An Overview of the TUF Series Z97 Motherboards
ASUS GRYPHON Z97
ASUS is continuing with its relatively new micro-ATX TUF series motherboard. As you might expect this board has all the features of the TUF series but in a much more compact form factor.
ASUS GRYPHON Z97 ARMOR EDITION
For those who are fans of the thermal armor ASUS offers the Gryphon with and without it. This kind of flexibility is great to see and I’m pleased ASUS offer such customisation options.
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 1
The second TUF board is the Sabertooth. This is ASUS’ no expenses spared ATX TUF series motherboard. This board is aimed at users who want maximum stability, reliability and a military style aesthetic.
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 2
Like the GRYPHON ASUS offer the SABERTOOTH with and without armor giving the consumer plenty of options.
I see most of the vendors are adopting the black/khaki colour scheme because they say the Chinese are fond of it and they are their biggest market.
They’ve done a few tweaks and upgrades to the Z97 boards but I think if you’re a satisfied Z87 user there’s absolutely no compelling reason to switch, no doubt some will disagree.
This new gen Z97 motherboards look more like a refresh from the previous Z87 and not something really new
Yes I agree, aside from SATA Express, M.2 and some general feature/design tweaks this is the same platform. However, the difference from Z77 to Z87 was similar, the only difference was a new socket and slightly modified chipset.
Yeah, there won’t be a truly “new” platform until Skylake arrives w/ DDR4 that will cost you as much as a weakling PS4 w/ games & accessories.
It won’t be that expensive, let’s not take it out of context. Sure there will be a larger premium at the high end for new adoption but it will still be available with entry level motherboards, CPUs and DDR4 RAM kits.