Asus has revealed its Z87 motherboard line-up for Intel's new Haswell CPUs.
Bit-tech actually attended an event in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, and with the NDA on what we saw now expired, we're free to share all the gossip with you.
Sadly we don't have any performance or overclocking details at this point, but what we do have is a complete picture of Asus' very interesting new range of motherboards, set to hit shelves soon.
The mini-ITX market is being well-catered for again with a new overclocking orientated model, unsurprisingly called the Z87 I-Deluxe, which is essentially a follow-up to it's gorgeous P8Z77-I Deluxe.
As with all of Asus' new mainstream boards, the new colour scheme is a mixture of gold and yellow, and the motherboard looks pretty similar to its predecessor, with a large VRM daughterboard, six SATA ports plus the usual headers.
There are new TUF and ROG motherboards too. We're particularly keen to take a look at TUF's first micro-ATX motherboard, the Gryphon, while ROG will now have a budget orientated board called the Hero, which we suspect will retail for a similar price to the micro-ATX Gene, but cheaper than the Formula and Extreme, which are still doing the rounds too.
However, something new to all of Asus' motherboards is the CPU fan header. It might not seem like a key headline, but the addition has the potential to render expensive automatic fan controllers useless. By adding a mosfet between the PSU and CPU fan, Asus' software fan control suits are now able to vary the speed of 3-pin fans as well as 4-pin PWM fans. A simple latch built-in to the header detects when a 3-pin or 4-pin fan is connected. While its fan control software is pretty good, Z77 and earlier boards could only vary the speed of 4-pin fans.
The UEFI BIOS has also received a few ugrades. You're now able to add notes to relating to specific BIOS settings and there's even a history list of BIOS changes. Thermal Armor makes its return, but thankfully it's removable. Along side the new Gryphon will be a new Sabertooth Z87 model too. There are actually even more exciting features but unfortunately these are under NDA till Haswell's launch.
Will you be upgrading to a Z87 motherboard? Let us know in the forum.
Bit-tech actually attended an event in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, and with the NDA on what we saw now expired, we're free to share all the gossip with you.
Sadly we don't have any performance or overclocking details at this point, but what we do have is a complete picture of Asus' very interesting new range of motherboards, set to hit shelves soon.
The mini-ITX market is being well-catered for again with a new overclocking orientated model, unsurprisingly called the Z87 I-Deluxe, which is essentially a follow-up to it's gorgeous P8Z77-I Deluxe.
As with all of Asus' new mainstream boards, the new colour scheme is a mixture of gold and yellow, and the motherboard looks pretty similar to its predecessor, with a large VRM daughterboard, six SATA ports plus the usual headers.
Click to enlarge
There are new TUF and ROG motherboards too. We're particularly keen to take a look at TUF's first micro-ATX motherboard, the Gryphon, while ROG will now have a budget orientated board called the Hero, which we suspect will retail for a similar price to the micro-ATX Gene, but cheaper than the Formula and Extreme, which are still doing the rounds too.
Above left - ROG's new more affordable board - the Hero and right, the Z87 Deluxe sporting Asus' new mainstream board colour scheme - click to enlarge
However, something new to all of Asus' motherboards is the CPU fan header. It might not seem like a key headline, but the addition has the potential to render expensive automatic fan controllers useless. By adding a mosfet between the PSU and CPU fan, Asus' software fan control suits are now able to vary the speed of 3-pin fans as well as 4-pin PWM fans. A simple latch built-in to the header detects when a 3-pin or 4-pin fan is connected. While its fan control software is pretty good, Z77 and earlier boards could only vary the speed of 4-pin fans.
Click to enlarge
The UEFI BIOS has also received a few ugrades. You're now able to add notes to relating to specific BIOS settings and there's even a history list of BIOS changes. Thermal Armor makes its return, but thankfully it's removable. Along side the new Gryphon will be a new Sabertooth Z87 model too. There are actually even more exciting features but unfortunately these are under NDA till Haswell's launch.
Will you be upgrading to a Z87 motherboard? Let us know in the forum.
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