Establishing a Golden Standard? ASUS Z87-EXPERT Motherboard Review

ASUS’ golden Z87 mainstream lineup suggests that the company means to set the standard for motherboards, and we aim to find out how close it gets to doing so with a look at its Z87-EXPERT. It features a robust configuration – even including Thunderbolt – and of course, has seen a number of EFI and AiSuite III enhancements.

ASUS is going for the gold with its mainstream Z87 lineup… quite literally. As we detailed prior to the official Z87 chipset launch, ASUS has retired its long-standing blue-ish color scheme for its mainstream line and is instead opting for a gold-colored one. The reason? Well, gold represents an ultra-high standard, one that ASUS believes it meets with this lineup.

As usual, ASUS’ collection of current-gen motherboards is a bit overwhelming, and I’m sure we’ll be taking a look at some of the non-mainstream models in the future. What do I mean by “mainstream”? That’s ASUS denotation to a lineup that caters to virtually everyone. This differs from its more targeted series, like Republic of Gamers, WS (workstation), or Sabertooth (stable, long-lasting). You can’t go wrong with a mainstream series board if you’re simply looking to build a Z87-based PC.

Among its Z87 mainstream lineup, the EXPERT board sits closer to the top than the bottom, offering a bevy of connectivity options, including Thunderbolt. As we’ll soon see, that addition adds a fair price premium to the board, so if you couldn’t care less about the connector, then the similarly-spec’d Z87-PRO is the next-best thing.

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