14 DAY TRIAL // Intel's Haswell refresh Core-series processor lineup will be released at Computex, in June 2014, which means that motherboards based on the Z97 chipset should make their appearance around the same time. We can only assume that MSI's lineup will arrive at the same time as the others.
Nonetheless, information has popped up about the three high-end Z97 gaming motherboard lineup from Micro-Star International, so the launch could occur sooner than mid-year.
After all, it's not unusual for motherboards based on the next-generation chipset to show up a few weeks or a month or so ahead of the CPUs themselves.
It gives people time to buy a new platform in anticipation of building a new PC as soon as the chips finally make it out.
Still, we can't know for sure at what point between now and June the mainboards will make it to market.
We do know their specs though, thanks to Expreview website. Check them out and figure out if they're worth looking forward to.
There are three, as we said, called Z97 Gaming 3, the premium Z97 Gaming 5, and the high-end Z97 Gaming 7.
The first is made for the mainstream market, though its price will be close to the higher end than that of most alternatives.
After all, the Z97 Gaming 3 has three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, four PCIe x1 slots, eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and a 6-phase CPU iVR (LGA 1150 socket of course). Ground-layer isolated on-board audio is available as well, plus the Killer NIC LAN technology.
The Z97 Gaming 5 has all the above, but possibly a better iVR (12-phase maybe) and an M.2 slot, plus legacy PCI slots (possibly).
The Z97 Gaming 7 was, at least, a bit more thoroughly looked at. It has Three PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, four PCI Express x1 slots, 8 SATA 6.0 Gbps ports, an M.2 slot, a SATA-Express add-on card (for 10 Gbps bandwidth per drive), and a 12-phase iVR for the CPU socket. Killer NIC and ground-layer isolated on-board audio is, of course, present here as well.
All in all, the motherboards seem to cover all the bases, plus provide certain specs that DIY customers will appreciate. It's a shame that the prices aren't known, but they will be on the high side, even for the “mid-range” Gaming 3.
Probably won't do much good for the still dropping desktop PC demand on the part of consumers, but there's no helping that at this point. Besides, the high-end segment hasn't been as affected as the mainstream and low end, because enthusiasts are always looking for the best hardware.
