ASUS has silently began rolling out motherboard BIOS updates for its Intel 9-series chipset motherboards, which provide hardening against "Meltdown" and "Spectre" vulnerabilities, through a CPU microcode update. Intel, if you'll recall, released microcode updates for "Haswell" and "Broadwell" processors this March, but you were at the mercy of your motherboard manufacturer to pass them on to you. The BIOS updates pack the latest version 24 microcode for 4th generation "Haswell" and 5th generation "Broadwell" processors in the LGA1150 package.

A small catch here, is that the BIOS updates are marked "beta" by ASUS, because the understanding is that all 9-series motherboards sold through 2014-15 are EOL, and have probably lapsed warranty coverage, so the company is limiting its liabilities in case BIOS updates fail, or if the platform still ends up "vulnerable" somehow. The latest version of InSpectre confirms that the latest BIOS for the Z97-A, one of the more popular motherboards by ASUS based on the Z97 Express chipset, passes hardening against Meltdown and Spectre, coupled with Windows 10 April 2018 Update. You should find the latest BIOS updates in the "Support" tab of the product page of your motherboard on ASUS website. Here's hoping other motherboard manufacturers love their customers as much.

As the leading gaming hardware brand, MSI is excited to launch a new, small and powerful gaming desktop PC: the MSI Nightblade MI. With a volume of only 10 liters, it's even smaller than its predecessor, the MSI Nightblade Z97/B85. Despite its nifty dimensions, the Nightblade MI houses a full sized MSI GeForce GTX 960 graphics card. Coupled with Intel Core technology and smart cooling solutions, the MSI Nightblade MI is an excellent choice for gaming enthusiasts around the world.

With a full sized graphics card, the Nightblade MI brings grand graphics for grand gamers in a small case. With a performance increase of 15% while using 41% less power compared to the previous generation, the GTX 960 provides plenty of FPS while playing games in Full HD and in high settings. To top it off, the Nightblade MI comes equipped with Intel Core technology, the latest Nahimic Sound Technology, Super speed transmission, GAMING LAN and much more.

MSI, leading in motherboard design, is proud to announce that our Z97 & H97 motherboards fully support the 5th Generation Intel Core processors! With the latest BIOS update, current MSI Z97 & H97 motherboards are completely compatible with the 5th Gen Intel Core processors, and able to unleash your system's full performance.

Committed to ensuring compatibility and performance, the MSI R&D team is making sure you never have to worry about your MSI Z97 & H97 motherboard supporting the latest generation of Intel Core processors. If you want to fully enjoy all the advantages of the 5th Generation Intel Core processors, MSI Z97 & H97 motherboards are definitely your best choice.

From a sea of black and red, Gigabyte brushed a refreshing stroke of green, with its latest socket LGA1150 motherboard, the Z97X-Game Plus. Designed to compete with $150-ish mainline products such as ASUS Z97-Pro Gamer, which are loaded with gamer-centric features and product design, though barely missing premium gaming brands such as ROG or G1.Gaming; the new Z97X Game Plus could be particularly appealing to gamers with "green" (read: reference NVIDIA) gaming PC builds. The Z97X-Game Plus is a socket LGA1150 motherboard, with out of the box support for 5th gen Core "Broadwell" processors, in addition to Core "Haswell."

The board draws power from 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. An 8-phase VRM conditions it for the CPU, which is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, and three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4). Other expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and one legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports (from which two wire out as SATA-Express 10 Gb/s), and one M.2 (PCIe 2.0 x2 physical layer). Notable features include Gigabyte's famed AMP-UP onboard audio, with an EMI-shielded 115 dBA SNR CODEC, ground-layer isolation, audio-grade electrolytic caps, and an OPAMP with tuning for music and gaming; Broadcom Killer E2200 gigabit Ethernet, six USB 3.0 ports, and dual-UEFI BIOS. Expect a $140-150 pricing.

Intel's parting gifts to the LGA1150 platform, the Core i5-5675C and the Core i7-5775C, are shaping up to be a pleasant surprise to overclockers. Built on the 14 nm "Broadwell" silicon, the two quad-core chips come with extremely low rated TDP of 65W, for products of its segment. We weren't sure of those energy savings somehow translated into a massive overclocking headroom. It turns out, there's hope. Toying with a Core i7-5775C chip on an ASRock Z97 OC Formula, Hong Kong-based HKEPC found that the chip was able to reach 5.00 GHz clock speeds with ease on air-cooling, and a core voltage of 1.419V. At 4.80 GHz, the i7-5775C crunches 32M wPrime in 4.399 seconds.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards is proud to announce their entire line-up of Z97 and H97 motherboards now support the soon-to-launch 5th Generation Intel Core processors.

GIGABYTE engineers have tested and validated all GIGABYTE 9 series motherboards including Z97 and H97 chipset-based motherboards to ensure optimal performance for 5th Generation Intel Core processors. Users wanting to take advantage of all the features of 5th Gen Intel Core processors have to offer at launch, simply need to download the latest UEFI BIOS from the GIGABYTE website.

ASUS today announced that it is the world's first motherboard brand to support all NVM Express (NVMe) storage devices via a simple UEFI BIOS update and optional ASUS Hyper Kit expansion card.

The free UEFI BIOS update enable all ASUS X99 and Z97 motherboards to be compatible with the latest NVMe storage devices, including those with PCI Express (PCIe) and M.2 (PCIe) interfaces. All ASUS X99 motherboards are also compatible with the latest 2.5-inch NVMe SFF-8639 solid-state drives (SSDs), via the exclusive ASUS Hyper Kit expansion card - for ultimate data-transfer bandwidth up to 32 Gbit/s.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is proud to announce its complete lineup of motherboards build around the Intel X99 and 9 Series chipsets is compatible with the recently released 750 Series PCIe SSD drive from Intel. The new drives will be available in 400GB and 1.2TB capacities and are expected to deliver performance of up to 2.5/1.2 GB/s sequential read/write speeds and up to 440/290k random IOPs, thus making them the highest performing Intel Client SSD. GIGABYTE's X99 and 9 Series motherboards are able to take full advantage of the fast transfer speeds of this exciting new storage solution from Intel.

Built for enthusiast gamers and workstations, the new 750 Series SSDs are the first consumer oriented PCIe drives by Intel. Using PCIe Gen3 x 4 lanes with the latest and fastest NVMe controller interface, Intel's storage solution features a level of performance never achieved by regular SSDs, which are limited by their SATA connection and old AHCI protocol. Compared to the SATA 3 interface which can technically reach up to 6Gb/s, the PCIe Gen 3 interface is considerably faster as it provides up to 8Gb/s per lane, thereby allowing 32Gb/s of total available bandwidth for the x4 PCIe SSDs.

Tired of that same old boring computing rig that has been sitting lifelessly on the desk? Well, a system upgrade might not be a bad idea right now, especially when Intel is releasing their latest 5th Gen Intel Core Processors. Besides, if you already own an ASRock Z97 or H97 chipset motherboard by any chance, then they're actually ready to support these new processors by a fast and painless BIOS upgrade through the ASRock APP Shop software.

The most noticeable differences between the 4th and 5th generation is that the 5th generation Intel Core processors provide superior performance with Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 and Intel Hyper-Threading Technology. Moreover, these new processors offer enhanced integrated Intel HD Graphics for stunning visuals and significantly better 3D performance. No matter whether your plan is to play 4K Ultra HD videos or simply just to run the latest games, these 5th generation Intel Core processors are going to bring your screen to life!

The global leading motherboard brand ASRock will be debuting the latest SuperSpeed+ USB 3.1 motherboards at CeBIT 2015 Hall 15 Booth D21. With the USB 3.1 specification announced last summer, USB 3.1 featured devices will definitely be in the spotlight at CeBIT 2015.

Besides Type-A Super Speed+ USB 3.1 which is backwards compatible with former USB 3.0/2.0/1.1 ports, ASRock motherboards are also going to be the first in the world to carry Type-C USB 3.1 ports that will support next generation mobile devices. Now, all types of USB 3.1 grants up to 10Gb/s data rates, however only this Type-C interface has a reversible design, so that connectors may fit either way. Moreover, compared to USB 3.0 which only allows 0.9 ampere charging, Type-C USB 3.1 supports up to 3.0 ampere fast device charging, and its durability has been enhanced to withstand over ten thousand plugs and removals. Selected ASRock Z97 chipset motherboards will support both USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C ports.

Boutique memory modules designer Avexir unveiled its flagship DDR3 memory module, the RAIDEN. This double-height module features a plasma tube on its top, which lights up with a blue lightning-effect, which could look awesome in cyberpunk case-mods. The module could pair particularly well with ASUS Z97 Sabertooth Mark S, ASUS X99 series, and MSI Krait series motherboards.

Form aside, the module has some pretty formidable specs - an 8-layer main PCB, XMP profiles of up to DDR3-2400 MHz, a machined aluminium heatsink drawing heat away from the DRAM chips, and hand-binned DRAM chips for the best overclocked performance. The RAIDEN comes in speeds of DDR3-1866 and DDR3-2400, densities of 4 GB and 8 GB, and in dual- and quad-channel kits that are combinations of the two top-level specs. Avexir didn't reveal pricing or availability.

MSI unveiled an arsenal of new GAMING products, including new USB 3.1 equipped motherboards, 3K & 4K Gaming All-in-One PCs, GT80 Titan & GS30 notebooks, and new Gaming VGA SLI bridge. Delivering blazing fast USB performance, up to 2 times faster than USB 3.0, MSI launches new Z97 and X99 GAMING models featuring USB 3.1. The additionexs to the GAMING family are the Z97A GAMING 9 ACK, Z97A GAMING 7, X99A GAMING 9 ACK and the X99A GAMING 7 motherboards, all featuring Type-A USB 3.1. All of these new motherboards offer two USB 3.1 ports, fully backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices. Besides USB 3.1, all Z97A motherboards also support the upcoming Intel 5th Generation Processors.

The new MSI Z97A GAMING 6 motherboard is world's first motherboard featuring onboard USB 3.1 and Type-C connectivity. Get all the performance benefits from USB 3.1 combined with the convenience of the USB Type-C connector. This reversible connector allows for effortless connecting of USB devices, which eliminates the struggle of making sure the USB connector is facing the right way.

ASUS today announced the world's fastest and first complete line-up of SuperSpeed+ USB 3.1 solutions, including range-wide motherboards with built-in USB 3.1 and two ASUS USB 3.1 Cards. The latter are the new PCI Express (PCIe) expansion card with either dual Type-A sockets or reversible Type-C, that fits quickly and easily to bring breakneck speeds to existing PCs.

ASUS motherboards with built-in USB 3.1 and ASUS USB 3.1 Card deliver next-generation 10Gbit/s data transfer speeds that are up to twice (2X) as fast as USB 3.0. All USB 3.1 Type-A models are fully backwardly compatible with previous USB standards. The new products will begin shipping from the middle of February 2015. The new solutions benefit from exclusive ASUS USB 3.1 Boost technology to push real-world data-transfer speeds faster than ever before, with testing by ASUS engineers achieving sequential read/write speeds of up to 854.6 / 863.9 MB/s - much faster than competing USB 3.1 products.

BIOSTAR is promoting the gaming motherboard, the Gaming Z97X along with the VGA cards that are powered by nVidia's GeForce GTX750Ti chipset as a compelling gaming hardware combo set. The motherboard comes with the new Gaming Commander Box accessory as well as cutting-edge features like USB 3.1 on-board and innovative durability enhancements. This gaming family of hardware from BIOSTAR gives you a gaming combination comprised of the best motherboard and value priced GPU for a superlative gaming experience.

BIOSTAR's GeForce GTX750Ti series of cards brings the visual horsepower needed for high-end gaming. With 2GB GDDR5, on a full size PCB with a unique dual fan cooling design, this card in combination with the Gaming Z97X motherboard is all you need. It has Dual DVI/miniHDMI output support and supports NVIDIA PuroVideo HD Technology as well as DirectX 11. It also supports NVIDIA PhyX and CUDA Technology. You will need a motherboard that has a PCI Express 3.0 x 16 bus interfaces to stick this card in. For that BIOSTAR has the Gaming Z97X.

MSI offers cashback to end-users who buy a selected MSI motherboard combined with a MSI graphics card at official MSI resellers. Some of the eligible products are MSI's full range of X99 motherboards, the MSI Z97 GAMING line-up, the Z97S SLI Krait Edition and selected H97 models. Combined with a purchase of one of MSI's latest GTX960, GTX970 or GTX980 graphics cards, or MSI's high performance R9 290 or R9270X cards, end users can receive cashback adding up to €50.

The promotion is running in 20 countries in Europe and is set for those looking to upgrade or assemble a brand new high-performance PC by themselves, ready to take on any PC computing task in 2015. All program details can be found here. People from the following countries are eligible for the MSI cashback action which runs from February 10th until March 12th 2015: France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, UK, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Austria, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey.

BIOSTAR announced its latest flagship socket LGA1150 motherboard, the GAMING Z97X. With a design focus on gaming PC builds that are high on connectivity, with a little bit of overclocking thrown in, rather than an all-out focus on overclocking (TPower), this board punches well above its weight with its feature-set. To begin with, the board features a rustic, industrial design, featuring a brown/gold+black color scheme for the various slots and connectors; and a black plastic shroud running the board's length. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors. A 12-phase VRM conditions it for the CPU.

Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (electrical x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4); and three PCI-Express 2.0 x1, wired to the PCH. Storage connectivity includes SATA-Express, six SATA 6 Gb/s, and an M.2 (electrical PCIe 2.0 x2) connector. This board also offers two supercharged USB 3.1 (10 Gb/s) ports, in addition to six other USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports. There are two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, one driven by an Intel-made controller, and another by Qualcomm Killer E2200, so you get to choose between Killer and Intel. The onboard audio features a 110 dBA SNR CODEC, a 600Ω headphones amp, and ground-layer isolation. Also included is a 5.25-inch front-panel head-unit BIOSTAR calls the "Gaming Commander," which gives you front-panel audio outputs with a volume control, amplifier control, diagnostic LEDs, and a CPU temperature indicator. A variant of this motherboard, which lacks the third PCIe x16 slot, offers a 10-phase CPU VRM, and goes easy on some other features, called the GAMING Z97W, was also released.

MSI is planning to give its socket LGA2011v3 motherboard lineup a refresh, replacing the X99S series, with the new X99A series. The X99A series will feature USB 3.1, the new 10 Gb/s USB standard. One confirmed model from the new lineup is the X99A Gaming 9 ACK. This board offers two USB 3.1 type-A ports, which are 100% backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0, and are driven by an ASMedia ASM1352R controller. This chip is wired to the X99 PCH over PCI-Express 2.0 x2, which is just enough bandwidth for 10 Gb/s downstream. At CES, MSI displayed the first motherboard to feature a USB 3.1 type-C port, the Z97A Gaming 6.

MSI, world leading in motherboards, is the world's first motherboard brand to fully support the next generation in storage control, NVM Express. All MSI motherboards sporting Intel 9 series chipsets including X99, Z97 and H97 are now supported. MSI has prepared BIOS updates which are now available for download. NVM Express is the next generation PCI Express storage standard introducing lower latency and lower power consumption but increased transfer speeds compared to the legacy AHCI controller.

MSI's R&D fine-tuned the BIOS to fully unleash all the power NVMe has to offer while supporting the majority of devices available on the market without any hassle. With the latest BIOS, MSI X99/Z97/H97 motherboards can support NVMe devices as primary storage under Windows 7 64-bit and Windows 8.1 64-bit and fully support NVMe booting. The BIOS updates can now be downloaded from the company website. The table below describes all supported models and BIOS version.

MSI showed off the Z97A Gaming 6, the company's first motherboard to feature a USB 3.1 port, with the new Type-C connector. This board is essentially a Z97 Gaming 5, with a USB 3.1 controller, and the Type-C port on its rear panel. The board features an 8-phase CPU VRM, three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x4/x4 when all three are populated), an M.2 slot, SATA-Express, Killer gigabit Ethernet controller, and the company's Audio Boost onboard audio, with ground-layer isolation. Expect this board to sell around the $160 mark.

MSI Computer Corp, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, blasts into 2015 with an award winning lineup of gaming solutions, including the GT80 Titan SLI, the world's first gaming laptop with an integrated mechanical keyboard; CES Innovation award recipient GS30 Shadow with Gaming Dock, GT72 Dominator Pro, AG240 4K All-In-One gaming PC, and X99A GAMING 9 ACK motherboard; along with a new and redesigned GE62 Apache for the next generation of MSI's GE Series gaming laptops and others.

"PC gaming is constantly evolving and our new lineup of battle machines are ready to take on any challenge," says Andy Tung, President of MSI Pan America. "We've thrown down the gauntlet with a selection of outstanding choices for every type of gamer."

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) will debut its newest member of the LIVA family, the LIVA X at the 2015 CES. In a luxurious suite in the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, you can witness the new computing experience offered by the LIVA X through its 0dB thermal design, ultra-low power consumption and tiny footprint. Thanks to the embedded 22nm Intel Bay Trail-M SoC CPU power consumption is reduced to well below the maximum of 15W whilst offering a complete PC experience, including Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and various Linux based operating systems such as Ubuntu.

At a size that is comparable to that of a can of cola it is a spacious marvel as it comes equipped with SuperSpeed USB 3.0, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet, dual monitor capabilities, and an mSATA slot for extra internal storage. With all this, the LIVA X sets a new standard for performance and expandability of the mini PC whilst reducing its footprint with the incorporated VESA mount.

ORIGIN PC announced today their new ORIGIN PC EON17-X and EON15-X high-performance laptops for gamers, artist, professionals and enthusiasts. The EON17-X and EON15-X feature blazing fast Intel desktop processors on the latest Z97 chipset while almost 40% thinner and 30% lighter than the previous generation. For unrivaled performance, the EON17-X and EON15-X support ORIGIN PC's award winning CPU overclocking to run today's processor hungry games and applications. Reinforced with NVIDIA's next-gen Maxwell-powered 970M or 980M graphics cards, the EON17-X and EON15-X deliver hyper-realistic gameplay with support for 4K resolutions at smooth frame rates on your favorite 4K external display.

ORIGIN PC has also announced an all-new EON15-S thin and light laptop for gamers and professionals. The new EON15-S is now 36% thinner and 25% lighter than its predecessor yet continues deliver incredible performance thanks to Intel's latest i7 mobile CPU's and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980M graphics card. Gone are the days where lugging around heavier and thicker laptops was the only option for mobile performance. Customize and upgrade to ORIGIN PC's latest EON thin and light laptops today.

In what's a clear sign of enterprise motherboard manufacturers like Supermicro and TYAN taking an interest in the DIY client-desktop market, Taiwanese company Supermicro launched the C7Z97-M, a micro-ATX, socket LGA1150 motherboard, based on Intel's Z97 Express chipset. It may not be the first motherboard based on the chipset by a traditionally enterprise-hardware company, but it's certainly the first designed to woo the PC enthusiast crowd. The features a matte-black PCB, with matte-black and ruby-red scheme, which bear a strong resemblance to Foxconn, and its Blood-Rage series.

The C7Z97-M features a 6-layer PCB, a digital-PWM CPU power delivery, with ceramic multi-phase bar chokes, and driver-MOSFETs. The board draws power from 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS. You can tell it's a board made by an enterprise manufacturer, looking at components such as the ASpeed IPMI 2.0 remote management chip, an LVDS display output, a TPM header, and key toggles being left to manual jumpers. The BIOS setup program is a reference AMI Aptio (not skinned).

MSI, world leading in motherboard technology, announces the true mini-ITX gaming solution, featuring ACK powered by Killer DoubleShot Pro, M.2 connectivity and a whole new gaming oriented PCB design. Gamers around the world looking for a powerful small-sized gaming machine with all the necessary bells & whistles can now get excited.

ACK powered by Killer DoubleShot Pro delivers 3.5x times lower latency and 2.9x times faster data throughput compared to traditional Wireless-N solutions. Killer Smart Teaming allows the use of LAN and WI-FI at the same time with speeds up to 1.867 Gbps and the ability to process gaming activity through LAN and other internet activity through Wi-Fi for the best lag-free gaming experience. Advanced Stream Detect automatically classifies and prioritizes the latency-sensitive applications for online games. Together with smart applications which allow you to control your bandwidth, MSI ACK is the one and only true wireless GAMING solution.

Chaintech, brought back to life as a motherboard brand, in partnership with Colorful, launched the iGame Z97 socket LGA1150 motherboard. A cross between a gamer-centric and overclocker-centric motherboards, the iGame Z97 combines strong electricals with features gamers expect, such as good onboard audio, and Killer E2200 NIC. The board's most striking feature is its full-coverage water block, which cools the CPU VRM and Z97 PCH.

The LGA1150 socket is powered by a 16-phase VRM. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 3.0 x16, and four PCI-Express 2.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s, and an mSATA. Display outputs include DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. 8-channel HD audio, with an OPAMP circuit and electrolytic capacitors, and Killer E2200 NIC. Dual-BIOS, and a feature-rich setup program, make for the rest of it. Chaintech is planning to launch the board in Europe and APAC markets.