z87 vs z97

[KrutoyEegrok]

What is the difference?

[Enderman]

z97 supports the new haswell refresh CPUs while still being backwards compatible with current haswell CPUs

z97 has support for sata express plus some other new features

[WinNut]

If you take the heatsink off a z97 board the PCH will say "Z87 R2".

 

Unless you need native NGFF and SATA-Express connectivity there is no difference. 

[antoainb]

If you take the heatsink off a z97 board the PCH will say "Z87 R2".

 

Unless you need native NGFF and SATA-Express connectivity there is no difference. 

 

Or moar fan headers on the ASUS boards, also some of the new features in terms of cooling seem to be pretty cool.

[WinNut]

Or moar fan headers on the ASUS boards, also some of the new features in terms of cooling seem to be pretty cool.

Ooh moar fan headers? 

 

If I were building I would not really need moar fan headers and WCing the MOSFET/PLX chip area is out of the question for me unless SLI or OCing.

[brownninja97]

is it just me or around the house the z87 boards look so much better, and who was the twat that thought it would be clever to make the gigabyte sniper red, so foolish.

[Enderman]

If you take the heatsink off a z97 board the PCH will say "Z87 R2".

 

Unless you need native NGFF and SATA-Express connectivity there is no difference. 

You cannot use the haswell refresh CPUs with the current z87 boards. It may seem like there is no difference, but the electrical engineering of the board has been remade, optimised, and adjusted for the new CPUs...

Internally, it is very different

[Mooshi]

Decisions..consider upgrading from Sandy Bridge and be able to utilize my 16GB of ram..or Broadwell and spend like 200 dollars for 4GB of DDR4 or something else absurd.

[WinNut]

You cannot use the haswell refresh CPUs with the current z87 boards. It may seem like there is no difference, but the electrical engineering of the board has been remade, optimised, and adjusted for the new CPUs...

Internally, it is very different

I do know that the haswell refresh processors aren't backward compatible but z97 is actually z87 r2, there isn't anything much new except for NGFF and SATA express, which I am hyped about. What I don't get is why SATA-E would be pushed to the consumer when there are no SATA-E devices on the market yet. Future expandibility much?

[Enderman]

I do know that the haswell refresh processors aren't backward compatible but z97 is actually z87 r2, there isn't anything much new except for NGFF and SATA express, which I am hyped about. What I don't get is why SATA-E would be pushed to the consumer when there are no SATA-E devices on the market yet. Future expandibility much?

people upgrade their storage more often than their motherboard

it would suck to have to upgrade your motherboard just to upgrade your storage

this way more people have motherboards with sata-E already for when the drive come out, they can upgrade