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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austinindallas - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
the asrock z77 extreme 4 was my very first experience with asrock, but i am VERY satisfied with it. and it was a GREAT price compared to othersSm0kes - Friday, May 24, 2013 - link
Better than SATA II speeds on the mSATA port. Not sure why it was gimped on the z77e-itx.mutantmagnet - Tuesday, May 28, 2013 - link
The build quality is fine. An article posted by Gigabyte was comparing the failure rate of the various motherboard makers (which they got first place last year) didn't make me think any motherboard manufacturer was significantly behind the others to single any of them out as bad.crimson117 - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
Asus summary:Channel boards:
ASUS Z87-C
ASUS Z87-A
ASUS Z87-Plus (y u no A+?)
ASUS Z87-Pro
ASUS Z87-Deluxe
Specific purpose boards:
ASUS Z87-WS (for workstations)
ASUS Z87-ITX (mITX) (for mITX cases)
Enthusiast boards:
ASUS Sabertooth Z87
ASUS ROG Maximus VI Hero
ASUS ROG Maximus VI Extreme
mATX Enthusiast:
ASUS Gryphon Z87 (mATX)
ASUS ROG Maximus VI Gene (mATX)
While I'm cautiously optimistic that they've improved over their indecipherable Z77 naming schemes, I'm taking bets regarding how long it will be until the L, LK, ML, FJ, WJK, MS, JK, and YOLO variants show up and confuse everyone.
c0pperbottoms - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
How about a micro-ATX board where I can have 2 dual-slot GPUs in 16x slots where the damned PCI or PCI-E 1x slot is ABOVE the GPUs so I can have a sound card (or some other accessory for that mattter)??meacupla - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
Because most mATX cases sport 4 slots, not 5?You might as well buy an ATX board and ATX case if you're going to go out of your way to buy an mATX case that has 5 slots and would also be undoubtedly large.
This Guy - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
I want a small, quite computer but already have an expensive sound card and need crossfire/sli to run my monitors. The Corsair Obsidian 350D looks well suited to my wants and I was thinking about getting a Z87 version of the Gigabyte D3H. A few Noctura's and it will been silent except when gaming.Death666Angel - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
Well, for x16 in dual GPU configuration, you need S2011. Haswell only provides enough for x8 in dual GPU configuration. But I think you are just meaning x8/x8 for 2 GPUs.Look at the
Gigabyte G1.Sniper M5
It gives you x8/x1/x4/x8 slots where you can have a dual slot graphics card in the first x8, then a PCIe in the x4 and a dual/triple slot graphics card in the last x8.
c0pperbottoms - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
Actually I did mean two 16x, but thanks for clarifying. Not yet very well read on Haswell. Also it occurs to me that we're not really bumping up against the (admittedly negligible) bandwidth constraints of PCIE-2 anymore, so two 8x aren't really of a problem :)There are a number of micro-ATX cases that sport 5 slots... They're still smaller than a mid-tower full-up ATX case.
alwayssts - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
I'm with you on this...it's funny how many people want what we do. Here is my plan:I use a PC-C50b because I agree Matx in the most sensible form-factor these days. The case can house a Noctua C14 and still fit in an entertainment rack, what else do you really need? I would not call it exceptionally large. Case has 4 CONVENTIONAL slots...but a fifth at an angle so you could use with a flexible riser.
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php...
I very well might find myself going dual-GPU as soon as 4k60 connectivity and televisions are a consumer reality...but I know I will want one of those spiffy ROG pci-e SSDs. I suppose SATA will be a reality at some point around that time, but we'll see.
I really wish the cards could sit next to each other because the riser slot is perpendicular, and will probably be pretty terrible for a graphics card...but that's how it has to be.