I have a system with Sandy, Ivy, and Haswell. The Pc with Sandy Bridge 2500k is still performing well. What reason do I have to upgrade anything other than the video or ssd? Common Intel (or AMD) give us the goods.
Unless you're also stepping up in CPU tier (eg i3 to i5, i5 to i7); there really aren't enough incremental gains between generations (Moore's law is long dead for single or lightly threadable code - 99% of consumer non GFX workloads) unless your system is either showing signs of starting to flake out or old enough to make you nervous. If you're confident enough to wait, next year's SkyLake is probably the one to hold out for. DDR4/PCIe4 on the CPU, PCIe3 on the southbridge along with ~10 more flexible IO ports (can be used for a PCIe lane, 2USB3 ports, or a sata 6GB port) so you can have more useful stuff on the mobo itself without needing to resort to PLX chips or USB3 hubs.
Yes, I'm definitely waiting for SkyLake to upgrade from my overclocked Sandy Bridge processor. Going from SATA3 to PCIe for the SSD will be a big jump, and hopefully Intel's wireless promises come through as well. DDR4 and the 20nm GPUs will be a nice boost too.
Moore's Law has nothing to do with the speed of chips increasing. It simply proposes that the number of transistors that can be fit onto a chip of a given size will double roughly every 2 years. Recently AMD and Intel have begin devoting more and more of those transistors to other functions rather than purely investing them in the speed of the CPU. Both AMD and Intel have greatly improved the strength of their on-die GPU's. Both have migrated the DRAM controller onto the CPU die. Intel has gone so far as to integrat nearly the entire "northbridge" component of the chipset as well as some voltage regulation components on the CPU chip.
Intel is still developing faster CPU's but the big chips are the 14- and 18-core Xeons being sold to the enterprise market. For the consumer market they have become more focused on lowering the power consumption of their architecture and increasing the strength of the integrated GPU. AMD has been doing similar things but has a bit of a head-start on the integrated GPU component on their APU's given their acquisition of ATI.
Can't believe you guys aren't mentioning the ASRock Z97 Extreme 6. Have had mine for months screaming with an XP941 and OS+Apps on the Plextor M6e. Asus and MSI always have good choices but those dogs just don't hunt next to an ASRock.
At a guess, they're only recommending products they've been able to try hands on. Just a guess though; mobos apparently aren't in bench so there's no index available, and nothing by that exact name was found via site search.
I would actually bet on the fact that this is the case, there is just no possible way to test every board on the market - like they said, there are 112 different Z97 boards listed on Newegg alone!!
"Instead, given that we have tested over 13+ motherboards (and have another one or two to test internally), I have picked some of my favorites."
...this implies (to me anyway) that this is simply Ian's list of preferred motherboards that he has experience with.
Personally, I would have really liked to see a breakdown of different categories - like a top 3 list of each or something similar. eg. Top 3 High-End/Gaming/Overclocking, Budget Desktop, and SFF but again, it's just too hard to test all of the boards even in those categories with so many brands and different models from each.
On a side note, I'm really surprised that one Z97 Motherboard in specific hasn't been reviewed more than it has - and not just at Anandtech... While I'm not as big a fan of Gigabyte as I once was due to some issues I've had with their lower models and X99 boards, the GA-Z97X-Gaming GT is probably the most feature rich motherboard out there, let alone in it's price bracket (<$200)! The full blown Gaming G1 really doesn't offer anything more for the $100-150 premium over the GT, while the GT meets all of the characteristics of a High-End board such as 4-way SLI support, 10x SATA 3.0, SATA Express, M.2 x4, Dual Killer / Intel NIC's, Burr Brown DAC w/ Upgradable Op-Amp, etc etc... The only lacking feature over the G1 is the Creative 3D Audio and stock Air or Water Cooled VRM Heatsinks.
For only $183 at the time of this post, it's one hell of a board even compared to the $3-400 models from all other manufacturers! Specs aside, the board looks amazing and is one of the best overclockers I've worked with as well. The only downside I've found is that the Power Circuitry runs a bit hot for my liking with the stock heatsinks, but it doesn't seem to affect stability or overclocking in any way that I've found.
Oh well, maybe they'll still have a chance to review this board as it's the only one I recommend to my customers unless they're looking for a specific feature like SFF, extreme budgets, or just have money to waste!
I would recommend the MSI Z97 Gaming 7. Rock solid quality, Super Ferrite Chokes, 8 SATA III ports, M.2, Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 2 audio and isolated and direct powered audio PCB, Military Class 4 components and it's going for about $169.
The lack of SATA Express isn't a con because that format isn't going anywhere (plus there is a SATA Express adapter availble if you insist). M.2 has much more promise, but it still isn't mainstream either.
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takeshi7 - Tuesday, December 9, 2014 - link
I can't find the ASUS TUF Z97 Mark S on sale anywhere. I'm not sure this deserves a place on the list if it can't be bought.broetchenrackete - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - link
I can find it in the EU, UK, AU, NZ... Germany alone has 37 shops that list the board. Can't find it in the US either though...hpglow - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - link
I have a system with Sandy, Ivy, and Haswell. The Pc with Sandy Bridge 2500k is still performing well. What reason do I have to upgrade anything other than the video or ssd? Common Intel (or AMD) give us the goods.DanNeely - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - link
Unless you're also stepping up in CPU tier (eg i3 to i5, i5 to i7); there really aren't enough incremental gains between generations (Moore's law is long dead for single or lightly threadable code - 99% of consumer non GFX workloads) unless your system is either showing signs of starting to flake out or old enough to make you nervous. If you're confident enough to wait, next year's SkyLake is probably the one to hold out for. DDR4/PCIe4 on the CPU, PCIe3 on the southbridge along with ~10 more flexible IO ports (can be used for a PCIe lane, 2USB3 ports, or a sata 6GB port) so you can have more useful stuff on the mobo itself without needing to resort to PLX chips or USB3 hubs.foxtrot1_1 - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - link
Yes, I'm definitely waiting for SkyLake to upgrade from my overclocked Sandy Bridge processor. Going from SATA3 to PCIe for the SSD will be a big jump, and hopefully Intel's wireless promises come through as well. DDR4 and the 20nm GPUs will be a nice boost too.WithoutWeakness - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - link
Moore's Law has nothing to do with the speed of chips increasing. It simply proposes that the number of transistors that can be fit onto a chip of a given size will double roughly every 2 years. Recently AMD and Intel have begin devoting more and more of those transistors to other functions rather than purely investing them in the speed of the CPU. Both AMD and Intel have greatly improved the strength of their on-die GPU's. Both have migrated the DRAM controller onto the CPU die. Intel has gone so far as to integrat nearly the entire "northbridge" component of the chipset as well as some voltage regulation components on the CPU chip.Intel is still developing faster CPU's but the big chips are the 14- and 18-core Xeons being sold to the enterprise market. For the consumer market they have become more focused on lowering the power consumption of their architecture and increasing the strength of the integrated GPU. AMD has been doing similar things but has a bit of a head-start on the integrated GPU component on their APU's given their acquisition of ATI.
dsplover - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - link
Can't believe you guys aren't mentioning the ASRock Z97 Extreme 6. Have had mine for months screaming with an XP941 and OS+Apps on the Plextor M6e. Asus and MSI always have good choices but those dogs just don't hunt next to an ASRock.DanNeely - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - link
At a guess, they're only recommending products they've been able to try hands on. Just a guess though; mobos apparently aren't in bench so there's no index available, and nothing by that exact name was found via site search.Galatian - Thursday, December 11, 2014 - link
But they had it in house for the XP941 review.I'm actually rocking a Z97 Extreme9.
For 200€ it probably packs all you could as for!
JMcGrath - Thursday, December 25, 2014 - link
I would actually bet on the fact that this is the case, there is just no possible way to test every board on the market - like they said, there are 112 different Z97 boards listed on Newegg alone!!"Instead, given that we have tested over 13+ motherboards (and have another one or two to test internally), I have picked some of my favorites."
...this implies (to me anyway) that this is simply Ian's list of preferred motherboards that he has experience with.
Personally, I would have really liked to see a breakdown of different categories - like a top 3 list of each or something similar. eg. Top 3 High-End/Gaming/Overclocking, Budget Desktop, and SFF but again, it's just too hard to test all of the boards even in those categories with so many brands and different models from each.
On a side note, I'm really surprised that one Z97 Motherboard in specific hasn't been reviewed more than it has - and not just at Anandtech... While I'm not as big a fan of Gigabyte as I once was due to some issues I've had with their lower models and X99 boards, the GA-Z97X-Gaming GT is probably the most feature rich motherboard out there, let alone in it's price bracket (<$200)! The full blown Gaming G1 really doesn't offer anything more for the $100-150 premium over the GT, while the GT meets all of the characteristics of a High-End board such as 4-way SLI support, 10x SATA 3.0, SATA Express, M.2 x4, Dual Killer / Intel NIC's, Burr Brown DAC w/ Upgradable Op-Amp, etc etc... The only lacking feature over the G1 is the Creative 3D Audio and stock Air or Water Cooled VRM Heatsinks.
For only $183 at the time of this post, it's one hell of a board even compared to the $3-400 models from all other manufacturers! Specs aside, the board looks amazing and is one of the best overclockers I've worked with as well. The only downside I've found is that the Power Circuitry runs a bit hot for my liking with the stock heatsinks, but it doesn't seem to affect stability or overclocking in any way that I've found.
Oh well, maybe they'll still have a chance to review this board as it's the only one I recommend to my customers unless they're looking for a specific feature like SFF, extreme budgets, or just have money to waste!
Zak - Thursday, December 11, 2014 - link
While they look cool, I'll never buy another mobo with "armor" and tiny cooling fans. I have the Sabertooth and the little fans get annoyingly noisy.blzd - Sunday, December 14, 2014 - link
I haven't seen any modern motherboards with small fans, thankfully.hapkiman - Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - link
I would recommend the MSI Z97 Gaming 7. Rock solid quality, Super Ferrite Chokes, 8 SATA III ports, M.2, Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 2 audio and isolated and direct powered audio PCB, Military Class 4 components and it's going for about $169.The lack of SATA Express isn't a con because that format isn't going anywhere (plus there is a SATA Express adapter availble if you insist). M.2 has much more promise, but it still isn't mainstream either.
Lukart - Friday, December 26, 2014 - link
Love the new itx form factor. For its size this board gives you an enormous amount of options for the ASrock Z97E board!ocer9999 - Friday, December 26, 2014 - link
If the Asrock Z97E-ITX/AC is almost 1/2 the price of Asus and Gigabyte here, I think I know which one to get.ssamhouu - Friday, December 26, 2014 - link
I like Asus for sure, but if its not sold in the US and its 240+, I think I'll need to consider MSI or Asrock...