ASUS Z97-Pro Gamer Preview
Category : Z97
Published by Hiwa Pouri on 19.11.14
With Z97-Pro Gamer, ASUS is offering a motherboard that's basically being positioned below their ROG series products. Therefore this is ASUS's entry-level gaming motherboard, which should come with an interesting feature mix as well as a reasonable price.
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The Z97-Pro Gamer is a motherboard, which comes with a rather resonaly price and therefore ASUS has spent some time chosing the different parts on this board.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z97 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR3, 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB DDR3, DDR3 3200(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
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| Slots |
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| Sound | SupremeFX 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
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| Storage | Intel Z97 chipset
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| Network |
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| Internal Connectors |
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| Extrenal Connectors |
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| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (2 x 64Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Features
Gamer's Guardian |
With this name ASUS is talking about a feature group, which consists of DIGI+ VRM, DRAM OCP, ESD protection, and a stainless steel I/O shield. As usual there is a digital power design on this board and there are 1R2 phases. Each phase also received one MOSFET as well as one 10K black metallic cap and there is a total of eight phases. This power design is not high-end but it's still more than enough for any average gaming PC. |
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ASUS Fan Xpert 3 |
ASUS Fan Xpert 3 provides customizable settings for fans that have been attached directly to the onboard fan headers. With the Fan Auto Tuning feature, ASUS Fan Xpert 3 automatically detects and tweaks all fan speeds and in the end reduces unwanted noise. |  |
M.2 Support |
The new Z97 ATX motherboard from ASUS features an M.2 slot moved to the back part of the board this board can be equipped with SSDs in M.2 format. M.2 is wired directly to the Z97 PCH via two PCI Express lanes, therefore offering x2 bandwidth. In other words up to 10 Gbps can be pushed over the bus through this slot, almost doubling performance of SATA-III. |  |
SupremeFX |
Also the Gamer series from ASUS are getting beefed-up audio meanwhile. In this case there is an EMI shield in place for the audio chip and the circutry is isolated from the rest of the motherboard. Other than that ASUS is using high quality capacitors, which should be offering warm sound. |  |
SATA Express |
SATA Express is a new port for storage devices that basically combines two SATA connectors and bundles them. Each SATA Express port has been wired using two PCI Express Gen2 lanes offering a total of 10 Gbps bandwidth. Compared to SATA-III with 6 Gbps bandwidth this is quite an improvement. |  |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Layout
At a first glance the ASUS Z97-Pro Gamer is a really good looking and simple motherboard. The manfucaturer decided to go for a combination of black and red. In fact the PCB is kept in black entirely and the coolers received some red spots every here and there. The layout is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install large coolers without an issue. The fact that there are SATA connectors which have been angled by 90 degrees allow an easy installation of oversized graphics cards. |
  
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The ASUS Z97-Pro Gamer comes with a digital 8+2 phase power design. The CPU gets eight phases and the memory can rely on two phases for stable current delivery. As we already mentioned on the features page, this board comes with a digital power design, which is standard already with mid-range motherboards these days. Compared to their Republic of Gamers portfolio ASUS is saving a few bucks on the power design, but that doesn't mean the PWM is underdesigned.
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Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the Z97-Pro Gamer. Officially supported are DDR3 3200(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz. There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you won't run into issues with large coolers even if you choose to install memory with big heatspreaders. Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 1.3.
PCH as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via passive heatsinks. Apart from that the blocks are big enough to provide decent cooling and also the design is once again really good looking.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Connectors and I/O
Totally ASUS equipped the Z97-Pro Gamer with four angled SATA ports. All of them are directly wired to the PCH. Additionally you find a SATA-Express port as well as an M.2 slot. Gaming systems can therefore be equipped with enough drives. You can also keep in mind, that the two SATA ports, which are being used for the SATA Express port also work individually. In addition there are no onboard power and reset buttons and there is also no debug LED. 
Totally there are five fan headers on the Z97-Pro Gamer, which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped office, multimedia or gaming system with fresh air. The fan headers are located around the CPU socket as well as spread over the motherboard. Furthermore there are only 4-pin headers. If you're using fans with 4-pin connectors, you can adjust fan speeds via Fan Expert 3 software.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS equipped the Z97-Pro Gamer with a PS/2 mouse/keyboard, four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, one gigabit ethernet port, an HDMI connector, a VGA header, a DVI port as well as an optical out and an analogue audio panel.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Conclusion
| Overall | + | - | |
| The ASUS Z97-Pro Gamer is available for about 132 Euro. The price is reasonable but not low. This board offers a well-tought feature mix in combination with an attractive design as well as good build quality. The Z97-Pro Gamer is basically ASUS's entry-level offer regarding the companies gaming motherboards. |
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Design
- Features |
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| Layout | + | - | |
| Basically the ASUS Z97-Pro Gamer's Layout has been well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors and apart from those there is even a SATA-Express port as well as a M.2 slot. The latter two greatly add to the storage flexibility of this board. Unfortunately there are no power and reset buttons and there is also no debug LED. Overall the decision to cut these features from the list is understandable, since a board that's not being used for overclocking doesn't really need these buttons. When it comes to expansion slots, there are three full-size slots, where the first one is a PCI Express x16, the second boasts x8 and the third x4. Apart from that there are two PCI Express x1 as well as two legacy PCI slots. | -
Angled SATA
connectors
- Space around the CPU socket - Placement of PCI-Express x16 Slots - Display connectors |
- No power/reset buttons |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |