Motherboard

While the race to release the world’s first PCI-Express 3 graphic card is underway in the background, MSI has beaten its rivals to the punch with the world’s first mainboard to support Intel’s new industry standard. It is called the Z68A-GD80 (G3) and KitGuru got happy with the snappy. It …

It's been a good many years since Intel first unloaded an Extreme version of its high-end processor into the face of a waiting world. Computex 2011 saw preparations for the next generation in full swing. KitGuru's cameras swung by the Asrock stand to see if there had been any fatalities. …

There are many cases in life where small is beautiful, but not so many when the smaller product still carries as big a punch as the ‘daddy' in the range. We're thinking Optimus Prime versus the accidental kitchen deceptacons in the Revenge of the Fallen. So what is Zotac up …

Gigabyte announced that Bigfoot Networks has released a free software update for the Killer E2100 Networking Platform, bringing Advanced Stream Detect technology to all GIGABYTE G1-Killer motherboards. Advanced Stream Detect delivers unprecedented intelligence and improved network performance to GIGABYTE G1-Killer based systems by dynamically classifying all network traffic and prioritizing …

The Sapphire stand was buzzing yesterday and we managed to get some shots of the Sapphire Pure Black 990FX-N motherboard which looks to continue Sapphire's excellent series of Pure Black products. Kitguru has already reviewed the Pure Black boards for both P67 and X58 platforms, so we are looking forward …

Rumours reached KitGuru a while back that Intel would be in full testing mode for its new high-end products, sometime just after Computex 2011 in Taipei. From what’s being shown on the stands, that looks about right. Even though the 2500k/2600k Sandy Bridge products deliver significant power, at the very …

Today AMD are launching their new 990FX chipset motherboards and we are looking at the Asus Sabertooth model which is a board loaded with a plethora of features. The Ultimate Force (TUF) Sabertooth 990FX has a 10 phase Digi+ VRM and it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots which …

Intel's Sandybridge has been dominating the headlines in 2011 with a heady combination of performance and competitive pricing. The H67 chipset enabled on-CPU graphics and Intel's new Quick sync transcoding engine and the P67 chipset delivered great overclocking capabilities with the new K series processors. The Z68 is set to …

While most of the talk about Intel's new Z68 chipset seems to have centred on Gigabyte initially and Asrock later, the first board seen in the wild looks to be on the shelves in London. KitGuru picks up a hammer, eyes the Z68 offer and decides if the piggybank gets …

Tick-tock, tick-tock, one generation, the next generation! The much-anticipated Intel Z68 platform will join the party in late Q2 2011; the new generation brings all major advances over the previous platforms. In the past, if users were looking for extreme overclocking, it’s P67. If users needed integrated graphics, then it’s …

The whole subject of Intel's upcoming Z68 chipset has recently spawned more fevered online articles than a Lohan limousine leg-shot. Pushing all of the minor improvements to one side KitGuru is ready to reveal the key reasons for Intel's latest launch. Almost without fail, each generation of technology products has …

While all of the recent mainboard attention has been focused on Gigabyte's Z68 bump for regular Sandy Bridge processors, it seems that industry giant, Asus, has been following its own roadmap to performance. KitGuru sneaks under the Taiwanese razor wire and pulls out a set of 40x binoculars. Traditionally, Intel …

For the mainstream gaming enthusiast audience, today's review product is both feature packed and attractively priced. The Asus P8P67 Deluxe is a 16+2 phase DIGI+ VRM design which fully supports Intel's VRD12 specifications. There are three PCI Express x16 slots and a PLX PEX8608 chip to add 8 additional PCI …

With Intel's new Z68 overclocking platform close to launch, Gigabyte's team took time out of their busy schedules to discuss with KitGuru the changes that are happening in the market, the way that Gigabyte is pushing hard on R&D and the value of long term customer support. KitGuru's recent article …

Gigabyte has made its last P67 mainboard and cancelled all future production – that's the stunning news that has just filtered into KitGuru's newsroom. Shocking stuff, but is it real and, if so, what does it mean. KitGuru heads for the underground carparks to find out, deepthroat style. Having shown …

Sandybridge has been dominating mainstream news in recent months, but Intel's flagship products are still tied into the X58 platform. After our recent review of the stunning Gigabyte G1 Assassin motherboard, today we turn our attention to the flagship Asus Rampage III Black Edition. ‘The Republic of Gamers consists only …

We received a press release this morning from AMD and it might be of interest to our readers. To demonstrate AMD’s unbeatable 6-core value with immersive visual experience, we’re giving our social media savvy fans the opportunity to win a AMD Radeon HD 6850 graphics card and a copy of …

Even though the flow of B3 chipsets is well and truly under way, the channel is creaking terribly under the strain of trying to service customers. Nope, not end-users and enthusiasts. The customers who are suffering are the channel customers. The system builders. KitGuru dusts off the magnifying glass to …

Sapphire are probably AMD's largest and longest term partner, producing the finest video cards for the discerning enthusiast audience. In recent years they have been expanding their product portfolio into other categories, such as power supplies and even all in one high definition media computers. KitGuru recently reviewed their latest …

Asus have released a new X58 motherboard called the P6X58-E which ships with support for both SLI and CrossfireX and USB 3.0, Sata 6GBps. It also includes built-in server-class Intel LAN, as well as ASUS-developed highlights such as Xtreme Phase power delivery and EPU energy consumption optimization. The new board …

AMD's Fusion Platform was released in January and finally we are starting to see some availability throughout Europe in recent weeks. We have already analysed products from Asus, MSI and Sapphire and today we look at the latest fusion board from Asrock, the E350M1. Specifications: AMD Dual-Core Zacate E-350 APU …

Enthusiast customers are spoilt for choice when buying a new motherboard. Asus, MSI and Gigabyte are all going head to head to create the most eye catching, feature packed, overclocking friendly boards to suit those with deeper than average pockets. One such product which caught our eye recently was the …

Asus are the latest company to release new B3 (fixed) Intel P67 chipset based motherboards. As with all ASUS motherboards, new models based on the Intel P67 chipset serve as a platform for a host of innovative and exclusive technologies. Chief among these is DIGI+ VRM, which incorporates digital voltage …

Gigabyte have launched a new motherboard which is going to appeal to a huge portion of our audience. They claim it is the world's first motherboard designed from the ground up for extreme overclockers. The GA-X58A-OC also has one of the most vibrant colour schemes we have seen to date. …

Growing up in the cold war meant that B1 and B2 conjured up images of supersonic bombers capable of delivering both nuclear and conventional payloads, great distances. At CeBIT 2011, the characters ‘B' and ‘3' combined to make something altogether more attractive. KitGuru puts down the mustard and investigates. No …

Having suffered its worst mis-step in a very long time, Intel has been working hard to recover the situation. Noise coming out of Taiwan is that things are now very much on track for a re-launch. KitGuru puts its ear to the ground and counts the horses. It took only …

It looks like it won't be long now before consumers can get their hands on B3 stepping Sandy Bridge boards with the Cougar Point fixes in place. More than 30 Sandy Bridge boards are listed in Europe with the new B3 stepping but none of them can as yet be …

KitGuru has covered the Sandybridge platform fairly regularly in the last month, analysing Intel's K processors, and pushing them to their limits. Today however we are taking our first look at an MSI board, the fully loaded P67A-GD65. This features MSI's clever Icy Choke Technology. These MSI chokes run up …

The original ‘just in time' philosophy might have been Japanese, but it seems that Intel's engineers are passing around the parable as well. So, how close are they?  KitGuru attaches safety lines and prepares to investigate the bridge. Working like flayed demons, Intel chipset engineers across the globe have been …

KitGuru has looked at several new Fusion boards from AMD partners MSI and Sapphire. Both products left us with positive feelings –  the mixture of low power drain, competitive pricing and excellent high definition media performance is certainly a heady combination. Today we are building a more expensive media system …