Pros: Works great if you don't want to RAID.

Cons: UEFI bios are awful and ugly.

Claims "server grade", but I don't know of any server that won't stay powered on longer than 2 minutes..

I've got an LSI Megaraid 9361-i8 controller. Mobo Constantly reboots, completely unstable and unusable, won't allow configuration of raid drives in uefi, Won't allow configuration of raid drives in legacy due to instability! It won't stay powered on for longer than 2 min as long as I'm attempting to use the RAID controller!

This isn't a cheapy controller. Controller is rock solid.

Other Thoughts: First and very possibly last supermicro board I'll ever buy.

Not being overclocked.

Works fine without RAID Controller (from as much as I could tell)

Wanted to use as a server (no dedicated graphics card)

800W Gold rated PSU Rosewill Lightning

5HDDs
i7-4970S (65w)
16GB DDR3 (4x4gb)

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for posting your experience with the board. Please do contact Supermicro technical support to discuss your boot loop issue as we are certain that we can provide a solution to address the problem.

Regards,
Mark
Super Micro Computer

Pros: Tough as nails - this board is the most solidly built board I've handled in terms of build quality.

Port and slot layout is well thought out.

All electronics (capacitors, regulators and IC's) are top notch server grade parts meant for 24/7 reliability.

This is the sort of board you want for a reliable high performance system.

Cons: Manual could use some more detail/be included with the motherboard itself (you have to download it off Supermicro's site).

Bios update is a pain.

Other Thoughts: Intel needs to wait till board and bios manufacturers are ready before shipping its latest and greatest CPU's and chipsets.

Pros: Brilliant! I purchased this with a view to tinker around with Windows Server 2012 and this works perfectly. Had issues with driver on other higher-grade desktop motherboards. Friendly and knowledgeable tech support (who I called prior to purchase). I'm sure this will serve lovely when I finish my training and use for my main desktop computer in a month or two :)

BIOS is nice and easy to use.

Cons: One ethernet port driver doesn't work on Server 2012. It's hardly a con, though, if you're buying for desktop reasons, I know this is NOT a server board.

Other Thoughts: Running with Intel i7-4790k - brilliant combo.

Pros: Supermicro's reputation for rock-solid stability and highly responsive customer service.

Cons: None that I can think of at this time.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this mobo primarily because of Supermicro's reputation for high-quality, server-grade hardware. I had a problem getting an Adaptec 72405 24-port RAID card to work with this board (system was rebooting spontaneously whenever the Adaptec boot-time RAID configuration utility was accessed via CTRL/A). I submitted a trouble ticket to Supermicro via their website. Within 2 hours I had an email response, and within 2 days I was able to download and flash a brand-new custom BIOS flash update that resolved the problem. As an IT professional I appreciate this kind of highly responsive customer service. I am back on track with my backup server project now, and I am planning on purchasing more of these Supermicro boards in the very near future.

Pros: overall good overclocking performance for experienced users as well as beginners

Cons: little more pricy than others

Other Thoughts: I learned about this board from the review on Toms Hardware. I expected the product to be solid and reliable since it is from Super Micro a server boards/systems provider. So far it has lived up to its reputation and performed well in all aspects for a week.

Pros: good quality, clean board with easy setup, I like the M.2 cache feature to booster my overall performance a lot

Cons: no SATA express and USB 3.1 as expected

Other Thoughts: I bought this board to replace my old Z77 motherboards because it went dead and out of manufacture warranty. I have been running C7Z97-OCE for more than a week without any issue by far. Also found that there is new BIOS 1.0b available on supermicro website to fix the RAID hard drive detect issue but didn't bother to download.

Pros: Looks like quality...can't really comment since it isn't working correctly

Cons: Bios Version 1.0 is dysfunctional, Raid drives don't show up in boot order, some menus can't be used because the disappear under another layer, ramdom power cycles.

Other Thoughts: I have no doubt that this motherboard will eventually be great, they just released it before the bios was ready for production.