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When Intel launched their new range of Haswell processors at the start of June we reviewed a handful of new Z87 motherboards, including the high end Asus Sabertooth priced around the £200 mark. Not everyone can afford a £200 motherboard, so today we look at the budget Asus Z87-K motherboard priced around the £100 sweet spot. Can an inexpensive Z87 board really keep a discerning enthusiast user happy?
On paper, the Asus Z87-K ticks quite a few boxes. It has the latest user adjustable UEFI BIOS configuration with simplified or advanced menus, depending on your skill level. Thanks to the latest Z87 Intel chipset, all the SATA ports are 6Gbps rated. If you are building a system with very limited funds, there are VGA, HDMI and DVI-D ports on the rear I/O panel to use integrated Intel graphics.
Asus have incorporated ‘5K hour Solid State Capacitors' which ‘assure a 5,000 hour lifespan, equivalent to 2.5 times longer than traditional capacitors'. Of course competitors such as MSI, Gigabyte or ASRock no longer use traditional capacitors either, but we can't knock ASUS for making this a focal point. All of the major manufacturers are guilty of touting a ‘new' feature, which often is just comparable to a competitor implementation.
Asus Z87-K Highlights:
- ASUS 5X Protection – All-round protection provides the best quality, reliability, and durability
- New UEFI BIOS – Friendlier, easier, and more intuitive with helpful info added
- Fan Xpert 2 – Comprehensive controls for the perfect cool and quiet balance
- USB 3.0 Boost (UASP Support) – 170% faster transfer speeds than traditional USB 3.0
- Ai Suite 3 – One-stop access to innovative ASUS features
The gold has always surprised me, it really is ugly on a board. Gigabyte nailed it this generation.
That said, its a minor point when the product is t his good. one to not miss IMO. I know a lot of UK system builders are using them recently and it seems with good reason.
Excellent – was wondering if this was any good or not.
I can live with the gold colours, even if it is fugly
Id like to see a review side by side of the gigabyte £100 board too.
Nice, but I think id get the 4670k right now as the price is much lower, 4770k is very costly.
I note none of these reviews seem to cover the included software the 87-k along with a lot of asus other boards have a problem and random crashing in win8.1 with aisuite 3 installed. asus seem to either dont know or wont answer the problem. This board is currently being rma’d to be replaced by a gigabyte z87 board
I picked up one of these last year, I’m very happy with it. The price of this no-frills mobo meant I could spend more where I needed it most: i5-4670K, 32GB, GTX 760, runs sweet on a 3-monitor setup. And why is everyone obsessed with the colour? It doesnt matter if you have a green mobo with yellow spots, purple RAM cards, and a GPU with red and blue stripes – once the sides are on the case you can’t see it anyway!