BIOS Features
ASUS used the latest version of their UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) BIOS for the Z87-Pro board. The ASUS UEFI BIOS is a customized version of the AMI UEFI style BIOS. The UEFI BIOS offers full keyboard and mouse support while using the BIOS pages. ASUS changed the way mouse right clicking works in the BIOS with right clicking triggering the Add to Shortcut or Add to Favorites popup window. With this new implementation, you can add menus to a shortcut page, accessed by clicking the F3 function key. You can also add individual settings to the Favorites tab through the same right click menu. By default, the user sees the EZ mode screen when entering the BIOS with the Advanced mode screens accessible via the Exit/Advanced Mode button at the upper right corner of the screen. Advanced mode screens can be set for the default user interface via the BIOS Boot menu as well.
There’s really nothing at all not to like about ASUS’ UEFI BIOS implementation. They have one of the best implementations of UEFI on the market currently. The BIOS is very responsive to both keyboard and mouse input with almost no lag or questionable click-space evident anywhere. The UEFI BIOS is designed in an intuitive manner so that both novice and advance BIOS users can easily find what they are looking for quickly. The EZ Mode screen lays out everything in a highly readable format, while the Advanced Mode tabbed layout displays as you would expect from a traditional (read old-school) BIOS. ASUS also gives you the ability to taken screen captures from within the BIOS by pressing the F12 key with those screen-caps saved in a 1024×768 bitmap format to an attached USB device. From the Tools menu, ASUS houses their collection of of BIOS-related tools and applets, ranging from an in-BIOS updater (EZ Flash2) to their full BIOS profile load and save utility. One issue I did run in to with the BIOS was using the DEL or F2 key to enter the BIOS after a warm boot. Most of the time it would work flawlessly, but inconsistently, keyboard entry would be ignored until the system booted into Windows. This was remedied by cold booting the system after discharging the board via the PSU switch.
BIOS Notable Features
By itself, the ASUS UEFI BIOS has always been top-notch. ASUS decided to up the ante with the UEFI version included with the Z87 line, exposing several new features with the Z87-Pro board. They integrated a customizable shortcut menu into both screen modes, a customizable My Favorites tab into the Advance mode menu, a CPU strap setting supporting enhanced ring bus speeds, and a change log detailing all settings changes made prior to BIOS save.
Ai Tweaker tab, Add To popup
EZ Mode main screen, Shortcut popup
The Shortcut popup menu shown is available from both the Easy Mode and Advanced Mode interfaces. To access, click the Shortcuts button in the EZ Mode interface or hit the F3 function key from within the Advanced Mode interface. The Shortcut popup displays shortcuts to menus and submenus added via the Advanced Mode interface. If you right click a menu or submenu or hit the F4 function key with the same highlighted, the Add to popup displays with the option for Adding to Shortcut menu. Note that you cannot add individual settings to this popup window, only menus and submenus. This functionality allows you to put commonly accessed menus and submenus at you fingertips with a single button or mouse click.
My Favorites tab
The My Favorites tab houses user selected settings for access to these from a centralized location. To access, select the My Favorites tab from within the Advanced Mode interface. If you right click any selectable setting from within any Advanced Mode page and right click or hit the F4 function key with the it highlighted, the Add to popup displays with the option for adding to My Favorites menu. Note that you cannot add menus or submenus to this tab, only individual settings. The real strength in this My Favorites tab implementation comes with the ability to mix and match commonly used options in a central location, rather than having to hunt them down through multiple sub-levels of menus. Combined with the utility of the Shortcut popup window, ASUS has a very user friendly interface for a normally arcane entity.
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled
The 4th generation Intel Core series of CPUs, also known as Haswell, support the ability to use preset bus speed levels for the ring bus, which Intel refers to as CPU Strap. ASUS decided to take the CPU Strap setting to the next level and includes the following preset levels by default: 100MHz, 125MHz, 166Mhz, and 250MHz. This setting affects the CPU base clock, PCI-Express bus, and memory bus speeds. The PCI-Express bus speed is auto-adjusted to remain as close to 100MHz as possible, while the CPU and memory bus speeds adjust 1:1 with the setting. ASUS has made tweaks to the board to allow access and stability at these higher CPU Strap settings, but inside sources say that you need a really good (read that as "cherry picked") CPU to use a strap setting above 166MHz.
BIOS Settings Change Log / Save popup
In addition, ASUS added a change history log page that displays whenever you save BIOS settings or save and exit from the BIOS. This page details all changes made to the BIOS, listing the option name, original option setting, and new option setting with confirmation buttons provided to ensure that you want to enact the list BIOS setting changes.
BIOS Walkthrough
EZ Mode main screen
EZ Mode main screen, Shortcut popup
EZ Mode screen, SATA Information popup
EZ Mode screen, Boot Menu popup
Advanced Mode screen, Main tab
Ai Tweaker tab with XMP mode enabled
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, core and frequency settings
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, CPU voltage settings
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, CPU voltage settings continued
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, Chipset voltage settings
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Secondary and Tertiary timing settings
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Miscellaneous settings
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, RTL IOL Control page
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, RTL IOL Control page continued
Ai Tweaker tab, DIGI+ Power Control page
Ai Tweaker tab, CPU Power Management page
Ai Tweaker tab, CPU Power Management page continued
no thunderbolt port!!!
no thunderbolt port!!!
The next step-up from this
The next step-up from this board I believe is the z87-extreme is $50 more with thunderbolt but runs through more power phases. Excellent board I use it in my gaming system.