ASRock Announces Its Z87 Motherboard Lineup
Subject: Motherboards | May 7, 2013 - 12:04 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: Z87 OC Formula, z87, lga 1150, fatal1ty, asrock
The launch of Intel’s next-generation Haswell processors and Z87 chipset is getting closer, and the various motherboard vendors have started teasing their upcoming product lines. Taiwan-based motherboard manufacturer ASRock is the latest company to detail its initial Z87 lineup, and it is fairly extensive.
ASRock will be launching LGA 1150 boards under its Extreme, OC, and Fatal1ty series. The Z87 Extreme series is intended for enthusiasts that need the the most connectivity options possible, including having the highest number of PCI-E slots. The Z87 OC Formula motherboards have beefy VRM hardware and are built to be pushed to the limit by overclockers. Finally, the Fatal1ty-branded motherboards are aimed at PC gamers and support 3 way multi-GPU setups and Creative Sound Core 3D audio chips. Many of the ASRock boards and an alternative SKU with an included 802.11ac Wi-Fi card. These boards are identified by the “/ac” text in their product names.
The initial ASRock Z87 Extreme series launch will include the following boards:
- Z87 Extreme 11
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Z87 Extreme 9
- Z87 Extreme 9 with 802.11ac WLAN
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Z87 Extreme 6
- Z87 Extreme 6 with 802.11ac WLAN
- Z87 Extreme 4
- Z87M Extreme 4 (Micro-ATX)
All of these boards will provide plenty of PCI-E slots and rear IO options that include eSATA, USB 3.0, at least one Gigabit LAN port (and dual on some boards), HDMI video outputs, and both digital and analog audio outputs. Note that the top three PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots are rather close together on the Extreme 9 board. This lends credence to the Extreme series use as more of an enthusiast’s work rig with PCI-E SSD accelerator or hardware RAID cards rather than strictly a multi-GPU setup.
The OC series will include the following boards geared for Intel’s Haswell processors:
- Z87 OC Formula
-
Z87M OC Formula
- Z87M OC Formula with 802.11ac WLAN
The Z87 OC Formula series will launch with two boards, one that is full ATX and one that is Micro-ATX. These boards are similar in features and design to the Extreme 6 motherboard, but have additional hardware to facilitate overclocking.
Finally, the gamer-centric Fatal1ty series is aimed at high-end gaming PCs. The series will launch with the following boards:
- Z87 Fatal1ty Professional
- H87 Fatal1ty Performance
The Fatal1ty Professional uses Intel’s Z87 chipset and is aimed at high-end gaming PCs while the H78 Fatal1ty Performance uses the lower-cost H87 chipset and is aimed at midrange gaming systems. Multi-GPU and higher-end onboard sound are the main features of this ASRock series.
Pricing and availability are still unknown, but the company has quite the lineup planned, and the boards should cover a wide breadth of price points. It is nice to see the Micro ATX options as well as the standard ATX models. Now, we just need some Mini-ITX Z87 boards! Additional photos of the Z87 motherboards are available over at Tech Power Up.
Noctua Offers Free LGA 1150 Haswell Mounting Kit Upgrade for Older Heatsinks
Subject: General Tech | March 20, 2013 - 12:05 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: noctua, lga 1150, hsf, heatsink, haswell, cpu cooler
Noctua has recently announced that the company is providing free mounting kits to owners of existing coolers to make them compatible with Intel's latest LGA 1150 (Haswell) motherboards. The new NM-i115x mounting kit will allow enthusiasts to recycle their older Noctua coolers with the new platform without issue. The kit includes a new back plate with fixed struts and the necessary connectors (screws, springs, et al) to make alignment and mounting easier than previous setups.
Because the LGA 1150 socket keeps the same mounting hole spacing as the current LGA 1156 and LGA 1155 sockets, many newer Noctua cooler will not need the mounting kit upgrade, and can simply be installed into the Haswell machine as is. In other words, if the heatsink worked with your Lynnfield, Sandy Bridge, or Ivy Bridge-based system, it will work in a Haswell system as well. According to Noctua, the following coolers are already compatible with Haswell:
NH-C14, NH-D14, NH-C12P SE14, NH-L12, NH-L9i, NH-U12P SE2, NH-U9B SE2
If your cooler was released prior to LGA 1156, you will need to grab the NM-i115x mounting kit upgrade by filling out this form. Noctua will make the kit available on its website as well as in retail stores (for a minimal charge, though the company did not provide specific pricing). You will need to provide proof of purchase for your existing cooler by sending Noctua a scan or screenshot of your invoice or receipt.
For more information on the NM-i115x, head over to the Noctua product page.
It is nice to see Noctua standing behind its products like this, even if it only affects a small number of users that will be making the jump for LGA 775/ect to LGA 1150.
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