ASRock Anniversary Edition z97/z97m boards

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DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,700
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Anyone know how these boards are much different from their existing Z97/Z97M Pro4 boards? They look an awful lot alike, with some minor layout changes and obvious differences in PCI/PCI-e slot allocation/layout. Also, the z97m AA board has inferior heatsinks to the other three mentioned in this post.

Well, okay, the AA boards have the Pentium Boost thing but . . . something tells me that won't be worth a hill of beans.
 
cbn

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
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DrMrLordX said:
So the Anniversary boards may be respins of the Pro3 boards. Makes sense.
Click to expand...

Pro3 (top) vs Anniversary Edition (bottom):

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z97 Pro3/

Z97%20Pro3(m).jpg


Z97%20Pro3(m).jpg


http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z97 Anniversary/

Z97%20Anniversary(m).jpg


Z97%20Anniversary(m).jpg


(Looks like the Anniversary Edition is missing the DVI and VGA as well as three audio outputs.)
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,700
12,652
136
Indeed. Good comparison. I haven't seen the Anniversary boards on sale anywhere yet, but if they come in cheaper than the Pro3 then they might make sense.
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,700
12,652
136
Not sure, but the Z97M Pro4 definitely looks like a better bet than the Z97M Anniversary board (if you need mATX).

edit: the Extreme6+ does look like a stronger board than the Z97 Pro3, Anniversary, or Pro4 boards. Overall it has better cooling and power delivery and has an extra PCI-e 3.0 slot (among other things). It'll also cost you $60 over the Pro4 and more than that over the Pro3 and . . . well I don't know what they're charging for the Anniversary board.

That being said, I doubt the extra board cooling and power delivery will really help with a Pentium G3258. The extra PCI-e slots will help for Crossfire/SLI I guess.
 
Last edited:
cbn

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
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DrMrLordX said:
Not sure, but the Z97M Pro4 definitely looks like a better bet than the Z97M Anniversary board (if you need mATX).
Click to expand...

It is relatively inexpensive (for a Z97) at $99.99 too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157521

Z97M%20Pro4(m).jpg


Z97M%20Pro4(m).jpg


(Intel NIC, 4 phase rather than 3 phase VRM on the Z97M Anniversary, heatsink for VRMs, more audio outputs, additional PCI-E x16 slot running at x4, etc)

This makes me wonder how much the Z97M Anniversary will sell for? Maybe $79.99?
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,700
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It had better, or they're not going to sell very many once people see how much better the Pro4 is.
 
cbn

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
221
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Anniversary Z97 finally makes it to Newegg:

13-157-528-TS


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157528

$94.99 plus $5.67 shipping.

(Too bad it is priced so high at the moment. For the same $100 I could have a $99.99 Free shipping Z97 Pro3 or even better yet a $99.99 Free shipping (after $10 rebate) Z97 Pro 4 with 6 phase power and M.2)
 
F

Flapdrol1337

Golden Member
May 21, 2014
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DrMrLordX said:
That being said, I doubt the extra board cooling and power delivery will really help with a Pentium G3258.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it really helps with any haswell chip. They use less power than previous gen (because you cant really cool it) and the power is delivered to the chip on a higher voltage (so lower current through the board electronics).
 
W

Wall Street

Senior member
Mar 28, 2012
691
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The whole idea of this board is that it doesn't make much sense to get a $200 on a motherboard alone board and pair it with an overclockable $75 G3258. With this $100 board, you can spend $175 and get BOTH a CPU and motherboard with overclocking.
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,700
12,652
136
Yeah, but ASRock already has some good Z97 offerings in the $100-$110 range, such as the Z97M Pro4, the Z97 Pro3, and the Z97 Pro4.
 
W

Wall Street

Senior member
Mar 28, 2012
691
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91
DrMrLordX said:
Yeah, but ASRock already has some good Z97 offerings in the $100-$110 range, such as the Z97M Pro4, the Z97 Pro3, and the Z97 Pro4.
Click to expand...

Yeah, looking at the listings now, I am shocked the difference is only $5. If there was $10 difference it would make a lot more sense to have the additional model.
 
cbn

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
221
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Yeah, it is amazing to me they are so clustered together price wise, but the feature set differs widely.

Z97 Pro 4: 6 Phase VRM + heatsink, M.2, SATA Express, more usb 3.0 on the rear panel, PCI-E 2.0 x 4, etc
Z97 Pro 3: 4 Phase VRM + Heatsink
Z97 Anniversary: 4 Phase VRM + heatsink, but reduced I/O on rear panel compared to Z97 Pro 3.

(Really, it looks like Z97 Pro 4 is basically the sweet spot for $100 to $110 unless Asrock drops prices on the Z97 Pro 3 and Z97 Anniversary)
 
cbn

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
221
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Like I mentioned earlier in the thread hopefully the Z97M Anniversary is actually bargain priced.

It only has 3 phase VRM with no heatsink. (Much weaker power delivery than the typical Z97. In fact, isn't 3 phase VRM with no heatsink the type of power delivery that shows up on the non overclocking H series or B series boards?)
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,700
12,652
136
One wonders how long these boards will support overclocking before Intel finds a way to stop that.
 
cbn

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
221
106
cbn said:
Anniversary Z97 finally makes it to Newegg:

13-157-528-TS


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157528

$94.99 plus $5.67 shipping.

(Too bad it is priced so high at the moment. For the same $100 I could have a $99.99 Free shipping Z97 Pro3 or even better yet a $99.99 Free shipping (after $10 rebate) Z97 Pro 4 with 6 phase power and M.2)
Click to expand...

Newegg now has a $15 off promo code for this board "SUPERSALE528".

That makes it $79.99 plus $5.67 shipping.
 
Last edited:
richierich1212

richierich1212

Platinum Member
Jul 5, 2002
2,741
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Yeah its $90 now since superbiiz just got them. I'm sure they will drop, but at this rate it's better to just get the Z97m Pro4 at around the same price.
 
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