Is a decent Motherboard really THAT important?

Rigged089

Rigged089

Rigged089

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I'm upgrading my system and I require a 1150 socket.

My head is spinning because, despite the socket what defines a good motherboard and is it really necessary to invest in a high(ish) performance one (£150+)?

Thanks very much for reading and I appreciate your time.
 
All depends on the features you require as an end user. Things such as xfire/sli support, extra sata ports, dual lan ports, power phase, board cooling etc. Some of the really high end boards have features that only really appeal to the hardcore overclockers/benchmarkers
 
If you are planning to overclock then yes you need to spend money on a decent board. the reason being is for things like vrm heat sinks and better board cooling all round and then you get more bios options as well. There are 2 things that you should not skimp on in a build and these are the motherboard and the psu.
 
The motherboard is the one thing I always spend that little bit more on for the extra features plus some of the higher end come with nice aesthetics.
 
Depends what sort of stuff you are after.. For me Descent on-board audio and RoG colors are selling points.
Its been proven many times that with 1150 all boards oc cpu to same level cause in haswell you are cpu bound.
 
IMO on Intel not so much nowadays unless you go with an LGA2011 hex core processor. On AMD it is due to the VRM cooling/power demands of Bulldozer/Piledriver.
 
Lord_ZED said:
Depends what sort of stuff you are after.. For me Descent on-board audio and RoG colors are selling points.
Its been proven many times that with 1150 all boards oc cpu to same level cause in haswell you are cpu bound.
Click to expand...

Tbh the audio on my board is woeful compared to the xonar DX i used on my Z77 setup. Cant use the card due to lack of space.
 
Had a gigabyte ap-d3 probably the cheapest z68 board known to man

Drives my 2600k to a solid 4.8ghz and has been rock solid for 2 years

Fantastic board for the pittance it cost
 
I often thought this myself. After looking at motherboards I pretty much found that any motherboard does the basics. If you are looking for a gaming system (even with a highish end one) then even a cheap board can meat the requirements (PCIE slot, extra expansion slots for sound card etc enough usbs and so on).

I found that the more you spend on the motherboard the more extras you get like more USBs or better sound and most commonly - better overclocking options. I would imagine more expensive boards have better parts for better reliability to, but can't be certain with that :) I normally aim to spend about £80-£100 on a motherboard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeuJAOVRoA0 can be useful
 
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