This motherboard, from ASUS, is another great example of cutting-edge motherboard architecture. It mates, flawlessly, an i7 Extreme Socket with 6 x SATA 3 gig ports and 2 for the Marvell PCI’s. Very welcome are the 3.0 USB ports, along with legacy 2.0’s, and the traditional Marvell G/bit LAN controller. Without going into the deeper technical aspects of it, I simply love the six DDR3 slots—lending three dedicated channels for memory.
Cost is what makes this motherboard really stand out. While a few of the nit-pickers will always scream about lacking a thing or two, this motherboard—with this price—is basically comparable to a Mercedes-Benz that costs $20k. How many products exist, that you know of, that can honestly live up to an analogy like that? At £169.40, it’s about as good as it gets.
For getting the most bang for your buck, this is a pretty sweet deal. Entering the more analytical piece of this review, however, there are a couple things that have to be considered—in fairness to objectiveness. This Express model, in contrast with the premium model, has a few missing articles—but for the price, they’re mostly overlookable. Here’s the breakdown of the not-so glamorous:
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Blue or white SATA cords aren’t included, which would only make finding your way around the myriad of cables easier
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The chipset’s heat pipe and the larger heatsinks that are not linked to the processor are lacking a superior cooling solution for hardcore gamers
With those two pet-peeves out of the way, all-in-all, this is more than a viable solution to even a hardcore gaming enthusiast. Sure, you can ramble on about a few missing features and accessories, but the price—I’m more than confident that ASUS only receives a bare profit margin off of something like this as it is. So, I give it a 97 in terms of the outstanding value you get.
