Tag Archives: motherboard

Intel's latest revision to its High-End Desktop (HEDT) platform is upon us and that means one thing is for sure – new processors and motherboards. Bringing the HEDT platform to the feature-rich realms of 2014, new motherboards based around the LGA 2011-v3 socket will use an X99 chipset that possesses …

The latest revision of Intel's High-End Desktop (HEDT) platform is upon us and that means one thing is for sure – new processors and motherboards. Bringing the HEDT platform to the feature-rich realms of 2014, new motherboards based around the LGA 2011-v3 socket will use an X99 chipset that possesses …

If you were one of over 8,000 people that entered our competition to win one of three BioStar A68N motherboards a couple of weeks ago, then chances are you've been champing at the bit to find out if you're one of the lucky trio that can expect one of the …

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. …

The cat is out of the bag, MSI is coming out with a black and white themed Z97 motherboard dubbed the ‘Z97 SLI Krait Edition'. This new motherboard was born out of sheer consumer demand. Color themed PC builds have become pretty common in recent years, something that MSI knows very well …

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 …

Z87 saw cost-effective gaming-calibre motherboards take the limelight. All of the big vendors released at least one product that provided gaming-orientated features in a cost-effective package. Asus SKU of choice was the successful Hero – a board which ticked many of the boxes and did so with an efficient price …

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 …

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 …

Taipei electronics firm Biostar has announced a new motherboard, this timing pushing not only its abilities when it comes to the office or the game room, but the depths of its bitcoin mine as well. The TB85 supports both 4th generation i7 and i5 CPUs and up to 16GB of DDR3 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Intel's Z97 chipset has launched and TUF series motherboards are part of the Asus welcoming party. Sporting the new Intel chipset and old TUF features that have made previous generation Sabertooth boards lucrative components, we put Asus' Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 in the firing line of our critical analysis. Do …

Tending to the needs of budget users wanting Intel's mainstream chipset, the Asus Z97-A motherboard aims to offer a low-cost route onto the LGA1150-based platform. Still managing to offer support for SATA-Express and M.2 storage interfaces, let's take a look at the other features that make Asus' Z97-A an interesting low-cost proposition.  …

KitGuru was recently invited to a press event where Asus discussed and showed-off its series of motherboards based on the ‘future Intel chipset'. While information surrounding the chipset is still under Intel's NDA, prepare to indulge in a photographic gallery of Asus' upcoming motherboards. Asus ‘Z97' Series motherboards Asus' ‘Z97' …

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 is attempting to …

It's approaching that time of the year; the launch of Intel's ‘future chipset' is just around the corner and board partners are busy preparing their products for the retail channels. Full reviews of motherboards based on the ‘future Intel chipset' still cannot be published for another few weeks (as we …

Asus Sabertooth motherboards have proven popular since their inception a number of generations ago. Based on their widespread popularity it comes as no surprise that The Ultimate Force (TUF) motherboards are making an appearance for the ‘future Intel chipset'. A number of the upcoming chipset's specifications help bolster the feature-set …

MSI has debuted a load of imagery and details about its upcoming line of “Gaming” motherboards, which are focused on exactly that. While we'll have to keep you guessing on what chipset it uses, we can tell and show you a lot about the upcoming range of boards. First off, …

Thunderbolt continues to gain pace in the marketplace, especially amongst professional users to whom time is money. Today we take a look at Asus's Thunderbolt 2-equipped Z87-Deluxe/Quad, aimed at small-scale professional users who regularly transfer large amounts of data. Asus has taken its standard Z87-Deluxe motherboard and added an Intel …

Much of the computing industry is rapidly moving towards physically smaller components without downsizing performance. Can MSI's Mini-ITX Z87I Gaming AC prove that Small Form Factor gamers need not worry about finding a motherboard which tends to their requirements? MSI's first take on a gaming-orientated Mini-ITX motherboard sees the inclusion …

Today we are going to take a look at the Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2 motherboard, aimed at those looking to build an AMD APU based system with a limited budget.  This particular motherboard is a bit of a departure from the usual high end product we are used to receiving from Gigabyte …

With so much of Haswell’s performance being related to on-chip parameters, many users are quick to question the relevance of a high-end motherboard. Does MSI’s Z87-G43 Gaming act as proof that an entry-level board can compete with the high-end contenders on the Z87 chipset? Featuring support for two-way CrossFire (albeit …

This year's Consumer Electronics Show kicked off today and it looks like the folks over at MSI are off to a flying start as they have begun showcasing the company's 2014 line up of high performance Gaming Laptops, Workstations, All-in-Ones, Tablets and PC components. At the MGM Skyline Marquee Suites, you'll …

The 4770K offers quite possibly the highest per-clock performance numbers of any consumer-grade processor currently on the market. It’s just that fact which makes Haswell’s multiplier-unlocked Core i7 a plausible option for workstation applications. And with that possible usage scenario comes the requirement for workstation-grade LGA 1150 motherboards. Is ASRock’s …

Introducing itself to the low-cost gaming motherboard scene, can Gigabyte's G1.Sniper Z87 retain the features that makes its higher-priced siblings attractive purchases? Targeting mid-range gamers Gigabyte's G1.Sniper Z87 features a Killer E2201 NIC, support for 2-way SLI and CrossFire, and an eye-catching green and black colour scheme. Further enhancements are …

Forming the entry-level Z87 board in ASRock's gaming-orientated Fatal1ty series, is the Z87 Killer able to prove itself as a good-value gaming motherboard? Designed to meet the requirements of gamers, ASRock outfits its Z87 Killer with a number of premium add-on components which it calls Gaming Armor. An audio upgrade …

MSI has released some teaser images for its upcoming miniature gaming hardware, including a new motherboard and a small form factor GPU, both designed to fit into half size cases, whilst still giving you enough oomf for all the latest games. “We’re very close to expanding our #GAMING family with …

How does a company make a multiple award-winning, enthusiast-grade motherboard even more ‘extreme'? By making it into a black edition version, of course. Asus has updated its critically-acclaimed Rampage IV Extreme X79 motherboard to ‘Black Edition' status. Have the upgraded components and IVB-E tweaks resulted in yet another rampaging master …