Z97 mobo's - what's the differences?

Hello all

Looking to upgrade and think the Z97 mobo will be a good place to start before I look at CPU pricing.

My question is around the boards, there seems to be some major price differences (with some starting at circa 45 quid, going up to 120) with little discernible benefit for the price.

Am I reading it wrong? What do people recommend?

It will be for gaming and hence the graphical capabilities I don't care about. I doubt I'll overclock either, unless I'm given some simple settings to enter. Will probably move my RAID setup to an external device too so not so fussed there either.

More expensive boards will be better for overclocking and will have more features, such as multi GPU support, more sata ports and better intergrated sound.

For me my Asus Z97-K which was well under £100 when I got it does all I need. It overclocks nicely and has the slots I need.

If you don't plan to overclock or have multiple GPUs then probably the cheapest board will do you.

Sound could be a factor. Good point.

Can't really see myself ever affording multi-GPU action either and I suppose if I do I'll upgrade the mobo

Been offered an MSI Z97 SLI mobo second hand for 60 quid. Not sure whether to go for that or not.

whats youre budget? just OC do some good cpu and motherboard bundles that might be worth a look at.

The budget is "as little as possible"

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£12 Saving**= £257.98

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Asus Z97-K - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£14 Saving**= £255.58

Yeah and I've bought an overclocked bundle before. But I'm in no rush and want to buy bit-by-bit this time. Hold out for real value, rather than a 12 quid saving.