CPU Cooler Fit and Included Accessories
CPU Cooler Fit
To test the amount of space surrounding the CPU socket, we mounted the Noctua NH-D15 cooler to the CPU socket. This behemoth CPU air cooler sports a dual fan construction and two huge vertical cooling towers.
From the front and back shots with the cooler mounts, you can see that the board easily supports user of a large cooler. The cooler itself does not inhibit use of the primary PCIe x16 slot as long as the back of the video card does not have large pertrusions.
The cooler fits within the space provided with no contact between the board and cooler components nor with the memory modules installed. With this large cooler installed on the board, you can really see how much room ECS opened up by choosing not to include any type of heat sink covering the VRMs.
The Noctua hold down mechanism is large enough to quickly determine exactly how much space is available around the CPU socket. With no VRM heat sink to get in the way and all power components located above the CPU socket, the cooler's hold down cage easily fits on the board.
The cooler's backplate rests on the socket backplate, minimizing the risk of direct board contact. There are no chips or circuitry anywhere near the CPU socket area, further reducing the risk of backplate-related board complications.
Included Accessories
ECS bundled in the bare minimum required accessories for board installation.
The Z97-PK's user manual is well documented, covering covering the integrated board functions as well as the included Windows software in detail. Also included is a driver DVD with all necessary hardware drivers and Window's utilities and a foldout quick-start guide.
The board's rear panel shield is a shiny chrome colored with port identifying text and icons stamped into the plate itself. Under certain lighting conditions, the glare from the backplate shiny surface could make it hard to read.
ECS bundled in two black 6Gb/s rated SATA cables for use with the on board SATA ports. The cables have integrated port locks with straight connectors only.
$80 for a Z97 board is
$80 for a Z97 board is killer. Don’t really need H97 boards if Z97 can be so cheap (and it’s not alone, with the PCMate from MSI being a nicer board for $20 more). The layout is weird, though – what’s with the Ghost of PCI Past? If they were going to leave any of the slots without an actual slot, it should have been the one below the primary x16 slot, since it’s always blocked by a dual-wide cooler anyway.
Also, typo on page 2 – you identified the CMOS battery as being to the left of the primary slot when it’s to the right.
Thanks for pointing out that
Thanks for pointing out that oversight. Fixed…
Lack of M.2 or Sata-express
Lack of M.2 or Sata-express on a value oriented Z97 motherboard cannot be a con at all. Most of the people purchasing these motherboards dont really care for the additional connectivity of storage devices in form of m.2 or Sata express. They are more than happy with 6 Sata ports available to connect 1SSD/HDD they will be using in their PC.
Lol i7@4.7GHz with that vrm,
Lol i7@4.7GHz with that vrm, I don’t think that would work very long before those fets are fried(what is that 2 or 3-phase anyway?)… maybe decent mobo for pentium g3258, but I would not oc i5 or i7 on that.
Nice review but honestly,
Nice review but honestly, who’s gonna buy this? 3 Phase power and a 4 pin? No heatsink for mosfets?
Yeah price is nice but for who?
You want to overclock the G3258, you grab something like the H81M-P33 which is 45 bucks. You want to overclock an i5 or i7, you grab something more suitable.
This is honestly a garbage product. I don’t care how inexpensive it is. There is a limit to how much you can skimp. I would pay 20 dollars more for something like the Gigabyte Z97-HD3 for piece of mind.
I wouldn’t put an I-7 on this
I wouldn’t put an I-7 on this board, no sirree!
At the most I’d put in an I-5, but not a K series as overclocking makes the TDP go higher than what the bare minimum VRM can handle.
Probably ideal for a budget gamer who wants intel over AMD and wants a z97 chipset…
I agree, but a $330 CPU on an
I agree, but a $330 CPU on an $80 mobo doesn’t make much sense anyway. The motherboard is like the cardiac system. Too big a brain (CPU) would result in cardiac arrest. 😆