Recently I've had the opportunity to test several small form factor cases aimed at the enthusiast market, and it's been fascinating to see the progress vendors have made in creating cases that allow users to squeeze high performance systems into increasingly smaller spaces. However, the best designed SFF enthusiast case isn't much good without a high performance motherboard, and historically there hasn't been much for the enthusiast in the mini ITX form factor. Until now, at least: ASUS has released their P8Z77-I Deluxe/WD motherboard. Let's see what performance and features they've managed to hammer into this tiny thing.

MSI should be well known to most of our readers, and today Benchmark Reviews checks out their new MSI Z77 MPOWER LGA1155 motherboard. This time around MSI is aiming at the performance enthusiast and overclocker: the MPOWER is an "OC Certified" motherboard. What, precisely, does "OC Certified" mean? Join us as we put this board through its paces and see if it can serve as the foundation of an overclocked system.

The latest chipset from Intel, the Z77, has been around for a little while now and has certainly spurred a lot of interest by aftermarket motherboard manufacturers. Little actually changed between the Z68 chipset and the Z77 chipset. Z77 added Smart connect to let you receive emails while your computer is asleep and Rapid Start to speed up boot times. With so little changing, it is up to the manufacturers to pack their motherboards so full of features that they stand out above the rest of the competition. That is exactly what Biostar has done with the Hi-Fi Z77X.

In the market for a new LGA1155 motherboard, but don't want to spend the cash on a top-end enthusiast level product? Or maybe you just don't need all the extra frippery, but instead are just looking for a solid workhorse board. While ASUS is certainly happy to cater to users with some extra cash in their pockets, they also have a nice selection of midrange motherboards that don't trim as many features as you might think. Benchmark Reviews takes a look at ASUS' mainstream Z77 offering, the P8Z77-V.

Intel always sends reviewers their top-end motherboards when new CPUs are introduced. Called "Extreme Boards", these motherboards are designed for "extreme performance" and festooned with skulls. The past Intel Extreme Boards I've looked at came with early, buggy BIOSes; performed relatively poorly, and had very few additional features other than those provided by the CPU and chipset. So I wasn't expecting much from the Intel DZ77GA-70K Z77 Express motherboard, but was amazed to find that this time, Intel might have a winner on its hands. Join me as Benchmark Reviews takes a look at Intel's new Z77 Express standard bearer.

I've sometimes thought that Intel tries too hard with its enthusiast level motherboards. The Extreme series, which is what Intel seeds reviewers with when new CPUs are introduced, tend to "shout" with prominent skull logos, POST code readouts, POST sequence LEDs, and other bling, but in my experience they fall down badly on features and performance. So you can understand that I wasn't expecting too much from the DZ77GA-70K motherboard. But I was in for a surprise.

Intel has tried to sell motherboards into the enthusiast market in the past, with little success. Even though their top-end motherboards are labeled Extreme Boards and have prominent skull logos (everyone knows skulls are good), the features and performance have been notably lacking, especially in comparison to the best of the third party motherboards. I've not been impressed by any of the previous Intel Extreme Boards I've reviewed, but the Intel DZ77GA-70K was a revelation. Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the features of Intel's first motherboard that's actually competitive with the big boys.