ASUS' TUF (The Ultimate Force) line of extra-durable motherboards will include two socket LGA1150 models, the Z87-Sabertooth, and the Z87-Gryphon. The more familiar-sounding Z87-Sabertooth, is built in the conventional ATX form-factor, featuring an 8-phase CPU power supply, thermal armor covering most parts of the board, dust-covers or dummy-spacers for most ports, slots, and headers, yet an active fan-based air-circulation within the thermal armor. Connectivity includes eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots wired to the CPU, 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, eight USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, and a number of conventional USB 2.0/1.1 ports.

The Z87-Gryphon is the first micro-ATX motherboard in the TUF series, featuring an optional thermal armor kit, 8-phase CPU power, expansion slots that include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC or x8/x8), a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the PCH), six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four USB 3.0 ports, 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output, gigabit Ethernet, and display outputs that include DVI and HDMI.

At a media event held in its Taipei headquarters, GIGABYTE demonstrated its AMP-UP integrated audio solution that will feature on some of its upcoming motherboards. On that pretense, it even got to show of two of its top socket LGA1150 motherboards, built for Core "Haswell" processors, the G1.Sniper 5, and the G1.Sniper M5. Positioned in gamer-overclocker targeted G1.Killer series, the two boards are based on Intel Z87 Express chipset. The G1.Sniper 5 is the larger standard ATX motherboard; while the M5 is a compact micro-ATX offering. The pictures also confirm that socket LGA1150 retention module and bolt-spacing is identical to sockets LGA1155 and LGA1156.

The G1.Sniper 5 appears to feature a 16-phase VRM, which uses ferrite-core chokes, and the same International Rectifier PowIRstage components as Ultra Durable 5 motherboards from the previous generation. This time around, the CPU plays a greater role in voltage regulation. The driver-MOSFETs on the board are cooled by an active fan-heatsink, which also has a liquid channel running through it, so you could make it part of your CPU loop. Thankfully GIGABYTE didn't let its imagination run away with designs of the other heatsinks on the board, one of which cools the Z87 Express chipset, and the other we imagine, a PLX PEX8747 48-lane PCI-Express 3.0 bridge chip. This chip gets you 4-way SLI/CrossFireX support.

Apart from motherboards, the only big product segment ASRock made a name for itself is with pre-built mini-PCs. The company wants to put its experience to good use by cashing in for the market's newfound love for compact (mini-ITX) gaming PCs, the ones that save precious real-estate on congested living room TV racks and dorm rooms. Pictured below is the company's first such effort, timed with the launch of Intel's next-generation Core "Haswell" processor, and supporting socket LGA1150 platform based on Z87 Express chipset.

There are three components to ASRock's creation: a unique SFF case, co-designed by BMW Design; the ASRock Z87E-ITX motherboard, and a GeForce GTX 680 graphics card. The case looks pretty slick, coming from BMW. It stays slim by using a PCI-Express riser, allowing you to install graphics cards along the plane of the motherboard. The Z87-E ITX, like most efforts by ASRock in the past, is extremely feature-rich for its size. It uses a 6-phase VRM to power the LGA1150 CPU, features two DDR3 DIMM slots, PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and mini-PCIe 2.0, for the WLAN+Bluetooth card.

MSI displayed its upcoming Z87A Gaming Series motherboard. The company is yet to begin work on cosmetic details such as PCB color, heatsinks, component color scheme, etc., but a bulk of its development is complete. To begin with, the board uses a strong 16-phase VRM to power the CPU, which draws power from two 8-pin EPS connectors. The CPU is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory; and three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots in x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4 configurations, depending on how they're populated. Four x1 slots make for the rest of its all-PCIe expansion slot area.

Storage connectivity on the Z87A Gaming Series includes eight SATA 6 Gb/s slots, two of which are driven by a third-party controller. 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, eight USB 3.0 ports (six on the rear panel, two by header), dual-HDMI and DisplayPort display outputs; effectively make for the rest of the board. The same exact PCB could be used to create two SKUs, the Z87A Gaming Series, and the Z87A-GD65. Apart from a swankier color scheme and heatsink design, the Gaming Series variant could feature a few additional overclocking features.

The Z87X-OC may be reserved for people who seldom patronize the PC case industry; but for everyone else, GIGABYTE has three options based on Intel's Z87 Express chipset, which supports overclocking on 4th generation Core "Haswell" K-series processors (detailed here). Leading the trio is the feature-rich Z87X-UD5H, followed by the fairly well-equipped Z87X-UD3H, and trailed by the most affordable of the three, Z87X-D3H.

The Z87X-UD5H packs a massive 16-phase CPU VRM, even if it's not backed by the Z87X-OC's voltage-control/monitoring paraphernalia. The CPU is wired to three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4), three PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and a legacy PCI. The board features a total of ten SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports, six of which are driven by the Z87 PCH, four by third-party controllers. Display connectivity includes two HDMI ports, and one each of dual-link DVI and DisplayPort. 8-channel HD audio with TOSLINK digital output, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, eight USB 3.0 ports (six rear, two by header), make for the rest of it.

At a private media unveiling held on the sidelines of CeBIT, GIGABYTE disclosed its next-generation flagship motherboard, the Z87X-OC. Like most socket LGA1150 motherboards unveiled this week, this one is still under development, and the company is yet to finalize color-scheme and heatsinks for the PCH and VRM, so don't judge it by its looks just yet. The Z87X-OC is designed primarily for overclockers.

The LGA1150 socket is powered by an 8-phase VRM, which draws power from a combination of 4-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS, in addition to the board's 24-pin ATX connector. To stabilize the board's various power domains, you can optionally plug in a 6-pin PCIe power connector. The board gives overclockers a high degree of physical on-the-fly voltage control, and measurement points. One of the chipset's four USB 3.0 ports are wired out as a type-A port on-board, letting you install and run your Windows 7/8 installation off a USB 3.0 flash-drive.

BIOSTAR unveiled a trio of socket LGA1150 motherboards at CeBIT. Unlike ASRock's creations, its boards appear more complete, with heatsinks and finalized board color scheme. All three feature the company's Puro HiFi technology, a high-quality on-board audio with a focus on physically improving audio quality, rather than artificially. Among the boards are the HiFi-B85S2, the HiFi-Z87X3D, and the HiFi-H87S3+.

To begin with, the HiFi-H87S3+ features the micro-ATX form-factor, which still leaves room for four DDR3 DIMM slots, a simple 4-phase VRM to power the CPU, one each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and legacy PCI, two PCI-Express 2.0 x1; 6-channel Puro HiFi audio, DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI display outputs; a pair of USB 3.0 ports, and six internal SATA 6 Gb/s connectors. It is based on the H87 chipset. The HiFi-B85S2 features a slim ATX form-factor, is based on the B85 Express chipset, features just the two DDR3 DIMM slots, a PCI-Express 3.0 x16, a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4) wired to the PCH; two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI; six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, 6-channel Puro HiFi audio, gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 ports, and a display connectivity loadout of DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI.

MSI launched the X79A-GD45 PLUS socket LGA2011 motherboard, targeting the US $200~250 price-range. The board uses a 9-phase DrMOS VRM to power the CPU socket, which is wired to eight DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 128 GB of quad-channel DDR3-2400 MHz memory; and three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (gray). The other two PCI-Express x16 slots (black) are electrical gen 2.0 x4, and wired to the X79 PCH. A lone PCI-Express 2.0 x1 finds some room in there.

The X79A-GD45 PLUS sticks to the chipset's feature-set, with very little third-party controller functionality. Storage connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s and three SATA 3 Gb/s, all of which are internal ports. The board features four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers), 8-channel HD audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs, gigabit Ethernet, PS/2 mouse/keyboard, and a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports making up the rest of the connectivity. It is driven by an AMI UEFI BIOS, with a few overclocker-friendly features such as diagnostic LEDs, POST state display, accessible CMOS reset button, etc.

ASUS did the unthinkable yet simple, by innovating the first AMD platform motherboard that features PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, the Sabertooth 990FX/GEN3.0 R2.0. Long naming aside, the board provides you a couple of gen 3.0 slots by using PLX-made 48-lane PCI-Express Gen 3.0 bridge chip.

While the board features four PCI-Express x16 slots, only two similarly-colored slots can be used at a time, of which two are PCI-Express 2.0 x16, wired to the 990FX northbridge, and two slots being x16/NC or x8/x8-capable, being wired to a PLX 48-lane PCI-Express Gen 3.0 switch, which in turn takes two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links from the northbridge.

It looks like the void left by lack of socket LGA1150 motherboards is being filled by new LGA2011 HEDT ones, with ASUS joining in with the P9X79-E WS. The board is so big and feature-packed that its designers labeled it a workstation board that's built in the SSI-CEB form-factor (should fit in full-ATX cases that have room for EATX). The board features a 10-phase CPU VRM, seven PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, which are wired to the CPU through a couple of 48-lane PCI-Express bridge chips, support for 128 GB quad-channel DDR3 memory, six SATA 6 Gb/s ports (two from the X79 PCH, four from third-party controllers), four SATA 3 Gb/s ports, a couple of eSATA 6 Gb/s ports, four USB 3.0 ports, FireWire, 8-channel HD audio, and two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, which are each backed by Intel-made PHYs.

MSI expanded its entry-level socket LGA1155 motherboard lineup with the B75MA-G43, featuring Intel Small Business Advantage. The micro-ATX board is positioned to be a notch below the B75MA-G45. It features a simpler 5-phase CPU VRM. The CPU socket, which supports 32 nm "Sandy Bridge" and 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" processors, is wired to four DIMM slots, supporting up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16. Other expansion slots include a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to PCH), and two legacy PCI.

Storage connectivity on the B75MA-G43 includes one SATA 6 Gb/s, and five SATA 3 Gb/s ports. The chipset gives out four USB 3.0 ports, two of which are given out by a standard header, and two at the rear panel. Display connectivity includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, PS/2 combo, LPT and COM (by headers), and a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports make for the rest of it. The B75MA-G43 is expected to be priced under $60.

Gigabyte launched the Z77X-UD4H, a new socket LGA1155 motherboard model designed to fill the gap between the $155 Z77X-UD3H and $190 Z77X-UD5H. It is built with Gigabyte's Ultra Durable 4 construction, featuring 2 oz copper layer, temperature, humidity, and electrostatic protection features. The LGA1155 socket is powered by a 11-phase VRM that draws power from an 8-pin EPS connector. The socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, and three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (electrical x16/NC/NC, x8/x8/NC, x8/x4/x4, depending on how they're populated). 3-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX are supported. Other expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and a legacy PCI.

Straightaway, you'll notice that Gigabyte did away with the mSATA slot featured on the Z77X-UD3H and Z77X-UD5H. In addition to the two SATA 6 Gb/s and four SATA 3 Gb/s ports that the Z77 PCH provides (all of which are wired as internal ports), Gigabyte added two additional 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s controllers, which provide two each of internal SATA 6 Gb/s, and eSATA 6 Gb/s. The board features a total of eight USB 3.0 ports, six on the rear panel, and two by headers. In addition to the four ports the Z77 PCH provides, a 4-port VLI-made host controller is used.

Gigabyte rolled out the B75M-D2V entry-level micro-ATX motherboard. Supporting Intel Core/Pentium/Celeron "Sandy Bridge" and "Ivy Bridge" processors in the LGA1155 package, the board is driven by Intel B75 Express chipset, featuring Intel Small Business Advantage. The board's feature-set barely goes beyond that of the B75 PCH. To begin with, the LGA1155 socket is powered by a 3+1+1 phase VRM, which draws power from a 4-pin CPU connector. The socket is wired to two DIMM slots supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. Two PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots, wired to the PCH, make for the rest of the expansion.

In terms of connectivity, the B75M-D2V provides one SATA 6 Gb/s, and five SATA 3 Gb/s ports; four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers), DVI and D-Sub display outputs, 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports, and legacy PS/2 mouse/keyboard connectors. The board is driven by UEFI BIOS. Expect the B75M-D2V to be priced around US $60.

Intel made an addition to its performance mobile processor lineup, the Core i7-3632QM. Targeting performance notebooks in the $1200 range, the i7-3632QM is a quad-core chip based on the 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" silicon. It features HyperThreading, enabling eight logical CPUs. Surprisingly, the new chip comes with slightly lower clock speeds than the i7-3630QM, but a significantly lower TDP. While the i7-3630QM comes with 2.40 GHz core, 3.40 GHz Turbo Boost, and 45W TDP; the new i7-3632QM comes with 2.20 GHz core 3.20 GHz Turbo Boost, and 35W TDP: 8.5% lower clock speeds, resulting in 25% lower TDP.

The Core i7-3632QM features 256 KB L2 cache per core, and 6 MB shared L3 cache. It features Intel HD 4000 graphics core, clocked at 650 MHz. While it features PCI-Express 3.0 root complex, and Intel VTx, it lacks Intel vPro and Trusted Execution Technology, features found with certain "business class" Core i5/i7 mobile chips. Available in BGA and rPGA packages, the new chip should be available to notebook makers.

ASUS released the P8Z77-I Deluxe/WD, a variant of the P8Z77-I Deluxe socket LGA1155 motherboard based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, in the mini-ITX form-factor. Essentially identical to the original, its WLAN controller features Intel Wireless Display Technology (WiDi), which lets you stream high-definition video to displays and projectors wirelessly. The P8Z77-I Deluxe/WD features a 10-phase Digi+ CPU VRM, two DDR3 DIMM slots, a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, two each of SATA 6 Gb/s and 3 Gb/s ports, and connectivity that includes 6-channel analog and 8-channel digital audio, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort display outputs, and a number of USB 3.0 ports. ASUS could charge a small premium over the original's US $199 price-tag.

Club 3D plans to be one of the very few AMD AIB partners with a Radeon HD 7990 dual-GPU graphics card. Its product is based on the same exact design as PowerColor's recently-launched HD 7990 base and flagship HD 7990 Devil13, since TUL (PowerColor's parent company) is the OEM of Club 3D Radeon series graphics cards. The card packs two 28 nm "Tahiti" Radeon HD 7970 ASICs with a PLX-made PCI-Express 3.0 bridge chip, and a total of 6 GB of GDDR5 memory across two 384-bit wide memory interfaces. It's likely that Club 3D's card sticks to the same clock profiles as PowerColor's HD 7990 base, with 900 MHz core, 925 MHz OC (toggled manually with a switch), and 5.50 GHz memory. More details are awaited.

Point of View, a premier NVIDIA graphics partner and manufacturer of Android tablets, notebooks and other hardware, launches today two new cards of the GeForce 600 family: the POV GeForce GTX 660 and the POV GeForce GTX 650.

The current GeForce 600 range is truly the next step in computer graphics. The differences in performance compared to previous generation are so huge that - not - upgrading is a shame.

NVIDIA announced its newest performance-segment graphics card, the GeForce GTX 660. Based on the brand new GK106 silicon, the GPU packs 960 CUDA cores, 80 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. It features a 192-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. The 2-way SLI-capable card needs power from just the one 6-pin PCIe power connector. The card ships with reference clock speeds of 980 MHz core, 1033 MHz GPU Boost, and 6.00 GHz memory (GDDR5-effective). The card features a PCI-Express 3.0 interface, and supports the latest consumer graphics APIs, including DirectX 11.1. Available from various add-in card (AIC) partners, in custom-design and factory-overclocked models, the GeForce GTX 660 starts at US $229.

Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT), the Analog and Digital Company delivering essential mixed-signal semiconductor solutions, today announced the industry's first NVM Express (NVMe) enterprise non-volatile DRAM (NV-DRAM) controller with native support for PCIe Gen 3. The new NVMe NV-DRAM controller expands upon IDT's previously announced NVMe flash controller family to provide standards-based, high-density, high-performance PCIe-attached NV-DRAM solutions built around a combination of DRAM and NAND flash devices.

The IDT 89HF08P08AG3 NV-DRAM controller supports up to 32 GB of DDR3 SDRAM and 8 channels of NAND flash, with a PCIe x8 Gen 3 host interface. The controller is designed to fully comply with the NVMe standard - a standard that defines an optimized register interface, command set, and feature set for PCIe-based solid-state drives (SSDs). IDT's new PCIe NV-DRAM controller enables unparalleled read and write random performance with extremely low latency and high endurance, making it ideal for storage-intensive enterprise-class applications. The programmable controller provides OEMs the flexibility to quickly develop and deploy NV-DRAM solutions that use standard NVM Express drivers.

PMC, Inc.,, the semiconductor innovator transforming networks that connect, move and store big data, today announced the introduction of the industry's first PCIe Gen3 high port-count 6Gb/s SAS/SATA RAID adapters. The Adaptec Series 7 family represents the first RAID adapters to take full advantage of PCIe Gen3 bandwidth, providing unmatched performance for a broad range of enterprise and cloud computing applications. With 16 direct-connected solid state drives (SSDs), Series 7 adapters can deliver up to 450,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) on a 4K random read block size, equivalent to nearly 10x the performance of previous-generation RAID adapters.

ASUS' Republic of Gamers MARS III dual-GeForce GTX 680 graphics card may have been extensively covered at this year's Computex event, but very few have had a peek at its innards (PCB). Expreview posted pictures of the card's PCB, sourced from the manufacturer.

The pictures reveal an unusually long and tall PCB, which draws power from three 8-pin PCIe power connectors, a 21-phase VRM that uses Super Alloy chokes and driver-MOSFETs, PLX PEX8747 PCI-Express 3.0 x48 bridge chip, and of course the two GK104 GPUs with a total of 32 individual GDDR5 memory chips (16 for each GPU, 16 on each side of the PCB) wired to them, totaling 8 GB of memory.

Edit: We received an update from ASUS, clarifying that this card will not be released. The design was only displayed during a factory tour, to show ASUS craftmanship.

Gigabyte cracked Core i7-3770K clock speed record, achieving 7102 MHz. The feat was made possible with its newest Ultra Durable 5 motherboard, the Z77X-UP7. The UP7 is geared for overclocking, but unlike some of its predecessors such as the X79-UD7 and X58-OC, the new board focuses as much on graphics card overclocking and multi-GPU capabilities, as CPU overclocking. In the CPU overclocking department, it is armed by over 32 phases of CPU VRM that use PowIRstage chips.

With graphics card overclocking, not only does the board provide up to four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots using PLX PEX8747 chips, but also a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot that's directly wired to the CPU, for single card overclocking. This is done by wiring all 16 lanes from the CPU through 2-way switches before making it to the PEX8747 chips. If a graphics card is populating the black PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, the PEX8747 is automatically cut off, and all 16 lanes from the CPU root complex it routed to it. This way, single card overclockers overcome the latency issues of bridge chips. The Z77X-UP7 is armed with countless such OC-friendly features, find out more at the source.

MSI introduced the B75IA-E33, a socket LGA1155 motherboard in the mini-ITX form-factor, based on Intel's business-oriented B75 Express chipset. The board has sufficient connectivity for space-saving business PCs, featuring Intel Small Business Advantage. The board also bears the Windows 8 compatibility label. It draws power from conventional 24-pin ATX and 4-pin CPU power connectors. The LGA1155 socket is powered by a 4-phase VRM. It is wired to two DIMM slots, supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz memory; and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot.

The Intel B75 PCH gives out one SATA 6 Gb/s, and three SATA 3 Gb/s internal ports on the B75IA-E33. Display connectivity includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. Other connectivity options include 6-channel HD audio with 7.1-channel optical SPDIF (TOSLINK) output, four USB 3.0 ports (two the rear panel, two by headers), gigabit Ethernet, a number of USB 2.0 ports, and mouse/keyboard combo PS/2 port. The board is driven by UEFI firmware. MSI did not give out pricing information.

Gigabyte released the first motherboard in the micro-ATX form-factor to feature two Thunderbolt interfaces. The Z77MX-D3H-TH from Gigabyte is built in the standard 240 x 240 mm micro-ATX form-factor, and based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, supporting socket LGA1155 Core "Sandy Bridge" and "Ivy Bridge" processors. The board uses an Intel DSL3510L dual channel Thunderbolt controller to drive its two ports.

The two ports, electrically-compatible with mini-DisplayPort, double up as display outputs that are routed to the Flexible Display Interface (FDI) taking display from the processor's integrated graphics core. With the included Lucid Virtu MVP software, graphics processed by discrete graphics cards can be output though the FDI, and hence these Thunderbolt ports.

GIGABYTE is working on a new mini-ITX form-factor motherboard for HTPCs and home servers. The H77N-WiFi, built for socket LGA1155 Core Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors, and based on Intel H77 Express chipset, features three network interfaces: two gigabit Ethernet, and an 802.11 b/g/n WLAN. Revving up its HTPC credentials, the board also features two HDMI display outputs, so you can plug your TV to one, and home theater receiver to the other (for multi-channel digital audio). Further, the 8-channel HD audio CODEC gives out an optical SPDIF (TOSLINK) output for 7.1 channel audio.

The GIGABYTE H77N-WiFi draws power from 24-pin ATX and 4-pin CPU power connectors. The LGA1155 socket is powered by a 4+1 phase VRM that appears to use common ferrite core chokes and LFPAK MOSFETs. The LGA1155 CPU is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz memory; and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16. The Intel H77 PCH gives out two SATA 6 Gb/s and two SATA 3 Gb/s ports, with support for Smart Response technology (SSD caching). Apart from dual-HDMI, the board supports DVI-I.