ASRock Z97M Pro4

Priced at just $139, the ASRock Z97M Pro4 is roughly half the cost of the more expensive boards in this roundup. As such, it’d be unfair to expect the wealth of features found on the premium boards, but ASRock has a reputation for delivering surprising value in its a‚ ordable products. Can the Z97M Pro4 live up to this tradition?

Opening the box reveals a distinct lack of extras – there’s a manual, backplate and a couple of SATA cables. Compared to the overflowing boxes of goodies delivered with higher price tags, it’s a rather stark presentation. The same can’t be said of the front of the motherboard though, as ASRock appears to have put every square centimetre to use. Most obvious are the expansion slots, with a single PCIe 3.0 x16, another PCIe 2.0 x16, and twin PCI slots sitting between these. This presents a couple of issues; firstly, the lack of twin PCI-E 3.0 slots means no SLI support, though CrossFire is. The biggest issue though is the placement of the first PCI slot, which will be impossible to use if a GPU resides in the first PCI-E slot. Despite this, the Z97M Pro4 is the only board in our roundup to still include legacy PCI slots, which could be reason enough to choose this product for those with old PC products that they don’t want to shelve.

Asus TUF Gryphon Z97 Armour Edition

Asus’s “The Ultimate Force”, aka TUF, series of motherboards have been around for several years now, and they all share one very unique feature. As you can see from the images, a special “armour” covering is available for the board that covers most of the front of the PCB. This is an optional extra that adds around $45 to the price of the board – the price we’ve used here includes the special covering. The aim of this is to deliver better airflow over the steamier components of the motherboard, but to be honest we’re a little sceptical. An absolutely tiny fan is responsible for pushing air throw the very confined armouring, and we just can’t see how this would be more effective at cooling than leaving the covering off and allowing a couple of 80mm case fans to do the job instead. There’s also the fact that the armour covering is bound to become a dust trap over time, leaving us with the feeling that this expensive armour is nothing more than a gimmick.

Thermaltake Core X9

There’s big, really big, and Only-in-Texas big. The Thermaltake Core X9 falls into the latter category. This ridiculously large case is larger than many Sydney apartments, providing a wealth of space for all of your components and then some. Yet how has Thermaltake kept the price so low on such a large case? The answer is an unfortunate one.

Before we delve into the problems with this case, let’s get a grip on just how large it is. Measuring a ridiculous 502mm x 380mm x 640mm, it’s easily one of the largest cases to ever bend the desks in the PC and Tech Authority labs. Yet it only tips the scales at a relatively light 17kg – we say relatively, as it’s still quite the behemoth. It’s defi nitely not the kind of case you want to move more than once every few years, if that, and lugging it upstairs in a three story townhouse is about as much fun as moving a small fridge.

Intel’s 5th generation hits laptops

Y has it taken so long for Intel to get its u boat out the door? Mark Williams deep dives into the latest CPU release from Intel.

Fifth generation Broadwell CPUs from Intel are already out in the form on its Core M line up (aka Broadwell-Y) which are at the lower performance end of Intel’s product stack (any lower and you’re into Intel’s Atom range), Broadwell-Y is aimed at low power solutions like tablets, 2-in-1 tablet convertibles and fanless Ultrabook designs.

Broadwell-U however, which Intel launched at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, is the first of Intel’s 5th generation Core CPUs that the average consumer will likely get their hands on and sits in the middle of its intended BGA packaged line up.

The next step up in power from Broadwell-Y (4.5W max) and still only dual core, Broadwell-U (15-28W max) is aimed at mid to high end Ultrabooks and other thinand-light or low end laptops, even into small integrated desktop solutions like Intel’s NUC or Gigabyte Brix-type products.