Ahh, the smell of fresh chipset wafts through the air. Isn’t it great? And that means just one thing: more motherboards than we’re able to count. As always, ASUS aims to be at the forefront of choice and innovation with its Z87 line-up, so to help you judge its success for yourself, let’s take a brief look at 11 models from its upcoming lineup.
The motherboard market is loaded with options targeted squarely at overclockers and the general enthusiast, but finding a board – much less an entire series – dedicated to gamers is difficult. GIGABYTE realized that back in 2011, and thus its G1 series was born. In this article, we’re taking a look at the company’s current Z77 offering, the G1.Sniper 3.
Intel’s X79 platform may seem a little dated by this point, but it in fact remains the best choice for those needing to build the biggest, baddest PCs around – especially with Ivy Bridge-E likely 9+ months away. Complementing X79′s goals perfectly is ASUS’ P9X79 PRO, a motherboard that offers a rich feature-set in both hardware and software.
For its $180 pricing, GIGABYTE packs quite a bit into its Z77X-UD5H. For starters, it includes 9 internal SATA ports, 4x USB 3.0 ports at the back, and not four, but five internal 4-pin fan headers. On top of it all, there’s an mSATA option and three internal USB 3.0 headers. Does the rest of the board meet our newfound expectations?
Intel’s CPUs currently dominate the enthusiast market, and for good reason. But has the company been able to carry the mojo that makes its Ivy Bridge processors so drool-worthy over to its motherboard line-up? With the company’s DZ77GA-70K in-hand, that’s just what we’re here to find out.