Z87 best board?

[shovenose]

I like my MSI Z87M-G43. But its not a super high end board.

 

[MegaMan]

I'm looking at getting the Asus Maximus VI Gene in the next few weeks.
I've already had great luck with the past two Asus boards that I've bought.

 

[HammerON]

I personally like the MSI GD65 Gaming motherboard. Lots of features and is priced right.
In regards to favorite review site, it is right here and provided by Cadaveca

 

[petedread]

Must admit I'm not really sold on the Biostar. The ASrock looks good though.

 

[radrok]

It really depends on what you seek in a board, that's what matters into claiming it the "best".

 

[petedread]

I personally like the MSI GD65 Gaming motherboard. Lots of features and is priced right.
In regards to favorite review site, it is right here and provided by Cadaveca

Indeed, this is by far the best review site. But Dave and the guys are very busy with a stack of stuff to review, so, sometimes there is a product I would like to see a review of but it's not been reviewed on TPU yet. If I'm in a hurry to see a review of something before I buy it I have to look around the net. I should rephrase the question, "what are your second best review sites?"

 

[cadaveca]

"what are your second best review sites?"

Any site not using ES chips. Sites with ES chips are development/testing partners with specific board companies, and truly are highly biased. That's why they have ES chips in the first place. Site like TPU with retail chips had to get them through alternate means, like myself, I had to wait until just before the launch when Intel was shipping out retail chips before I got the two I have now.

In the end, bias like this isn't really a big deal, you just need to know where that bias comes from, and where it's directed to. I'd suggest Anandtech as the singular review site with ES chips that is NOT biased when it comes to motherboards...they are just biased towards Intel a bit, and that's no secret.


I have several boards here that OEMs asked me what I wanted, and now I see what I wanted directly in these products. Either they gave me what I want, or what I asked for many others were asking for as well. That said, there are clear and obvious design choices to me that reflect this with every board...like each brand went to sites like here, asked reviewers what they wanted, and then made a product directed at that site's traffic.

When I report stuff to OEMs, I report what you guys tell me, with my own "technical" spin added on to justify why you guys want those changes. So there is no "Best Board for Intel Z87"....there are many many fantastic boards, each that are designed to meet the needs of specific users. The board that is good for you, probably won't be good for everyone. The crowd here does seem to be astute enough to understand that just simply stuffing features on a board till it's got no room for anything else isn't really much special...which makes most high-end boards that some may say are the "best", not the best, here.



The MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING is very perfectly targeted at the audience here, and does significantly meet the needs of most Z87 users. It clocks well, has decent performance, and is relatively light on the wallet. Is it the best board ever? Nope. I have changed how I do my scoring this round, and the MSI Z87-GD65 got a 9.0 and Editor's choice award. It didn't get a 10/10.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Any site not using ES chips. Sites with ES chips are development/testing partners with specific board companies, and truly are highly biased. That's why they have ES chips in the first place. Site like TPU with retail chips had to get them through alternate means, like myself, I had to wait until just before the launch when Intel was shipping out retail chips before I got the two I have now.

In the end, bias like this isn't really a big deal, you just need to know where that bias comes from, and where it's directed to. I'd suggest Anandtech as the singular review site with ES chips that is NOT biased when it comes to motherboards...they are just biased towards Intel a bit, and that's no secret.


I have several boards here that OEMs asked me what I wanted, and now I see what I wanted directly in these products. Either they gave me what I want, or what I asked for many others were asking for as well. That said, there are clear and obvious design choices to me that reflect this with every board...like each brand went to sites like here, asked reviewers what they wanted, and then made a product directed at that site's traffic.

When I report stuff to OEMs, I report what you guys tell me, with my own "technical" spin added on to justify why you guys want those changes. So there is no "Best Board for Intel Z87"....there are many many fantastic boards, each that are designed to meet the needs of specific users. The board that is good for you, probably won't be good for everyone. The crowd here does seem to be astute enough to understand that just simply stuffing features on a board till it's got no room for anything else isn't really much special...which makes most high-end boards that some may say are the "best", not the best, here.



The MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING is very perfectly targeted at the audience here, and does significantly meet the needs of most Z87 users. It clocks well, has decent performance, and is relatively light on the wallet. Is it the best board ever? Nope. I have changed how I do my scoring this round, and the MSI Z87-GD65 got a 9.0 and Editor's choice award. It didn't get a 10/10.

Which ones, if any got 10?

 

[cadaveca]

Which ones, if any got 10?

I've never given such a score. It's pretty much impossible for a board to get one, mostly for the reasons I mentioned in my last post.


I don't make any money doing this. OEMs don't pay me, they send me hardware to play with. Sometimes, I have to send it back. W1zzard pays me a small fee per review, which barely covers the power used by my test PCs, and my beer every week. All of that is perfectly fine.

I love playing with hardware. That's why I do reviews..so I can play with lots of different hardware. I've only learned a few things since I started; one is that it is really hard to find ways to separate board products from one another, and that BIOSes are the most critical part of a board. Yet, these OEMs do seem to do a great job doing what might otherwise seem impossible. There's always something one board does better than others. Which means that each board has something it doesn't do. Perfection is hard to find in such circumstances.

 

[radrok]

Reason for: if you ever give a 10 be sure I'll be buying that board

 

[petedread]

I knew when I posed the question that there is no such thing as a best board, just peoples opinions. But that's what I like. People will tell you which board they like and why. This thread has helped me build up a picture of my options, and pointed me to boards I mite not have considered before.
A while ago I clicked on a link to a review that someone here on TPU had posted. It was a good review, I read a few other reviews on the site and I really liked them all but I can't remember the sites name. I was hoping I mite find it again by asking for peoples favourite review sites.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

As far as I'm concerned, the best Z87 board is the MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING.

 

[Grnfinger]

As far as I'm concerned, the best Z87 board is the MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING.

I have owned every Maximus series and would really like to give that MSI board a run
All weekend sitting here wondering if I should sell my Ivy board/chip and sidegrade

 

[petedread]

As far as I'm concerned, the best Z87 board is the MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING.

Lot of people loving this board.

I have owned every Maximus series and would really like to give that MSI board a run
All weekend sitting here wondering if I should sell my Ivy board/chip and sidegrade

Wish I had the patients to wait for the Maximus Formula.

 

[drdeathx]

MSi has stepped up their game IMO. From the Z77 through the Z87 boards they overclock as good as any. They revamped their UEFI bios a few generations ago and it has everything under the hood you enthusiasts need on the GD65. OC Genie is also great and if I am not mistakin, hits 4.2 or 4.3GHz with the push of a button. As dave mentioned, what makes the GD65 sweet is the price tag which is icing on the cake.


IMHO, the high end Maximus ASUS' boards are only worthwhile if extreme overclocking with Dice or LN2 but these MSI boards will probably exterme overclock pretty damn close to the ASUS boards with MSI's Military components.

 

[shovenose]

MSi has stepped up their game IMO. From the Z77 through the Z87 boards they overclock as good as any. They revamped their UEFI bios a few generations ago and it has everything under the hood you enthusiasts need on the GD65. OC Genie is also great and if I am not mistakin, hits 4.2 or 4.3GHz with the push of a button. As dave mentioned, what makes the GD65 sweet is the price tag which is icing on the cake.


IMHO, the high end Maximus ASUS' boards are only worthwhile if extreme overclocking with Dice or LN2 but these MSI boards will probably exterme overclock pretty damn close to the ASUS boards with MSI's Military components.

MSI has been impressing me overall lately. I sent them a little note of appreication to their support email praising them but with a small suggestion, and they said thank you and we'll look into it Literally got that response an hour later.

 

[Grnfinger]

Lot of people loving this board.



Wish I had the patients to wait for the Maximus Formula.

MVIE is in stock at NCIX or so they claim and so is the Hero.

I'm looking at the Extreme for the OC panel, yes I'm a sucker for things like that.

 

[SonDa5]

Just ordered the Gigabyte Z87X-OC.


Choosing a Z87 MB was a hard choice for me because of the pricing and the many features Z87 MB come with. The lack luster over clocking ability of HW with ambient temp cooling has also made choosing a Z87 MB tough.


I narrowed down my top 3 choices for my budget to the Asus ROG VI Hero, MSI Z87 Mpower Max and the Z87X-OC. I'm not sure I made the right choice. I like all of them but I went with the Z87X-OC mainly with hopes of being able to over clock a Haswell cpu the most.

I not only enjoy ambient temp over clocking but I also enjoy gaming. I have an external headphone amp for audio and I prefer hard wired connection for NIC so that helped make a decision with the less feature Z87X-OC.


Haven't ordered HW cpu yet and I'm still not sure if I will get a 4670k or a 4770k. I plan on delidding.


Buying into Haswell doesn't make good sense to me since I have a nice 5GHZ 3770k gaming RIG. Mainly did this for the challenge of over clocking HW and tweaking fun. Hope I made the right choice. I feel very uncertain about Haswell.



Going to give it an honest effort and hopefully I will have some success with HW.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I'll be ordering the msi gd86 gaming soon, just got a cheque from HM revenue and customs for £272 Think it will bounce?

 

[bengraham]

Just a question: whats so special with the MSI board that everybody loves it so much?

 

[cadaveca]

Just a question: whats so special with the MSI board that everybody loves it so much?

Read my review:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/Z87-GD65_GAMING/

 

[Kursah]

Hey Dave you gonna review the Asus Z87-Pro?

That's the one I ordered due to the recent Newegg deal where I saved $100 when buying it and a 4770k combo - Limited Time Offer on 4th Gen Intel® Core™ C... .

From the comparisons I read it seemed to be the most stable clocker, but I'd like to see what a professional TPU review has to say about that. I wish they would've had the MSI 65...but they only had the 45. Which is still a sweet looking board but of those 4 and my research I felt the most confident in the Asus. Maybe it's just brand preference...though I was close to choosing the ASrock board.

 

[cadaveca]

Hey Dave you gonna review the Asus Z87-Pro?

That's the one I ordered due to the recent Newegg deal where I saved $100 when buying it and a 4770k combo - Limited Time Offer on 4th Gen Intel® Core™ C... .

From the comparisons I read it seemed to be the most stable clocker, but I'd like to see what a professional TPU review has to say about that. I wish they would've had the MSI 65...but they only had the 45. Which is still a sweet looking board but of those 4 and my research I felt the most confident in the Asus. Maybe it's just brand preference...though I was close to choosing the ASrock board.

Last time I got quite a few "normal" ASUS boards, but this time, I only have one, the Z87-A. I also have three ROG boards(Hero, Gene, and Extreme), the Gryphon, which was published a while ago, and the Sabertooth. There is an MSI board review waiting to hit the front page that I finished earlier this week, and next after that is the ASUS Maximus VI Hero. I am using the Maximus VI Extreme for memory testing right this second; it will get a full review as well as being used for those memory reviews, so you'll see lots of that board. I will explain why I made that choice in the first review memory, which is nearly done now. I had hoped to have that live this week, but we had some serious weather locally that caused some delays on my end( I've been spending some considerable time getting water out of my basement). I also have contractors coming to work on my house in the morning (gotta get the leaky basement fixed), which hasn't helped any either, since I've also had to move stuff out of their way so they can get the work done. And...tomorrow is the last day of school for all of my kids, so they are going to be home all day, every day, from Friday on-wards(my oldest son's "grad" was yesterday). So, yeah, I got a full plate already and I won't be adding any boards into my immediate review schedule any time soon.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Last time I got quite a few "normal" ASUS boards, but this time, I only have one, the Z87-A. I also have three ROG boards(Hero, Gene, and Extreme), the Gryphon, which was published a while ago, and the Sabertooth. There is an MSI board review waiting to hit the front page that I finished earlier this week, and next after that is the ASUS Maximus VI Hero. I am using the Maximus VI Extreme for memory testing right this second; it will get a full review as well as being used for those memory reviews, so you'll see lots of that board. I will explain why I made that choice in the first review memory, which is nearly done now. I had hoped to have that live this week, but we had some serious weather locally that caused some delays on my end( I've been spending some considerable time getting water out of my basement). I also have contractors coming to work on my house in the morning (gotta get the leaky basement fixed), which hasn't helped any either, since I've also had to move stuff out of their way so they can get the work done. And...tomorrow is the last day of school for all of my kids, so they are going to be home all day, every day, from Friday on-wards(my oldest son's "grad" was yesterday). So, yeah, I got a full plate already and I won't be adding any boards into my immediate review schedule any time soon.

I have been looking at 3 boards,

Asus Z87 deluxe
Msi GD67 Gaming
Asus maximus hero

Which in your opinion is the cherry, considering I will be getting a I5 4670k and will probs want to have a bash at oc'ing it?

Thanks

Tigger

 

[cadaveca]

With the Hero review being so close, I don't want to talk about it, or I might end up repeating myself in the review, and that's not cool.

I don't have the deluxe, so no comments there, either (I strive to not comment about stuff I haven't got in my house, period).

I'm a little torn; I want to answer your question, but really, it's not possible for me to do so fairly right now. I love ASUS. I owe some of their staff more than I'll ever admit. I don't like MSI that much, honestly, but these Z87 GAMING boards are damn good, regardless of how I feel about other things. I gave the Z87-GD65 GAMING a 9/10 and editor's choice, and for a sub-$200 board, that is a very high award. Computex recognized the board with an award as well. You'll find many many Haswell buyers already got this product, it actually really surprises me a bit that it is so successful, and if I didn't have one, I'd think they'd be pulling some questionable marketing...but they aren't. the board is just good. BIOS needs a bit of work, a little bit, and they know how to fix it(I assume, I did tell them what points need to be addressed). A better BIOS, and I would have given it a 9.5.


have I told you..I love Dragons?