Haswell Z87 Motherboard Preview: 50+ Motherboards from ASUS, Gigabyte, ASRock, MSI, ECS, Biostar and EVGA
by Ian Cutress on May 22, 2013 5:00 PM ESTIn an industry where Intel is continually putting more elements onto the CPU, the motherboard manufacturers have to innovate to differentiate themselves from each other. As a result we now have a number of gaming ranges and overclocking ranges to choose from. Of course motherboard manufacturers also have SIs to consider, some of which require specific connectors on various models.
There are a number of features I want to get my hands stuck into. Having the first motherboards with 802.11ac is going to be interesting for sure. Other features such as the ASUS OC Panel, the Maximus VI Hero, the Gigabyte OPAMP and x8/x4/x4 + x4 PCIe layout, the ASRock Waterproof coating and LCD screen, the MSI XPower, the EVGA one, and those ECS buttons are all piquing my interest.
We are not long to Haswell. What are you most interested in?
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Diagrafeas - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
I see that the previous generation trend continues.They have 2 Physical PCI Express x16 slots and the one is electrically x4.
Why not x8?
And these boards are too few. Most have 3 PCI Express x16 physical.
Seriously how many people use three graphic cards?
meacupla - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
For that matter, most people's needs can be satisfied with mATX or mITX.1x video card, if at all.
1x premium sound card, if at all.
The only reason to use ATX is if you want to give your video cards some breathing room.
Someguyperson - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
I would really like to see a roundup of all the mITX boards. mITX seems to be the future and it seems like all the integration of everything in Haswell would really make a much better product than the last generation.Mr Perfect - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
I second that, if only because mITX is usually a second thought to ATX and mATX.silenceisgolden - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
Really surprising that I don't see these specs, together on any of the boards:2 USB3 headers onboard
PS/2 omitted
2 USB2 headers
mSATA
Wi-Fi AC (also, Wi-Fi Direct anyone?)
PCIe layout of x8, x16 bypass, x8, x1, x8, x1, x8
10 6G/s SATA
I think the closest I can get is the Gigabyte z87X-OC Force, but it still seams to be missing Wi-Fi. I think there will be a decent market for USB3 Wi-Fi ac sticks during this generation.
silenceisgolden - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
I also don't get why DVI and especially VGA are included on any model for this generation. Seems like a huge waste of space.JDG1980 - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
DVI allows the use of cheap 1440p monitors from South Korea.That said, I think enthusiast boards should break out all the video connectors on PCI brackets, so people who will be using discrete cards (probably a majority of buyers) can get a clean I/O panel.
Mr Perfect - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
People could use a $5 cable from Newegg to turn an HDMI output into an DVI though. They have cables that go the other way too, but then you're limited by the DVI port(no sound, etc).silenceisgolden - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
We're going to start seeing 4K panels hit the US soon enough though, and I'd rather a 1600p panel over those 1440p ones to be honest. And that PCIe board sounds like a brilliant idea, but Intel wants to shut out the graphics market except the very high end, not cater to gamers.Azethoth - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
PS/2 omitted is an ignorant request: PS/2 keyboards remain superior to USB based keyboards.You can read all about it in the various excellent high end keyboard articles. The bottom line is that PS/2 can accurately detect whatever you type in: single keys, multiple keys, chords, all the way up to a full faceroll. USB keyboards are lucky if they can manage above 6-key rollover, some high end ones trumpet their prowess at 20-key rollover. There are other issues as well.
Now my APM is too low to care so I am rocking said USB based 20-key rollover capable Corsair K-90 and every time I feel like facerolling or bashing the keyboard double handed like a monkey on meth I just refrain. However, a lot of people will not give up their superior PS/2 hardware.