Z87 Hits The High End: Four Sub-$300 Motherboards

[slomo4sho]

All these boards support Quad SLI!

We seriously need a new term for either running two dual-GPU cards in SLI/Crossfire or having four cards in SLI/Crossfire. Quad SLI is a deceptive and inaccurate term.

 

[16bit]

The Asus Maximus VI is such a beautiful board. Probably will get a cheaper asus though.

 

[RedJaron]

ASRock, will you PLEASE start putting more four-pin fan headers on your boards? I want automatic PWM control for all my case fans, not just the CPU cooler.

 

[bigcyco1]

The Asus Maximus VI is such a beautiful board. Probably will get a cheaper asus though.

I agree.

 

[damian86]

It is really hard for me to find decent user reviews, for example newegg or oc.uk, or wherever, you get tons of people who don't know much about hardware and specifications/how they work and they just buy it, later on they post a feedback of 1 or 2 stars 'because I had to enable XMP on bios to speed up my ram' or 'not the performance I expected when coming from sandybridge' -->If you are coming for SandyBridge, why you update/do you espect to have a massive bang of improvement in this short time?

Think about it, how many years of work Intel put before releasing Sandybridge technology, that is a big change after several platforms. but there are hundreds of people who expect for example Haswell to provide a WTF hell of improvement? They just have to get more realistic and remember the big bang was Sandybridge and now Intel is working their way up on different improvements developing further technologies.

 

[Lewise51]

Hi I am just wondering if I could get some helpful information. I am trying to find out if it is possible to use 2 radeon hd 6850's in a gigabyte 880gm USB3 mobo.
Thank you.

 

[Onus]

Hi I am just wondering if I could get some helpful information. I am trying to find out if it is possible to use 2 radeon hd 6850's in a gigabyte 880gm USB3 mobo.
Thank you.

That would be an excellent question to post in your own thread.

 

[Gana Dalsia]

After announcing its Hi-Fi H81S3 Micro-ATX motherboard, as well as its Hi-Fi B85N 3D Hey i just came across this link:

Mini-ITX motherboard, Biostar has further expanded its lineup of Hi-Fi series motherboards with the new Hi-Fi B85S3+ Micro-ATX motherboard. This motherboard, as its name indicates, features the B85 chipset from Intel and has the LGA1150 socket, thus providing support for Intel's new Haswell processors. This is a new addition too and could be of help

 

[Gana Dalsia]

Gigabyte is a hit or miss. Their high end seems very good but their low end sometimes lacks. What alternative do you suggest as per your article and coments?

 

[bigcyco1]

Gigabyte is a hit or miss. Their high end seems very good but their low end sometimes lacks. What alternative do you suggest as per your article and coments?

I did not write the article.But recommend Asus.

 

[16bit]

Gigabyte is a hit or miss. Their high end seems very good but their low end sometimes lacks. What alternative do you suggest as per your article and coments?

I did not write the article.But recommend Asus.

I agree.

 

[Onus]

For motherboards, I prefer Asus or ASRock; but the latter's cheapest boards can be thin, and Asus' VRMs are better.

 

[montyw47]

I'm a linux fan not Windoze, hate to have to install Wine to bring up a BIOS uodate.

 

[Crashman]

I'm a linux fan not Windoze, hate to have to install Wine to bring up a BIOS uodate.

I have no clue what you're speaking of. I update BIOS from a thumb drive through the utility built into the UEFI. I don't even have a drive installed, let alone loaded with an OS, when I do that.

 

[ZippyPinhead]

This review was skewed again towards Asus. ASROCK got shafted IMO........I am also wondering why the Z87 OC Formula was put in this list instead of the Z87 OC Formula/AC board which includes the wifi/Bluetooth card which can be had for $275......which is $30 less than the Maximus formula........with conformal coating and a 5 year warranty.

Its obvious how heavily Asus advertises with Tomshardware..........

 

[Crashman]

This review was skewed again towards Asus. ASROCK got shafted IMO........I am also wondering why the Z87 OC Formula was put in this list instead of the Z87 OC Formula/AC board which includes the wifi/Bluetooth card which can be had for $275......which is $30 less than the Maximus formula........with conformal coating and a 5 year warranty.

Its obvious how heavily Asus advertises with Tomshardware..........

Do they? Or is it just you? Were you the person responsible for the pricing controversy that caused ASRock to lose its award? Blaming you for ASRock's mistakes makes as much sense as blaming the editor when Asus doesn't make those same mistakes, right?

 

[ZippyPinhead]

This review was skewed again towards Asus. ASROCK got shafted IMO........I am also wondering why the Z87 OC Formula was put in this list instead of the Z87 OC Formula/AC board which includes the wifi/Bluetooth card which can be had for $275......which is $30 less than the Maximus formula........with conformal coating and a 5 year warranty.

Its obvious how heavily Asus advertises with Tomshardware..........

Do they? Or is it just you? Were you the person responsible for the pricing controversy that caused ASRock to lose its award? Blaming you for ASRock's mistakes makes as much sense as blaming the editor when Asus doesn't make those same mistakes, right?

How can ASROCK make the mistake here when Toms Hardware chose the boards? Why was ASROCK's z87 OC formula chosen instead of their formula/AC board which is also under $300? Since you docked ASROCK major points for not including a mini wifi/bt card?

Also, how about including some benchmarks of actual AUDIO QUALITY on these motherboards built in sound solutions as well? Ever hear of RIghtmark Audio analyzer? Get with the times TH! And drop some of the obvious bias.........

 

[Crashman]

How can ASROCK make the mistake here when Toms Hardware chose the boards?

Because ASRock chose the board.

Why was ASROCK's z87 OC formula chosen instead of their formula/AC board which is also under $300?

Because ASRock chose the board.

Since you docked ASROCK major points for not including a mini wifi/bt card?

Because ASRock chose the board. And those points were docked, they were added to the product that provided more features for the same money

Also, how about including some benchmarks of actual AUDIO QUALITY on these motherboards built in sound solutions as well? Ever hear of RIghtmark Audio analyzer? Get with the times TH! And drop some of the obvious bias.........

The only obvious bias comes from the person making the proven false accusations. In actual reality, all three of the other manufacturers agree that Tom's Hardware has a love affair with ASRock, so everything you're saying is exactly opposite of their alternatively-biased perception. If you don't believe that, try on a pair of MSI's shoes.

Oh, and the Rightmark thing, you have to go back a ways to find reviews that include it because, after finding very little distortional difference between onboard audio solutions (and finding less than 1.5% distortion on the worst solution as I recall), it was dropped. These new claims of superiority, taking us from 101/1 S/N ratios to 106/1 S/N ratios look good on paper, but they're awfully difficult to hear. And the biggest boost in onboard audio has been higher amperage for 600Ω headphones.

 

[ZippyPinhead]

How can ASROCK make the mistake here when Toms Hardware chose the boards?

Because ASRock chose the board.

Why was ASROCK's z87 OC formula chosen instead of their formula/AC board which is also under $300?

Because ASRock chose the board.

Since you docked ASROCK major points for not including a mini wifi/bt card?

Because ASRock chose the board. And those points were docked, they were added to the product that provided more features for the same money

Also, how about including some benchmarks of actual AUDIO QUALITY on these motherboards built in sound solutions as well? Ever hear of RIghtmark Audio analyzer? Get with the times TH! And drop some of the obvious bias.........

The only obvious bias comes from the person making the proven false accusations. In actual reality, all three of the other manufacturers agree that Tom's Hardware has a love affair with ASRock, so everything you're saying is exactly opposite of their alternatively-biased perception. If you don't believe that, try on a pair of MSI's shoes.

Oh, and the Rightmark thing, you have to go back a ways to find reviews that include it because, after finding very little distortional difference between onboard audio solutions (and finding less than 1.5% distortion on the worst solution as I recall), it was dropped. These new claims of superiority, taking us from 101/1 S/N ratios to 106/1 S/N ratios look good on paper, but they're awfully difficult to hear. And the biggest boost in onboard audio has been higher amperage for 600Ω headphones.

Its not necessarily about distortion using rightmark, but also about noise floor. Noisefloor is probably the biggest issue with onboard sound. Lower is better, and not all onboard audio solutions are the same. Same with the headphone amp. BTW, every try a set of high impedance headphones on an Asus board with SupremeFX featuring a 600ohm capability as they claim? No right? Well a lot of people found out the hard way that the headphone amp is junk on em..........you guys hit the basic benchmark tests, what needs to be included though is more analysis of day to day use, compatibility and bug issues. Cuz a lot of the boards you guys recommend, have in the end a lot of bugs and flaws and poor component compatibility with other devices.

 

[frank83]

I can't find any Tom's reviews on mATX motherboards. I'm looking into mATX with a cube-style mATX case for a future build, and was hoping to find mATX value and gaming board comparison / reviews etc.

Perhaps some in the future with z87 and AM3+ (or next gen?)

 

[Crashman]

I can't find any Tom's reviews on mATX motherboards. I'm looking into mATX with a cube-style mATX case for a future build, and was hoping to find mATX value and gaming board comparison / reviews etc.

Perhaps some in the future with z87 and AM3+ (or next gen?)

I'll run that past Chris. µATX has been pushed out of the review process by mITX for the past few cycles, but I prefer the former.

 

[RedJaron]

Most manufacturers offer mATX versions of their main boards. It's not a given, but a lot of them are just as good as the full size. Just make sure to look over their layout to see if ports and headers have been moved to inaccessible places.

 

[frank83]

I can't find any Tom's reviews on mATX motherboards. I'm looking into mATX with a cube-style mATX case for a future build, and was hoping to find mATX value and gaming board comparison / reviews etc.

Perhaps some in the future with z87 and AM3+ (or next gen?)

I'll run that past Chris. µATX has been pushed out of the review process by mITX for the past few cycles, but I prefer the former.

Hey man thanks that would be great! It has been a while, and looking on manufacturer's sites it's not always easy to find the micro boards, or decide which is best for value and gaming. Thanks again!

 

[mark00771]

Thw MPower Max is without question the best board among this bunch, 24hr burn in, 20 Phase power, extra layered PCB etc, Asus have taken their eye of the ball with their Z87 boards, I would refer you to Linus's and tiny tom logan's take on Asus's Flagship MSE motherboard. Asus usually gets the award in these kind of reviews and it's not justified in some cases.

 

[ZippyPinhead]

Thw MPower Max is without question the best board among this bunch, 24hr burn in, 20 Phase power, extra layered PCB etc, Asus have taken their eye of the ball with their Z87 boards, I would refer you to Linus's and tiny tom logan's take on Asus's Flagship MSE motherboard. Asus usually gets the award in these kind of reviews and it's not justified in some cases.

Um not even close. First off the MSI Mpower Max does not have a 20 phase power supply. Its technically 8+0/5+0 phase array. Second off it uses LF-Pak mosfet arrays......not exact top notch hardware......pretty mediocre in reality.

The ASROCK formula series motherboards are superior, especially in power delivery and featuring a better IR3567controller, 6+2/6+2 phase array and NEXfet mosfets. The Asus ROG series mobo's are actually also superior too to what the MSI Mpower series mobos offer.