Asus Z97 Pro (Wi-Fi ac) Socket 1150 Motherboard Review

Name: Asus Z97 Pro (Wi-Fi ac) Motherboard Review
Brand: Asus

by Josh Norem — Wednesday, December 17, 2014, 01:00 PM EDT

Intro and Specs

Now that Intel's newest LGA 1150 motherboard chipset is out in full force, numerous enthusiast-class boards abound. We've already taken a look at five Z97 motherboards from Gigabyte, EVGA, and MSI, and this time around we're reviewing the Asus Z97-Pro (Wi-Fi ac). This board is one of Asus' mid-range offerings in the $200 price range and is interesting on the storage front as it includes both M.2 and SATA Express, so its as future proof as it gets when it comes to storage options--at least for today. This board also comes in a non-Wi-Fi version, dubbed simply "Pro," as well as versions that are more expensive and less expensive, but all share the same aesthetic and general feature set, so in a way this review is for several motherboards, not just one.

The ASUS Z97 Pro (Wi-Fi ac) comes in just one color - black and gold

Asus Z97 Pro (Wi-Fi ac)

Specifications & Features

CPU:

Chipset:

Memory:

Graphics:

Audio:

Connectivity:

Slots:

Storage:

USB 3.0:

Form Factor:

Price:

Support for Intel Core i7/i5/i3 and Pentium and Celeron processors in the LGA1150 package

Intel Z97 Chipset

4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 3200(OC)/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

Integrated Graphics Processor:
D-Sub, DVI-D (1920x1200), HDMI (1920x1200), DisplayPort (3840x2160)
Support for AMD CrossFireX / NVIDIA SLI technology

Realtek ALC1150 codec, High Definition Audio, 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel, S/PDIF In/Out

Intel GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/AC, Supports 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band
Bluetooth 4.0, 3.0+HS, 2.1+EDR

2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (running at x16, x8)
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x4 slot
4 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots

4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
1 x SATAe 10Gb/s connector
1 x M.2 PCIe SATA connector
Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

ASMedia PCIe SATA chip:
2 x SATA 6Gb/s connector
Support for RAID 0 and RAID 1

Up to 6 USB 3.0 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)
Up to 2 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (on the back panel)

ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm

$189.99 (street) - Find it at Amazon.Com

Like all other Intel Z97 based motherboards, the Asus Z97 Pro (Wi-Fi ac) sports an LGA 1150 socket so it is compatible with Intel's fourth generation Haswell processors, and should work just fine with the company's upcoming Broadwell desktop chips too. As this is not an Asus Republic of Gamers branded motherboard, it represents the company's mid-range offering for enthusiasts. This is the mainstream platform ASUS-fans will want to examine for their next LGA1150 builds, especially if you're in the market for an enthusiast-class motherboard at a relatively affordable price point.