A Basic Guide To Motherboard, Case and Power Supply Form Factors By Thomas Soderstrom Avoiding incompatible parts and getting the rig you really want is easy when you understand the basics of a few commonly used form factors.
Five Z97 Express Motherboards, $160 To $220, Reviewed By Thomas Soderstrom Intel’s “mainstream” socket continues to spawn enthusiast parts with the company’s fastest-ever gaming-oriented CPU. You’ll probably want a feature-packed motherboard for that, and five companies stepped up to show off the best of the sub-$220 segment.
Three AMD AM1 Motherboards For The Kabini APU, Reviewed By Thomas Soderstrom Targeting power-misers, AMD’s low-energy Kabini-based APUs could easily find their way into entertainment PCs, office machines, and PoS terminals. Of course, you need a motherboard to make it a “platform” and we found three companies willing to help.
Intel Z97 Express: Five Enthusiast Motherboards, $120 To $160 By Thomas Soderstrom Tom’s Hardware readers set a higher bar for enthusiast-class motherboards, demanding overclocking capabilities and more robust feature sets. Priced from $120 to $160, we welcome the first five Z97 motherboards to our enhanced definition of mainstream!
Five Z87 Motherboards For Your Mini-ITX Build, Reviewed By Thomas Soderstrom Z87 rules the PC enthusiast market by exposing the Haswell architecture's full feature set. We're particularly interested in mini-ITX-based platforms able to integrate Z87 in a compact form factor. Five boards contend for supremacy of compact computing.
Three AMD 990FX-Based Motherboards For Enthusiasts By Thomas Soderstrom AMD’s flagship FX-series processors squarely target enthusiasts with sub-$1,000 system budgets, and it's hard to get there with an expensive motherboard. We requested every vendor's top-value solution, and received three boards for your consideration.
Four Z77-Based Mini-ITX Motherboards, Reviewed By Thomas Soderstrom Yes, you can get all of the functionality enabled by Intel's Z77 Express chipset in a tiny mini-ITX form factor! We round up four motherboards that uniquely approach the gaming and media center markets with a range of features and prices. Which is best?
Six Socket FM2 Motherboards For AMD's Trinity APUs By Thomas Soderstrom After just one generation, Socket FM1 is dead. We test six Socket FM2-based motherboards able to take AMD's newest APUs built using the Trinity architecture. Can any of these platforms, armed with AMD A85X Fusion Controller Hubs, get us to upgrade?
Six $220-280 Z77 Express-Based Motherboards, Reviewed By Thomas Soderstrom Expanded graphics card support, enhanced on-board features that include Thunderbolt on some models, and more-robust voltage control are all good reasons to consider paying a little extra for a higher-end motherboard. Today we examine five top choices.
Seven Sub-$160 Z77 Express Motherboards, Reviewed By Thomas Soderstrom Intel’s LGA 1155 interface is designed for mainstream buyers, yet the firm’s Ivy Bridge-based processors put it in the performance spotlight. We compare seven Z77 Express motherboards that deliver enthusiast-class performance at mainstream prices.
Everything You Need To Know About Thunderbolt By Andrew Ku A year after its debut on Apple platforms, Thunderbolt is finally available for PCs. Both fast and scalable, the technology’s 10 Gb/s connectivity and potential for external graphics promises to inspire innovation. But is it ready for prime time?
Six $160-220 Z77 Motherboards, Benchmarked And Reviewed By Thomas Soderstrom Combining the newest features with moderate expandability, Intel’s mainstream platforms provide high value to most gaming and overclocking enthusiasts. We compare six examples with Z77 Express to find the best features, overclocking, and efficiency.
Video Teaser: Intel's DZ77GA-70K Motherboard By Bestofmedia Team Have a peek at Intel's DZ77GA-70K motherboard, the platform that drove our Sandy Bridge- and Ivy Bridge-based processors in today's Core i7-3770K launch. We cover some of the board's physical features and our first experience with its new Visual BIOS.
Overclocking: Asus Rampage IV Extreme Versus EVGA X79 FTW By Thomas Soderstrom Many companies claim to offer the best overclocking for your money, yet only two compete for the best overclocking at the very highest price point. Today we put those claims to the test, including a full set of benchmarks to analyze performance gains.
Intel’s Z77 Express And Lucidlogix MVP: New Features For Gamers By Thomas Soderstrom Integrated USB 3.0, advanced management features, reduced power consumption, and a new software package from Lucidlogix separate the Z77 Express motherboards from the Z68 chipset that preceded it. Were these capabilities worth waiting for?
Six $200-$260 LGA 2011 Motherboards, Reviewed By Thomas Soderstrom We know that Intel's X79 Express platform hosts the fastest desktop processors in the company's portfolio. But can it be made more affordable? We round up the least-expensive $200-$260 motherboards to determine how much you have to give up for cheap X79.