Mobo choice?

Ripper-X- · 29 May 2014 at 23:05

Hi, I'm starting to build myself a new pc, with gaming the priority, I'm a bit rusty with all the pc tech as I haven't built a pc in years, so looking for some advice on the different motherboards available & the best one to choose. What is the best chipset to go for, whats the difference between H81 H85 H87 H97 Z87 Z97??

The only Item i have for my build so far is a EVGA GeForce GTX 770 Superclocked ACX 2GB, I will want to get another one later so will need an SLI board, not decided between a i5 4670k or a i7 4770k cpu yet.
I think 8gb of ram will do, but will need some decent stuff?

I will be using my tv as the second monitor for gaming, with audio going to my Denon amp so will need some decent onboard audio, I belive Dolby Digital Live support is needed if anyone knows anything about it?

So requirements are, a socket 1150 SLI mobo with good over-clocking potential & on-board Dolby Digital Live support to go to an external amp. Not sure what other things there are i need to consider?

stulid · 29 May 2014 at 23:24

To use a K CPU properly you want a Z87 or Z97 board so you can overclock it fully.

Z97 is newer than Z87 and will support Broadwell CPU's in the future, so that narrows you down to a Z97 board.

Form factor is a dependant on what case you have so itx, matx or regular atx?

P.S itx wont do SLI as they physically not big enough to have that much expansion options.

Ripper-X- · 29 May 2014 at 23:41

Hi stulid, a bit of future proofing would be good so it looks like a Z97 mobo would be better, are the Broadwell cpu's going to be socket 1150 as well then?

I have a corsair R200 case ready to use, quite a bit of room in it so a regular atx would be good, are there any Z97 mobo's you would recommend & why?

stulid · 29 May 2014 at 23:48

Broadwell will be 1150 also, the ones coming out in a few weeks time are Devil Canyon and directly replace current Haswell.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £128.99
Total : £138.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

That board supports SLI and has a Creative sound chip and fancy capacitors from Nichicon.

It has gold plated rear conections and a USB DAC output.

http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4952#ov

Ripper-X- · 30 May 2014 at 00:11

Ok thanks, im looking through the selection of Z97 mobos, lots to choose from, does the Gigabyte "Gaming" range offer anything extra over the other Gigabyte boards?
I have never had a Gigabyte mobo before, mostly been Asus, are the mobo's all roughly the same nowadays quality wise?

stulid · 30 May 2014 at 00:40

That sniper I believe is the cheapest to have a creative sound chip and all the extras.

The gaming 3 and 5 are Realtek. The 7 possibly also but I've not checked.

Ripper-X- · 30 May 2014 at 14:22

From what i could find there isnt a mobo with Dolby digital live support atm so thats not important now. I have ruled out the Sniper mobo as it doesnt have M.2 support for future upgrade & Realtek audio on other boards have always been good for me.
I've narrowed it down to a choice of 3, the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 7, the MSI Z97 GAMING 7 & the Asus Maximus VII Ranger, what would be the better choice & why? (or anything better for similar prices)