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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Tuesday, 23 June 2020 16:56
With a small B550 break out of the way, I did still have another Z490 motherboard come in after the Z490 launch that I wanted to check out. That board is from EVGA and unlike all of the other board manufacturers, EVGA doesn’t have 15 or 20 different options. They always like to keep things a little simpler. They have two Z490 motherboards and only one available just yet, the Z490 FTW WiFi. I’m excited to see what EVGA has going on for this generation so let’s dive in and take a closer look then put it through its paces.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Tuesday, 16 June 2020 13:06
AMD launched their new Ryzen 3 CPUs last May along with details on their latest chipset, the B550. It wasn’t without drama but it is finally time where we can check out some of the new boards. To start things off I have the Asus ROG Strix B550-I which the I, like with past Asus boards, indicates it is an ITX form factor. With the X570 boards from AMD and Z490 boards from Intel all being on the expensive side. I’m really curious to see what AMD’s mid-range ITX option which will support the most recent generation of Ryzen and future Zen 3 CPUs will have to offer. So today I’m going to check out the board and what Asus has given it for features then test it out a little before we see how it fits in the market for pricing.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Thursday, 04 June 2020 18:21
As I continue to check out some of the Z490 boards available after Intel’s Comet Lake-S 10th gen mainstream CPU launch we have the flagship model from Asus and their ROG lineup. The ROG Maximus XII Extreme has features like an OLED display 2.5G and 10G ethernet, and four M.2 slots but that only scratches the surface of what Asus packed into the board. So today I’m going to dig in and take a closer look at what else it has to offer. Put the board to the test and also see if that staggering price point is worth the money for those looking for the best of the best Z490 build.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Tuesday, 26 May 2020 18:39
Intel’s launch of a whole series of CPUs comes with it a new chipset and new socket. That also means new motherboards and the motherboard companies aren’t messing around with the number of options that have available. That means everything from cheap to crazy expensive. The Z490 Aorus Master is one of Gigabyte's higher-end boards and today I’m going to check it out. I’ve been extremely impressed with Gigabytes boards, especially on the higher end for the last few years due to their VRMs and cooling capabilities. With Intel pushing things even farther on what is still a very small socket size I am excited to see what the Aorus Master has to offer! Let’s check it out.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 14:55
To go along with Intel’s latest launch all of the motherboard manufacturers also have lots of new boards as well. So it isn’t a surprise that we have had a few of the new Z490 boards show up in the office. I’m going to take a look at them over the next few days. Most of the boards that were sent over are higher end, but MSI sent over their MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFI which isn’t a budget board but is a little easier on the wallet. Its name may be a little long, but at just under $270 is it a good sweet spot for a Z490 build? Today I’m going to find out!
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Friday, 02 August 2019 20:31
With all of the launches stacked, when I covered the Ryzen launch of the 3000 series of CPUs I only really had the chance to touch on the X570 chipset that was launching with it for a little while. The motherboards that AMD sent with their launch kit were put to use immediately for testing and only over the last few days have I had to a chance to finally take a closer look at them and do motherboard specific testing. Today I want to check out the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero WiFi that has been pulling double duty as our CPU test platform and our GPU test platform. The Hero isn’t Asus’s highest-end X570 board, but it is close so I’m excited to see what they have packed into it.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Tuesday, 13 November 2018 19:23
Well, it wouldn’t be a new chipset and CPU launch if I wasn’t trying to get my hands on a good ITX board to use in one of our LAN rigs. Especially with a few LANs upcoming. Well from looking at the initial boards announced for the Z390, one of the most exciting ITX boards was the Strix Z390-I Gaming from Asus and I was excited to see it come in. I’m curious what is different from the Z370 or the Z270 for the matter and to dive into Asus’s feature set and see if the Strix Z390-I Gaming covers all of the bases for a high-end gaming PC that will take up less space on your desk and be easy to pack up and take to events to play with your friends. Let's run through the boards features, look at its software, check out the performance, then see how it fits in the market overall.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Wednesday, 07 November 2018 14:05
With the 9900K launch, a few weeks back along with the other 9th generation core processors Intel also released their new chipset, the Z390 chipset. This is the latest high-end chipset for the mainstream socket but you might be wondering what is even different when compared to Z370. Well as far as the chipset goes, it is adding USB 3.1 Gen 2 onto the chipset and the option to integrate Wireless AC. But it also means new motherboards and I’m curious what else might get changed. MSI, for example, has revamped their naming scheme. The board they sent over is the MPG Z390 Gaming Plus. So I wanted to touch on the new MSI naming and then check out the new board and see what it has to offer.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Thursday, 30 August 2018 00:35
Well with the Z370 launch I did get a few boards in to check out (and I have a few more still in the works), but none of them were nicer boards that would really allow me to play around with overclocking on the platform. So when I found out we had an Intel i7-8086K coming in I reached out to Asus about a board and they sent over their ROG Maximus X Hero. Like most Z370 boards, the Maximus X Hero does share a lot of features with the Z270 variant, in this case, the Maximus IX Hero. Well, today I’m going to check out the board and see what it has to offer and see if this is the board you want to get if you are planning a higher end Z370 build right now.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Friday, 25 May 2018 23:01
So the first X470 board to come in that wasn’t included in our Ryzen launch kit from AMD was a board from Asus. This was suppose to go along with the new Crosshair that AMD included but we didn’t end up getting one, so, for now, I’m going to check out the Asus ROG Strix X470-F Gaming. I’m going to check out what Asus has done with their X470 models, test the performance to see how it compares to the two other X470 boards I’ve tested, check out the cooling situation, and then run down and see if it’s a good buy for someone looking to build a Ryzen 2000 Series build.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Monday, 30 April 2018 16:41
Okay, so last week was a crazy one, at least here at the office. Testing and writing about the Ryzen 2000 series took up a lot of time then not to mention they also launched the X470 chipset. Well, I published our first X470 review and I finished testing other boards including the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi that I’m going to take a look at today. We already know that the difference between X370 and X470 isn’t huge but I am curious to see what some of the companies have changed in the year gap between the chipsets. So today I’m going to see what Gigabyte has gone with their flagship gaming branded board and then see how it compares to the MSI board that I already tested.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:46
Well along with the new Ryzen CPUs AMD also introduced their new X470 chipset. That means new motherboards. While they are still AM4 boards so most of the original boards should be getting updates to support the new CPUs and don’t worry the new X470 boards will also support the original Ryzen CPUs as well. But I’m excited to see what everyone is going to do different this generation, I’m not used to seeing new AMD boards on the regular like this, I could get used to it! So to start things off I’m going to check out the X470 Gaming M7 AC from MSI that MSI and AMD provided.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Thursday, 05 April 2018 23:35
With the Coffee Lake launch, last fall Intel also launched their new Z370 chipset. Like in the past the Z370 chipset is Intel’s flagship platform, but unlike in the past, they didn’t also launch it with other mid-range and budget chipsets. In fact, it wasn’t until this week that the others were available. That’s a long wait for those of you who want something cheaper or just have no need for some of the Z370 overclocking features. So Tuesday the H370, H310, and B360 chipsets launched and the first one to come through the LanOC office is the MSI B360 Gaming Plus. Today I’m going to check it out and see how it compares to the Z370’s we have taken a look at before. I’m especially curious to see if this might be the sweet spot for budget builds right now to help save money to pay for the expensive video cards and memory that you are going to need.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Thursday, 29 March 2018 19:52
Next-gen Ryzen CPUs might be around the corner but I can’t forget about the X370 ITX board that Asus sent over a while back. While the AM4 boards launched early last year, ITX took a while longer. So even with new CPUs on the way if you are looking to build small form factor you will most likely still need to go X370 initially. So I’m excited both to finally see what Asus has to offer for AM4 ITX and to see how it compares to the Gigabyte AB350N board that I’ve been using all over the office. But I’m also hoping the Strix X370-I Gaming is a solid board that will let me build a crazy second gen Ryzen build when they finally come out as well.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Friday, 16 February 2018 18:39
So I’ve been tossing around the idea of giving our Crush build an upgrade to one of the new Core-X CPUs and sadly the Asus Rampage VI Apex doesn’t fit so I reached out to Asus to see if they have anything that might fit the bill in their X299 boards. They had the ROG Stix X299-XE Gaming and I figured I should get it in and see just how it compares to all of the other X299 boards we have had in. I knew it fits the dimensions needed for the Case Labs case but is it going to be what I need otherwise? Well, I’m going to take a closer look at its features and then test it to see how it performs. Read on if you are interested in finding out what it has to offer.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Tuesday, 21 November 2017 17:14
With the wide range of new Coffee Lake based 8th gen CPUs from Intel, there needs to be just as much of a selection when it comes to motherboards. Not every board will fit each build or theme and depending on the CPU you may need more or less features. MSI has done a great job with a whole list of different models on Z370. For the launch, they sent over the Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon, one of their higher end boards and I’ve been testing with it. Today I want to check out what they have going on for features and see how it compares to the rest of the market. Is the Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon the board to get for your new build? Let’s find out.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Friday, 13 October 2017 10:56
Well, we are far enough past the original X299 launch that the refined and crazier motherboards are starting to come out. This isn’t anything new, Asus especially likes to take more time for their crazy boards, not just rushing everything out to make it to launch day. In this case, it also gives them the chance to tweak things, like work on the VRM cooling that was found to be an issue with a lot of the X299 boards after the launch. This works out timing wise as well given Intel finally launching their last few high-end Core-X CPUs. In fact, Asus sent this board over specifically to test with that launch. Well with that out of the way I can finally also take a closer look at the board itself. You know the Rampage VI Apex is something special when it stands out even when compared to the Prime X299 Deluxe. So let's check it out.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Friday, 06 October 2017 15:07
Well, the Coffee Lake launch is here and to support Intel’s new CPUs we also have new motherboards. As I write this I have two boards in the office that I have been testing, the first being the Asus ROG Strix Z370-F that I used to test the two CPUs for the review. Asus’s boards have been solid and this one doesn’t look to be any different. As a Strix board, it has Asus’s now standard color neutral layout that uses black and gray, RGB lighting, and the angular Strix look. Today I’m going to take a look at its features, confirm that it performs well, check out the UEFI, and then talk a little about where it sits in the market and find out if it is worth picking up.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Friday, 29 September 2017 18:24
So the X299 has been an interesting one. Intel introduced high-end CPUs at the last minute, there was a lot of drama at the launch about VROC, cooling issues post-launch, along with strong competition from AMD with the Threadripper launch. A lot of the board manufacturers have been revising and making changes but EVGA has been waiting to get things right before putting their X299 lineup into the wild. While as of writing this I don’t see any for sale in regular retail stores, EVGA did finally send over a board. Today I’m going to check out the X299 Micro, their Micro ATX board. Given the performance X299 is capable of, I’m excited to see if this board could be a good mATX build option to pack a lot of performance in a smaller package. EVGA typically keeps things simple with a blacked out look and little to no lighting for those who just want a clean good performing board. Let’s find out if that is the case again.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Wednesday, 16 August 2017 11:01
If you aren’t into flashy builds or if you are building a PC to be used in an office environment it seems like it is getting harder and harder to find simple but feature filled motherboards. Thankfully a few of the manufacturers like MSI have Pro focused lines. This is especially important with X299, a platform that overall seems better focused on workstation builds. Well MSI just happened to send over the X299 SLI Plus from their Pro lineup and today I’m going to check it out and see what it has going on.
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