In the good old days a new chipset meant a huge amount of new features, either never seen before or significantly improved from the previous generation but as more features have moved on the CPU this has gone the way of the Thylacine. The new Z97 Express chipset is an example of that, adding refinements to LGA1150 boards but not bringing any brand new features apart from the integral M.2 port for your SSD. There are new tricks in the UEFI BIOS and XMP can be manually enabled via a physical switch if you wish to avoid the tweaking it via the GUI. The real improvements have been in the software, ASUS Dual Intelligent Processors 5 may well be better at overclocking than you are and the wireless charging feature will impress owners of compatible equipment. Also of note is that this is the first review that [H]ard|OCP has included a new test to measure deferred procedure call latency.
If you haven't already, you should check out Morry's previews of a mysterious new chipset due to be announced soon.
"Today ASUS is launching its Z97 series DELUXE motherboard based on Intel’s new Z97 Express chipset. Intel's Z97 chipset is little more than a refresh of the Z87 Express chipset. Despite this, the Z97-Deluxe we are reviewing today builds on ASUS’ lengthy tradition of innovation and attempts to set the bar even higher than before."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- ASUS Z97-Pro (Wi-Fi AC) Motherboard Preview @ Legit Reviews
- ASUS Z97 Motherboard Launch @ eTeknix
- ASUS Z97-DELUXE @ Benchmark Reviews
- Asus 'Z97' Series Motherboard Line-up: Say Hello to ROG Ranger @ Kitguru
- Asus Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 @ Kitguru
- Gigabyte Z97 and H97 Motherboards Gallery @ Kitguru
- Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force @ Kitguru
- Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition @ Kitguru
- GIGABYTE 9-Series LGA1150 Motherboards Preview @ Hardware Canucks
- MSI Next-Gen GAMING 5 Preview @ techPowerUp
- Asus' ROG Maximus VI Impact Mini-ITX @ The Tech Report
- EVGA Z87 Stinger ITX Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks
- ASRock AM1H-ITX: One Of The Best AM1 Mini-ITX Motherboards @ Phoronix
You appear to be confusing
You appear to be confusing two separate concepts in your headline.
The Asus deluxe motherboard might very well be a refinement, but Z97 Express on the other hand is stagnation write large and big middle finger to enthusiasts everywhere who were expecting broadwell to drop at this time. Instead we get a “refresh” that can’t even legitimately be called a refresh because – wait for it – not one goddamn thing has been refreshed.