary for overclocking are concentrated in the “Ai Tweaker” section. It was already rather large, but it has become even larger since the number of information parameters at the beginning has increased, multipliers have been added to change the cache memory frequency in the middle, and voltage-controlling parameters have been added towards the end of the section. Moreover, initially you see a far from complete list of parameters, since all of them are set automatically by the board, but as soon as you proceed to manual configuration, many previously hidden options immediately appear.

For example, as soon as you change the value of the “Ai Overclock Tuner” parameter to “X.M.P.” to automatically change the parameters of the memory subsystem, or to “Manual”, options will immediately appear designed to change the base frequency and control the processor multipliers. Voltages can be set both above and below the nominal value; the current values ​​are indicated next to the parameters that change them, which is very convenient. When changing CPU voltage, you can now choose between three different options. It can be rigidly fixed at a certain value, you can only add or remove the required value in the “Offset” mode, or you can use the adaptive (interpolation) option. We have already talked in more detail about the differences between the three methods of changing the voltage on the processor in the review of the Asus Z87-K board.

Some parameters are traditionally placed in subsections so as not to overly clutter the main one. Changing memory timings is included on a separate page; their number is very large, but using the capabilities of this subsection is quite convenient. Using the scroll bar, it is easy to see all the timings that are set by the board for two memory channels. You can change only a few of them, for example, only the main ones, leaving the default values ​​for the rest.

It is impossible not to notice the large number of options related mainly to power and energy consumption, which appeared thanks to the DIGI+ digital power system. Directly in the BIOS, you can control proprietary energy-saving technologies that allow you to change the number of active processor power phases depending on its load level. The “CPU Load-Line Calibration” technology for counteracting the voltage drop on the processor under load can not only be turned on or off, but also the degree of counteraction can be adjusted.

ASUSTeK boards have the advantage of numerous options in the “CPU Power Management” subsection. In addition to the usual parameters available on boards from other manufacturers that allow you to increase the permissible limits of processor consumption, a number of additional options will make it possible to speed up response time and reduce power consumption at rest.

This concludes the capabilities of the “Ai Tweaker” section; meanwhile, we have not yet found a whole group of very important options that control processor energy-saving technologies. This is a characteristic drawback not only of ASUSTeK motherboards, but also of most motherboards from other manufacturers. The root of the problem lies in the AMI BIOS, which underlies the UEFI BIOS of modern boards and its irrational basic layout.

The capabilities of the subsections of the “Advanced” section are generally well known to us and are clear by their names. They allow you to configure the operation of the logic set and additional controllers, various interfaces, and enable specific technologies such as “Intel Rapid Start” and “Intel Smart Connect”.

In the “CPU Configuration” subsection, we learn basic information about the processor and manage some processor technologies, for example, virtualization technology. However, we still do not see parameters related to Intel processor power-saving technologies, since they are placed on a separate “CPU Power Management Configuration” page. In fact, initially only the first three parameters are visible on the screen, since the “CPU C States” option is set to “Auto”, and all subsequent parameters are hidden. We specifically changed the value of the “CPU C States” option to “Enabled” to demonstrate the large number of previously hidden parameters that are available for change. They have a very significant impact on the system's idle power consumption, so it's best to set their values ​​manually rather than leave them to the board's discretion.

The “Monitor” section reports the current values ​​of temperatures, voltages and fan speeds. For all fans, you can select preset speed control modes from the standard set: “Standard”, “Silent” or “Turbo”, leave the rotation speed at full speed, or select the appropriate parameters in manual mode.

A characteristic drawback of many modern motherboards was the lost ability to regulate the rotation speed of three-pin processor fans, but now this function has finally returned to ASUSTeK motherboards.

Next is the “Boot” section, where we select the parameters that will be applied when the system starts. Here, by the way, you need to change the starting mode “EZ Mode” to “Advanced Mode”. At the same time, you can disable the “Fast Boot” parameter during setup so as not to encounter problems when entering the BIOS due to the fact that the board starts up very quickly and you simply do not have time to press the key in time. The next section, “Tools,” contains a couple of extremely important and regularly used subsections and one almost useless one. The built-in utility for updating firmware “Asus EZ Flash 2” is one of the most convenient and functional programs of its kind. One of the advantages is support for reading from partitions formatted in the NTFS system. So far only motherboards from ASUSTeK and Intel have this feature. Unfortunately, the ability to save the current firmware version before updating has been completely eliminated. The “Asus Overclocking Profile” subsection allows you to save and quickly load eight complete BIOS settings profiles. Each profile can be given a short name that reminds you of its content. Profiles can be exchanged by saving them on external media. The downside is that the bug that prevents profiles from remembering whether to disable the display of the start image has not yet been fixed.

In addition, in the “Tools” section there is a subsection “Asus SPD Information”, where you can view the information embedded in the SPD of memory modules, including XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) profiles. However, the place for this subsection was chosen poorly, because memory delays change in a completely different subsection, very far from here and it is inconvenient to use the information provided.

In the center of the right side of the screen, above the constantly reminded list of “hot keys”, two buttons are visible - “Quick Note” and “Last Modified”.

The first allows you to write down and leave some important reminder for yourself, and the second displays a list of the latest changes made; it is saved even when you reboot or turn off the system. You can always look and remember what changes were made in the BIOS settings last time, and now you don’t even have to enter the BIOS to do this, since the “Save to USB” button allows you to save the list of changes to external media.

The “BIOS Setting Change” pop-up window, similar to “Last Modified,” turned out to be extremely convenient, which automatically shows a list of changes every time the settings are saved. By looking at the list, you can easily check that the specified values ​​are correct before applying changes, and make sure that there are no erroneous or forgotten options. In addition, using this window it is easy to find out the differences between the current settings and the values ​​​​recorded in the BIOS profiles. After loading the profile, you will instantly see absolutely all its differences from the previously specified parameters in the “BIOS Setting Change” window that appears.

To summarize, we can say that the capabilities of the Asus EFI BIOS were already very good, and therefore there was no need for deep processing, only a certain correction was required to eliminate shortcomings. It was carried out and in the new BIOS modification you can find many changes for the better. Some are not very significant, for example, a slight increase in functionality to the almost completely useless “EZ Mode”. Others are more important, including the new “My Favorites” section, the ability to leave notes and edit the list of the most frequently used BIOS sections, which can be displayed at any time by pressing the “F3” key. The "Last Modified" list of changes made is useful, and the "BIOS Setting Change" pop-up window with a list of current changes that will be applied has proven extremely useful. I'm glad to see the returning ability to regulate three-pin processor fans, although in this case, instead of the proverb “Better late than never,” it would be more correct to use another one: “A good spoon for dinner.”

At the same time, the bug that prevents profiles from remembering whether to disable the display of the start image has not yet been corrected. The parameters of the “CPU Power Management Configuration” page, which play a very important role in system energy saving, are still not included in the “Ai Tweaker” section; they are too inconvenient to get to. The widespread use of the “My Favorites” section is hampered by serious restrictions on adding parameters and the impossibility of selecting it as a starting section, as well as any other section. The “EPU Power Saving Mode” parameter, which includes proprietary energy-saving technologies, has lost its configuration flexibility. Previously, you could independently choose the most suitable saving level, but now you can only turn it on or off.

Test system configuration

All experiments were carried out on a test system including the following set of components:

Motherboard - Asus Gryphon Z87 rev. 1.03 (LGA1150, Intel Z87, BIOS version 1603);
Processor - Intel Core i5-4670K (3.6-3.8 GHz, 4 cores, Haswell, 22 nm, 84 W, LGA1150);
Memory - 4 x 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM G.SKILL TridentX F3-2133C9Q-32GTX, (2133 MHz, 9-11-11-31-2N, supply voltage 1.6 V);
Video card - Gigabyte GV-R797OC-3GD (AMD Radeon HD 7970, Tahiti, 28 nm, 1000/5500 MHz, 384-bit GDDR5 3072 MB);
Disk subsystem - Crucial m4 SSD (CT256M4SSD2, 256 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s);
Cooling system - Scythe Mugen 3 Revision B (SCMG-3100);
Thermal paste - ARCTIC MX-2;
Power supply - Enhance EPS-1280GA, 800 W;
The case is an open test bench based on the Antec Skeleton case.

The operating system used was Microsoft Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64 bit (Microsoft Windows, Version 6.3, Build 9600), a set of drivers for the Intel Chipset Device Software 9.4.0.1027 chipset, and a video card driver - AMD Catalyst 13.9.

Nuances of operation in nominal mode

Initially, we had certain concerns about assembling a test system based on the Asus Gryphon Z87 microATX board. The Scythe Mugen 3 cooling system we use is not gigantic, but still quite large; it is a tower cooler with a 120 mm fan. I didn’t want to change it in order to maintain the possibility of comparison with previously tested full-size ATX boards. Fortunately, the assembly did not cause any problems, the system was successfully turned on and working. Using the built-in utility, the BIOS firmware was updated to the latest version at the time of testing, but then we had to deal with a series of errors and shortcomings, traditional for ASUSTeK motherboards.

When the ASUSTeK board starts up, they show a boot image, which suggests that you can enter the BIOS by pressing the “Del” or “F2” keys. However, these are standard features that do not require reminders, and the remaining keys, individual for different manufacturers, are traditionally forgotten. For example, to display a menu that allows you to select a starting device for an emergency boot, Asus boards use the “F8” key. There is information about this in the manual, but a hint would be very appropriate and would be very useful when starting the board, but for some reason it is still missing.

The output of the boot image can be permanently disabled using the appropriate setting in the BIOS or temporarily, only for the current start using the “Tab” key, but we will not wait for the prompts to appear, but we will see another characteristic drawback. As you go through the startup procedure, the board will display a lot of useful information about the model name, BIOS version, processor name, memory size and frequency, number and type of USB devices, as well as a list of connected drives. However, it is impossible to find out the real frequency of the processor; the board reports only the nominal one. In fact, its frequency will be higher not only during overclocking, but even when operating in normal mode, since under load it will be increased by Intel Turbo Boost technology. This drawback is all the more annoying since we know that ASUSTeK motherboards, which belong to the ROG series, are able to correctly determine not only the nominal, but also the real frequency of the processor.

We know the advantages of ASUSTeK motherboards, there are a lot of them, they belong to a variety of areas, most are serious and significant. The shortcomings are also familiar, some can be corrected, the rest you just have to put up with and try not to notice. Among the shortcomings there are no critical ones that would, in principle, prevent the boards from being used for their intended purpose, but the number of disadvantages is also very large, and this significantly spoils the pleasure of working with the boards. To make it clearer, let's try to list the steps that need to be performed to ensure efficient operation of the board in nominal mode.

After entering the BIOS, we load the default settings, set the correct time and date, and determine the startup order of the drives. You may need to individually configure the operation of expansion card slots, enable specific technologies, or otherwise change parameters. These are standard procedures with which the use of any board begins, so we will not take them into account, but when entering the BIOS of the ASUSTeK board we find ourselves in the “EZ Mode” mode, so first we need to switch to the “Advanced Mode” - this once, and at the same time immediately make it start in the “Boot” section - that’s two. There you should also disable the “Fast Boot” option so as not to encounter problems with subsequent entries into the BIOS - that’s three.

It's great that the boards automatically adjust the fan speed depending on the temperature. However, in the BIOS pictures, you could see that the number of revolutions of the processor fan was highlighted in red. This means that the board itself reduced the rotation speed, but was immediately afraid that it had become too low, and therefore the start would be paused every time the system was started. A warning message indicating that the speed is too low will appear on the screen and the system will wait for your decision. Previously, you had to simply ignore this parameter, but now you can reduce the minimum permissible fan rotation speed in the “Monitor” section - that’s four.

There is no need to adjust anything in the “Ai Tweaker” section, but in its “DIGI+ Power Control” subsection you need to enable the optimal mode for the “CPU Power Phase Control” and “DRAM Power Phase Control” parameters - this was the fifth stage. When the processor load is high, ASUSTeK motherboards now disable Intel Turbo Boost technology and reset the processor frequency to nominal. If the load is typical and not too large, then the drops are short-lived, and we will see later that they do not affect the system performance at all. However, under high load, the frequency will always remain low and the speed drop will be significant, and to fix this, in the “CPU Power Management” subsection you must manually increase the permissible consumption limits. At the same time, you need to read the context clues for the remaining parameters of the subsection; they relate to the power converter integrated into Haswell processors, and some of them also allow you to reduce power consumption at rest. This was the sixth point.

In the BIOS of ASUSTeK motherboards, it takes so long to get to the parameters that play a very important role that control Intel’s energy-saving technologies that it seems as if for some reason they are hidden on purpose. To find them, you need to go to the “Advanced” section, then go to the “CPU Configuration” subsection, and then go to the separate “CPU Power Management Configuration” page. Initially, only the first three parameters are visible on the screen, since the “CPU C States” option is set to “Auto”, and all subsequent options are hidden. If you change the value of this parameter to “Enabled”, you can find a considerable number of previously hidden options. Now most of them are already working, and for the correct operation of energy-saving technologies, all that remains is to enable the “Package C State Support” parameter. Seven. To complete this whole saga, in the “APM” subsection of the “Advanced” section, you need to enable the “ErP Ready” option to save energy when turned off.

In total, we need to go through eight main stages, many of which include several separate actions at once, and all this is just to ensure normal, optimal and economical operation of the system. To be honest, I would really like all the necessary parameter values ​​to be set automatically by the board when selecting the “Load Optimized Defaults” option, without requiring long, boring and tedious manual adjustments.

Features of processor overclocking

First, let's look at what automatic ways to improve performance the Asus Gryphon Z87 motherboard offers us. As with other ASUSTeK boards, it is easy to use the Asus MultiCore Enhancement function, which, at any load level, will allow you to increase the processor multiplier to the maximum value provided by Intel Turbo Boost technology only for a single-threaded load. Initially, the parameter is set to “Auto”, but it does not function, and to enable it, you need to set the “Ai Overclock Tuner” option to “Manual” or “X.M.P.”. To achieve more significant results, it is suggested to use the “OC Tuner” parameter. When you select the “Ratio Only” value, overclocking is carried out by increasing the processor multiplication factor, and when you select the “BCLK First” value, in addition to changing the multiplier, the base frequency increases. However, any automatic overclocking method is not ideal on any motherboard, so we generally don't recommend using it. By painstakingly selecting the most optimal values ​​of parameters that affect overclocking, we always get much better results. Either the final values ​​will be higher, or comparable, but with lower power consumption and heat dissipation.

The most rational way is to overclock the processor without increasing its voltage, but on an Asus board you cannot simply increase the processor multiplier and not change anything else. In this case, the voltage on the processor cores will be automatically increased by the board, and the voltage converter integrated into the processor will immediately detect the increase and independently begin to raise the voltage even more under load. All this will most likely lead to overheating and certainly to a waste of energy, and we will not be able to achieve any energy-efficient overclocking. To avoid the board automatically increasing the voltage when overclocking the processor, you need to set the “CPU Core Voltage” parameter to manual mode, but do not touch anything else. In this case, the voltage is not increased by the board, and therefore is not increased by the converter integrated into Haswell processors. Just in case, you can also disable the “CPU Load-Line Calibration” technology to counteract the voltage drop on the processor under load and the “Internal PLL Overvoltage” parameter. They may be needed only at very high overclocking, but are not needed at normal overclocking.

Only overclocking without increasing voltage can be energy efficient. It will significantly increase productivity, speed up calculations, and at the same time, the total energy costs, despite the increase in energy consumption per unit of time, will even be reduced, since by accelerating calculations the amount of electrical energy required to carry out the same amount of calculations will be reduced. Only such acceleration will have a minimal impact on environmental pollution and will not have a negative impact on the environment, which was convincingly proven a long time ago in the article “ Power consumption of overclocked processors" However, when testing motherboards, we are faced with a different task. It is necessary to ensure the maximum possible and most varied load, to test the boards when operating in a variety of modes, which is why we do not use the optimal overclocking method, but the one that allows us to achieve the best results. For motherboard tests, the higher the frequency and voltage, the better, because the greater the load on the board. Only when working in extreme, close to limiting conditions can problems be identified more easily and quickly, errors and shortcomings be detected.

Previously, we always increased the voltage in the “Offset” mode, plus for LGA1150 processors an adaptive or interpolation mode similar in operating principle became available, but for Haswell processors both options turned out to be unacceptable. As you already know, when you add any, even the smallest value to the standard voltage, the stabilizer integrated into these processors immediately notices the changes and when a load appears, it begins to increase the voltage even more. All this naturally leads to an increase in heat generation and temperature, and as a result, this overclocking method turns out to be inapplicable due to overheating. To avoid this negative effect, Haswell processors have to be overclocked at a constant, constant and fixed voltage. It is for this reason that when testing motherboards, we overclock the processor to 4.5 GHz while fixing the voltage on the cores at 1.150 V while simultaneously using the parameters recorded in the “X.M.P.” profile for the memory modules.

Of course, when overclocking with voltage fixing on the processor cores, energy-saving technologies partially stop working, the processor multiplier at rest drops, but the voltage no longer decreases and remains excessively high. We have to reassure ourselves that this is not for long, only out of necessity and only for the duration of tests, and, moreover, usually it has almost no effect on the system’s power consumption at rest.

By the way, we previously published the article “ LGA1150 Haswell processors - correct operation in normal mode and overclocking methods" This material is intended to explain to new users of the LGA1150 platform the basic principles of selecting optimal parameters for operation in nominal mode and for overclocking Haswell processors on motherboards from various manufacturers. There you will find illustrated recommendations for enabling Intel energy-saving technologies and increasing the permissible consumption limits of processors, and how to overclock them with an increase in the voltage on the cores without that.

Performance Comparison

We traditionally compare motherboards by speed in two modes: when the system operates under nominal conditions, and also when overclocking the processor and memory. The first option is interesting from the point of view that it allows you to find out how well motherboards work with default parameters. It is known that a significant part of users do not fine-tune the system; they only set standard values ​​for parameters in the BIOS, which are not optimal, and do not change anything else. So we carried out the test, usually without interfering with the default settings given by the boards. Unfortunately, for most LGA1150 boards this testing option turned out to be prohibitive, since many models required one or another correction of the values. As a result, we were forced to publish a long list of changes we made to the settings of certain models, and the very meaning of testing in this mode was lost. Instead of seeing what the boards would deliver with the default settings, we showed almost identical results from our correction.

In a new series of reviews of LGA1150 boards, we decided to return the information content to tests with standard settings. We don't change or adjust anything else. Whatever parameter values ​​the board sets with default settings are what it is tested with, even if they differ significantly from the nominal ones. At the same time, you need to understand that it is very bad when some model is slower than all the others, but it is equally no good if the board is faster than all its competitors. In this case, this does not mean that it is better than others, but only that the board does not comply with the normal operating mode. Only average results, close to the majority, are acceptable and desirable, since it is well known that related models, when working under equal conditions, demonstrate almost the same level of speed. In this regard, we even thought about abandoning the designation of the best results on the charts, but then we left the traditional sorting in descending order of performance, and the indicators of the Asus Gryphon Z87 model are highlighted in color for clarity.

In the Cinebench 15 photorealistic 3D rendering test, we run CPU tests five times and average the results.

The Fritz Chess Benchmark utility has been used in tests for a very long time and has proven itself to be excellent. It produces highly repeatable results, and performance scales well depending on the number of computational threads used.

The x264 FHD Benchmark v1.0.1 (64bit) test allows you to evaluate system performance in video encoding speed in comparison with the results available in the database. The original version of the program with the r2106 encoder allows you to use AVX processor instructions for encoding, but we replaced the executable libraries with the r2334 version in order to be able to use the new AVX2 instructions that appeared on Haswell processors. The average results of five passes are presented in the diagram.

We measure performance in Adobe Photoshop CC using our own test, a creative reworking of the Retouch Artists Photoshop Speed ​​Test, which involves typical processing of four 24-megapixel images taken with a digital camera.

Processor performance under cryptographic load is measured by the built-in test of the popular TrueCrypt utility, which uses AES-Twofish-Serpent “triple” encryption with a buffer size of 500 MB. It should be noted that this program is not only capable of efficiently loading any number of cores with work, but also supports a specialized set of AES instructions.

The computer game Metro: Last Light is very beautiful, but it is highly dependent on the performance of the video card. We had to use Medium Quality settings to maintain playability at a 1920x1080 screen resolution. The diagram shows the results of passing the built-in test five times.

F1 2013 racing is much less demanding on the computer's graphics subsystem. At 1920x1080 resolution, we set all settings to maximum, selecting the “Ultra High Quality” mode, and additionally enabled all available image quality enhancement features. The test built into the game is carried out five times, and the results are averaged.

In most tests, the Asus Maximus VI Hero motherboard is noticeably ahead of its rivals - this clearly indicates that the board does not comply with the nominal operating mode of the system. From the review of this model We know that it arbitrarily overclocks the processor by 200 MHz during multi-threaded workloads. It is extremely important to note that when you enable parameters that change the standard operating rules of the Intel Turbo Boost technology in the BIOS of other models, you can get exactly the same results, and the capabilities of the K OC option on Gigabyte boards allow you to achieve even higher performance in individual tests . It is very easy to launch the same operating mode on other boards if necessary, but serious difficulties arose when disabling it on the ROG series model, and therefore this behavior of the board must be considered as a particularly unpleasant drawback. As for the Asus Gryphon Z87 model, it is obvious that short-term drops in the processor frequency to the nominal did not affect its performance at all. Under typical loads, the board demonstrates normal speed, which differs little from other related models that provide the nominal operating mode of the system.

Now let's see what results the systems will demonstrate when the processor and memory frequencies are increased. The same performance was achieved on all boards - the processor was overclocked to a frequency of 4.5 GHz with the core voltage fixed at 1,150 V, and the memory frequency was raised to 2133 MHz with timings 9-11-11-31-2N according to the “X.M.P. "

When overclocking the processor and increasing the memory frequency, the performance of the motherboards turned out to be almost the same, which was to be expected. It's a pity that we didn't see a similar situation when comparing boards with standard settings. Depending on the test application, the boards are periodically swapped, but the difference in speed is small. In this case, the performance of the Asus Gryphon Z87 board is no different from the others, since during overclocking we manually raised the permissible limits for processor consumption and its multiplier does not drop under load.

Energy consumption measurements

Measurement of power consumption of systems when operating in nominal mode and during overclocking is carried out using the Extech Power Analyzer 380803 device. The device is turned on before the computer's power supply, that is, it measures the consumption of the entire system “from the outlet,” with the exception of the monitor, but including losses in the power supply itself. When measuring consumption at rest, the system is inactive, we wait for the complete cessation of post-start activity and the absence of access to the drive. The results in the diagrams are sorted according to consumption growth, and the indicators of the Asus Gryphon Z87 model are highlighted in color for clarity. However, this could not be done, since the board always takes a leading position, being at the top of the list, but, oddly enough, we will not always be pleased with this result.

At no load, the small microATX board Asus Gryphon Z87 was able to outperform even the traditionally economical Micro-Star motherboard, but the other two models are disappointing. Judging by previous test results of full-size LGA1150 boards, the average consumption level for them is 45 W, but a couple of boards from ASUSTeK and Gigabyte with default settings consume significantly more than this value.

It must be said that with all their shortcomings, Haswell processors have an undeniable advantage in the form of lower idle power consumption compared to LGA1155 processors. Unfortunately, boards working with nominal settings do not give us the opportunity to see this, and therefore we added another additional diagram with a mode we called “Eco”. This is the same normal operating mode that the boards provide with default settings; we only manually changed the values ​​of all parameters related to Intel processor energy-saving technologies in the BIOS from “Auto” to “Enabled”.

The difference turned out to be significant, the results have improved, the consumption of most systems has noticeably decreased, and the Asus microATX board is still in the lead, only now its closest competitor has changed. The Asus Maximus VI Hero model has all the energy-saving technologies working properly, it lags behind quite a bit, but the consumption of the Micro-Star board has not changed at all. In fact, according to the device, the decrease in consumption was noticeable, but it turned out to be very insignificant and did not even reach 1 W. Thanks to review of this model we know what explains this strange result. The MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING board does not allow you to fully enable energy-saving technologies, which is why it is inferior to both models from ASUSTeK, but is still superior to the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC board, whose response to enabling energy-saving modes turned out to be rather weak.

Just in case, let us remind you that in the test systems we install a discrete AMD Radeon HD 7970 video card, but if we abandon it and switch to using the graphics core integrated into the processors, then the total consumption of ordinary systems may drop even below 30 W. The cost-effectiveness of Haswell processors at rest is very impressive and looks tempting, but it is a pity that with default settings motherboards do not give us the opportunity to enjoy this advantage; manual correction of BIOS parameters is necessary.

To estimate the typical level of power consumption, we carried out measurements during system performance tests using the Fritz program. It must be said that it almost doesn’t matter which utility to use as a load. Almost any ordinary program that can fully load all four processor cores with work will show very close or even exactly the same results.

The only lagging behind was the board from ASUSTeK, and again we understand the reasons. The Asus Maximus VI Hero board does not comply with the nominal operating mode of the processor; it overestimates its frequency, and therefore naturally loses in comparison with boards that provide standard settings.

To create the maximum load on the Haswell processor, we returned to the “LinX” utility, which is a graphical shell for the Intel Linpack test, and the modification of the program we use uses AVX instructions for calculations. This program provides a load much higher than typical, but when using it, we do not additionally heat the processor with a stream of hot air or an open flame. If one program can load more work than usual and warm up the processor, then it is quite possible that another can too. That is why we check the stability of the overclocked system, and also create a load on the processor during power consumption measurements using the “LinX” utility.

Boards from Gigabyte and Micro-Star demonstrate a normal level of power consumption slightly above 130 W, the Asus Maximus VI Hero board continues to pay for abnormal processor operation and, as expected, turns out to be the most wasteful, but the efficiency of the Asus Gryphon Z87 model is no longer encouraging. The difference is too great compared to other boards; it can no longer be explained by the compactness of the microATX model, as in the previous diagram. Unlike ROG series boards, regular models from ASUSTeK and TUF series boards reset the processor frequency under high load, and therefore are not able to provide the expected level of performance. As a result, it turns out that with default settings, none of the LGA1150 boards from ASUSTeK can provide normal operation of the system. And, I would like to remind you, the leading manufacturer of motherboards allows itself to do this. Extremely sad.

It should be added that for a summary assessment of the level of energy consumed by the system, you must definitely load the video card with work, and the final result will depend on its power. In energy consumption tests, we use only the processor load, but if we measure the energy consumption when operating the AMD Radeon HD 7970 discrete video card in games, the total power consumption of a conventional system will significantly exceed 200 W, approaching 250 W when operating in nominal mode and exceeding this value when overclocked .

Now let’s estimate the power consumption when overclocking systems and without load.

Even when overclocking, we always make full use of all processor energy-saving technologies, and therefore the arrangement remains the same as it was with the “Eco” settings when operating in nominal mode. The power consumption of Asus and MSI boards has hardly increased, both ASUSTeK models are ahead of the Micro-Star board due to its inability to enable the deepest power saving modes, but our previous reviews have shown that many mid- and high-end Gigabyte boards have obvious problems with voltage converters and with the operation of energy-saving technologies. The Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC model became the first LGA1150 board whose power consumption during overclocking turned out to be greater than in nominal mode.

When overclocked and a load appears, the power consumption of any overclocked systems, not just Gigabyte, is already incomparably greater than in the nominal operating mode. Both an increase in frequency and an increase in voltage have an effect. At high loads, the power consumption of boards from ASUSTeK and Micro-Star converges; thanks to their small dimensions and the absence of numerous additional controllers, the small microATX board from Asus is still the leader, while the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC model remains the most power-hungry.

Afterword

The Asus Gryphon Z87 motherboard is the first microATX model we've tested for LGA1150 processors, and in many ways it's unlike conventional motherboards of this size. There are not many models of this format with three PCI Express x16 slots; it is unlikely that we will come across another one that has seven fan connectors, all of which are adjustable. And there is certainly no other model on which it would be possible to optionally install a protective coating. Not a bad solution, by the way. Those who need it will purchase an additional “Gryphon Armor Kit”, and the rest will be able to save money. Contrary to our fears, the small motherboard did not cause any difficulties when assembling the system. Its design is well thought out, the capabilities are quite sufficient for most users, the overclocking ability and performance in typical tasks do not differ from full-size models, and the level of power consumption turned out to be the lowest and comparable only to the most economical ATX motherboards.

Unfortunately, despite its non-standard nature, in terms of behavior and operating features, the Asus Gryphon Z87 board is no different from ordinary models from ASUSTeK. This is a typical LGA1150 Asus board with a full range of shortcomings, from minor defects at startup to reduced performance under high loads. There is not the slightest desire to recommend it for purchase, like any other LGA1150 board from this company. We can only lament that none of the Asus boards we tested using Intel Z87 logic could provide the nominal operating mode of the system with default settings. Models in the ROG series overclock the processor, while others lower it under high loads - a simply outrageous situation that is unforgivable even for a beginner, and in this case we are talking about a leading motherboard manufacturer. In addition, we know many other disadvantages of ASUSTeK motherboards, but ignoring these models is not only difficult, but also not always necessary. They also have many advantages, but boards from other manufacturers also have their own characteristic problems. In particular, despite its shortcomings, you should definitely pay attention to the Asus Gryphon Z87 model. Many of the shortcomings we noticed can be eliminated, the rest will have to be put up with, and it is a little reassuring that among them there are no critical ones that would, in principle, prevent the use of the board. But this model, like other motherboards in the “TUF” series, will please the owner with a five-year warranty period, which is a very strong argument in its favor.

Hello friends! In today's article we are with you update the BIOS of the ASUS motherboard. This is a serious matter and needs to be treated as such. The process of updating the BIOS of any motherboard, although very simple, any mistake in it will cost you dearly - you will have to bring the motherboard back to life in a service center, since you probably do not have a special programmer. At the beginning of the article, I will briefly remind you what BIOS is.

How to update BIOS on an ASUS motherboard

BIOS is the most important element of a computer - a microprogram written on a chip, which in turn is located on the motherboard.

BIOS - provides basic OS access to the computer's hardware capabilities. In simple words, BIOS explains to the operating system how to use this or that computer component.

Immediately after turning on the system unit, BIOSchecks all devices (POST procedure) and if any component is faulty, thena signal is heard through a special speaker, which can be used to identify the faulty device. Eif everything is fine, The BIOS will begin searching for the OS boot loader code on the connected drives and finding it passes the baton to the operating system.

Now about the not so good. The BIOS update process itself lasts a couple of minutes, but if at this time, the electricity in your house will be turned off, and your computer is not connected to an uninterruptible power supply(UPS), then the operation of the firmware will be disrupted and you simply will not turn on the computer. To restore, you will have to look for a special programmer (BIOS recovery is a topic for a separate article).

I must say that manufacturers foresaw the seriousness of the issue at the dawn of motherboard production completely excluded the possibility of updating or flashing the BIOS, Only very recently the BIOS began to be equipped with a special program for its update. But still,Updating the BIOS of any motherboard usually occurs once in its life, and sometimes not at all.

The most important rule if you work on a computer or laptopquite satisfied, then you don’t need to update anything, butif you still decideupdate the BIOS, then there must be good reasons for this. Here are some of them.

There are no new features in your BIOS. For example, there is no technology AHCI, but there is only an outdated IDE, but you bought a new interface hard drive SATA III (6 Gb/s) or generally SSD. Technology AHCI will allow your drive to use modern capabilities and the operating system on the new hard drive will run faster than in IDE. Having visited the website of your motherboard manufacturer, you saw that a new BIOS update had been released, and you also learned that after the update, your motherboard will supportAHCI! In this case, you can update the BIOS without hesitation.

One of my friends lost sound on his computer, reinstalling Windows and drivers did not help, he decided that the built-in sound card had burned out and bought a discrete one, so the system worked for 7 years, then the processor had to be replaced on this computer, this required updating the BIOS, after the update the built-in The sound card worked.

Another case. The client's computer constantly rebooted and reinstalling the operating system did not help, they replaced everything that was possible in the system unit, they did not change only the motherboard and processor. We finally decided to install new firmware on the BIOS and it helped!

In the “System Information” window that opens, we see the BIOS version - 2003

Now we go to the official website of the manufacturer of our motherboard ASUSP8Z77-V PRO and choose "Drivers and utilities"

Select any operating system and expand the “BIOS” item. We see that there is update 2104 (a newer version than ours).

Click on the “Global” button and download the firmware.

Latest BIOS firmware (P8Z77-V-PRO-ASUS-2104.CAP) downloaded in the archive. We extract it from the archive and copy it to USB-f leshka. The firmware weighs 12 MB.

The USB flash drive must be formatted in the FAT32 file system and must not contain anything other than a BIOS update.

Reboot and enter BIOS.

In the initial BIOS window we see the old firmware version 2003.

Click "Additionally" and go to the additional BIOS settings.

(Left-click on the screenshot to enlarge)

Go to the “Service” tab

Select the BIOS firmware utility - ASUS EZ Flash 2 or you may have ASUS EZ Flash 3.

In the ASUS EZ Flash 2 window we see our USB flash drive with firmware P8Z77-V-PRO-ASUS-2104.CAP.

Click on the file with the firmware with the left mouse button.

Click "OK"

Update BIOS?

Following the senior representative of the TUF series for Haswell processors - Sabertooth Z87 - a junior board - Gryphon Z87 - came to our laboratory. It is intended for more cost-conscious users who do not need to use numerous expansion slots, but the requirements for component reliability are definitely at the forefront. Thermal Radar 2 technology is also not forgotten here, which is designed to ensure the proper level of cooling of system components. In order to reduce the cost, another technology from the proprietary list of TUF products - Dust Defender - was included in the list of options. In other words, the basic package does not include Thermal Armor and other accessories, which, if desired, can be purchased separately.

The functionality of this product is unusually modest for a solution of this level. All elements are a basic set for any modern board. There are no third party controllers. However, the available capabilities of the Z87 are entirely sufficient for modern realities.

Model
Chipset	Intel Z87
CPU socket	Socket 1150
Processors	Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, Pentium (Haswell)
Memory	4 DIMM DDR3 SDRAM 1333/1600/1866, maximum 32 GB
PCI-E slots	2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 (x16+x0, x8+x8) 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16@x4, 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1
PCI slots	-
Built-in video core	Intel HD Graphics 4600
Video connectors	HDMI, DVI-D
Number of connected fans	7 (6x 4pin, 1x 3pin)
PS/2 ports	-
USB ports	6 x 3.0 (4 connectors on the rear panel, Z87) 8 x 2.0 (4 rear panel, Z87)
Serial ATA	6 x SATA 6 Gb/s (Z87)
RAID	0, 1, 5, 10 (Z87)
Built-in sound	ALC892 (7.1, HDA)
S/PDIF	Optic
Networking capabilities	Intel I217V (Gigabit Ethernet)
FireWire	-
LPT	-
COM	-
BIOS/UEFI	AMI UEFI
Form factor	uATX
Dimensions, mm	244 x 244
Additional features	Possibility of connecting a TPM module, Thunderbolt header, AMD Quad CrossFireX and NVIDIA Quad SLI, TUF Thermal Armor (sold separately), TUF Thermal Radar 2

We note the complete absence of dying PS/2, COM and PCI ports on the board.

Packaging and equipment

Thermal Armor and accompanying accessories are combined into a product called the Gryphon Armor Kit, which costs around $50.

The design of both boxes is made in the same strict style, not overloaded with advertising slogans and pictograms. The most striking of their few is the message about a five-year limited warranty.

The back of the box from the board contains its image, a photo of the rear panel and a table with the main characteristics, where the models of sound and network adapters are precisely indicated. Advertising information reveals that part of The Ultimate Force concept that is implemented here. The missing part is located on the back of the Armor Kit box. In addition to the photo, they did not forget to place a very important table, which contains a list of everything that is included in the package.

The kit includes: two Thermal Armor plates, plastic plugs for all internal and external ports, three remote thermocouples, one three-lead fan and a dust filter for it, a screwdriver, installation instructions (in four languages).

In another box, in addition to the motherboard, there are:

• user manual, which illustrates and describes UEFI sub-clauses in detail (in English);
• DIY Guide QR code, leading to the official website page, where detailed instructions for assembling a PC are posted;
• documents on the terms of the limited five-year warranty;
• certificate of quality (reliability) of TUF components;
• disk with drivers and proprietary software;
• sticker with company logo;
• a plug for the case, complemented by a sticker in black tones with a symbolic designation of all sockets;
• four SATA 6Gb/s cables, two of which have an L-shaped connector at one end;
• one flexible bridge for organizing SLI from two video cards;
• a set of adapters for convenient connection of ASUS Q-Connectors.

Appearance

The board dimensions comply with mATX standards. The fastest PCI-E x16 slot is located next to the processor socket. This may affect compatibility with larger CPU cooling systems.

The reverse side is practically devoid of elements. A small group was located in the VRM area of ​​the processor. Thus, the engineers freed up space on the front side for the possible installation of a fan.

The chipset is cooled by a massive heatsink attached to the board via spring-loaded screws.

There are only six SATA sockets, all of them are placed in pairs along the PCB.

At the bottom right corner there are DirectKey and BIOS Flashback buttons. There are also connectors for connecting external thermocouples.

MemOK button! is located in its usual place, namely close to the RAM slots.

In one row - along the bottom edge - there are all kinds of connectors for connecting peripherals. The configuration of the expansion slots is quite classic and to organize a combination of two video cards, slots located one after another relative to each other are used.

All fan sockets are located along the edges of the board, which adds convenience to their use.

The processor power subsystem is eight-phase. It is identical to that of the Z87-Plus board.

Only the cooling of power elements is more significant. A heat pipe and a screw mount are involved, plus the total dissipation area of ​​the radiators is clearly larger.

The power subsystem, despite its “modest” characteristics, quite inspires confidence, especially since there were no problems with a similar VRM on a regular product.

The back panel is minimally crowded, there is nothing superfluous here, all the necessary connectors for a modern system are in place and in the proper quantity.

As for the Armor Kit, installation was painless.

The location of the fan is the same as in a full-fledged product of the TUF series - directly at the heatsink of the processor power subsystem.

Installation of a dust filter is optional. Its use may impair airflow, but within the Dust Defender concept it is an indispensable attribute of the assembled system.

The mounted Thermal Armor protection will not create problems when installing cooling systems, which include standard-sized reinforcement plates.

At the end of the section there is a photo of the rear panel in combination with the Armor Kit.

UEFI Features

The procedure for updating the microcode using the EZ Flash utility went without problems.

The appearance and features of EZ Mode are already familiar to our regular readers from the Sabertooth Z87 review.

In the updated version of this menu, it is now possible to set the current date and time, activate the XMP profile for a suitable set of RAM, and select one of the ready-made fan control scenarios. In addition, basic information about the system components and its operating mode is available here, and the priority of boot devices can also be controlled.

More subtle settings are concentrated in Advanced Mode.

Let's start the review with the Advanced submenu, where most of the settings for all system components are collected.

CPU Configuration, in addition to reference information about the CPU used, provides opportunities to configure its operating modes, for example, you can change the number of active cores.

The CPU Power Manager Configuration tab provides access to Turbo Boost and energy-saving processor operation scenarios.

In the chipset settings, you can limit the operating mode of PCI-E ports, reducing their throughput.

SATA devices can still operate in IDE compatible mode.

System Agent Configuration allows you to route the audio stream through the DVI port, enable support for multi-monitor configurations, set boot priority among video adapters, and limit PCI-E x16 bandwidth.

You can organize sound on the HDMI output in the HD Audio Controller settings.

ErP settings are located in the APM section.

Let's move on to the Monitor section. Here you can find data on the current voltages in the system, the speed of all seven fans, as well as a selection of profiles with scenarios for their operation.

Noteworthy is the item with the self-explanatory name Fan Overtime, which allows you to configure the operation of the fans after turning off the system (we are talking about two in the help field) in order to remove excess warm air from the case.

Since the board does not have a separate power button, DirectKey can take over this role if you make the appropriate changes, which are available in the Boot section.

Here you can also select the default UEFI menu display mode.

The CSM module is still included for better compatibility with various equipment. The UEFI boot loader is deactivated by default - a more loyal one is enabled, which also supports third-party (Legacy) OS.

Configuring the use of different security keys is available in the Secure Boot menu.

The Tool section contains tools that allow you to: save a profile with settings in one of eight slots (or to an external drive) with a label, update the firmware, view the contents of SPD memory modules.

Now let's focus on the main section of UEFI - Ai Tweaker. We did not notice any truncations or simplifications compared to the older boards - Sabertooth Z87 and Z87-Plus.

To start the overclocking procedure, you need to change the value of the Ai Overclock Tuner field. In addition to the manual mode, an option is available when an XMP memory profile is used, which reduces the number of steps to fine-tune the system.

First in line are the components designed to help achieve the highest reference frequency.

To set up the CPU frequency formula, you need to decide on how to achieve the highest value. You can set a multiplier that is the same for all cores and any type of load, or try to increase the frequency a little more by specifying individual multipliers for each type of load in Turbo Boost mode.

The highest RAM frequency can be 3200 MHz with a base frequency of 100 MHz.

The memory latency configuration is very rich.

The main list with parameters is completed by items for automatically overclocking the system and switching it to a reduced power consumption mode.

All settings for the processor and memory power subsystems, united under DIGI+, are next on the list. Last time, when testing the ASUS Z87-Plus, we did not need to interfere with their operation.

They are followed by fine adjustments of the CPU Power Manager voltage regulator built into the CPU.

The last in the Ai Tweaker section are fields with voltage values ​​on various CPU nodes and the board as a whole. All values ​​and limits are absolutely identical to those of the Z87-Plus board.

CPU voltage control is still available in three different ways: Offset, Adaptive and Manual.

Let's summarize all the important parameters in a single table:

Parameter	Adjustment range	Step
BCLK Frequency (MHz)	80-300	0,1
PLL Selection	Auto/LC PLL/SB PLL
Filter PLL	Auto/Low BCLK Mode/High BCLK Mode
Internal PLL Overvoltage	Auto/Enabled/Disabled
CPU Core Ratio (Multiplier)	8-80	1
CPU Load-line Calibration	Auto/Level1…8	1
CPU Current Capability (%)	Auto/100…140	10
CPU Power Thermal Control	130-151	1
CPU Core Voltage Override (V)	0,001-1,92	0,001
CPU Input Voltage (B)	0,8-3,04	0,01
CPU Cache Ratio (Multiplier)	8-80	1
CPU Cache Voltage Override (V)	0,001-1,92	0,001
DRAM Frequency (MHz)	1400-3000, 800-3200	200, 266
DRAM Current Capability (%)	100-130	10
DRAM Power Phase Control	Auto/Optimized/Extreme
DRAM Voltage (B)	1,20-1,92	0,005
CPU System Agent Voltage Offset (V)	(+/-) 0,001-0,999	0,001
PCH Core Voltage (V)	0,70-1,50	0,0125
PCH VLX Voltage (V)	1,20-2,00	0,0125
VTTDDR Voltage (V)	0,60-1,00	0,0125
Max. CPU Graphics Ratio (Multiplier)	8 (by CPU) -60	1
CPU Graphics Voltage Override (V)	0,001-1,92	0,001

Let us remind you that now all changes made can be checked before they are finally saved and the system is rebooted.

Based on the identical VRM and UEFI capabilities of the Ai Tweaker boards Z87-Plus and today's Gryphon Z87, we can assume a complete repetition of the overclocking results of our Core i5-4670K sample, and even, perhaps, identical results of summary performance testing.

Bundled software

The design and contents of the CD accompanying the product are no different.

Using ASUS InstAll goes without any problems - we are presented with a list of drivers and software, among which we must note the products that interest us. After which the wizard will install them independently without unnecessary dialog boxes.

AI Suite of the third revision combines a set of utilities that allow you to maximize the potential of the board by fine-tuning the various modules located on it. The installation takes place in visible mode so that parts of the utility that are unnecessary for the user can be discarded.

The composition and appearance are absolutely identical to those from the Sabertooth Z87 review.

The central place in the main window of the complex is reserved for icons of individual utilities, among which the most interesting is Thermal Radar 2. The lower part is filled with various information collected from the board’s sensors. Eight thermal sensors are pre-installed on the board, and three more thermocouples are included with the Gryphon Armor Kit.

The first tab - Thermal Tuning - allows you to configure the operation of all coolers in the system. To do this, clicking the laconic “Start” button launches the wizard.

To select optimal cooling algorithms, all fans must already be connected and their positions must be correctly indicated. True, this should be done in the third item of the Fan Control menu.

It is there that all the tools are provided for the correct schematic numbering of coolers and subsequent editing of their operating scenarios.

We described the complete selection and configuration procedure in the previous ASUS Z87-Plus review, but here it is completely identical. As an example, we used a three-pin 120 mm fan connected to the CHA_FAN1 socket.

When all the fans are finally connected and correctly presented to the system, you can return to Thermal Tuning and automatically configure their operation.

At this time, a “passport” is created for each of them, and the measurements take place in one go.

Now you can make your own adjustments to the created scenarios of their work.

Two scenarios are still available - automatic Smart Mode and RPM Mode, in which the speed is fixed at a certain level until the temperature exceeds 75 °C. Obviously, in this method we are talking exclusively about the processor temperature.

For automatic mode, the degree of influence on the total temperature can be changed by selecting (up to) three temperature sensors and setting the importance of each of them as a percentage. For each of the fans, various indicators and corresponding sensors are already defined by default.

After completing all the settings, it is rational to go to the second Thermal Status tab. Here you can evaluate the changes introduced, which is launched with a single Assessment button.

The setup procedure is still a little confusing, but at the same time, none of the competing products have nearly such functionality.

Concluding the review of the software part, we cannot help but check the correctness of the information about the system available from the AI ​​Suite 3 complex. Everything here turned out to be in perfect order. The RAM capabilities, processor type, and firmware version of the board itself turned out to be correct.

Overclocking potential

The similar VRM design and UEFI capabilities of the Gryphon Z87 and Z87-Plus lead us to believe that their capabilities for automatic system overclocking are unified. The reviewed motherboard does not have mechanical switches located on the board, so today we will force overclocking from UEFI.

When activating the first point - Ratio First - we actually repeated the previously obtained results. The processor worked at a frequency of 4.0 GHz at a voltage of 1.24 V. The Uncore frequency did not exceed its nominal value of 3.8 GHz, the RAM functioned according to the XMP profile.

For cases of non-essential load, the CPU operating scenario has changed slightly. The voltage dropped below 1.17 V, and the frequency constantly maneuvered between 4.1 and 4.0 GHz. The established value turned out to be 4038 MHz.

During idle time, energy-saving technologies functioned in full: both the processor frequency and voltage were reduced.

The next scenario - BCLK First - completely repeated the development of events. Under any load, the final CPU frequency was 4.126 GHz with a core voltage of 1.17 V, the Uncore part operated at a slightly lower than nominal 3750 MHz, the reference frequency turned out to be 125 MHz. During idle time, the multiplier was reduced to a minimum, and the voltage was fixed at a single level. Memory operation was again based on the XMP profile.

Let's move on to more serious experiments. We managed to increase the base frequency to 189.1 MHz.

There were no problems maintaining the maximum CPU frequency available for our test bench, 4747 MHz. The voltage was fixed at 1.285 V. The frequency of the “north bridge” was 4.444 GHz.

Test bench

There were no changes in the composition of the stand:

• processor: Intel Core i5-4670K (3.4 GHz);
• cooler: SilverStone Heligon HE-01;
• thermal interface: Noctua NT-H1;
• memory: G.Skill F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM (2x4 GB, 2133 MHz, 9-11-10-28-2T, 1.65 V);
• video card: Gigabyte GV-N580SO-15I (GeForce GTX 580);
• drive: ADATA Premier Pro SP900 (128 GB, SATA 6 Gbit/s, AHCI mode);
• power supply: XFX XPS-850W-BES (850 W);

• operating system: Windows 8 Enterprise x64 (90-day trial version);
• drivers: Intel Chipset Device Software (9.4.0.1017), Intel Management Engine Interface (9.0.0.1287), ForceWare 320.18 (13/9/2018), PhysX 9.12.1031.

The following were disabled in the OS: UAC, page file, firewall and Windows Defender. No anti-virus products were installed, and no other fine-tuning was performed. All OS updates available for download through Windows Update have been installed.

The following applications were used as tests:

• AIDA64 3.00 (Cache & Memory benchmark);
• Futuremark PCMark 8 (in combination with Microsoft Office 2013 Standard);
• Futuremark 3DMark 13;
• World in Conflict: Soviet Assault;
• F1 2012;
• Hitman: Absolution.

Test results

When conducting experiments on overclocking the system, we encountered the unpleasant fact that Turbo Boost was not working correctly. In the normal mode of the board, the behavior turned out to be very similar. During simple tasks, the CPU frequency was constantly changing, while most of the time being at the 3.6 GHz border. Therefore, without exaggeration, we can talk about the actual CPU frequency of 3.6 GHz for any type of load.

Gaming applications allow the Gryphon Z87 to compete only with the protagonist of the Z87-Plus; Their performance level was below average among the motherboards tested so far.

System power consumption

The measurements were carried out after passing all other tests in the “settled” computer mode using the Luxeon AVS-5A device. The technique consisted of recording the weighted average consumption value of the test bench “from the outlet” during the Prime95 test using the In-place large FFTs profile, as well as when the computer was idle after the test was completed.

The product in question turned out to be the most economical among those who took part in our reviews. Surely this result was facilitated by the absence of third-party controllers on the board.

Activating the EPU energy-saving profile reduces the board's consumption by 5 W to a level of 82-154 W while maintaining Turbo Boost functionality unchanged.

During maximum overclocking, the level of electrical energy consumption was recorded at 88-242 W.

Conclusion

To sum it up in the right way, you need to remember the target audience for which this board was created. At the forefront of everything is the reliability of the components, correct operation, which means minimal heating, and many tools that the board should have to increase its service life. All these qualities are entirely inherent in the Gryphon Z87. The use of the element base gives confidence in the long life of the board; the Thermal Radar 2 software package, based on the readings of numerous thermal sensors, allows you to control computer fans like no other product on the market.

To reduce the cost of this mATX solution, Thermal Armor and related elements of Dust Defender technology have been separated into a separate product, the Gryphon Armor Kit. Thus, the price of the board is at an attractive $165. At the same time, the partial abandonment of the usual image of the product of The Ultimate Force series did not affect the provision of a 5-year warranty.

The price of maximum reduction in price was third-party controllers, which this board is completely devoid of. On the other hand, such measures had a beneficial effect on the final level of energy consumption.

The board's shortcomings include the incorrect operation of the Turbo Boost technology, which in comparative testing pushes the results to the bottom of the overall rating. The lack of PCI ports will not allow you to use an old, proven sound card. The quality of the built-in sound is definitely worth mentioning - the simplest Realtek codec is soldered here - ALC892. Quite decent products were produced based on it. The same cannot be said about the Gryphon Z87; its sound quality leaves much to be desired. Selecting the “Headphones” or “Desktop Stereo Speakers” profiles will probably activate certain profiles that are designed to combat sound defects; but this only interferes with the correct perception of sound. However, for undemanding users, sound of this quality may be entirely sufficient.

The board pleased me with its stability and predictability. And yet, if the form factor of the product does not play a decisive role for you, it is better to turn your attention to a more functional model from ASUS - Z87-Plus.

Testing equipment was provided by the following companies:

• ADATA - ADATA Premier Pro SP900 drive;
• ASRock - ASRock Z87 Extreme6 motherboard;
  
• ASUS - ASUS Gryphon Z87, Z87-Plus and Sabertooth Z87 motherboards;
• G.Skill - memory kit G.Skill F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM;
• Noctua - thermal interfaceNoctuaNT-H1;
• SilverStone - SilverStone Heligon HE-01 processor cooler.