BIOS Features
For the Z97 Classified board, EVGA included the newest revision of their UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) BIOS, first integrated with their Z87 board series. The UEFI BIOS offers full keyboard and mouse support while using the BIOS pages with enhanced mouse navigation supported by right clicking the mouse – goes back to previous view if inside a settings pop-up or on a sub-menu page. EVGA also includes their screen capture utility. Clicking the F12 function key generates a 1024×768 bitmap image on an attached USB drive.
The Z97 Classified's UEFI BIOS is a nice design with an intuitive layout, but remains little changed from the UEFI implementation from their Z87 board line. The biggest change was the ability to flash the BIOS from within the BIOS. One oddity encountered was the inability to use the screen capture utility (F12) with a pop-up box displayed.
BIOS Notable Features
Overclock tab
EVGA's UEFI BIOS is a sleek and simple to use interface logically oriented in a tab-like motif. They organized the BIOS settings across five tabs – Overclock, memory, Advanced, Boot, and Save & Exit. Above the tabbed settings interface, EVGA integrated a real-time statistics interface displaying key settings such as memory size and speed fro active ports, CPU voltage, memory voltage, CPU ratio and Base Clock speed, CPU speed, HyperThreading status, number of active CPU cores, PCI-Express bus active-port bandwidth, VRM temperature, and CPU temperature. These statistics are presented in a mixed graphical/text display with graphical representations of the memory bus and PCI-Express bus shown.
Save & Exit tab
Save & Exit tab, Save Profile pop-up
Save & Exit tab, Load Profile pop-up
The Save & Exit page houses a few notable features including a boot override section and BIOS profile load and save capabilities. Through this screen, you can generate up to eight total profiles for storage of all BIOS settings at the time of profile generation or save. You also have the option of flashing the BIOS to a new version using a BIOS file from an attached USB drive.
BIOS Walkthrough – Overlocking Settings
Overclock tab
Overclock tab, voltage settings
Memory tab
Memory tab, Second Memory Timing Configuration settings
Memory tab, Third Memory Timing Configuration settings
Advanced tab
Advanced tab, CPU Configuration page
Advanced tab, CPU Configuration page, CPU Information page
Advanced tab, GPU Link Configuration page
Can you please talk about
Can you please talk about motherboard support for DDR4?
Reports are that DDR4 is available in Japan now.
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/38609/ddr4-ram-hits-japan-retail-shelves-16gb-and-32gb-modules-available/index.html
I pretty much refuse to upgrade my mobo without DDR4 support.
DDR4 will require a new
DDR4 will require a new processor architecture and new chipset. That will not be occuring with the Z97 platform.
When will we see DDR4 on
When will we see DDR4 on mainstream boards.
Whenever Skylake comes out,
Whenever Skylake comes out, sometime in 2015 if the leaked roadmap holds up.
Haswell-E (X99 Chipset) will
Haswell-E (X99 Chipset) will have quad-channel DDR4 support. It is scheduled for release Q3 2014.
It seems that EVGA still has
It seems that EVGA still has a ways to go with its motherboards before it’s on Asus’ level.
Aesthetically-speaking, it is
Aesthetically-speaking, it is a nice looking board though. And it performs well once its dialed in…
Quite a few connectors
Quite a few connectors oriented 90 degrees to face the edge of the motherboard. This has to be one of the first implementations of 24pin ATX in this way.
The 90 Degree ATX came about
The 90 Degree ATX came about during a phone call between myself and Jacob while I was working at OCZ in their development labs. I had all sorts of motherboard ideas that OCZ would never get around to doing after we decided NOT to get into the motherboard-marketing game. I am glad Jacob ran with the 90 Degree ATX.
And the sideways connectors
And the sideways connectors has been around since their Z68 series of stuff. Z68 FTW was first with it.
“would have detrimental
“would have detrimental effects on the board’s long term health or use.”
Is that supposed to be (would not have) ?
Thanks for pointing that out,
Thanks for pointing that out, its been corrected…
You missed one strong point
You missed one strong point on this one.
There is only few boards that can do triple SLI with one space between cards; or triple SLI with three slot cards.
I have ASRock 3-Way-SLI 2S2S bridge.
So can this board do SLI with 1-3-6 PCI-e slots?
Next, Dolby Digital Live / DTS Connect.
I think that not all Core3D boards support this.
Manufacturers must pay for this option.
So can this board do Dolby Digital Live / DTS Connect?
Cheers
I don’t believe it can. I
I don’t believe it can. I have a board with a similar layout. Morry can correct me if I’m wrong, but on my board (a z77 board), the third PCI-e does not use the PLX chip, where as the 2,4,and 6 slots do. Once i put anything in those slots, the third slot is deactivated. This board may behave the same way.
Concerning the PCIe X16
Concerning the PCIe X16 ports, any of the five ports can be used with the following bandwidth constraints (per the product manual):
PCI-E Lane Distribution
PE1 – x16 (x8 if PE2 is used)
PE2 – x16 (x8 if PE3 is used)
PE3 – x8
PE4 – x16 (x8 if PE6 is used)
PE5 – x1
PE6 – x8
Thanks…
Just heard back from our
Just heard back from our corporate rep on this – the board does not support Dolby Digital Live / DTS unfortunately…
Hello,
By chance would you
Hello,
By chance would you still have around the ASRock 3-Way-SLI 2S2S bridge without using it? I have been looking for it for a while without success.
Thanks a lot in advance for your kind help.
Earlier in the thread it was
Earlier in the thread it was stated this board does Quad SLI but you really mean 4 way SLI correct? I was checking the spec sheet and there is no mention of Quad SLI ie two dual gpu cards in SLI only using two slots. I have two Asus Mars 760 dual gpu cards and want to use them on this board as you have a better layout for my needs with the 8 sata ports and msata port available. So my first question is QuadSLI supported?
Second question: Can the marvell se9220 controller be used for a bootable array? I need to run all 8 ports, 2 for os, 6 for a massive storage array/scratch disk, and the msata for temporary download storage. I currently only have 5 and need more space/throughput and will probably use at least one other expansion slot for an extra video card to run my television for the wife and kids, I don’t have cable so I stream and download everything. lol 🙂
Thank you!