Which Z97 motherboard for i5?

darael · 12 Jan 2015 at 15:41

After not getting the spec I asked for due to various reasons, I am on the hunt for a motherboard again. It will be to go with an i5, TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 and a PCI soundcard (until I can find a good PCI-E soundcard).

I'd like it to have 5 SATA ports and an Intel network adapter. Sound isn't too important, but if I could find a motherboard with good quality onboard sound that'd be a nice bonus. I do like Asus motherboards, as they have always been reliable and solid for me.

I'm not going to give a budget, I'll just see what's offered.

morguk · 12 Jan 2015 at 18:08

I just purchased the Gigabyte Z97P-D3.

For £61.99 it has everything you want and Gigabytes good warranty and support.

pastymuncher · 12 Jan 2015 at 19:01

The thing with a motherboard is that you don't want to buy the cheapest one available as 9 times out of 10 you will regret it and end up replacing it with the board you should have bought in the first place.

Asus has a new board, the Z97 Pro-Gamer to go up against Gigabytes Z97X-SLI. This time last week it was only a fiver more than the Gigabyte but now it's a tenner more. Still, I think it's worth it. It has been getting good reviews and looks much better than the Gigabyte. It also has Asus Supreme FX audio which is pretty good.

Darren555 · 12 Jan 2015 at 19:22

I've got an Asus Z97-AR paired up with an i5 4690k. A Xonar D2 soundcard occupies the PCI slot. No complaints here. It's made with quality components, well laid out & the BIOS is great.

morguk · 12 Jan 2015 at 20:42

pastymuncher said:
The thing with a motherboard is that you don't want to buy the cheapest one available as 9 times out of 10 you will regret it and end up replacing it with the board you should have bought in the first place.

I know what you're saying, but it's not like the Z97 is a low end, cheap chipset. If a cheaper board has the features you want and it's a good brand then there's no reason not to get it.

The whole "you'll regret it and miss features down the line" thing doesn't ever really happen. Buy what you need now, not what your future self might want.

skaif · 12 Jan 2015 at 20:57

+1 to any Asus z97 board. They are solid, high quality and well made. As Darren said above, the BIOS is immense, both for seasoned vets and noobs like me

Swagger187 · 12 Jan 2015 at 21:01

I have a ASUS Z97 Deluxe. Awesome board and looks great as well.

pastymuncher · 12 Jan 2015 at 21:02

morguk said:
The whole "you'll regret it and miss features down the line" thing doesn't ever really happen. Buy what you need now, not what your future self might want.

Not having a dig or anything but it does happen and we see it a lot on here. People wish to go Crossfire or SLI but then realise that their boards are only 16x/4x so can't do SLI and could bottleneck Crossfire so end up buying a board that only would have cost them £30-40 more in the first place. Then there's people who can't overclock very far due to a crippled bios or lack of power phases so they need a better board. It happens all the time. It makes far more sense to buy the best board you can afford in the first place than buying twice.

setter · 12 Jan 2015 at 21:06

That little Z97 pro gamer looks like incredible value for money. Id be tempted to replace the very expensive board in sig for one. Looks to be excellent for sli.

morguk · 12 Jan 2015 at 21:17

pastymuncher said:
Not having a dig or anything but it does happen and we see it a lot on here. People wish to go Crossfire or SLI but then realise that their boards are only 16x/4x so can't do SLI and could bottleneck Crossfire so end up buying a board that only would have cost them £30-40 more in the first place. Then there's people who can't overclock very far due to a crippled bios or lack of power phases so they need a better board. It happens all the time. It makes far more sense to buy the best board you can afford in the first place than buying twice.

Regarding overclocking, not only can all Z97 boards hold a reasonable overclock, but the OP didn't mention anything about overclocking.

You could say buy the best you can afford when it comes to anything? Get the best graphics card because you might wanna game at 4k in the future. Buy the best sound card because you might want to record guitar on your PC. Just buy what you NEED now, unless you have a lot of spare cash. I'd rather put the extra £60 into a CPU. Z97 is a good chipset as it is.

OP if you think you'll use extra features in the future then go for it and spend the extra money, just saying it's not always the case to buy the best you can afford. With a lot of higher end mobo's it's literally the look of them that some people go after, and if it has a cool name..

darael · 13 Jan 2015 at 00:59

Any thoughts on the Asus Z97-K? It has 6 SATA ports so would fit the bill nicely for me. Or will it not see as well as the Asus Pro Gamer?

abui1806 · 13 Jan 2015 at 06:17

darael said:
Any thoughts on the Asus Z97-K? It has 6 SATA ports so would fit the bill nicely for me. Or will it not see as well as the Asus Pro Gamer?

as long as it has all the features/ports you need, you dont have to pay more. I used to use a slightly higher version which is Z97 AR and it was very good, cant fault it a single point, bios was excellent.