Motherboards

Author: AkG @ Hardware Canucks

MSI has been on a roll lately and their ‘Gaming’ series has been at the forefront of a newly revived motherboard lineup. Much like GIGABYTE’s own Gaming-branded products and ASUS’ RoG brand these boards cater to gamers and overclockers alike with a unique mix of features and capabilities that were specifically chosen for their intended market. Make no mistake about it though, these boards are anything but a direct knockoff of competitors’ solutions; MSI has taken their own approach to designing motherboards they think entice some very picky customers. Is it possible to make a competent gaming grade, feature rich Skylake motherboard for under $200? MSI’s new Z170A Gaming M5 dares to ask that question.

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By: Hilbert Hagedoorn @ GURU3D

In this review we test the ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Hero. If you fire it up with that new 14nm Skylake based Core i7 6700K processor this product will bring a smile to your face. The Maximus VIII Hero comes with a ROG black & grey design with red accents. Add to that the hippest features of 2015 and you are sure you’ll have the right infrastructure for gaming de-li-cious product.

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With Intel announcing its 6th generation Core processors, codenamed “Skylake” along with the new Z170 Express Chipset, a number of motherboard manufacturers have announced their new motherboards built for the new processors and chipset. We have rounded up some of the first reviews for a number of these new motherboards. Click on the links below to find out if one of these new motherboards are destined for your new build.

• HEXUS
• ANANDTECH
• THE TECH REPORT
• TOM’S HARDWARE
• GURU3D
• TWEAKTOWN
• PUREOC
• TECHPOWERUP!
• HARDWARE HEAVEN

By: Hilbert Hagedoorn @ GURU3D

We review the MSI X99A GODLIKE motherboard, this motherboard from their Gaming series isn’t shy when it comes to naming. But truth be told, this is among the best X99 chipset based motherboards we have tested to date. It ticks all the right boxes and has a feature-set that is amazing. I’m not talking about the RGB LED system even, multiple Killer NICs, the best AC WIFI solution e ever tested and well, just so much more in regards to SLI/Crossfire support, SATA3 connectors, M.2., overclock features, a very nice audio solution and much more. Join us in a the MSI X99A GODLIKE review, a product that is bound to please the PC gamer.

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By Ian Cutress @ AnandTech

For a number of generations, each motherboard company has had its halo product that pushes boundaries and wallets. For ASUS, the Rampage IV Extreme, based on X79, was a resounding success for sales. We sourced the next chipset iteration, the X99 based Rampage V Extreme, for review to see if ASUS can follow the trend.

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By Kenny @ PureOC

The X99 chipset has now had a little bit of time to mature. During its initial launch Gigabyte sent us the X99-UD4 motherboard for review. The X99-UD4 took home our Great Hardware Award for its simple aesthetics along with a solid performance to value. Now that we are six months into the release of the X99 chipset, we are seeing more motherboards become available at a much more affordable price.

Today, we are going to be looking at one of these motherboards that offer a similar performance to the X99-UD4 in a more simplified package and price. We introduce to you the Gigabyte X99-UD3P. Aesthetically, the Gigabyte X99-UD3P is very similar to the UD4 motherboard with some obvious changes.

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By: Hilbert Hagedoorn @ GURU3D

In this review we check out the ASUS X99 TUF SaberTooth motherboard, armed with the X99 chipset this motherboard is amongst the more high-end X99 motherboards available on the globe. It has luxurious cooling features and tweaking written all over it. The X99 TUF SaberTooth Edition is an ATX form factor motherboard for the powerful Haswell-E series of processors.

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By Sandy Bruce @ PureOC

Biostar has released multiple “Hi-Fi” models over the last few years that were designed to fill the mainstream and multimedia space. With a heavy focus on audio reproduction and connectivity, these boards have done well in this arena. This is the first time we can recall Biostar taking a considerable interest in the overall appearance and some features geared towards the performance side of things. This new approach has genuinely piqued our interest. We do however remain cautious for fear it may turn out to be a budget board in mid-range product’s clothing. Fancy box? Fancy board? Fingers crossed that this is the start of a transition to greater things in the future. For now, to see what we really have on hand, we will have to peel back layers of the Biostar Hi-Fi Z97Z7.

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By Ian Cutress @ AnandTech

As the motherboard reviewer at AnandTech, I speak to my contacts at the motherboard manufacturers on a regular basis. All the recent talk has had a heavy sprinkling about thoughts, opinions and implementations of USB 3.1. To add to our recent testing, ASUS is today announcing the launch of their USB 3.1 PCIe card along with a variety of motherboard bundles either featuring onboard USB 3.1 or a bundled USB 3.1 card. We stuck the card in the Rampage V Extreme to run the numbers with an ASUS dual mSATA USB 3.1 enclosure.

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By Ian Cutress @ AnandTech

In our recent run of overclocking focused motherboards, we have had a couple of interesting contenders. Sub $300 is a difficult market to attack for X99 overclockers, and MSI brings the X99S MPower which is the focus of today’s review.

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