X99 Motherboard Roundup

[Ian]

Hardware.info have a roundup of 15 Intel X99 motherboards - well worth a read if you're in the market for an upgrade:

Just like with the Z97 motherboards that were released earlier this year most manufacturers have focused on the sound quality of the on board controller. We also can see that on the higher end models modern SSD interfaces like SATA Express and M.2 are becoming more common. Click here for our article about the new PCI-Express based SSD interfaces on Z97 boards. Another trend carried on from the Z97 generation is that the large brands clearly identify what group the motherboard is aimed at. They introduce specifcally designed for gamers, overclockers and "general" users. The question does remain how the manufacturers have done their internal projections and forecast, as we find the Haswell-E platform most suitable for (semi-) professionals in media create applications and because of the pricing a lot less suitable as a gaming platform.

Read the review here:
http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/5600/15-intel-x99-motherboards-review-new-boards-for-haswell-e

 

[muckshifter]

... the most important advise that we can give gamers; Do not touch the X99 platform, buy a much cheaper socket 1150 Z97 motherboard and with the money saved either buy your girlfriend a nice present or spend it on a better graphics card.

I like to read the 'final' results first these day, and the above quote is one reason ... no need to read the rest of the review now, I'm not in to 3D rendering or Videos.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Aye, I read that and so just out of interest priced up a new system:

Weighing up the cost of the improvement over my present system (either 3 or 4 years old now) I think I'll stay as I am.

Reading that review is the first I've become aware of the M.2 standard.

I also noticed Gigabyte got a bit of a drubbing.

 

[muckshifter]

aye Gigabyte may need to rethink their boards ... I see one of my preferred manufacturer, MSI, faired (sic) better.

 

[Ian]

Yup, too expensive for me - those motherboards were at least £150, up to over £300 in some cases. Z77 motherboard and i3570k are still going strong and I'm sure will have a good while left in them yet .

 

[Naylor]

Yup, too expensive for me - those motherboards were at least £150, up to over £300 in some cases. Z77 motherboard and i3570k are still going strong and I'm sure will have a good while left in them yet .

Absolutely. I'm using an i5 2500K that is still one of the best CPUs for gaming, and has been out for years. Upgrading to any of the newer processors would result in completely negligible gains of 2-3 fps. Seems that the best upgrades are still video cards and solid state drives. Intel just has no competition at the moment, as AMD are struggling to compete even with the 1st generation i5/i7 processors.
Shame really, as a bit of healthy competition is always good for consumers!

 

[Ian]

Couldn't agree more!