After what feels like months of prepping, testing, photography, videos, and writing are finally reaching the end of our Haswell launch motherboard coverage and I think we may have saved the best for last. We haven’t covered one of Asus’s TUF Series of motherboards official although we do have one in our cooling test bench and we have seen countless boards in our reader’s rigs. So to finish things off we are going to take a look at Asus's new Micro ATX TUF Series Z87 Gryphon. Its smaller form factor is a first for the TUF line and I am very excited to see what the fuss has been about.
Product Name: Asus Z87 Gryphon and Armor Kit
Review Sample Provided by: Asus
Written by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
Specifications |
|
CPU |
LGA1150 socket for 4th Generation Intel® i7 / Intel® Core™ i5 / Intel® Core™ i3, Pentium®, Celeron® Processors * The Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 support depends on the CPU types. |
Chipset |
Intel® Z87 Express Chipset |
Memory |
4 x DIMM, max. 32GB, DDR3 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz Non-ECC, un-buffered memory * Hyper DIMM support is subject to the physical characteristics of individual CPUs. |
Expansion Slots |
2 x PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slots (single at x16, dual at x8/x8 mode) |
VGA |
Integrated Intel® Graphics Processor - Intel® HD Graphics support |
Multi-GPU Support |
Supports NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ Technology |
LAN |
Intel® I217-V Gigabit LAN Controller(s) |
Storage |
Intel® Z87 Express chipset: * These functions will work depending on the CPU installed. |
Audio |
Realtek® ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC |
USB |
Intel® Z87 Express chipset - supports ASUS USB 3.0 Boost UASP Mode.* * The USB 3.0 ports support Windows® 7 or later version. UASP standard only supports Windows® 8. |
Exclusive TUF Features |
"Ultimate COOL!" Thermal Solution "TUF ENGINE" Power Design "SAFE and Stable!" Guardian Angel |
Rear Panel I/O Ports |
1 x DVI-D port |
Other Special Features |
- USB 3.0 Boost featuring speedy USB 3.0 transmission |
Internal I/O Connectors |
1 x 19-pin USB 3.0/2.0 connector supports additional 2 USB ports (moss green) |
BIOS Features |
64 Mb UEFI AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3, My Favorites, Quick Note, Last Modified log, F12 PrintScreen, F3 Shortcut functions, and ASUS DRAM SPD (Serial Presence Detect) memory information |
Manageability |
WfM 2.0, DMI 2.0, WOL by PME, PXE |
Support DVD Contents |
Drivers |
Form Factor |
uATX Form Factor: 9.6" x 9.6" (24.4cm x 24.4cm) |
Packaging
The Z87 Gryphon’s packaging is simple and to the point. Asus put the model and name right in the middle of the top of the box. The background gives out the TUF appearance with a brushed metal in the background. Around on the back Asus has included a full board photo as well as a photo of the rear I/O panel to show everyone all of the connections you will have available. There are a few small images that go along quick accolades as well as a full specification listing. Inside the box the Z87 Gryphon is wrapped up in a static protective bag as well and placed on a cardboard shelf that holds the board up over all of the accessories included with it.
For documentation you get a User Guide, driver DVD, five year warranty notice, certificate of reliability, and a TUF inside sticker. The best part about the documentation is that including the certificate and warranty information shows that Asus is very proud of their product and they want to show it off.
For accessories the Z87 Gryphon comes with the rear I/O panel, an SLI bridge, four right angle SATA cables and Q connectors to make hooking up the front panel connections easy. You can see on the rear I/O panel that they have a vent for the fan that comes with the armor kit. I also love that they went with the foam backing on the rear I/O panel rather than the small metal springs that always catch on my Ethernet ports when putting motherboards in.
Board Layout and Pictures
It’s a little weird seeing a TUF series motherboard without its armor but I will be honest the Gryphon looks great. The brownish color they went with is dark enough that it doesn’t draw to much attention while the heatsinks they went with are still very eye catching. The TUF look goes great with the Micro-ATX form factor, just like it does with the full ATX Sabertooth models as well. I’m excited to see what all Asus managed to fit on the smaller board.
Starting up in the top left corner, just behind the rear I/O panel but up on the boards edge we have the 8 Pin CPU power connection. To accommodate the possibility of people using the Armor on the Gryphon there are a few more fan headers up on the top than what we normally see. We see four fan headers total with three of those being four pin PWM headers labeled for the CPU, CPU optional, and a case fan. The fourth header is the odd man out being the only three pin fan header I have seen on an Asus board in two years. This is actually for the small assist fan that comes with the Gryphon’s armor kit.
Here in the top right corner we first have the board four DDR3 DIMM slots. There are only latches on the top of each DIMM, a design that Asus has been going with for a while. The slots are dark and light brown but you can put your ram in any of the slots and still get dual channel if you would like. We have another four pin PWM fan header sitting just above the boards 24 pin power connection making a total of five fan headers so far, I expect that number to keep growing. Just above the fan header is the MemOK button, when you press this button the board will downclock your ram until your system will boot up. This comes in handy when you have RAM that defaults to a higher speed than your board likes. Just above the MemOK button is also a small DRAM LED that will light up while your PC boots when the system boot reaches ram checks. If your PC doesn’t complete boot you can look at the board and see the area that is giving you a problem glowing. Lastly we have an oddly colored green internal USB 3.0 header that is facing up. I am getting a little spoiled seeing some boards with right angle USB 3.0 headers; I hope we see this on boards like the Gryphon in the future.
For SATA ports the Gryphon is sporting six SATA 3 ports, you won’t have any worries about trying to plug your SSD into an Intel controlled SATA 3 port. They are all run on the Intel control and all SATA 3, plug away.
The lower most right corner has the front panel connections, Asus included their Q Connectors to help make hooking up the front panel connections easier. This is good because the labels on this packed motherboard are very tiny hard to read. To the left is the DirectKey, a button that will hard reboot your PC and take you right into the Gryphon’s UEFI. Next we have PWM fan header number six sitting next to the BIOS flashback button. This button will let you update the boards bios using a flash drive plugged into the motherboard. It is especially interesting because it will actually work without a CPU or ram even being hooked up. This is a great feature to help avoid issues like we have seen in the past where upgraded CPU’s come out that require a BIOS update to work, if you buy the board and only have the new CPU you need an old CPU to be able to run the update. It also means that it will be easier to fix corupted UEFI's meaning less RMA's and better customer service for Asus. Next to the flashback button are three two pin headers. These are all additional sensor hookups that are specific to the TUF Series of boards. We talk a little more about those sensors in the cooling section of this review though. Last we have a few internal USB 2.0 headers for your front panel connections as well as any internal devices you might run that need an internal USB 2.0 connection.
On the far left of the bottom left corner we can see the audio chipset but there isn’t anything special going on there. Up under the PCI Express x16 slot you will find the front panel audio connection and SPDIF Out header. Next to them you will find a thunderbolt header that is only used if you decide to add thunderbolt later via an Asus add in card. Next we have our final four pin PWM fan header making the Gryphons total 7 fan headers with all of them but one being PWM. Next is a small clear CMOS jumper and the TPM or Trusted Platform Module that can be used for debug modules.
Being a Micro ATX motherboard Asus was a little limited on their options for the Gryphon. Rather than pack the board full of PCI Express x1 slots like the full ATX board. They took the three PCI Express x16 slots and packed them all on fitting one x1 slot in the mix as well. The top slot is a x16 slot, unless you run a second card. When you run a card in the second x16 slot they will both run in x8 mode. The last grey x16 slot is electrically an x4 slot for use with other devices if you need it, of course being right next to the middle x16 slot you won’t be able to put this to use if you are running two video cards, unless you are using single slot water cooling blocks.
Interestingly enough on the rear I/O panel for the Gryphon there are a few things different. First we have four USB 3.0 ports where on all of our other Z87 boards we have seen six. Asus traded the extra two in for four USB 2.0 ports. This shouldn’t be a deal breaker for most because you are still going to have a few products like your mouse and keyboard that will only take advantage of USB 2.0 anyhow. But if it were me, I would want all USB 3.0. The Gryphon doesn’t have any wireless adapters or anything crazy going on here on the back. Asus has left a large opening above the DVI port for airflow when you run their thermal armor. Because of that the back I/O is a little limited. We still have DVI and HDMI for video connections but no DisplayPort, I doubt anyone will be upset about that one though. You have a standard 6 plug audio panel as well as an Optical S/PDIF out. Last but not least they went with an Intel Ethernet controller, like all of the other Asus boards we have seen in the past few years. Considering the non-Asus boards we have seen so far on Z87 all had Killer NIC’s I am happy to see the Intel NIC.
Without the armor on the back you can actually see the drawn outline right on the black PCB showing how the back armor should be positioned. Along with that there is the TUF logo as well as the “The Ultimate Force” branding.
Here is a shot of the Z87 Gryphon with its armor on. Asus did a good job of making sure that none of the boards important features are covered up, unless of course you want them to be. Notice the entire bottom of the board is uncovered because that is where a lot of the boards headers cam be found. The one exception of course is the CMOS battery that is completely covered up. Read the next section to read a little more about the armor itself and how it goes on though.
Armor Installation
In the past the TUF series of boards have come with the Armor already on the board so it was a little interesting to see that you have to pick it up apart from the motherboard. But after thinking about it, I can see how not everyone is interested in all of the armor, the longer warranty and highest quality parts are important features for a lot of people and splitting them up means a lower cost to people who don’t want everything else, or maybe they can’t afford the armor now but can pick it up later when they have more money. Another interesting thing that came to mind was now case modders will be even more willing to paint and modify the armor. I have seen TUF Series boards used in case mods a lot because the armor can be painted to match the case to make things even more eye catching.
Anyhow, once I had the board and the armor out of the packaging I took a peak at the instructions and was surprised that the installation doesn’t take as long as I expected. The basic idea behind it all is similar to a sandwich where we have top and bottom armor pieces and the motherboard is directly in the middle like a big juicy piece of turkey. So the first step you take is laying the top armor on your table upside down and dropping the motherboard onto the armor (lined up of course). Next you take the bottom armor and line it up by matching the location of the TUF Fortifier logo to the TUF logo on the bottom of the motherboard and place it on the motherboard. From there you use the included screwdriver to install all of the screws that hold everything together. Once you get those screws installed you are actually a good portion of the way done. Now you need to install the rear I/O fan, this attaches to the removable cover and Asus has even included a second cover in all of the parts for this armor kit. Once screwed in you just need to add the sticky piece of foam to the bottom of the fan to keep it from vibrating up against any of the motherboard components.
From there you just have all of the various plugs to install into ports that you don’t plan on using. For us I was able to plug all but the one PCI Express x16 slot and our two extra RAM slots. I didn’t install the rear I/O plugs because this board is going to be on our test bench getting used for various things for the next year. But if you know you won’t need to use any ports you can plug them up as well. The Dust Defenders are an interesting way to protect your board from dust, debris and dander and static discharge.
When opening up the armor I was a little overwhelmed at all of the parts but once you figure out that most of those parts are connection and slot protectors (AKA Dust Defenders) it’s not too bad. I had everything setup and installed in less than 20 minutes.
Cooling
Beyond the fairly obvious features of the TUF series of motherboards like the armor protection that goes over and under the motherboard and the high quality components used to be able to guarantee the board for at least 5 years there is it’s cooling. One of the best features of TUF series boards, and the reason we use one on our cooling test rig, are the thermal radar sensors that are placed all over the board. There have been debates in the past about how effective the cooling could be on a motherboard with armor covering part of it. In an overclocking situation the armor might be a limitation, but at stock speeds the board is in its element. How do they handle that though?
As you can see, under the optional armor the Gryphon has fairly capable cooling. This is considerably better than the cooling on the mainstream Pro and Plus boards we already took a look at. Asus went with a brown and black theme all around on both the chipset cooling and the PWM cooling.
With the optional Armor on you really can only see the chipset heatsink down next to the PCIe slots. The armor over the rest of the cooling does have a few small air vents but most of the cooling is handled through the rear I/O panel through a small high RPM fan. Another key feature of the Gryphon is its three additional temperature sensors. Because we did our testing on a test bench I just tucked a sensor in between two of the power chokes. They already have a built in sensor, but I wanted to see how the temperature sensors worked. In a typical situation you would actually place these sensors around your case on things like your hard drives. The included software will actually raise your cases fan speeds to help cool down components that you have these sensors attached to even if the CPU or motherboard is running nice and cool.
UEFI and Software
When you get started installing your software and drivers for the Gryphon you will be impressed with the collection of software that Asus has bundled in with the board. As you can see below you will get copies of CPU-Z, Adobe Reader, and WinZip installed if you run the install all option that should save you the trouble finding and downloading those. You also get a copy of DAEMON Tool Pro, a nice little inclusion.
Jumping in there are a few major things that stood out to me right away. First, although the installation called this AiSuite III like the other Asus boards we tested. But once installed it is called Thermal Radar 2 and frankly the software is very different from what we saw with AiSuite III. The home page for Thermal Radar 2 shows the focus of the Gryphon right away with a drawing of the board and each of its 8 on board temperature sensors and three external sensors are all highlighted. When you mouse over them you can see what temperature they are currently at as well. Along with that you have an option to start thermal tuning. On the standard AiSuite III this page would have some overclocking options as well as a large button that will let you overclock your PC automatically; there isn’t an option like that here though.
The second tab up top is called Thermal Status and here we can see easy to comprehend meters that show how well the temperatures are doing in the CPU and video card areas. There is also an option to test your CPU cooler to see how well it is cooling depending on CPU load. Down at the bottom of this and every other page are temperature readouts and fan speeds for each of the Gryphon’s sensors and fan headers.
The Fan Control page is a lot like what we have seen previously though. Here you can select each of the fans and manually or automatically tune their fan profiles to perform how you would like. Personally I like to keep my fans quiet until temperatures rise to keep things quiet when under light to medium load. There is one option here that is a little different than standard AiSuite III. The Gryphon has a feature called fan overtime. This is similar to a turbo timer on performance cars. You can configure your fans to stay on for a short period of time after your pc turns off, this helps cool things down and prevents a spike in temperatures that can happen when you power down because cooling shuts down while the heat that was just generated still radiates from your CPU and chipset.
The last tab on Thermal Radar 2 is for DIGI+ Power Control. Here you can tune both CPU and DRAM power circuitry and Phase Control. They both have a variety of options that will help your PC be more efficient or have better overclocking capabilities. This is all capable because Asus uses all digital power circuitry on the Gryphon.
Not pictured, but you still also have the “other” options menu that lets you turn on features like USB 3.0 Boost and AiCharger. They are all useful features that will save you time when transferring files or charging your mobile devices.
The Gryphon’s UEFI is basically the same as what we saw previously on their Pro and Plus Z87 boards. When you first boot into the UEFI you are in the EZmode where you can quickly drag your boot devices into the order you need, set system performance to power saving, normal or Asus Optimal, and you can also adjust your fan speed settings here. Going into the advanced mode you have more detailed options for overclocking and general fine tuning. It’s really amazing how many options you can adjust when you start digging down into it. If you watch the above video it takes me a full 5 minutes just to click to each page. For the most part you have every option here that you would have on a ROG board for overclocking. Asus also built in a "My Favorites” option where you can right click on any option that you want and set it to show up on your favorite’s page for quick tuning.
In the tools section you can still reflash your BIOS quickly using the Asus EZ Flash Utility or configure your Asus OC Profiles as well. These are the same options that are available on all of the Z87 boards but for some reason I didn’t show the tools tab on our walkthrough video. Rest assured those options are still there. When you save and exit you will also be greeted with a conformation page if you change any settings that show’s what you changed. This is a great addition that will help prevent any accidental changes in the future.
Our Test Procedures and Rig
Intel LGA1150 Test System |
|
CPU |
Intel i7-4770K CPU |
Cooling |
|
Memory |
|
Storage |
Kingston HyperX 120Gb SSD (OS) Seagate 2TB Hard drive (Steam games) Corsair Force GT 60Gb (USB 3.0 and SATA 3 testing) |
Video Card |
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Power Supply |
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Case |
|
OS |
Windows is kept up to date while only having the benchmark programs and games needed for our testing installed. |
CPU Testing |
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CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer's performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON's award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. The test procedure consists of two main components - the graphics card performance test and the CPU performance test. We only use the total CPU score for our motherboard testing. |
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We now just use the overall CPU mark score that takes into account all of the CPU oriented results |
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Designed by the guys behind PCWorld, Worldbench is a benchmark designed to use applications and utility’s that everyone uses day to day and benchmark their performance. This gives the most accurate REAL world results, something that no other benchmark does. Being fully automated, WorldBench 6's application tests are scripted to run consecutively, and those results are automatically combined and compared against a baseline system. We use their Photoshop and Office tests. |
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Perfect for testing the multithreading of multiple core CPU’s. “wPrime uses a recursive call of Newton's method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we're sorting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n(k)2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum.” |
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X264 HD is a CPU encoding benchmark. Using the x264 codec this test encodes a video file and times its performance. |
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Overall Synthetic Benchmarks |
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We run the basic PCMark test suite and use the overall score to get a general idea of system performance. |
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We run the 2013 Fire Strike test using both the normal setting and extreme settings to get an overall system performance number that takes into account gaming focused systems like bandwidth to our test bench’s video card. |
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In Game Tests |
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Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Bioshock Infinite on the “Xtreme” quality setting. This has a resolution of 1920x1080, FXAA turned on, Ultra Texture detail, 16x Aniso Texture Filtering, Ultra Dynamic Shadows, Normal Postprocessing, Light Shafts on, Ambient Occlusion set to ultra, and the Level of Detail set to Ultra as well. |
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Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Tomb Raider on the “Xtreme” quality setting. This has a resolution of 1920x1080, Exclusive Fullscreen turned on, Anti-Aliasing set to 2xSSAA, Texture Quality set to Ultra, Texture Aniso set to 16x Aniso, Hair Quality set to TressFX, Shadow set to Normal, Shadow Resolution on High, Ultra SSAO, Ultra Depth of Field, High Reflection quality, Ultra LOD scale, Post Processing On, High Precision RT turned on, and Tessellation is also turned on. |
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Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Hitman: Absolution on the “Xtreme” quality setting other than the MSAA setting is turned down from 8x to 2x. That setting puts the resolution at 1920x1080, MSAA is set to 2x, Texture Quality is set to High, Texture Aniso is set to 16x, Shadows are on Ultra, SSA is set to high, Global Illumination is turned on, Reflections are set to High, FXAA is on, Level of Detail is set to Ultra, Depth of Field is high, Tessellation is turned on, and Bloom is set to normal. |
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Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Sleeping Dogs on the “Xtreme” quality setting. That means our resolution is set to 1920x1080, Anti-Aliasing is set to Extreme, Texture Quality is set to High-Res, Shadow Quality is High, Shadow Filter is set to high, SSAO is set to High, Motion Blur Level is set to High, and World Density is set to Extreme. |
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Subsystem Testing |
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We use this to test the on board audio on all motherboard that come in, this gives us an idea of their audio performance beyond subjective testing. When testing we always have our audio set to 24 bit. |
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We use this benchmark for USB 3.0 and SATA speed tests. Testing is done with Crystal Disc Mark with a Corsair Force GT 60 Gb. USB 3.0 testing is hooked up through a Thermaltake BlackX with USB 3.0 support |
Performance
As a whole we are changing the way we look at our motherboard testing slightly. The truth is a lot of the standard benchmarks you see in our reviews as well as others aren’t really needed. These tests actually test components like the CPU and video card more than anything else. Because of that we have trimmed down our testing slightly to make it easier for you to take in. We still do some testing though to make sure none of the boards that we test have any glaring issues but overall you should only see a slight variation in numbers. That variation isn’t a big deal; it is only the big variances that we are looking for. Having cleared that up, I would also like to point out that testing like our Audio and storage testing still are important as they are sub systems that the motherboard manufactures have control over, be sure to check out those sections as well.
PCMark 7 |
Overall Score |
|
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
6107 |
|
Asus Z87 Pro |
6287 |
|
Asus Z87 Plus |
6332 |
|
MSI Z87 MPower |
6465 |
|
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
6304 |
|
3DMark |
Fire Strike |
Fire Strike Extreme |
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
4340 |
1955 |
Asus Z87 Pro |
4353 |
2086 |
Asus Z87 Plus |
4346 |
2018 |
MSI Z87 MPower |
4344 |
1961 |
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
4345 |
2071 |
Worldbench (low score is better) |
Photoshop |
Office |
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
222 |
302 |
Asus Z87 Pro |
222 |
291 |
Asus Z87 Plus |
210 |
290 |
MSI Z87 MPower |
206 |
289 |
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
213 |
293 |
wPrime (low score is better) |
32M |
1024M |
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
10.658 |
325.787 |
Asus Z87 Pro |
10.437 |
325.981 |
Asus Z87 Plus |
10.584 |
328.48 |
MSI Z87 MPower |
10.657 |
331.992 |
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
10.562 |
324.228 |
Passmark |
CPU Mark |
|
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
10295 |
|
Asus Z87 Pro |
10437 |
|
Asus Z87 Plus |
10425 |
|
MSI Z87 MPower |
10297 |
|
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
10470 |
|
X264 |
Pass 1 |
Pass 2 |
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
166.9525 |
43.83 |
Asus Z87 Pro |
168.2825 |
45.9675 |
Asus Z87 Plus |
171.8175 |
45.8775 |
MSI Z87 MPower |
170.1025 |
45.9075 |
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
169.2225 |
45.7725 |
Cinebench |
CPU Score |
|
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
7.73 |
|
Asus Z87 Pro |
8.02 |
|
Asus Z87 Plus |
7.94 |
|
MSI Z87 MPower |
8.1 |
|
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
8.18 |
|
Unreal Heaven Benchmark 4.0 |
Average FPS |
|
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
35.5 |
|
Asus Z87 Pro |
34.7 |
|
Asus Z87 Plus |
34.7 |
|
MSI Z87 MPower |
34.5 |
|
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
34.7 |
|
Bioshock Infinite |
Average FPS |
|
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
50.08 |
|
Asus Z87 Pro |
48.76 |
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Asus Z87 Plus |
48.76 |
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MSI Z87 MPower |
48.94 |
|
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
47.56 |
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Tomb Raider |
Average FPS |
|
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
30.7 |
|
Asus Z87 Pro |
30.6 |
|
Asus Z87 Plus |
30.6 |
|
MSI Z87 MPower |
30.5 |
|
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
30.3 |
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Hitman Absolution |
Average FPS |
|
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
29.4 |
|
Asus Z87 Pro |
30 |
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Asus Z87 Plus |
30 |
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MSI Z87 MPower |
30 |
|
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
30 |
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Sleeping Dogs |
Average FPS |
|
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
31.8 |
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Asus Z87 Pro |
31.5 |
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Asus Z87 Plus |
31.2 |
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MSI Z87 MPower |
31.4 |
|
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
31.5 |
Let’s be honest, I don’t think you could ask for more consistent results other than the slightly slower Bioshock Infinite results. This shows us that there aren’t any specific issues that we need to look into farther or BIOS issues slowing the system down at all. CPU and GPU performance are both spot on, especially when you compare the numbers next to the other Asus boards. I am always amazed at how close Asus results are across their whole product line; very consistent results mean consistent board quality.
USB 3.0 and SATA 3
SATA 3 testing went fairly standard with all of our results coming out closely. When it came to USB 3.0 testing the results were also very close, until I turned on Asus’s Turbo Boost. Asus changes the way that USB handles data slightly and speeds it up by a considerable amount. In fact if you look the results from our SATA testing really aren’t far off from the turbo USB 3.0 numbers. I really hope other manufactures get something similar in the future. The difference is enough to save you a lot of time when doing big file transfers.
SATA3 |
Read Speed |
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
473.4 |
Asus Z87 Pro |
471.2 |
Asus Z87 Plus |
467.1 |
MSI Z87 MPower |
468.7 |
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
472.0 |
USB 3 |
Read Speed |
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
278.2 |
Asus Z87 Pro |
429.8 |
Asus Z87 Plus |
431.1 |
MSI Z87 MPower |
268.5 |
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
430.1 |
Audio
Asus doesn’t represent the Z87 Gryphon to be a high end audio backed motherboard. We don’t see any of the big features that we saw on the Formula V for example. Even so, we still put it to the test to see how it performed both with our audio test as well as subjective testing aka seeing how it sounds through headphones. Surprisingly the Z87 Gryphon didn’t do too bad at all in our testing. In fact considering the fact that MSI had upgraded the onboard audio on the MPower the Gryphon did really well against it. I would love to see the Gryphon have a built in headphone amp though, that is a feature that anyone who games or enjoys a little music at their desk can enjoy.
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Frequency Response |
|
Noise Level |
Dynamic range |
Total harmonic distortion |
Intermodulation distortion |
Stereo crosstalk |
Intermodulation distortion + noise |
Frequency Response |
|
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
0.11 |
-.1 |
-83.1 |
83.1 |
0.13 |
0.258 |
-82.8 |
0.324 |
0.1 |
-0.1 |
Asus Z87 Pro |
0.2 |
-.06 |
-88.3 |
88.5 |
0.132 |
0.067 |
-80.1 |
0.052 |
0.1 |
0 |
Asus Z87 Plus |
0.17 |
-.21 |
-90.2 |
90.2 |
0.253 |
0.21 |
-85 |
0.149 |
0.1 |
-0.2 |
MSI Z87 MPower |
0.12 |
-2 |
-90.1 |
89.9 |
0.0069 |
0.013 |
-86.6 |
0.02 |
0.1 |
-0.2 |
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
0.02 |
-.07 |
-87.3 |
87.4 |
0.147 |
0.081 |
-79.8 |
0.06 |
0.1 |
-0.1 |
Overclocking
I have talked about it before but our overclock testing is a little different than you might see around in other places. We feel that max overclock testing is more dependent on the components than on the motherboards so we take a different outlook. What we are comparing below are the results that we saw when using the automatic overclocking functionality built into each of the Z87 motherboards. This could be in the software like Asus’s AiSuite III or the TPU switch on the motherboard. I know for a fact that the board is capable of overclocking higher, but what I want to see here is what should someone who knows nothing about overclocking expect for results. Along with that, I want to make sure that the results given aren’t going to cause issues.
The Thermal Radar 2 software included with the Gryphon was a little different than what we saw with our other Z87 Asus motherboards. This software did not include the 4 way optimization feature like the others because the Gryphon is lacking the TPU that actually tests and overclocks the boards. Without an easy way to software overclock, technically the Gryphon doesn’t qualify for our testing. That isn’t to say that the board isn’t capable of overclocking. I was still able to match the 4.5 that our other Asus boards did with just ratio and BClk adjustments in the UEFI while keeping the CPU voltage on auto. It’s a shame really that the Gryphon lacks this feature, but in order for them to pack all of the features we normally see on TUF boards they did have to cut back somewhere.
Motherboard |
Highest Auto Overclock |
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming |
4.0Ghz |
Asus Z87 Pro |
4.5Ghz |
Asus Z87 Plus |
4.5Ghz |
MSI Z87 MPower |
4.0Ghz |
Asus Z87 Gryphon |
N/A |
Overall and Final Verdict
Being our first look at a TUF series board I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. Previous experiences with Asus boards let me know that there are some features like DIGI+ Power Control and Intel NIC’s that we see across the board on their products. Beyond those though, the Gryphon was surprisingly full of features. I was especially impressed with all of the temperature sensors and the boards 7 fan headers (6 of PWM headers). To add to that, Asus has also included support for 3 pin fan control in their UEFI and software for those who might not have PWM fans. On top of the built in sensors all across the board, you also get three external sensors that you can mount to things like your disc drives to keep an eye on them as well in Asus’s Thermal Radar 2 software.
I was also very impressed with the Gryphon’s Armor kit. It was a little interesting having to install it but this game me a chance to see the board with and without the armor. I really like the bottom armor especially. The bottom plate gives the board extra strength that you never seen on motherboards. I have recently seen a few people have issues where their boards have flexed from the force of today’s CPU heatsinks and large video cards. Flexing can mean durability issues later in life but the Gryphon with the optional armor won’t have that issue. To go along with that, Asus actually warranties the board for 5 years; this is well beyond the life that I expect to use the board in a main rig. It’s great to have products that you can trust to last the life of your build and beyond, this is really what TUF is all about.
A lot of people are going to be surprised when they pick up the Gryphon though. The last few TUF boards (p67 and z77 not the Z79 or AMD boards) have included the armor with the board and the Gryphon does not include the Armor out of the box. This is an additional cost but you also have to keep in mind that without the armor the price of the Gryphon is actually able to be noticeably less than the Sabertooth while still giving the 5 year warranty. So if you like the armor like I do, plan on the additional purchase. Unfortunately as of the time of this review the armor isn’t available for sale, hopefully we see it soon.
My other problem with the board was the decision to exclude the TPU and with that the automatic overclocking that all of the other Asus Z87 boards have. I know that the smaller size means cutting a few features but this was a little surprising. We have a board that has thermal options that would be perfect for keeping your overclocked rig cool but there isn’t an option for an inexperienced person to be able to get a little boost out of their new Haswell CPU. Lucky for us though, the UEFI is packed full of features that will let you get a good overclock with a little tuning. (Asus did note to us that they didn't include the TPU because the focus of the board is " first and foremost focused at users interested in long term reliable stock operation". As this is one of my favorite features of Asus boards, I do still think it would be nice to have)
All in all this is still a great option for just about anyone who is building a Micro ATX build. Case modders will jump all over the board because they can paint the optional armor and even pick up multiple armor kits and change their builds look in the future. Other people will be more interested in the TUF construction and 5 year warranty. The construction and armor are the reasons we are going to use this as our Haswell test bench, its smaller size will allow us to test it in both full ATX and Micro ATX cases and the armor on top and bottom should help prevent us from damaging the board from the extreme use over the next year+.