Asus' new lineup of Z87 Haswell motherboards revealed

[Jesse]

Asus is showing off its new line of Z87-based Haswell motherboards, and one of the more immediate updates you’ll notice is the fit and finish. Asus has made moderate adjustments to the ROG and TUF product families, but has completely retooled the ‘Deluxe’ line, ditching the two-toned blue scheme for a polished gold-anodized and black that finally matches its moniker.

A full suite of boards spanning Mini-ITX, microATX, and ATX form factors will be available, including a new addition to the Republic of Gamers line, the Maximus VI Hero. The Hero is a slimmed down version of the Extreme, with a much more reasonable MSRP of around $200, yet still featuring most of the same functionalities.

The entire ROG lineup features SupremeFX integrated audio, which now includes software called Sonic Radar. Sonic Radar maps directional sounds onto a two-dimensional onscreen overlay. It can be attuned to different in-game sounds such as footsteps or gunfire, and then display which direction they came from.

The rugged Sabertooth board has been further bolstered with dust plugs for the ports, adjustable ducting around the CPU socket, and a reinforced back plate for heavy CPU coolers that covers nearly the whole backside of the board to combat warping and assist with cooling. If something more “practical” is your style, the new TUF Gryphon microATX mobo mirrors the board-level components and features of the Sabertooth, but leaves out the thermal armor, back plate, and additional accessories.

Some notable changes have been made to Asus’ UEFI as well, which will now summarize any adjustments selected by the user before applying them and exiting. Another tweak sharpens the interface with adjusted scaling and fonts, and adds a new favorites tab that can be populated with frequently used functions, along with text notes saved by the user. 

As for the less superficial changes to Z87 motherboards, details are limited because of non-disclosure agreements in place until the official launch of Haswell in June. Some of the expected changes in the Haswell chipset include a switch to all 6Gbps SATA ports, abandonment of PCI, triple display support, and TRIM for RAID0 configurations.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/52627-asus-new-lineup-of-z87-haswell-motherboards-revealed.html

 

[Nima304]

These Haswell motherboards look really awesome.

 

[9Nails]

Hey Jesse, any idea when these will hit retail / Newegg?

Looking forward to use one of these in my new PC build.

 

[Jesse]

Hey Jesse, any idea when these will hit retail / Newegg?

Looking forward to use one of these in my new PC build.

I'd expect to see them very soon. Haswell launches on June 3, so watch for the boards around that time too.

 

[Guest]

Nooooooo !

I loved the blue ones!!

 

[Darth Shiv]

Are these boards being released with the fixed Haswell chipsets? Or are we going to have to look for specific steppings or revisions?

 

[Jad Chaar]

Are these boards being released with the fixed Haswell chipsets? Or are we going to have to look for specific steppings or revisions?

All of the first batches will have the issue I think, no matter what brand.

I really like the gold scheme on the Deluxe. I really want to see the basic ASUS P8Z87V. The new Sabertooth is a nice improvement. I feel like the minor revisions with Haswell allowed motherboard manufacturers to focus on aesthetics more than new features.

 

[hahahanoobs]

"Windows 8 Ready!" on the PCB.

^Was that really necessary, ASUS?

 

[hood6558]

Looks like the recent competition from Asrock, MSI and Gigabyte has got Asus on the ball again, new configurations and color schemes, better audio, etc. The fight for market share guarantees that there will be many interesting product launches in the next few weeks.

 

[LinkedKube]

I wish Asus had RoG boards in blue and black.

 

[Burty117]

So that's sorted then, new Z87 Asus ROG board come June 20th for me! Better buy a case for it to go in this month...

 

[andrewyoung]

Asus is all I buy. my "two-toned blue scheme" Deluxe is one of the best boards I have ever had!!

 

[Jad Chaar]

Asus is all I buy. my "two-toned blue scheme" Deluxe is one of the best boards I have ever had!!

Yeah, I have only used ASUS throughout they years but I am willing to try a Gigabyte or Asrock. As for the blue color schemes, I bet the lower end boards (non-deluxe) will have that.

 

[Guest]

Years ago have a WS series board - incredible quality of build
is the Sabertooth some kind of replacement of WS series?

 

[Guest]

...oooohhh.... (excited)

 

[Mister_K]

Loving the gold colorway, was just thinking of making my case mesh gold for Cosmos 2 and going this black/gold color scheme, let see how it goes.

 

[m4a4]

Best part is that 99% of these motherboards won't be seen enough to make them look cool

 

[Capaill]

I had to buy a new motherboard a few months back but after reading of the very high failure rates on the ASUS boards, I went with Gigabyte instead. The boards above look very nice but I'd still be wary of going with ASUS until the boards have been out for a while and the quality confirmed.

 

[hood6558]

Years ago have a WS series board - incredible quality of build
is the Sabertooth some kind of replacement of WS series?

No they still make WS boards, the TUF series boards (AKA Sabertooth) are made for longevity and anal retentive temp monitoring.

 

[Darkwr4ith]

So secsi. I'll look at prices when they're out, but I think I'm totally gunning for that Hero. That Delux looks stunning, but I'm guessing it's going to cost a small fortune.