Merriam-Webster defines Deluxe as "of better quality and usually more expensive than the usual ones of its kind; notably luxurious or elegant". Ever since its release many generations ago the ASUS Deluxe name has become synonymous with those terms but conveniently left out the ?expensive? part. For example their last generation Intel Z87 Deluxe set a high water mark in both hardware and software, one which all other Z87 motherboards were judged against.

With the recent release of Intel Z97's chipset it comes as no surprise to see ASUS has once again risen to the call and revisited the Deluxe brand one more time with the Z97-Deluxe. This is a board purely focused on outperforming MSI's and Gigabyte's high end mainstream models while offering a better overall value quotient.

To bring their storied mark up to Z97 expectations ASUS has taken everything that made their previous Deluxe models so iconoclastic and upped the ante in nearly every way imaginable. These improvements take many forms but overall the Z97 Deluxe (NFC & WLC)'s specifications make it one of the most feature-right and distinctive motherboards ASUS have ever produced. However, unlike some manufactures who seem obsessed with change for change's sake, it doesn't break from previous design philosophies but rather looks towards simple refinements and some noteworthy updates.