The launch of Intel's Skylake CPUs sees the introduction of a whole new platform based around the LGA 1151 socket. Making use of Intel's feature-healthy Z170 chipset, Asus is targeting gamers who value premium aesthetics and enhanced gaming-grade features with the Maximus VIII Hero. Will the Republic of Gamers (ROG) …
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When it comes to performance processors for the consumer market, Intel's Haswell-E chips are the fastest around. With such great performance potential are enthusiasts who want to squeeze every last bit of juice out of their system in order to break world records. That's where MSI's X99A XPOWER AC motherboard …
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MSI's mid-range Z97 motherboard is the first to market with on-board USB 3.1 in the connection's Type-C form. With the port providing transfer rates of up to 10Gbps and support for new reversible USB Type-C devices, can MSI's Z97A Gaming 6 prove itself as a good option for users wanting …
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Retrofitted with Gigabytes new pin-enhanced socket, the X99-Gaming 5P is targeting enthusiast gamers with an eye for multi-GPU configurations and an ear for high-quality audio hardware. Can the red and black-themed design appeal to gamers shopping for a mid-priced X99 motherboard? Branded as part of the G1 Gaming series, Gigabyte's …
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The push for small yet powerful computers has been evident over the past few years. Many enthusiasts are no longer happy with an ATX motherboard and full tower chassis to house their single graphics card and pair of storage drives. Instead, budding aficionados are challenging themselves to create smaller and …
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Guaranteed reliability and enhanced thermal performance are the crucial principles upon which Asus' TUF series motherboards are forged. A variety of military-grade certification tests, as well as five years' worth of warranty, tackle the ‘guaranteed' part of guaranteed reliability. The physical elements of reliability and thermal performance, however, are handled …
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ASRock's Fatal1ty series of motherboards caters for gaming enthusiasts and today we have the line-up's flagship in for review – the X99 Professional. With 4-card SLI and CrossFire support, Killer and Intel NICs, and enhanced audio, does ASRock's red-and-black Fatal1ty X99 Professional live up to its top-of-the-line status by carrying …
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Longevity and reliability are particularly important purchasing decisions for a component such as a motherboard. Quite simply, your system's motherboard failing can be considered not too far off a personal disaster. Gigabyte aims to put those reliability concerns at ease with the 168 hour, server-level validation process used on its …
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ASRock is aiming to offer gamers an uncompromising set of features with its micro-ATX X99M Fatal1ty Killer motherboard. Doing so will require integration of the X99 chipset's features and the plentiful PCIe connectivity of Haswell-E CPUs. How does ASRock's gaming-series mATX offering stack up to the tough competition that is …
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If you want to reduce the space taken up by your computer, without significant reduction in performance or functionality, opting for a micro ATX system has long been the most effective way of doing so. Can the performance of ATX parts be matched when the Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 motherboard's LGA 2011-3 …
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In the computing world, bigger is usually better. But that doesn't stop us trying to squeeze the same performance out of something that is physically smaller in size. ‘Why?' you ask. Well, perhaps desk space is at a premium or maybe you simply never plan to use multiple graphics cards …
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Perhaps one of the biggest surprises about Intel's most recent iteration of the High-End Desktop (HEDT) platform has been its relative affordability from the perspective of an enthusiast's budget. OK, DDR4 isn't cheap, and nor are processors starting at £300. But when you consider the additional cost over an LGA …
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Forming the more competitively-priced option in MSI's LGA 2011-3 OC Series motherboard range, the X99S MPower aims to balance the requirements of overclockers, gamers, and enthusiasts at a sub-£190 price tag. Can the features, overclocking functionality, and likeable yellow and black colour scheme attract overclocking users to MSI's aggressively-priced X99S …
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Sharp eyed readers will see a strong similarity between this Asus A88X-Gamer motherboard and the MSI A88X-G45 Gaming that we recently reviewed. Fair point. Both motherboards use an AMD A88X chipset to support Socket FM2+ and there is a distinct theme of red and black in the styling. Asus tells …
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With the highest possible compute performance that consumers can purchase, Intel's Haswell-E processors and the X99 chipset make a viable combination for users with demanding workloads. If the price, features, and performance are right, there's nothing stopping a semi-professional buying a consumer-grade motherboard to house their LGA2011-3 CPU and DDR4 memory. Bearing that in mind, …
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While the Haswell-E CPUs and X99-based motherboards of Intel's newest HEDT platform put a considerable dent in the pocket of any enthusiast, there are ways to lighten the cost burden. We recently reviewed the six-core 5820K and found it to be an excellent choice for users who value compute performance …
Read More »As the dust starts to settle from the launch of Intel's X99 platform and the latest GTX9xx cards from nVidia, level heads are looking at the benefits being offered by the new technologies, and beginning to think about making the investment. With prices varying so much, which mainboard is right …
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In case you missed our recent review of the Core i7 5960X, Intel's first consumer eight-core CPU is an all-round powerhouse with strong overclocking potential to boot. So what better way to analyse ASRock's X99 OC Formula motherboard than by pushing our 5960X as far as we can take it? …
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As model names go, the MSI 970 Gaming sends a direct message in no uncertain terms. This motherboard uses an AMD 970 chipset that supports socket AM3+ and is aimed at punters who wish to build a PC using an AMD FX processor. The Gaming part of the name comes …
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While the X99 platform and its plentiful PCIe connectivity form a strong gaming foundation, the cost of an LGA2011-3 motherboard, DDR4 memory, and the Haswell-E CPU will put a considerable dent in any buyer's pocket. So when we see a gaming-orientated motherboard offering 3-way graphics capability, eight-core CPU support, and …
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Intel's Haswell-E Core i7 5960X is an all-round powerhouse, there's no question about that. But a powerful chip is only a portion of the battle – an accompanying motherboard and high-speed RAM are essential in exploiting the processor's dizzying multi-core performance. Enter Asus' showcase motherboard for the latest HEDT chipset …
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The Gigabyte J1900N-D3V is more than a simple motherboard as it replaces the usual chipset and CPU socket with an Intel Celeron J1900 SoC (System on Chip). Add some RAM, storage and a power source and you have the basis for a compact PC which is pretty good going for …
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While Biostar may not be the first company that springs to mind when we ask you to name a motherboard vendor, the Taiwanese board maker does have a long history of providing well-priced Intel- and AMD-based components. We take a look at Biostar's competitively-priced Z97 flagship – the Hi-Fi Z97WE. …
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Flagship parts on a mainstream platform can cause confusion for motherboard vendors. Do they go all-out, offering 4-way SLI and CrossFire via a PLX chip, with the knowledge that many people inclined for such configurations will use a HEDT platform instead? Or do they put that expenditure into a full-blooded …
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Intel's 9-series chipset saw the widespread adoption of high-speed storage connections operating via the PCI Express interface. While the 10Gbps transfer speeds of SATA Express and M.2 connections were a noticeable speed boost over the ageing SATA 6Gbps interface, they were still a far cry from the bandwidth offered by …
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Boards designed for extreme overclockers have been constants for all of Intel’s most recent platforms. Gigabyte hit success with the Z87X-OC motherboard by driving the overclocking-geared part to an aggressive mid-range price point. Many of the key overclocking-orientated features were still present, but the bank-busting price tag was not. Gigabyte …
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Continuing our recent focus on gaming motherboards, we have the Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 in for review. Hitting retail with an aggressive sub-£140 price tag, Gigabyte is aiming to lure in potential buyers with the Gaming 7 motherboard's gaming-orientated features, striking colour scheme, and four-year warranty. Fusing together the company's high-performance G1 Audio with …
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The MSI A88X-G45 Gaming is a handsome AMD A88X motherboard that sports a long list of features including triple graphics slots. That explains the ‘Gaming' part of the name and as you would expect the A88X chipset means this MSI board supports the latest FM2+ range of Kaveri APU. There …
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Sitting in the middle of ASRock's current Z97 gaming motherboard line-up, the Fatal1ty Z97X Killer targets the fierce sub-£130 marketplace. Can its feature set, overclocking capabilities, and general performance allow it to stand out in a hotly-contested segment of the market? ASRock supplies its Z97X Killer with a number of popular …
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Gamers have long been one of the core consumer groups for the DIY computing industry, but recent months have seen the popularity of gaming-branded components hit a new level. Motherboards are a great example of this; in the eleven months since the inception of Intel's Z87 chipset, the number of …
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