ASUS Gryphon Z97 Armor Edition Review

Performance Analysis

There's very little between Z97 motherboards, at least in our benchmarks, with tiny margins at stock speed and the Gryphon Z97 certainly wasn't worryingly slow in any of our tests. It's out-of-the-box configuration with the memory set to 1,600MHz was a bit slower than some of the best-performing models in the video encoding and multi-tasking tests, meaning overall it was third from bottom in the Media Benchmark Suite. However, here it was less than 70 points adrift of the top spot - less than three per cent.

It was a similar story with ASUS, where the Gryphon Z97 posted similar results to best in the field. Its audio performance in RightMark Audio Analyser was average, though, with the on-board ALC892 audio codec all but matching our baseline ALC898 tests, posting similar results to MSI's Z97S SLI Plus. All of the Z97 ROG boards were significantly better here, with Gigabyte's GA-Z97N-Gaming 5 a long way ahead.


With a similar overclock to most of the other boards on test too, there's also little to write home about with the second round of benchmarks. Again, the difference was pretty small across the board, although the Gryphon Z97 was a tad slow in the multi-tasking test. However, it matched the best results on test in our game benchmarks and overall, it put in a solid performance.

Conclusion

With little to distinguish many £100+ Z97 motherboards in overclocking potential, at least without custom water cooling, you're forced to focus elsewhere for your kicks. The Gryphon Z97 is clearly aimed at those that like to tinker with cooling and like to ensure their PC is performing optimally - here it has a plethora of tools for the job, from dust filters, blanking plugs, additional fans and thermal sensors in addition to ASUS's excellent software suit including Thermal Radar 2. If you're into this kind of stuff, you'll likely find plenty to occupy you.

Aside from these features, though, the Gryphon Z97 is a little lacking in some areas. This is highlighted quite well when you consider the Maximus VII Gene costs barely £15 more; it has superior on-board audio, an M.2 port, more SATA ports and even more software and EFI-based features. However, if you're not fussed about the additional storage credentials, then the saving over the Gene could nearly buy you a cheap Xonar sound card anyway. As such, the Gryphon Z97 comes with our mid-range Approved award, rather than a more lustrous Premium Grade, but still comes highly recommended if it suits your needs.