Intel Z97 Express: Five Enthusiast Motherboards, $120 To $160

[Crashman]

Tom’s Hardware readers set a higher bar for enthusiast-class motherboards, demanding overclocking capabilities and more robust feature sets. Priced from $120 to $160, we welcome the first five Z97 motherboards to our enhanced definition of mainstream!

Intel Z97 Express: Five Enthusiast Motherboards, $120 To $160 : Read more

 

[onover]

The table detailing the motherboard features on page 1 ... Is it just me, or is the text a bit small?

 

[makishima]

The table detailing the motherboard features on page 1 ... Is it just me, or is the text a bit small?

I find it small

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I'd like to see a review on the significance of the 'killer' NICs... I highly doubt they have any difference besides branding.

 

[SteelCity1981]

so intel it seems doesn't have much faith in their own thunderbolt considering there is no thunderbolt ports on this new chipset!

 

[H4X3R]

The Asrock one is better. Not everyone will be using XSplit, and as tradesman1 (a moderator on this site) said "I myself won't touch MSI mobos due to the poor QC".

 

[Crashman]

so intel it seems doesn't have much faith in their own thunderbolt considering there is no thunderbolt ports on this new chipset!

READ PAGE ONE to find out why this chipset has the same features as the previous chipset.

 

[H4X3R]

Good review I am looking forward to the best price:features motherboard review though (extreme6). I have a quick question crashman: Do asrock still use Capxxon caps (or just crappy caps in general). I would like to know the company of the caps if possible, once again, thank you

 

[Crashman]

Good review I am looking forward to the best price:features motherboard review though (extreme6). I have a quick question crashman: Do asrock still use Capxxon caps (or just crappy caps in general). I would like to know the company of the caps if possible, once again, thank you

I wish I knew. It appears that they get their caps custom-wrapped to get the gold color, and that the custom wrapping only has specifications (no branding).

 

[tarkhein]

I'd like to see a review on the significance of the 'killer' NICs... I highly doubt they have any difference besides branding.

Not exactly the most comprehensive review, but here is Asus' take on NICs: http://rog.asus.com/312772014/labels/guides/tried-and-tested-why-intel-ethernet-is-still-better-for-gaming/

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Of course, they're testing throughput, and latency is what is generally considered to matter.

 

[tarkhein]

Of course, they're testing throughput, and latency is what is generally considered to matter.

Latency is down the bottom of the page if you didn't realise.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Hmm, I missed that.

It looks like they're testing at 10Mb/s though, which sort of invalidates all the latency results.

 

[ubercake]

Z97-Z in the last paragraph on page 5 (should be Z97-A).

 

[airborn824]

I am upgrading my 965BE this week to a 4770k. Looking at the MSI Gaming 3 what does evryone think? i am keeping my SSD HDD and Saphire HD6950 for now. Any suggestions for a Z97 board under $180

 

[Amdlova]

dooooooo the itx test everyone want small cages now. asrocks have better value better power and better desing!

 

[sincreator]

Usually when games are tested on motherboards the results are virtually identical. Strange that the MSI board came up as far ahead as it did in this case. Any ideas on why this happened Crash?

 

[H4X3R]

[/quotemsg]I wish I knew. It appears that they get their caps custom-wrapped to get the gold color, and that the custom wrapping only has specifications (no branding).
[/quotemsg]

Well, then i guess i'll have to hunt that info down because i do not like investing in mobos with cheap components, no matter how many features it has.

 

[Onus]

I had to replace a cap on a cheap ASRock mobo that I knocked off myself with too-aggressive cable management. What appeared to be an exact replacement was a Nichycon, which is a good Japanese brand.
As to MSI, I wouldn't touch their cheap boards, but their Z77A-GD65 Gaming board really surprised me over how nice it is, and how cool the VRMs stay under load. If my primary were full ATX, I'd be using it there.

 

[geok1ng]

After reading about the total mess that is adding SATA Xpress and M2 to a chipset starving for PCIe lanes, my upgraditis will wait for Haswell-E and X99. X97 feels like a notebook chipset.

 

[palitusa]

Great Review! MSI should be better than Asrock but then again Asrock price is pretty damn good!

 

[junkeymonkey]

how far back should you be to make this upgrade worth wile if not coming off from AMD ?

 

[g-unit1111]

Wow! Asrock and MSI beat out Gigabyte and Asus! Never thought I'd see that one coming!

 

[logainofhades]

Hopefully we shall see more M.2 SSD's soon, since it seems to be the successor to M-SATA. I like the thought of less cables to deal with. I want a Mini-ITX rig and M.2 or M-SATA is perfect for one, imo.

 

[coastie65]

The Asrock one is better. Not everyone will be using XSplit, and as tradesman1 (a moderator on this site) said "I myself won't touch MSI mobos due to the poor QC".

I never recommend MSI. Too many issues with those things.