Our fourth ‘overclock oriented’ motherboard for review is one of the aforementioned products that aim for several categories. If a motherboard can match more markets and do it well (the important phrase), there may be some hope for it to break even. This is unless the product is also aimed at the other markets – features for gamers, design for enthusiasts, and prices that please the self-builders or system integrators. This is a very small market (<4000 active at last estimate), so the hope would be to filter down the hype of a product into the consumer range of products. Our recent run of reviews have been for motherboards aimed at overclockers, with one or two focusing on the ultra extreme overclockers that use sub-zero temperatures to break records. It also has to be the halo, not second best! If a product is aimed at the general markets, then it has to cater on all fronts to several groups. All three of these boards continuously push both the gaming and OC frontiers, with a slight gaming focus on the Formula and an OC focus on the Extreme, but all boards cross over into each other’s territory very easily.Įach product has to be considered as either the ‘Halo’ product or one for general sale – a halo product can often get away with being for a specific group of users as long as it is advertised effectively and brought to the attention of the forum enthusiasts that may invest in the company’s other products. The ASUS ROG range, as we reviewed in 2012, has been releasing motherboards for both gaming and overclocking for several years, trying (and succeeding) with the mATX Gene, ATX Formula and Extreme. The board itself was cheaper due to the functionality not present, but it did not provide a rock solid home system for many users.
In the past there have been attempts at pure overclocking boards, such as the Gigabyte X58A-OC, which was entirely stripped of all but the necessary components for pushing overclocks under sub-zero conditions for competitions. The second is usually attributed to the functionality and power delivery – the 32x IR3550s used on the Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 costs them a pretty penny, and the extensive feature list of the ASUS ROG boards usually filters through. We covered how the PLX chip works in our 4-board review here, but this functionality can add $30-$80 onto the board (depending on the bulk purchase order of the manufacturer and the profit margins wanted). The first is the inclusion of PLX PEX 8747 chip, to allow 3-way or 4-way GPU setups. There are two main differentiators between the low ($350) end. $225 – ASRock Z77 OC Formula ( our review, Silver Award) These weapons are (with prices correct as of 3/7): To this extent, after the success of the ROG range, the top four motherboard manufacturers now all have weapons when it comes to hitting the enthusiast or power user with an overclocking platform. In order to get market share, each company had to take it from someone else, or find a new niche in an already swollen industry. The motherboard market shrank in 2012, with reports suggesting that from the 80 million motherboards sold in 2011, this was down to 77 million worldwide in 2012. Overclocking for Z77 – Why Focus on Extreme Overclockers? With the combination air/water VRM cooling system, a mini-PCIe combo card with dual band WiFi and an mSATA port, one of the best on-board audio solutions and the regular array of easy-to-use BIOS/Software, ASUS may be onto a winner – and all they ask for is $270-300. The ASUS Maximus V Formula is designed to cater mainly to the gamer, but also to the enthusiast and the overclocker, for an all-in-one product with a distinct ROG feel. An overclocker would like a minimalist setup that can push the limits of stability, and the gamer would like an all singing, all dancing everything. The motherboard market is tough – the enthusiast user would like a motherboard that does everything but is cheap, and the system integrator would like a stripped out motherboard that is even cheaper.
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