Intel Z97 Express based motherboards have been on the market for quite some time now, including motherboards with the ASUS Republic of Gamers badge, but it did not prevent the manufacturer to add a new entry-level gaming motherboard named Z97-Pro Gamer to its lineup.

The Z97-Pro Gamer has a bit less features compared to similar motherboards with the ROG badge. It has a simpler design and lighter coolers, despite the fact that it uses the same red and black color scheme that seems to stick to the gaming world.

Based on an ATX form-factor, the ASUS Z97-Pro Gamer motherboard features two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (x16 or x8/x8), a single PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot (in x4 mode), two PCI-Express x1 slots and two legacy PCI slots.

On the storage side, the Z97-Pro Gamer features a SATA Express port, an M.2 (SATA and PCIe) slot and four SATA III ports. The PCB also includes a SupremeFX audio solution with ELNA capacitors and protection, as well as an Intel LAN chip compatible with the GameFirst II technology.

Its rear connector consists of a PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, two USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, a D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI outputs, S/PDIF, aforementioned LAN port and the audio connectors for SupremeFX.

The date of release or the price are still unknown, but ASUS has suggested that it would cost less than the Maximus VII Ranger and it will therefore certainly come to retail/e-tail shelves with a price lower than 149€.




Source: Le Comptoir du Hardware.