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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goinginstyle - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
Looks like Gigabyte copied all of Asus' last generation features, MSI copied Gigabyte and Asus while ASRock copied all three. The only thing left to determine is if any of the copies work as good as the original. Of all the boards I wanted to see, the ASUS Formula is missing as I have the current MVF but their mITX board looks killer and is something I will have to buy this time.Razorbak86 - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
I also have the MVF. Awesome board, especially for a water cooling set-up. I was disappointed to see that the new Hero (which presumably is replacing the Formula as the middle-SKU in the ROG series) dropped the water-cooling barbs on the VRM heatsink. That's one nice feature on the MVF that should have been carried forward.ssudershan - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
No mention of Thunderbolt support/presence on any of these motherboards? Is it still under wraps or will they see the light when these models get finalized?Azethoth - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
Well I only care about two of the boards:ASUS ROG Maximus VI Extreme
ASUS Z87-Deluxe
But combine the pictures with http://www.anandtech.com/show/5935/asus-thunderbol... and there you have two boards that totally support TB in theory but due to Thunderbolt-EX-Card-Availability = not, it never actually will unless Asus gets its asus in gear.
Gigaplex - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
An upgradeable OpAmp in the Gigabyte board somehow means expensive speakers aren't required? Um... no. You'd need fairly decent speakers to even notice the difference between 2 half-decent OpAmps.Jaybus - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
As always. it is the speakers, not the electronics, that are the key to premium sound. After all, that is what is actually moving air to make the sound waves. Good speakers generally require more power, so I suspect it is the current handling capability of the op amps that is the issue, not the op amp quality.cjs150 - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
Love ASUS black and gold theme.Will be going for MATX board but they all look to have the same flaw: top GPU slot is too close to bottom of RAM sockets. I watercool my GPU and the extra thickness of the GPU card means that many of the RAM cooling fan add ons either will not fit or are very tight (and yes I have fried my RAM before by not cooling sufficiently). I guess I will have to water cool the RAM as well!
This Guy - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
I took the vailed hints on Anandtech and went 120Hz, 1440p. Asrock's HDMI input is extremely interesting as I could run a 360 though my PC and have "one" dedicated gaming system.To bad Asrock didn't copy Gigabyte's mATX PCIe configuration... A sli/crossfire mATX with PCIe sound card and HDMI input would have been awesome!
MadAd - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
Omg so many full size boards, who will buy them all?Ian I only want to see you test one thing, an A-Style in your own water table :D
JimmiG - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
So many boards... They're certainly not running out of ways to differentiate just because more stuff is on the CPU these days. Personally I don't see the point in paying $400+ for a mobo just because it has fancy (useless) heatsinks bolted all over it.