ECS Elitgroup Z77H2-AX

Overview

The ECS Elitgroup Z77H2-AX is well-equipped with features including wireless networking and Bluetooth support via the Atheros AR971L and AR3001 controllers which connect via USB 2.0. ECS employs a Texas Instruments USB 3.0 xHCI compliant host controller to further expand USB 3.0 capabilities. It offers three PCI ports, though only two are used, there are also two PCIe x1 slots and a Mini PCIe x1 slot, as well as two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots.

TechSpot Metascore

Based on 4 expert reviews

Excellent:

2
Good:

2
Average:

0
Bad:

0

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Last revision on June 24, 2015

Reviewers Liked

Gorgeous design
Nice feature selection, including Mini PCI Express port
Packed with added features and options not seen on some other products in the same price range
Clean and simple, yet glaringly overstated GOLD color themed layout
Fully functional AMI UEFI BIOS, including mouse support and support for 3 TB drives
VRM and PCH cooling really more than needed, great for long term 24/7 clocking

Reviewers Didn't Like

Expensive
Very high power usage
BIOS voltage monitoring not accurate
BIOS overclocking options for CPU not fully available
High relative price and limited availability
Steep overclocking learning curve, only for the advanced overclocking user
SATA 3 Gb/s performance low

Competitors and Related Products

Our editors hand-pick related products using a variety of criteria: direct competitors targeting the same market segment, or devices that are similar in size, performance, or feature sets.

Expert reviews and ratings

We hoped the ECS Z77H2-AX would offer a decent value. While it still might have potential, ECS has its work cut out. Not only did the board linger at the bottom of our performance charts, but we experienced a bug that prevented us from overclocking.

By TechSpot on April 20, 2012

ECS has struck gold with aesthetics on its Z77H2-AX motherboard, though its high price and its heavy power usage will not appeal to everyone....

By PC Mag on June 25, 2012

To the surprise of many, I really really like the ECS Golden Board Z77H2-AX. Its BIOS is broken, and overclocking isn't easy at all, but its extra capability, and relatively high performance that can hang out with the bigger boys is not something that...

By techPowerUp! on June 05, 2012

100

after a quick word on Lucid's VirtuMVP. All of the boards tested today support this technology. For anyone using a modern, discrete GPU from AMD or NVIDIA we suggest you do no install the software. AMD and NVIDIA's latest cards, on their own,...

By HardwareHeaven on April 08, 2012

At this point, we would like to give our friends at ECS a well-deserved “Thank you” for allowing us the opportunity to review the Z77H2-AX motherboard. Out of the box, the board is a work of art with enough gold to garner a spot at Fort Knox. ECS made...

By PCPer on November 09, 2012

In April we published a round-up of 20 motherboards with Z77 chipsets compatible with the new Intel Ivy Bridge processors. Those CPUs weren't available yet at the time so we had to do the tests with the previous generation Sandy Bridge processors....

By uk.hardware.info on July 03, 2012

The Intel Z77 Express chipset hit the market not too long ago, but it has already made a huge impact as consumers are quickly switching from the previous LGA-1155 chipsets to the latest Panther Point design. While the difference between the new and old...

By Neoseeker on June 25, 2012

Elite Group has been manufacturing motherboards for quite some time. Past products have gotten a mixed bag of results but more competition always means better overall product for the end user. This also usually results in better pricing in the...

By Pureoverclock on June 14, 2012

The appearance of the new Z77H2-AX Black Extreme motherboard from ECS is surprising and at the same time interesting, considering that we haven’t seen an all-gold appearance of the board from other manufacturers before. Besides the usual bundle...

By MadShrimps on May 15, 2012

ECS has a long standing of being an excellent OEM and prebuilt component but when it comes to enthusiasts it’s not really a name we here brought up very often due to its die hard allegiance to the basic OEM style products the community has grown so...

By Real World Labs on May 10, 2012

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ECS Elitgroup Z77H2-AX

Overview

Pros & Cons

Reviews

TechSpot Metascore

Reviewers Liked

Reviewers Didn't Like

Competitors and Related Products

ASRock Z77 OC Formula

ASRock Z77 Extreme11

EVGA Z77 FTW

Intel DZ77GA-70K

Expert reviews and ratings