ASUS P8H77-V LE LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Lots of high speed connections for SATA, USB, PCI-e 3.0, etc. plus optical audio output.

This is my initial review so I hope to update this as time goes on and I get everything working.

Cons: Not nearly enough fan connections. Only has 2 on board fan connections. Luckily I had some adapters to connect my other fans to the power supply. Only one fan connector is 4 pin, for the processor. The other one is a 3 pin.

Also not enough holes for mounting screws. My old Intel board had 11 mount screw holes. This one only has 6, and the back edge of the board can flex when attaching the power supply cable, installing DIMM's, etc.

Other Thoughts: No connections for any ribbon cables of any kind. I understand those are probably outdated, but I'm having to now purchase a new DVD drive because my current one won't connect to this board. As such I'm now at a standstill and can't wipe my HDD and install Win7 x64 until I get a new SATA DVD drive. I'm also finally chucking the floppy drive that's been taking up space in my tower lol, since obviously it won't connect to the board.

Also not sure what the problem is but on initial boot up and entering Setup, the BIOS screens extend off the bottom and left side of my display. It's a 1680x1050 res but the BIOS screens look like they're a lower resolution, but zoomed in too much such that it extends off the screen.

Pros: It has the easiest most intuitive BIOS I've ever used.

Software setup was the most pain free of any motherboard I've used with the CD's instALL feature. BIOS update was also a snap.

Onboard audio isn't terrible.

Everything just works exactly as it should, not much more to say.

Cons: This motherboard apparently wasn't quite long enough to necessitate 9 mounting screw holes and it only has 6. Instead of having screw holes all around the edges, the right side of the motherboard as you're looking at it has the screw holes about 1 1/2 inches in from the edge. It just means you'll have to be mindful of the board flexing as you're connecting the main power cord and installing ram and such.

I don't like how the PCIE x1 slots are positioned directly above and below the PCIE x16 slot. My graphics card completely covers the x1 slot below leaving just the one above available. This wouldn't have been an issue since I was planning on using my PCI X-Fi XtremeGamer but ended up having to use a Sound Blaster Z instead. Now my sound card and graphics card have about a centimeter of space between them which I'm not too excited about.

Speaking of my X-Fi, it absolutely will not work with this motherboard. If I try to do anything that includes sound, the computer will lock up with a sustained beep. Tried different PCI slots, different drivers, disabling all kinds of things in BIOS and Control Panel, uninstalling and/or removing other components with no luck. The card was working perfectly the same day in my nForce 680i/ Q6600 rig before I got to assembling this new one. Ended up buying a Z. If I knew the X-Fi wasn't going to work, I would've bought a motherboard with more x1 slots and a better layout of those x1 slots.

Other Thoughts: Here's my hardware:

Asus P8H77-V LE
Core i5 3570
4x4GB Corsair Vengeance
GTX 560ti 448
Sound Blaster Z
2x Intel SSD (1x 480gb 520 series which has Windows, 1x 160gb 320 series)
2x WD HDD
D-Link Wireless PCI adapter
DVD/RW
Antec 1000w PSU
Windows 7 Home Premium x64

Aside from the X-Fi issue, this thing's been solid as a rock. I have no intention of ever overclocking, hence the H77 versus Z77. I also don't plan on using SLI. If I need more performance, I'll just buy a meatier graphics card.

I really just wanted a motherboard with minimum bells and whistles since I don't do much tweaking anyway. I buy hardware, run it at 100%, upgrade when it struggles with games.

Games are what I'm primarily using this rig for aside from the usual multimedia of movies, music, and derping around on the internet. FWIW I had the highest score on 3dmark11 by over 100 points out of all the people who submitted their scores to the website and had the same CPU and GPU combo as me. That's running the hardware at stock.

I did weeks of research and finally settled on this motherboard because it had everything I needed and nothing I didn't. It would have gotten 5 eggs if it wasn't for the X-Fi incompatibility and bad placements of the PCIE x1 slots.

Pros: Easy to install, quick, no quirks, plenty of cool things like temperature monitoring. I would highly recommend to someone who wants to drop a i7 processor into their computer, lower processors its probably overkill though.

Cons: None to speak of, Installing was simple and it works great, exactly what you expect, quality.

Other Thoughts: Great call for someone who wants a powerful computer at an affordable price, I would even call it high end.

Pros: -Worked well out of the box
-Good GUI for the BIOS
-Ran a RAID 0 config flawlessly

Cons: After about 3 months of owning it, one day it would not boot. Did basic troubleshooting until I discovered that if there was any RAM in slots A1 or B1, it would not boot.

Verified that there were no obstructions and that all the RAM functioned properly. Although it could have been an issue with the PSU, I highly doubt that because I am running a reliable power supply.

Other Thoughts: It's listed in the specs so it doesnt qualify as a con, but you can not SLI, Crossfire, or overclock with this board.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that the RAM slots stopped working. Looks like you will have to send the unit in for service. You can go to service.asus.com to have an RMA number created to authorize the repair.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me again at cl-jeffrey@asus.com which I reside in the U.S

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey

Pros: Works flawlessly with OS X Mountain Lion, but a "distro" is your best path as a roll-your-own installer, such as tonymacx86's, may not make the optimum choices, and, in fact, it (tonymacx86's installer) may make an unusable installation.

With a "distro", and I used iATKOS ML2, the installer will select a compatible CPU Power Manager Disabler * , and a compatible audio kext, for a "right the first time" installation.

My incarnation of Mieze's USB 3.0/2.0/1.1 Compatibility DSDT mods works well on this mobo.

The "distro" will make a DSDT-less installation, so the custom DSDT will be added after the first boot of OS X.

DO select USB 3.0 compatibility in the BIOS, and DO use a USB 3.0 flash drive for your installer ... it will go at close to light-speed, compared to a slow-as-a-turtle USB 2.0 flash drive or a slow-as-a-sloth DVD.

Updated to 10.8.3 flawlessly.

Installed and ran all utilities and applications flawlessly.

[ * ] The ASUS mobos are totally immune to modified BIOSes and will reject such images. As a PMPatched BIOS is usually needed to get OS X to run on generic hardware, and as the CPU Power Manager Disabler is a second-best solution, I was forced to second-best, but it worked after MANY false starts with non-"distro" installers. Forewarned is forearmed.

Cons: Not enough case fan power plugs, so you will have to buy a "Y" splitter, if your case has more than one fan.

Oh, the iATKOS "distro" DVD kernel paniced shortly after specifying the language, which is why I tried a USB installer in the first place, and I was rewarded by a light-speed installation.

The BIOS incorrectly flags Corsair XMS3 1333 RAM as being "bad", and ASUS' proprietary "Mem OK" push-button does not correct this error, although it should have done so.

OS X also sees what it thinks is bad RAM, but OS X eventually figures out that the RAM was really OK after all.

Other Thoughts: I installed this mobo in a Corsair Carbide 200R fan (currently out-of-stock), but this is a great case.

I also installed a Corsair 500W PSU, alas, not a "modular" one. A "modular" PSU is a good choice as it eliminates a lot of cabling nonsense within the case.

The Corsair Carbide case is a "double wall" design, so any unneeded cables can be stowed underneath the mobo for a "clean" look inside the case.

Pros: This thing has been great. I've got it in a white box build and I love the massive PCI availability. The onboard NIC works great with ESXi which is a huge plus. I've got another 1Gib NIC in a PCI slot and that's working well too.

Cons: The one "con" I would have is that the SATA connections are at the bottom and I have a full sized ATX tower so the DVD drive is all the way at the top...it's a bit of a stretch. But this is not a deal breaker.

Pros: Came in excellent condition, not DOA, and it supports my hardware :)

Cons: There isnt enough slots for multiple fans...so if you want more fan outputs, buy another motherboard

Pros: Great value
Good quality
ASUS Protect 3
AMD CrossFireX support 16x/4x
Stylish design
Quiet and Cool (It really is!)
LucidLogix Virtu MVP support
Great UEFI BIOS with special features

Cons: overclocking limitations (of course H77 is not designed for overclocking! so don't expect a miracle!)
No SLI support
Weak CrossFireX support 16x/4x

Other Thoughts: Great for price! Just that. I had not enough money to buy a Z77 one, so I bought this one instead. Great design and efficiency! Here this is my rig:
CPU: Core i5 3450
VGA: ASUS GTX 550 Ti DirectCU TOP
RAM: Corsair XMS3 2X2 Gb 1600 MHz
PSU: GP530A-EU
HDD: WD Caviar Black 1Tb SATA III

Pros: Works.

Cons: Software on the CD does not support Windows 2008R2 OS.
SATA connectors kinda flimsy.

Other Thoughts: I've installed Windows 2008 R2 as my new machine's OS and had a hard time installing all the drivers one by one, because the AsusSetup which was shipped with the MB on the CD does not support that OS. But even after everything was installed the audio still did not work, giving me a frustrating GRRRRRR noise instead of the sound or music I tried to play.
I was planing to return the MB, but eventually, after the OS has been updated to the Service pack 1 the audio started working. What's a relief!

Pros: I had this motherboard for about two weeks but it was only in usage for about a hour or so due to the wait of other hardware for my computer. The computer ran fine through it's nice BIOS and everything on the board was easily placed for my rig.

Cons: After the installation of Windows 7, drivers and Windows Updates the first time around, the rig decided to boot up with no image on my monitor. Checking the wires and monitor with a different rig was what I did first and that wasn't the problem. I pulled out everything off the motherboard except for the processor and RAM. Usually the board with give these beeps indicating that there is a video card missing but nothing came out from this board. I placed the video card in still hoping for something but I just get no image on the start up. I also tried to see if I get any image or video signal by connecting the VGA to the VGA port on the board to my monitor and my monitor says that I have absolutely no video at all. Note that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the board and my friend who is a I.T. told that this board is a goner.

Other Thoughts: Due to me having the board for two weeks means that I am unable to ship it back to Newegg for a refund. I'm currently going through ASUS return and it is a nightmare. I have sent my shipment of my board out for two weeks already through UPS and they claim to not have it in their books. Their original plan was for me to ship my board in and they ship my another one fresh board at the same time. However, they now claim they don't do that and will only take my board in for repairs. The issue now is how can they do that if they don't know where my board is...

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We're sorry to hear about that you had no video after Windows updates and driver updates. The motherboard should be able to POST regardless. We suggest trying the onboard HDMI/DVI/VGA and clearing CMOS. If you have not received a response from RMA regarding your motherboard, please contact me immediately at cl-benson@asus.com (reference #C1037-7646) in the subject line, include your RMA # and package tracking # if available.

For motherboard support information, please visit http://support.asus.com.

Regards,
Benson
ASUS Customer Loyalty