Powerful motherboards released in 2014

2014 saw a giant leap forward in motherboard technology, with the release of the X99 boards ushering in the era of DDR4 RAM and Haswell-E processors.

The X99 boards can take up to 128GB of the new DDR4 RAM (which is faster and more energy efficient that DDR3), and 6 to 8 core CPUs.

This does not mean the previous boards are dead and buried just yet, with some sweet Z97s and the like getting released in 2014.

Here are some of this year’s most powerful motherboards. (There are a lot of Asus boards in the mix.)

Asus Sabertooth Z97 Mark S

Asus Z97 Sabertooth

Asus Sabertooth Z97 Mark S
CPU Socket	LGA 1150 (4th, new 4th, and 5th gen i3, i5, i7)
Chipset	Intel Z97
RAM	Up to 32GB DD3 1866MHz
PCI Express	2 x PCI 3.0/2.0 x16 slots, 1 x PCI 2.0 x16 slots, 3 x PCI 2.0 x1 slots
Multi-GPU	Nvidia quad-SLI and AMD CrossFire
Sata	6 x 6Gbit/s
Networking	Intel I218-V Gigabit LAN controller
USB	8 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (4 on back panel, 4 mid-board)
Dimensions	30.5×24.4cm

Asus Rampage Extreme X99

Asus Rampage Extreme V

The board features, as the names suggests, Intel’s X99 chipset which means gamers can slap on a Haswell-E processor – 6 or 8 cores if you wish – and some super-fast DDR4 RAM.

The Rampage supports up to 64GB of DDR4 3300; Nvidia 3-way and 4-way SLI; AMD 3-way and 4-way CrossFireX; and comes equipped with the expected USB, WLAN, Ethernet, Bluetooth, and audio ports.