14 DAY TRIAL // ECS seems to like leet-speak, because 1337 is the “leet” word for, well, leet. It's its way of saying that its newest motherboard is awesome.
On the one hand, it can be said that the simple use of the Z97 Express Chipset makes the mainboard awesome.
On the other hand, there are only four SATA ports and a single pair of PCI Express 3.0 x16 power connectors, so no triple- or quad-SLI for you.
Fortunately, even among hardcore enthusiasts only a fair few need or want more than two add-in graphics cards, so the last part, at least, shouldn't affect sales odds too much.
At least the newcomer has support for M/2 SSDs, and the Extreme Audio combo with ESS SABRE Premier DAC and Sound Blaster Cinema 2 don't hurt either.
Also, the Hybrid Power module is a good addition, bringing some extra power efficiency and overclocking headroom to what is sure to be a really energy-hungry PC.
To elaborate, ECS even gave the L337 Gaming Z97-MACHINE dual advanced MOSFETs (provide up to 90% power efficiency), high efficient power conversion and low on-resistance. 100% ultra long lifespan Nichicon Japanese Caps help with stability too.
You can see all the details on the product page, except for the price which, apparently, hasn't been disclosed yet.