Has The Bar Been Set ?

[Witchdoctor]

Only time will tell .........

A peak at a potential top performer



http://thepcenthusiast.com/asrock-z97-oc-formula-z97-motherboard-revealed/

 

[Bobnova]

I like the socketed BIOS chips.
I don't like the expensive codec and lan.

 

[Witchdoctor]

I think due to poor Fatal1ty sales they may be aiming this not only at over clockers, but gamers alike in the same fashion as the ROG series, although Asus now seems to be watering the ROG line down to reach mainstream pricing.

Hopefully they can keep the price point down, agree though would be better off without them .........

 

[Woomack]

there is a chance that Biostar will send me http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=731
looks more like a daily driver board than overclocking one but it still looks interesting ... especially that my last Biostar was on 775 and I killed 3 of them

 

[Witchdoctor]

If so I look forward to your take on it.

T-Power

 

[EarthDog]

I like the socketed BIOS chips.
I don't like the expensive codec and lan.

+1.

Give me either/or. Not a oc'er and a gamer....


The reality is a $140 board (or less even) will overclock Haswell to its (temperature) limits using ambient cooling. So to have gaming features on a 'made for heavy overclocking' board does always leave me wondering why. They could probably be a bit cheaper with a single Intel NIC for example.

there is a chance that Biostar will send me http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/...n.php?S_ID=731
looks more like a daily driver board than overclocking one but it still looks interesting ... especially that my last Biostar was on 775 and I killed 3 of them

Biostar is sending us a sample as well.. Not sure which one.

 

[wagex]

i run several 1155 biostar boards here at work on celeron machines, they are pretty decent, at least by decent i mean they haven't exploded or anything, though one has some weird nic issues but i believe that to be caused by xp drivers lol still need to bump that one to w7 one of these years.

 

[Witchdoctor]

+1.

Give me either/or. Not a oc'er and a gamer....


The reality is a $140 board (or less even) will overclock Haswell to its (temperature) limits using ambient cooling.

Who said anything about ambient cooling .........




Seriously though ROG has been doing it for years.

I agree the separation is good so overclockers do not have to pay for something they will never even load the drivers for.

Thinking they will be pricing this along the same lines as the ROG and OC giga versions

Shame as the z77's were a steal, z87 they were still under boards with the same prowess, Unfortunately this time around think they will all be around the same price point with all this crap added.

Only those in the know really look at this board, your typical ambient forum going gamer typically look at a G1 or a ROG on the high end and like you said the smart ones look at sub 140 boards that have the feature set they are looking for these types of uses.

Speaking of gaming, the Biostar HiFi boards are interesting. Last one I had was a P67 Extreme, the orange one .... lol

Never could get USB 3 working on that board ???

 

[EarthDog]

Heh, that wasn't meant for 'us'. Just as a point of 99% of people would be happy with a $140 or less motherboard.

Loved the Z87 Biostar I reviewed Hi-Fi 3D something or other.

 

[Woomack]

Even though ROG are good boards then I hate how ASUS is dropping support for most their boards without fixing all issues. I wonder if anyone will care about good OC BIOSes for ROG boards now when Shamino isn't around. For some series it was like when Shamino was working on some board for like 2-3 months then there were beta BIOSes etc. When he was moving to other boards then we could only see new CPU microcode or mysterious "improves stability" updates.
I also like latest ASRock more because of profiles that can use any regular user. ASRock profiles for memory were tested on standard kits available on the market. On ROG boards on GB OC most profiles were made on cherry picked modules and barely any of these profiles is working.