Introduction

Hi everyone, this time we’ll be reviewing the GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-Gaming 7 motherboard. The GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-Gaming 7 motherboard is made with the latest Intel Z97 chipset and targeted towards the mainstream to hardcore gamers as well as enthusiasts. It supports the latest Intel Haswell refresh series of CPUs and packs a lot of features.

Here is the link to the motherboard(GIGABYTE official site) : GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-Gaming 7 motherboard. This is a full sized ATX motherboard and features Killer E2200 LAN and Realtek ALC 1150 115 dB SNR audio for a complete gaming experience. Lets move on to the specs as shown on GIGABYTE website:

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With the launch of X99 Motherboard lineup, Asus has also introduced something new i.e. the OC Socket. This patent-pending(as of now) OC Socket will feature some extra pins compared to the reference LGA2011-v3 grid patten. As per Asus it offers some good Overclocking benefits and Compatibility wise, its compatible with the newer generation Intel LGA2011-v3 socket based CPUs. The following X99 motherboards from Asus will feature the OC Socket :

• ROG Rampage V Extreme
• ASUS X99-Deluxe
• ASUS X99-Pro
• ASUS X99-A

What is OC Socket?

Haswell-E (Intel Core i7-5960X, 5930X and 5280K) processors actually have more pads than the reference LGA2011-3 socket design, so ASUS added extra socket pins to tap this resource. OC Socket is an enhancement based on the reference LGA2011-3 design, so for users not overclocking or tweaking voltages in the BIOS, OC Socket does not activate. However for those that do overclock and tune performance, there’s significant benefits.

Here are some comparisons between Reference Socket, OC Socket and the Haswell :

As per Asus other benefits of the OC Socket as follows –

Very Tiny Voltage drop :

Per Core Finetuning :

Even more DD4 performance :

Source : Asus

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Asus X99-Deluxe Tops this range and comes fully loaded while the 2 little siblings viz. X99-Pro and X99-A are designed for Budget conscious enthusiasts and gamers with a little feature reduction compared to X99-Deluxe. The X99-Deluxe is now available while X99-A will follow up in stores shortly and X99-Pro will show up at the end of September. All of them support Quad channel DDR4 with over 3Ghz+(OC) frequency support.

The Deluxe comes loaded with :

• 802.11ac 3×3 (3T3R) WiFi adapter
• Crystal Sound 2 with DTS
• Hyper M.2 X4 PCI-Express card for dual 32Gbps M.2 SSD support
• Fan extension hub with 3 extra 4-pin fan connectors

X99-Deluxe Gallery :

Source : Asus

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So now we have the price and the ability to buy it on retails channel.

First up on the list in the big brother : Maximus VII Hero priced at around  Rs 18100 as suggested by Asus.

then comes the next one… MAXIMUS VII Ranger priced at around 15000

And last but not the least Maximus VI Gene priced at around Rs 16800.

Expecting them to be stocked by the retailers by next week.

And wait for our reviews on the two big boys : Hero and Ranger.

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Asrock

We start with Asrock and their crop of colorful boards starting from the mainstream Extreme Lineup to the gaming range Fatal1ty and to the OC Formula

First up, Extreme 4

The Extreme 4 comes loaded with about 9 sata port,One M.2 Socket,one USB 3.0 header and two bios chip onboard.
Apart from that we see a “purity sound” solution, onboard TPM header and Intel Lan. Although the 4 pin molex on middle of the board kinda sticks out.

Then the Extreme6,

Here we have DUAL Intel lan with 11 Sata Ports, a mini PCI-e slot with two sata M.2 slots with one being labeled as “Ultra M.2” with “‘PCIe Gen3 x4” labeled next to it.This suggest they are making place for some devices whihc are not even out yet,good for them.
This board has a bit better positioning  for the 4 pin power,but I would like it to be changed to sata power.

Moving on to the Mini ITX, we have ITX/ac

Looks like a standard fare ITX board,while the box says M.2 i don’t see any on the board.
However we see four Sata ports,one sata express ports and mini PCI-e. Reloaction of the 8 Pin power to middle will cause problems in cable management.

Coming to the gaming range,we have the Fatal1ty Killer

The board comes with four sata ports,one sata express and one M.2.Sound is being handled by the Purity Sound 2 solution here(most probably an ALC 1150 codec with tweaks).
Networking is handled by a Killer E2200 LAN.

And last is the high-end offering : OC Formula

We see a bit more yellow than the previous Z87 OC Formula.
Asrock ahs equipped the abord with on the fly adjustments switches,dip switches for PCI lanes,voltage check points along with better power phases than the other boards in the lineup.
Even though we see quad pci slots there seems to be no PLX chip pointing towards a x8/x4/x4 + x4 like its Z87 cousin.
Additionally the board comes with E2200 lan,M.2 slot,9 sata ports and ace overclocker Nick shih’s autograph on the board itself.

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Asus today announced the launch of AM1M-A motherbaord for Kabini APU’s in India.
Priced at around INR 2400 the motherboard boasts of ASUS 5X Protection.
It also includes ASUS DIGI+ VRM (voltage-regulator module),over current protection to prevent short circuits,ESD guards etc.
On the software side we have the well-known UEFI bios of Asus which is among the most user-friendly bios around and AI Suite 3 for system tuning and overclocking.
It’s good to see that Asus is implementing almost all the software feature set on the lower end of the spectrum too.
The product page can be found here

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Now MSI had decided to step in and solve the problem to a certain extent. a few days back they showed off a small slide in Facebook which shows the upcoming Z97 XPower AC will support delidded haswell CPU among other features.

Now while we wait to see how far its adopted by the enthusiast crowd.The conpet is pretty innovative.

What do you think? let us know

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Introduction
Sandy Bridge E remains an interesting topic of discussion. Introduced in Q4 2011, this was camp blue’s enthusiast platform, offering the crème-de-la-crème for the crowd who didn’t mind paying a premium. Now, in 2014, when the mainstream segments have already passed two generations (Ivy Bridge, Haswell), Intel hasn’t updated the enthusiast platform in a similar way. Even with the introduction of Ivy Bridge E, the next step in processor architecture, we are still seeing no new chipsets being launched. The existing X79 boards are getting BIOS or firmware upgrades to work with the newer batch of processors, alongside the launch of a handful of new boards. So before Haswell E arrives (Q2 2014?) the enthusiast platform remains X79, now two and a half years old.

Asus are the forerunners when it comes to motherboards, both in terms of features and revenues (motherboards sold in million units). They have diversified their entire motherboard range in a few distinct sections, each trying to cater to a different crowd, keeping a couple of base features which are enforced on every segment to make sure they retain the same quality, and then according to the segment, adding couple of brownie points. So we have their Republic of Gamers range, the TUF (The Ultimate Force)range, and their mainstream range (Pro/Deluxe/WS), each coming with different color schemes (red/black for ROG, black/gold for mainstream, grey/army green for TUF). Asus also uses different VRM circuitry/audio components and/or software tweaks on certain products to differentiate them from others in their huge array of motherboards.

For ROG, the differentiation runs deep – even in names. While Maximus is the name given to mainstream ROG boards, the enthusiast chipset ROG boards get a more intimidating Rampage moniker. The rest remains the same – Gene for Micro ATX, Formula as their top-dog gaming solution with premium audio in terms of SupremeFX, and Extreme as the flagship enthusiast/benching/uber-high end gaming motherboard (additions to this range are Hero – the budget ATX board and Impact – the mini ITX ROG board, introduced in the Z87/Haswell range). For Ivy Bridge E, however, Asus has introduced a single ROG motherboard (X79-Deluxe being the only other motherboard released), and we have it today in our labs for testing.

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Hey people!
Just got this toy in hand..so i though i would do a small unboxing for ya all

Presenting the Maximus VI Formula from Asus. The ROG board which is mainly for gamers.
Am not a gamer per se, but I had an immense amount of fun with last formula Board. So i am eager to see what i can do with this board.

So without further do let’s get on with it..shall we?
more pictures..low talk.

Standard ROG box. All red with a flap and with all the information on both sides and the inside flap.

And here we have the board in all its glory.

that takes care of things outside the box, lets see whats inside.

Asus have provided everything except the kitchen sink and a pot in the box. (I would have appreciated a pot!).

Now to the board itself..

The first thing that catches the eye the ROG armor and the CrossChill hybrid cooling system. We will cover both of them in the review, so hold on!

The I/O panel is always filled to the brim with the standard fare stuff. The reset button deserves special mention since it saves a lot of headache for closed cased and open case clocker’s alike.

The supreme FX chip is upgraded with some new shiny stuff like Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC.We will see how good it is.

That’s about it for now.
Enjoy the pictures while i set it up and start playing with it!

Cheers!
Sumon

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Hello people….today we have a few motherboards from a company which is relatively unknown here.
Presenting two motherboards from ECS : 970M-A Deluxe and 990FXM-A Deluxe .

So lets see what these boards have in store for us…shall we?
Am going into this review with no expectation since this is my second time with an ECS product.

hers’ what Wikipedia has to say about them :

Elitegroup Computer Systems Co., Ltd,is a Taiwan-based electronics firm. It is the fifth largest PC motherboard manufacturer in the world (after Asus, Gigabyte Technology, ASRock, and MSI), with production reaching 24 million units in 2002. Many of these motherboards have been produced for OEM customers and are used in systems assembled and sold by such brand-name companies as IBM, Compaq and Zoostorm. Its main competitors are Micro-Star International and ASRock.

So without further ado lets move on the unboxing and then out of the box performance.

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