Question 1

i see it says DDR2 3200(OC) and 3400(OC) can i still use DDR3 1600?

Accepted Answer

Hi, I own 4 of these and they are very reliable, fast, capable of high performance, and offer many things that you won't find on the ROG line. I am running Corsair Platinum 1866 C9 1.5v in three and in the fourth the same but 2133 C9 1.65v. Yes you can definitely run 1600 memory, but just know that this motherboard will run with great stability if you should deicde you want more speed. If you can, I would encourage you to buy the faster memory such as the 1866C9 as this board was made to be both a workstation and a gamer board when work is done! Blessings,  david

Question 2

I was about to purchase this MB, but after reading the reviews, approx. 56% have either had to RMA, or they've had substantial issues. I realize there is a failure rate inherent in all hardware products, but since this is one of the more expensive motherboards, it concerns me. For the customers that purchased one, do you feel this product is reliable & stable, or is there a bigger issue here? Thanks.

Accepted Answer

I had the same worry about a first release, but is guess I was in the lucky half that got a good board.  It passed all stress tests with flying colors.   This is going to be my bread and butter video editing station, so I did not overclock.  Therefore I can't speak to its capabilities as a gaming board.  I have set the BIOS to "performance" mode, which kicks the CPU clock up mildly, and lets the DRAM run at full speed when the system calls for it.  I have done some heavy rendering over the past couple weeks and the board has been rock solid.  If you do get the Z97-WS, make sure to download and install the drivers from the ASUS site.  Some are newer than the drivers on the disk.  Particularly here is a new BIOS driver and an additional Intel chip set driver that make everything work a little smoother.  Negative Notes:  The power connections on the board are tightly placed.  So make sure your power supply has very flexible cables or you will struggle a lot (like I did) to get the cable connectors to latch onto the board connectors.  There is one power connection in the middle of the board that is placed so tightly against the #1 pci slot you have to be extra careful putting the video card in.  Lots of switches and jumpers need to be checked and set, so read the manual before booting (It took me two tries to get them all set right--I didn't read the manual closely enough the first time).

Question 3

Hey all! So I got this motherboard but the A1/A2 ports aren't detecting my RAM (G.Skill Trident X 2x 8gb 2400). Ram works fine in the B1/B2 ports, but in neither of the A ports. Is this something that will be a problem in the future I.E. should I send the mobo back now or is it fine to just use those 2 for the RAM?
Thanks in advance!

Accepted Answer

I had similar issues, and swapping boards with Asus didn't help.  I found that my case made a big difference.  As long as all the mounts were screwed down, like my CoolerMaster HAF XB allowed, it worked fine, but if one of the screw mounts was only set up with a post instead of a screw, like my Corsair Air 540 had, one of the memory channels wouldn't work.  In my case, and on three boards, the B channel wouldn't work, and that was with the center screw not screwed down.  I would advise looking through your mounting holes and see if any of the points are either a post instead of a screw or if one of the screws isn't screwed in all the way, and correct that point.

Question 4

Has anyone Overclocked on this board with the Core i7 4790K CPU? If so could you tell me your highest stable clock speed and what type of cooling solution you have used?

Accepted Answer

I did some light overclocking with my 4790K on this board, and without much effort I reached 4.6Ghz... can't remember the voltage I used. Keep in mind, I have a L3 batch CPU, and I'm pretty sure there's either an air bubble in the TIM or some massive voltage spiking going on, as my temps were hitting 100C occasionally during stress tests. I averaged high 60's-high 70's most of the time, though. I'm using a Corsair H100i for my cooling.

On several overclocking forums, I've seen people hitting clock speeds of 4.7-4.8Ghz, and even a few 4.9Ghz, though I'm not sure what boards or cooling they were using.

Question 5

The product description for this board shows an HDMI port, a Display Port, a Mini Display Port, and states the motherboard can run three monitors simultaneously. Is this possible without installing a graphics card? An answer posted to a previous question by others states "The integrated graphics will be disappointing with multiple monitors and you really need a graphics card". We are not looking to run multiple monitors at this time. Does this board support graphics without a graphics card? We do desktop publishing: no high-powered games. Would like to get started with this board w/o a graphics card for now if that will work.

Accepted Answer

It will certainly support three displays via those outputs.  What's more is that the DisplayPort ports can be used with certain adapters to use VGA or DVI monitors.  So, you will not have any troubles with that aspect.  I am actually doing just that with one of my machines right now.  Just make sure you're running with at least 8GB of memory.

However, it will cost performance to run such things, especially under Windows 7.  With 3 monitors, you will be able to decently run any 2D applications, if you turn off the 3D features in Windows 7.  All other versions of Windows will be able to run three monitors without having to turn anything off.  Don't even think about running anything with 3D capabilities, like games or CAD, while running three monitors from the integrated video.  Also, many video accelerated apps, like Photoshop or DVD or BluRay playback, may run into major performance issues.  The main frame buffers for three of the smallest monitors on the market today will take up most of the maximum memory that the integrated graphics can run.  Push that in the slightest, and you will be hit with major performance issues.

Question 6

There are a number of questions  and answers that talk about "drivers". This immediatley suggests MS Windows. Does anyone have any experience running Linux on this board?

Accepted Answer

Linux will work on this board.  It is UEFI, so you will have to use a distribution with a Microsoft key.  However, if you are technical enough you sign and generate your own keys and insert into the uefi.  By signing, you have to sign the kernel you are gonna use, but that is only for secure mode.  There is CSM mode which will work out of the box, no keys necessary.  Good luck!

Question 7

Anyone who owns this board, can you answer this for me?  Can a 6pin PCIE power cable be plugged into the extra 6 pin power connector on the board?  It's unclear reading the manual.  Thanks.

Accepted Answer

No only the 6 pin power plug (different voltages for different pins... Plus the plug prob won't fit). There's 3 extra power sockets on the board from memory, you only need to plug in one... Unless there's a lot of exta "stuff" plugged in.

Hope that helps

Question 8

Please note that I am a bit uneducated when it comes to computers so I must ask this.... Does this motherboard include a cpu? Or is the cpu separate?

Accepted Answer

No - the CPU is a separate purchase. The form factor to search for here on Newegg or anywhere else is to type "LGA 1150 CPU". You have a several to choose from depending on your power needs. Pick from an Intel Core i7, Core i5 or Core i3 (although I can't imagine using a Core i3 with this motherboard). Hope that helps. Post additional questions if required.

Question 9

In the overview I read that the SATA Express is backwardly compatible with up to 2 SATA drives. Does that mean that I could connect 4 more SATA III Drives to the 4 (what look just like SATA) connectors that are part of the SATA Express?

Accepted Answer

Although there are 10 connector ports there, you are correct, 2 of the 10 are for use only by the SATA Express connectors. Each connector has 2 SATA III connectors and 1 SATA Express communication port in it - search the net and you can find a photo of it. But, if you're not using SATA Express and using standard SATA III cables, you have a total of 8 SATA III ports (backward compatable). 4 are for the Intel Z97 chipset (light gray) and the 4 are for the ASMedia SATA III chipset (black ). Keep in mind that ASUS did a skimpy job on the number of PCIe lanes avilable for the ASMedia SATA III chipset ports - depends on how you configure your UEFI on how many you can use at any time.  In my case I got a Plexstor SSD PCIe 2x boot drive that runs over twice as fast as SATA III (even in RAID). The PCIe port is a 4x and I'm using 2 of those lanes and consequently, 2 of my ASMedia SATA III chipset ports are disabled. Later on when I reconfigure the card to run faster it will use PCIe 4x lanes and all 4 of my ASMedia SATA III chipset ports will be disabled. Same thing applies if you use the M.2 on board connector. The speed boost is so increadible, and far exceeds anything SATA III or SATA Express can produce I felt is worth it. This has been a pretty good board with plenty of potential for reconfiguration down the road, but it's by far the trickiest board I have setup. FWIW

Question 10

Does this board truly run the pcie x16 slot(s) at x16 bandwidth even with sata III or usb 3 enabled?

I know some boards cut the width of the pcie lane back to x8 when these are enabled in BIOS... is that the case with this board as well?

Accepted Answer

I'm running Tri Xfire and 2 cards are at x8 and 1 at x16 per GPUz with 2 x SATA III SSDs and some USB 3.0 stuff, so yes it will work this way - and really well too.

As Dan G says, you may lose stuff using the (additional) 4x slot if using it at 4x, I have it set at 2x with a sound card in there and the USB still works (you only lose 2 of the ports anyway).

The 4x slot is also shared with ONE of the SATA Express (not SATA 3) slots, so you need to be mindful of that too. IMO, if you were looking for faster I/O you'd be better to just put a card into one of the x16 slots (unless you need 4 graphics cards).

Questions & Answers