The motherboard is a integral part of computer hardware,it houses all your important hardware components such as your processor,hard drive and graphic cards. The motherboard is also important because it enables data transfer between these components. The motherboard in a sense is like highway where all types of electrical activity is taken place,interconnecting your hardware in just a millisecond . Yet the motherboard provided that you purchase a good one can also be an expensive proposition when building a computer.
On average you'll wind up paying $250- $300 for a good quality motherboard that has all the requested features,yes there are some budget options that is pretty decent,but for me, and only me,I tend to lean towards the motherboard that is high quality with a shit load of features, this of course leads to me spending the extra cash. Hey,that's the sacrifice you'll make when you want quality.
At just $110 the Asus Z97-P cancels the notion that you need to spend large sums of cash to acquire a quality motherboard.
This particular ATX motherboard has all of the ingredients for hardware greatness,it have 4 memory modules,M.2 slot which supports the next generation m.SATA storage drives, 5X Protection, a total of 2 PCI slots. Importantly when it comes to graphics,it has a one PCIe 3.0 slot that supports DirectX 11, so it basically can support any graphic card you throw at it. The CPU model socket is the latest LGA 1150, which in turn can handle the latest generation Intel processor.
The biggest drawback with the Asus Z97-P motherboard is its size,it is trimmed down ATX board,measuring only 21.3cm wide. This leads to a crowded CPU socket, you can't just place any cooler over the processor,its best be wise that upon building your PC with this motherboard you do your research when comes down cooling your processor. You also may have to consider what type of graphic card you intend on using,some graphic can measure up to 12-inches,so you may have to purchase a nice roomy chassis.
Also if you want SLI configuration you're out of luck with this motherboard because there is only one PCIe 3.0 slot.
All things considering, at that price $110 the Asus Z97-P motherboard in the tech,hardware world is a steal,it has the latest UFEI Bios and high quality firmware produced by the one and only Asus.
If $110 for a motherboard might leave you doubt as to wanting to purchase,head over to The Tech Report website where they have a full review.