ASRock, ECS, Gigabyte, Intel, Sapphire Z77 Motherboard Roundup - PAGE 3

The next product in our roundup is the ECS Golden Z77H2-AX. ECS first started increasing the amount of gold used in their motherboards a few years ago, but this model takes it to the next level. ECS is not kidding around even before the box is opened, as even the packaging is gold colored and on the front all ECS has listed is the Gold Edition logo along with the model number.

While the outer panels don't include much details pertaining to the motherboard, the inner panels are chock full of info. Both the panels on the box can be opened. One side has a clear window that shows off the motherboard inside and lists the key features of the new Golden board design. The other side meanwhile highlights the main features of the board such as support for memory up to DDR3 2800, the user of Gen 3.0 PCIe slots, support for 3-way GPU scaling and the QoolTech IV thermal solution.

The included accessories are packaged in a thin box separate from the motherboard and in all ECS has included an operations manual, a gold I/O shield, three SLI bridges, five SATA cables and an external USB 3.0 bracket. Honestly I expected more, but it is still a decent bundle for a high-end motherboard.

The ECS Golden Z77H2-AX is by far the best looking motherboard released by the manufacturer thus far. It has an all-black design throughout the expansion slots and PCB, while the gold capacitors, CPU socket and heatsink draw a nice contrast from the black. Additionally, it is nice to see ECS has used such a massive thermal solution on the board which is part of their QoolTech IV design comprised of heatpipes, a massive metal array and ECS Thermochromic Technology.

Like the ASRock Fatal1ty motherboard, the ECS Gold Edition board uses screws though the PCB to secure the heatsink in place. This method ensures the base of the heatsinks make proper contact with the components below, in turn increasing the efficiency of the heatsink. Another aspect of the back that we really liked is the fact that three of the PCIe x16 slots have all the available lanes instead of having only the top slot privy to the full x16 bandwidth.

While the ECS Golden Z77H2-AX comes with the same processor support as the other boards in the roundup, it has a very unique design. This is of course due to the fact that ECS has expanded their gold plating technology into new territories. Unlike their previous motherboards where the CPU socket was the main focus for the 15u gold plating, it has now been expanded into the power circuitry, thermal solution as well as the CPU socket. All this gold serves to increase the stability by 1.5x, improve the current by over 30%, lower EMI and prolong the life of the board. 

The board also has four memory slots that are all black. Like other models the DIMMS are separated into channels with DIMM 1 and 3 being one channel while 2 and 4 are another. In total there are four 1.5V slots running in a Dual-channel architecture and support Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) modules. The board has a memory capacity rating of up to 32GB DDR3 memory and it can handle high performance modules of up to DDR3 2800+. Just above the memory slots are voltage level meters that can deliver real-time voltage level readings through use of a multimeter.

When it comes to rear expansion expansion options, ECS has really gone all out with this model. The expansion options consist of four USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, one VGA connector, one HDMI port, a Wi-Fi connector, a Bluetooth connector, dual eSATA 6Gbps ports, a single RJ45 LAN connector and a clear CMOS button. Most of these ports can be found in any high-end motherboard, but it is nice to see ECS has added both integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The ECS Golden Z77H2-AX has ample connectivity options including a single PCIe x1 slot, dual PCI slots and three full Gen 3.0 PCIe x16 slots. Additionally, the board comes with an on-board PLX8747 chip that increase the PCie 3.0 lanes, meaning this model will support 3-way GPU scaling from either AMD or NVIDIA and can run at either x16/x16, or x16/x16/x8. Interestingly though there is no power connector near the PCIe lanes, which is usually a given when a board can support 3-way GPU configurations.

The ECS Golden Z77H2-AX has four SATA 6Gbps ports with two being supported by the Intel Z77 chipset and the other two supported by an on-board ASMEDIA ASM1061 chip. There are also two SATA 3Gbps ports, and all the ports connected to the Z77 chipset support RAID 0/1/5/10. It may seem odd at first glance that a high-end motherboard only has six SATA ports, but just below the SATA ports is a Mini PCI Express x1 slot that can support Mini PCIe SSDs.

The power portion of the board has the power and reset buttons which allow the board to be powered on before being connected to a case, and there is also a diagnostics LED that can be used to troubleshoot errors if the board doesn't post