Intel Z97, what's the point?

i wouldnt bother switching out motherboard just for this new chipset, but if you're also buying a new proc might as well get the newer chipset.
 
Still pissed off that I bought a 87 board in December and DC is an artificial lock out. So I can:

Settle for a 4770K

Buy 97 board + DC. Will give me an excuse to move the current board/chip into a smaller SFF case for living room/Steambox etc.

Say screw it and proceed to Haswell-E :D Hex-core has a nice ring to it!
 
sblantipodi said:
What is the improvements of Z97 over Z87?.
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Not enough, but amongst SATA express support is a MAJOR improvement in DPC latency (and thus in some cases, system responsiveness). Z87 was considered buggy because all Z87 boards had TERRIBLE DPC latency compared to both the Z97 and also PREVIOUS chipsets from Intel.

Frankly I seriously regretted buying a Z87 board after finding out about the DPC issues, and still wish I had not done so. Oh well. I won't bother going from Z87 to Z97 but as far as I'm concerned they should be swapping Z87 boards out for Z97 for free.
 
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My rule of thumb you either wait 2-3 generations/renditions before you upgrade something that doesn't need to be replaced. if you have a built system with a Haswell there is no point in upgrading your MoBo to a Z97. the features and improvements aren't that significant. it's basically Intel just re-branded the Z87 with only a few minor security updates and a few new features. but it doesn't justify anything.
 
dandragonrage said:
Frankly I seriously regretted buying a Z87 board after finding out about the DPC issues, and still wish I had not done so. Oh well. I won't bother going from Z87 to Z97 but as far as I'm concerned they should be swapping Z87 boards out for Z97 for free.
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Z87 chipset seemed flawed with USB chipset control problems as well. Mixed with Windows 8 Z87 mother boards were very problematic for me and I spent alot of time working on getting stuff to work then gaming.


I have a Z97 MB right now from Gigabyte the SOC Force. I thinik it is better rounded this time around with better audio and gaming NIC. Not just a hard core over clocking board like the Z87 OC.

I'm sure Intel does its home work and knows the numbers game that will win for them. I plan on buying a 4970k as well. So I am in that targeted group of people that will help Intel make money.

I'm hoping for at least a stable and cool 5GHZ delided system with crossfired AMD HD 7950 and a decent new monitor for gaming mainly. If it doesn't work out I will do what I have to do to get as much of my money back from a possible financial loss. I really hope DC and Z97 offer alot more satisfaction than Z87 did.
 
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I was getting bored by my current rig and so I was looking at the Asus Z97 deluxe. Not bad I thought, then the ASRock "torpedo" nuked my plans. I'm not all that hot on the ASRock boards but there's no way I'd buy a different board that doesn't have the x4 M.2 socket.

Oh well, I guess I'm just going to buy another EVO and raid them for kicks.
 
I was currently on a Gigabyte z87 OC. Picked up a Gigabyte z97x Gaming 7 today to see what all the fuss was about. After getting everything settled, the first thing I noticed was everything was much smoother. Maybe a fluke but even my mouse was more responsive and smoother acting. Just noticed it right off the bat compared to the z87 board.
 
KILLER_K said:
I was currently on a Gigabyte z87 OC. Picked up a Gigabyte z97x Gaming 7 today to see what all the fuss was about. After getting everything settled, the first thing I noticed was everything was much smoother. Maybe a fluke but even my mouse was more responsive and smoother acting. Just noticed it right off the bat compared to the z87 board.
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What OS are you running? I'm just curious.
 
KILLER_K said:
I was currently on a Gigabyte z87 OC. Picked up a Gigabyte z97x Gaming 7 today to see what all the fuss was about. After getting everything settled, the first thing I noticed was everything was much smoother. Maybe a fluke but even my mouse was more responsive and smoother acting. Just noticed it right off the bat compared to the z87 board.
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Glad you said something about this... it sounds crazy but, I'm having the same experience but I don't think it's the board.

It's our UEFI settings.

I've turned off Speedstep and turned c-states to Auto on my Asus M 7 Hero, and now Chrome and my mouse are both acting like they enjoy life more than they ever have before. I think you'll find that when your CPU is fully loaded the performance is the same as it was on z87.
 
Windows 8.1 Pro x64.

Wendig0 said:
What OS are you running? I'm just curious.
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I'm not sure if you are meaning in the bios or the os. I'm talking about in windows not in the bios though. All the UEFI bios had some sort of lag issues. Gigabyte I believe was worse than the rest was. My bios is 100% stock. Only thing I changed was, disabled sound, onboard video and set XMP profile up. So not sure about that part. Could just be everything is ironed out in the new chipset compared to the older Z87 boards.

Bluesun311 said:
Glad you said something about this... it sounds crazy but, I'm having the same experience but I don't think it's the board.

It's our UEFI settings.

I've turned off Speedstep and turned c-states to Auto on my Asus M 7 Hero, and now Chrome and my mouse are both acting like they enjoy life more than they ever have before. I think you'll find that when your CPU is fully loaded the performance is the same as it was on z87.
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Asus just posted BIOS 1504 for the Hero VI with support for Devils Canyon processors and the 4790K and 4690K are now in the supported CPU list.
 
GeneO said:
Asus just posted BIOS 1504 for the Hero VI with support for Devils Canyon processors and the 4790K and 4690K are now in the supported CPU list.
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Yup looks to be confirmed now. z87 does support DC.
 
They pulled back the supported CPU list update. Probably an early slip.
 
Still there for the Pro

Core i7-4790K (4.0Ghz, 4C, HT, L3:8M, HD Graphic, 88W, rev.C0) ALL 2003
 
nice. so I'm 0/1 so far. Didn't think dc would work on z87 originally. Maybe they changed their minds doesn't matter. Glad people don't have to upgrade boards to get new chip if they don't want to. I do like the new m7H, though.

Hopefully I'm wrong about the clockspeed on DC too. Would love to order a 4.4 turbo chip and end up with 5Ghz
 
Deacon_Jones1988 said:
I am not completely sure, but I read somewhere that some of the z97 boards with M.2 will support adapters so you can use.... sata express i think?
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So far, I have not seen a Z97 motherboard that does NOT support SATA Express - even the lowest-end of Z97 (such as MSI's Z97 PC Mate) also supports SATA Express (when SATA Express is used, M.2 is disabled).
 
They actually had the 4790K when I was at Microcenter. Was around $350-$360 price tag on it also. I almost got one after buying the z97 board. Sold my z87 and 4770k and now have a z97 board in the box now. May just sale the z97 and wait it out a little longer.
 
KILLER_K said:
They actually had the 4790K when I was at Microcenter. Was around $350-$360 price tag on it also. I almost got one after buying the z97 board. Sold my z87 and 4770k and now have a z97 board in the box now. May just sale the z97 and wait it out a little longer.
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Wow... seriously? How can they be selling them already?

350-360 at Microcenter does not bode well for the poor slags like me that have to order them online to get the best price, or drive for 9 hours roundtrip.

That sounds like... 400-430 at Newegg. I'm not binning 430 dollar chips.
 
I'm pretty sure it was the "K" model. But I'm getting old also. I will call to make 100% sure it was the 4970K model. But the guy told me he just got them in when I asked about them after buying the z97 board. I will update the thread after I speak to him. As they don't even have any 4970 cpus listed on the site. But he had 4 in the glass case.


I'm hoping all these cpus actually do better than the 4770k models did. Intel should upgrade everyone that has a 4770k with the newer 4790k. from all the sorry glued on IHS and heat issues.

Bluesun311 said:
Wow... seriously? How can they be selling them already?

350-360 at Microcenter does not bode well for the poor slags like me that have to order them online to get the best price, or drive for 9 hours roundtrip.

That sounds like... 400-430 at Newegg. I'm not binning 430 dollar chips.
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xoleras said:
Devil's Canyon also requires Z97. Basically, the boards are for those who are upgrading. If you're not upgrading, it isn't for you. That sounds like a pretty ridiculous statement, but essentially............ if you have a 5 year old system and decide hey, I want a new platform, well the choice is obvious if you want the DC. You get Z97 and DC. And DC will not work on Z87. Why would you even want to upgrade if you have Haswell? But if you're getting something new over something 4-5 years old, you get Z97.

To be clear: there's no reason to get Z97 if you want to use your existing Haswell and Z87 board. I don't know why anyone would question this, most people don't upgrade yearly anyway. Even back in the early 2k years I didn't upgrade my CPU yearly. If you're looking for a reason to do a yearly upgrade, well, there isn't one. Stay where you're at. You only need Z97 for Devil's Canyon (being released in 3 weeks) and Broadwell.
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I guess I'm coming late to the discussion, but I'm hearing chatter that DC will be compatible with Z87. Are u sure it won't be compatible?
 
SonDa5 said:
Z87 chipset seemed flawed with USB chipset control problems as well. Mixed with Windows 8 Z87 mother boards were very problematic for me and I spent alot of time working on getting stuff to work then gaming.


I have a Z97 MB right now from Gigabyte the SOC Force. I thinik it is better rounded this time around with better audio and gaming NIC. Not just a hard core over clocking board like the Z87 OC.

I'm sure Intel does its home work and knows the numbers game that will win for them. I plan on buying a 4970k as well. So I am in that targeted group of people that will help Intel make money.

I'm hoping for at least a stable and cool 5GHZ delided system with crossfired AMD HD 7950 and a decent new monitor for gaming mainly. If it doesn't work out I will do what I have to do to get as much of my money back from a possible financial loss. I really hope DC and Z97 offer alot more satisfaction than Z87 did.
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I realized that the USB chipset was a buggy mess b/c I kept noticing my external hard drives would disconnect and reconnect without warning. I feel the same way as u and regret I bought my Z87 in Feb and wish I would've waited for the Z97. Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk
 
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