ASUS Z87-Deluxe Motherboard Review and Benchmarks

Updated: July 12, 2013

BIOS Features

With the release of the new Z87 Express chipset, we see ASUS has gone back to the drawing board and completely redesigned their UEFI BIOS interface. There are two different modes to choose from EZ and Advanced MODE and by just using your mouse can access everything. The new BIOS also is very easy to navigate through as in EZ mode there are just a few settings to choose from a mainly picture window GUI that makes it very simple to understand.

For those wanting to do overclocking setup their memory ASUS has many features to help shape your system setting for their maximum performance values. If you are using high-end memory the XMP profile can be setup in both EZ and Advanced mode, in EZ its just a quick memory setting and in the Advanced its in the overclocking setting as XMP. So many people forget to set this value correctly and it has an impact on how fast your system runs.

BIOS Gallery

Most people will just browse through the BIOS, but for those who want the over the top options, they are all here for the user to choose from. ASUS has ways to automatically setup your board or you can go through it with a fine toothcomb and really make sure everything is perfect. Another thing I found that many users also failed was setting up their hard drives as older board came with the SATA settings at standard not AHCI, but now the ASUS Z87-Deluxe comes with the setting stock at AHCI for better performance.

Another cool thing is that you can setup your board and then save all your setting in my favorites that will save your profile. This way you can have a standard clocked system and an overclocked one that can be changed just by loading your personal favorite. The Ai Tweaker is where all of your overclocking can be done very easily as all the setting you need are available and this is where you will need to do some experimentation to see how far your system can be pushed. If the BIOS in your board is dated its a simple thing to FLASH the BIOS as it can be done when the system is up and working, or with just the board sitting out with power. You can download the latest BIOS from the ASUS website, drop it onto a USB stick, plug the USB into the back the board and run the EZ Flash utility and you are up and going. All in all the new BIOS is very easy to navigate and use and offers no roadblocks to the end-user.