Gigabyte’s APP Center resides under the Windows task bar, popping up when selected to reveal a scrolling menu. The image below shows these menu items pasted side-by-side for a quicker view, and the applet links a variety of handy applications such as USB Blocker for port security and Live Update to poll Gigabyte’s server for new drivers.

Gigabyte @BIOS allows firmware updates within windows, polls from Gigabyte’s server, and includes its “Face Wizard” boot image modification application.

Gigabyte’s EZ Setup provides a simple interface for the functions of Intel’s SATA controller.

Smart Recovery 2 provides file backup and system recovery functions.
Gigabyte Smart TimeLock gives PC owners additional user management options, as described on its info page.

The company's EasyTune hasn’t changed significantly since our previous verbose description, but its tuning options are still governed by each motherboard model's feature set. We find the full range of clock, multiplier, and voltage controls repeated from firmware into this easy Windows-based interface:
Automatic overclocking is also an option, with both pre-defined overclocking profiles and an overclocking algorithm at your fingertips. The top profile (OC Extreme) increases the CPU frequency range to 3.7 through 4.5 GHz, depending on the number of cores in use, at 1.30 volts.

Gigabyte’s Auto Tuning algorithm managed to get our CPU stable at 4.40 GHz with all of its cores loaded. The voltage level for this somewhat-impressive O/C was on the high side at 1.475 V unfortunately, causing near-instant thermal throttling from our Haswell-based Core i7.
- The Mini-ITX Market Is Small, But Growing...
- ASRock Z87E-ITX
- Z87E-ITX Software
- Z87E-ITX Firmware
- Asus Z87I-Deluxe
- Z87I-Deluxe Software
- Z87I-Deluxe Firmware
- EVGA Z87 Stinger
- Z87 Stinger Software
- Z87 Stinger Firmware
- Gigabyte Z87N-WiFi
- Z87N-WiFi Software
- Z87N-WiFi Firmware
- MSI Z87I
- Z87I Software
- Z87I Firmware
- Test Hardware And Benchmark Settings
- Results: 3DMark And PCMark
- Results: SiSoftware Sandra
- Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Results: Adobe Creative Suite
- Results: Productivity
- Results: File Compression
- Energy, Heat, And Efficiency
- Overclocking
- Which Mini-ITX Motherboard Would We Buy For Haswell?




Yes, they've sent one for another article. If the site did multiple items per manufacturer the article would take weeks to finish. That wouldn't be a problem if all Tom's Hardware did was motherboards
More room between the PCI-E and CPU LGA is nice on the Asus as are all the features.
I am still running an older H55n usb3 24/7 and it has been quite stable and cool and low on power consumption. Shame that this new gigabyte board has higher power and temperature levels.
Overall it's good to see the roundup. Would have liked to see post times. With SSD storage, motherboard post times are now becoming the longer wait in a system boot up.
Also interested in thoughts on reasons for Z87 mobos for a standard non-overclocking build. For a non-overclocked gaming ITX PC, say with an I3 or low-end I5, are there any compelling reasons to pay the Z87 premium over, say an H81, which can run $100 cheaper?
I thought Intel did away with allowing non-k processors to use the four 100 MHz bins with Haswell. It only applies to Sandy and Ivy. At least that was what has been reported:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2013/06/14/haswell-overclocking/1
Now that looks interesting.
I don't see how this is even a consideration. How many people have the need to plug in the connector AFTER installing the cooler? Or for that matter, BEFORE removing the cooler? The only need to move this at all would be during a PSU swap, which is probably very infrequent for most.
Now that looks interesting.
Yep that does look interesting.
Some other itx boards, not as cool as that MSI, but worth sharing.
http://www.asus.com/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/P9DI/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Q87T/
http://www.asrock.com/server/overview.asp?Model=E3C226D2I
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4463#ov
Not ITX but worth sharing too
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/CSB/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/VANGUARD_B85/
Yep the Deluxe has Wifi AC and pro has Wifi N