ASUS GRYPHON Z87 mATX Motherboard Review

By David Ramsey

Manufacturer: ASUStek Inc.
Product Name: LGA1150 mATX motherboard
Model Number: GRYPHON Z87
UPC: 886227494590 EAN: 4716659494591
Price As Tested: $170 (Amazon|Newegg)

Full Disclosure: ASUStek provided the product sample used in this article.

It’s new Intel CPU time, and with the switch to the LGA1150 socket comes a slew of new motherboards. Today we have an interesting item: the ASUS Z87 GRYPHON mATX motherboard. What makes the GRYPHON interesting is that it’s the first micro-ATX member of ASUS’ TUF family of motherboards. Let’s see if this tiny motherboard can hold up the TUF banner.

The “TUF” moniker in ASUS’ TUF motherboard series stands for “The Ultimate Force”, a perhaps strained marketing term. First introduced a few years back in Socket 1156 form, the original TUF boasted mil-spec components, ceramic-coated heat sinks, and an industry-leading warranty. ASUS seemed to be testing the waters, then– there was no TUF board for the then-dominant Socket 1366. But since then, the TUF line has spread so that there are now TUF versions for LGA1155, LGA2011, and LGA1150.

It’s a little hard to figure out who the target demographic is, though. It’s not a mainstream board, and at the same time it’s not ostensibly marketed to gamers like the Republic of Gamers series is.

With its “camo” military-themed color scheme, the idea behind the TUF motherboards seems to be that they’re, well, tough. ASUS backs this up with a five-year warranty. Let’s take a look at this board in the next section.