I have used ASUS motherboards for a long time. Each time either it is a Workstation, Premium or Deluxe variant of the given chipset. Since I never required two Ethernet ports, built-in Wifi and too many expansion slots. So this time I decided that let me go with simply Z97 board minus the frills but with 8-phase power for stable system even with overclocking as must.

This Asus z97-A perfectly fits the needs with great value pricing. It has the ASUS famous 5-way optimization and other valued added features that are part of the higher offerings but fewer expansion slots, one Ethernet port and no wifi. Hence the cost benefits.

This board has driver issues (bios) This is the 4th PC that I have built and the 1st that told me my PCI graphics was incompatible after the bios screen. I searched the forums and found quite a few people who had a "black screen" after configuring the bios. I tried a number of settings and would reset the bios each time with no luck. I even tried using the on board VGA and Dvi connections (after removing my video card) and they did not work. I am returning z97-a board but in the mean time, I purchased another board (Asus Hero VII) and installed all the same components (ie CPU and fan, ram, ssd, power supply, DVD player within the same case) and it booted and I installed windows on the new board in 15 minutes.