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motherboard

Column: Take the Socket Pledge With Me

Posted 04/30/2013 at 4:25pm | by Gordon Mah Ung

11

Comments

Looking at the future of CPU sockets

The Mainstream tech media declared the PC dead—yet again—and enthusiasts had a full-on freak-out when rumors surfaced thatIntel intended to dump socketed processors within two years. You can read the details of the story here, but let it be known far and wide, Intel will support socketed processors for the “foreseeable future.” AMD, likewise, had already taken the pledge, saying it would be offering socketed CPUs, too.

Note: This column originally appeared in the February 2013 issue of the magazine.

» Read More

Asus Shows Off Rampage IV Extreme Black Motherboard

Posted 04/05/2013 at 9:46am | by Paul Lilly

11

Comments

See every shot in our photo gallery below.

What better way is there to head into the weekend than by spying a few shots of a swank blacked out motherboard that's to be used for some secret project? If you feel the same way, then give kudos to Asus for supplying a bunch of pictures of its Rampage IV Extreme - Black motherboard, which we've placed into a photo gallery for your convenience. So, what do we know about this motherboard?

» Read More

Asus Teases Upcoming Haswell Motherboard

Posted 03/11/2013 at 12:21pm | by Paul Lilly

12

Comments

Haswell is coming and it appears Asus is prepared.

As summer approaches, so too does the launch of Intel's 22nm Haswell platform, the upcoming successor to Ivy Bridge. Barring any last minute delays, Haswell parts are expected to debut in early June, according to leaked roadmaps that have shown up online. At least one motherboard maker is ready. Asus posted a few teaser shots of its Gryphon Z87 mainboard, a next generation slice of silicon with a new socket.

» Read More

Thunderbolt Motherboard Reviews

Posted 01/18/2013 at 4:38pm | by Gordon Mah Ung

20

Comments

Getting the new tech requires a new motherboard

With our skepticism of Thunderbolt officially blown away (see last month’s Head to Head) we’re now ready to embrace the new I/O interface. But unless you’re one of the lucky few to have an older Asus board with support for the company’s Thunderbolt add-in card, you’ll need to buy a new motherboard to enjoy Tbolt goodness. Luckily, Thunderbolt boards have arrived. To gauge the choices, we gathered up both the priciest and cheapest Tbolt boards we could find and set at them.

The Asus P8Z77-V Premium comes fully loaded with features, including Wi-Fi antennas.

» Read More

Asus P8Z77-V Premium Review

Posted 01/18/2013 at 4:26pm | by Gordon Mah Ung

0

Comments

Asus P8Z77-V Premium

LGA2011 boards have always occupied the luxury side of town, whereas LGA1155 has been pretty blue collar. Not anymore. Asus’s new P8Z77-V Premium pretty much shatters the idea that LGA1155 boards are low rent.

The Asus P8Z77-V Premium comes fully loaded with features, including Wi-Fi antennas.

» Read More

Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Review

Posted 01/18/2013 at 4:15pm | by Gordon Mah Ung

1

Comment

Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH

It’s commonly understood that if you can run Thunderbolt, you probably also snack on Beluga caviar, wear a Patek Philippe watch, and vacation in a country only rich people know about: Grenyarnia.

Not so, actually. Thunderbolt apparently doesn’t require you to smash the piggy. This is no more apparent than with Gigabyte’s Z77X-UP4 TH. What the TH stands for we don’t know for sure, but we’re guessing it has some relation to Thunderbolt, which the Z77X-UP4 TH has in spades.

It’s hard to believe you can get a board with not one, but two Thunderbolt ports for under $200.

» Read More

CES 2013: Look Ma, AMD's 990FX DOES Have PCIe 3.0 Support! [Video]

Posted 01/10/2013 at 2:41pm | by Paul Lilly

8

Comments

Surprise, surprise -- PCIe 3.0 was baked into AMD's 990FX chipset all along.

Our CES video coverage continues with a tour of Asus' booth, where Deputy Editor Gordon Mah Ung captured on camera the company's E2KM1-L Deluxe mini-ITX motherboard (shown in thumbnail image). It's a replacement for the old E45 Brazos 2.0 boards, the big difference being a soldered on dual-core Trinity CPU. But the real surprise was still to come.

» Read More

CES 2013: Gigabyte Shows Off Thin Micro ATX Motherboards [Video]

Posted 01/10/2013 at 1:07pm | by Paul Lilly

2

Comments

Thinner motherboards translate into slimmer all-in-one desktops.

Sultan of Star Trek knowledge and Maximum PC Deputy Editor Gordon Mah Ung had an opportunity to see a pair of thin motherboards at Gigabyte's suite at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Gigabyte's GA-H77TN and GA-B75TN are built around Intel's new thin mini-ITX form factor, and as you'll see in the video, they're much slimmer than standard motherboards.

» Read More

CES 2013: Gigabyte's Dual Thunderbolt Motherboards Support 4K Resolution

Posted 01/08/2013 at 12:06pm | by Paul Lilly

6

Comments

Dual Thunderbolt mainboards from Gigabyte implement Intel Collage display technology.

Gigabyte on Tuesday announced support for 4K display resolutions using multiple standard 1080p displays with intel Collage display technology. The new feature comes courtesy of a Intel driver update that Gigabyte claims needs to be individually implemented by motherboard companies before it's made available to end users. One of the key benefits is that a discrete graphics card isn't required.

» Read More

Top Tier Motherboard Vendors Expect Shipments to Slip or be Flat in 2013

Posted 12/14/2012 at 1:13pm | by Paul Lilly

25

Comments

Asus Maximus V Formula Motherboard

Asus and Gigabyte lay out expectations for motherboard shipments next year.

The do-it-yourself (DIY) market isn't dying by any means, though there are signs it may be shrinking slightly, whether it's because of the economy or the current fascination with tablets and other mobile form factors. Either way, top tier motherboard vendor Asus says it expects motherboard shipments to dip 2.3 percent to 21.5 million units in 2013, after already dropping 5.2 percent in 2012.

» Read More

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Looking at the future of CPU sockets

See every shot in our photo gallery below.

Haswell is coming and it appears Asus is prepared.

Getting the new tech requires a new motherboard

Asus P8Z77-V Premium

Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH

Surprise, surprise -- PCIe 3.0 was baked into AMD's 990FX chipset all along.

Thinner motherboards translate into slimmer all-in-one desktops.

Dual Thunderbolt mainboards from Gigabyte implement Intel Collage display technology.

Asus and Gigabyte lay out expectations for motherboard shipments next year.

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