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Formula VI(z87) vs. Gaming 9 (z97)

XtremePotato
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So we've all heard about the new 5th gen Intel CPUs coming in LGA1150 (same socket as 4th gen) However only series 9 chipsets support the 5th gen (along with 4th) but theseries 8 chipsets only support 4th Gen.
The only problem is that can't really find a "good" z97 chipset motherboard, I mean compared to the formula 6 ( http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132038 ) none of the Z97 boards are worth it, the only opponent I could find is the MSI z97 gaming 9 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130767 ) And I can't really make up my mind concerning these boards, I am looking for some serious overclocking (which is kinda low on the gaming 9 ) The formula 6 is over-packed with awesome features ( including the sleek armor) but no 5th gen support. The MSI gaming 9 is fairly OK but has 5th gen compability.
So MSI Gaming 9 or Asus  Maximus Formula VI?

Hue! The potato on the forums. Extreme Style.  "Adrenalin begins when gravity ends"~Studio Liverpool, Wipeout Fury/HD fanboy
 

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z97 gaming 9 no questions asked 

Specs

CPU: i5 4670k i won the silicon lottery Cooler: Corsair H100i w/ 2x Corsair SP120 quiet editions Mobo: ASUS Z97 SABERTOOTH MARK 1 Ram: Corsair Platnums 16gb (4x4gb) Storage: Samsun 840 evo 256gb and random hard drives GPU: EVGA acx 2.0 gtx 980 PSU: Corsair RM 850w Case: Fractal Arc Midi R2 windowed 

 

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Depends on your use, future plans you know...but i'd go with the Gaming 9 for the Headroom

 Crust : Intel Core i5 4690K @ 4.4Ghz 1.45v  |  Motherboard : MSI Z97 MPower  |  Fruity Filling : MSI GTX 960 Armor 2Way-SLI |  Cooling : Noctua NH-D15  |  RAM : 16GB Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz | Storage : 2xSamsung 840 EVO 500GB SSDs Raid-0  |  Power Supply : Seasonic X-Series 1250W 80+Gold  |  Monitor : Dell U2713HM 27" 60Hz 1440p  |                                                                                                                                           

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Personally I would say the Formula for features etc but it only really works if you plan to do a custom loop otherwise it becomes worthless for the money you pay.

edit: I noticed the new MSI board is around the same price (here anyway) so i'm going to say either wait for the Z97 Formula (if there is one) or buy the Gaming 9.

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Get the gaming 9 or the asus z97 formula which looks really cool

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Personally I would say the Formula for features etc but it only really works if you plan to do a custom loop otherwise it becomes worthless for the money you pay.

edit: I noticed the new MSI board is around the same price (here anyway) so i'm going to say either wait for the Z97 Formula (if there is one) or buy the Gaming 9.

I have a custom waterloop ready to be mounted with an extra waterblock for the chipsets on the Formula 6 since i will be overclocking heavy, but the features on the Gaming 9 aren't that impressive since the board is made for simple gaming and not overclocking.

The only pro. on the gaming 9 is that I already own an MSI GTX 780 gaming edition, and according to the MSI official page it is supposed to perform better since the products are from the same series... but I am not completely sure about it.

Hue! The potato on the forums. Extreme Style.  "Adrenalin begins when gravity ends"~Studio Liverpool, Wipeout Fury/HD fanboy
 

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I have a custom waterloop ready to be mounted with an extra waterblock for the chipsets on the Formula 6 since i will be overclocking heavy, but the features on the Gaming 9 aren't that impressive since the board is made for simple gaming and not overclocking.

The only pro. on the gaming 9 is that I already own an MSI GTX 780 gaming edition, and according to the MSI official page it is supposed to perform better since the products are from the same series... but I am not completely sure about it.

With Z87 the overclocking would not be effected much on any motherboard I assume this is the same for Z97 so the Gaming 9 and the Formula will most likely perform just about equal on the overclocking front.

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After a bit more of research it seems that the next Haswell Refresh series will include a nice i7-4790K with a base clock of 4Ghz (damn) However it is only supported by Z97 chipset, and it seems that the gaming 9 is taking a lead but yet the board is not "overclock-friendly"
What about the MAX AC series?

Hue! The potato on the forums. Extreme Style.  "Adrenalin begins when gravity ends"~Studio Liverpool, Wipeout Fury/HD fanboy
 

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I don't think its the right forum to ask which board is "better", everyone just goes subjective. Between the two, none of them are better. You can have with the asus 2 cards in SLI and a sound/raid card but most msi boards I have seen SLI gets disabled because they went with a lane design of 8x/4x/4x (2nd slot shares lanes with 3rd slot and SLI doesnt work on x4) where as that formula is a 8x/8x & 4x design with the two pcie slots running directly off the cpu (16 lanes in total) and the 3rd slot runs off the chipset which provides an extra x4 lanes.

 

After a bit more of research it seems that the next Haswell Refresh series will include a nice i7-4790K with a base clock of 4Ghz (damn) However it is only supported by Z97 chipset, and it seems that the gaming 9 is taking a lead but yet the board is not "overclock-friendly"
What about the MAX AC series?

DC's will work on z87.

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Alright, the MSI server was down, but now that i took a look at the new MSI Xpower AC z97 ( http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z97_XPOWER_AC.html#overview ) Which looks pretty neat and overclock-friendly,  I think it is fair to say that it is the solution.
So what do you guys think about it?

 

I don't think its the right forum to ask which board is "better", everyone just goes subjective. Between the two, none of them are better. You can have with the asus 2 cards in SLI and a sound/raid card but most msi boards I have seen SLI gets disabled because they went with a lane design of 8x/4x/4x (2nd slot shares lanes with 3rd slot and SLI doesnt work on x4) where as that formula is a 8x/8x & 4x design with the two pcie slots running directly off the cpu (16 lanes in total) and the 3rd slot runs off the chipset which provides an extra x4 lanes.

 

DC's will work on z87.

It seems that Xpower AC z97 will be supports dual x16, not sure how(probably the PLX chip )  but if you take a look at the detailed specs. on the official MSI page  (  http://puu.sh/8QVOm.png ) and if it does are the SLI connectors that long? I mean to join 2 cards spaced by 2 whole slots

 

And will Asus be making a maximus VII formula?

Hue! The potato on the forums. Extreme Style.  "Adrenalin begins when gravity ends"~Studio Liverpool, Wipeout Fury/HD fanboy
 

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It seems that Xpower AC z97 will be supports dual x16, not sure how(probably the PLX chip )  but if you take a look at the detailed specs. on the official MSI page  (  http://puu.sh/8QVOm.png ) and if it does are the SLI connectors that long? I mean to join 2 cards spaced by 2 whole slots

PLX chip yeah. Normally you have 16 lanes from the cpu and some boards which cost a bit more use the extra lanes from the chipset. Yes there are SLI bridges that are long enough for 3-4 slots. Not sure why you would go with the msi xpower ac z97 if the maximus vi extreme has a better slot design (more spacing). You can have a gap between all 3 cards on the maximus to allow the gpu's breathe more air.

 

 

And will Asus be making a maximus VII formula?

I guess so, they waited like a month or three to show their vi formula.

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