Need to choose a Z97 board

Confused Stu · 1 Jan 2015 at 13:51

I'm trying to find a Z97 board with a few requirements, and I'm finding so many that are close, but none (so far) that meet all my requirements, so I'm turning to you lovely people to see if anyone knows of one.

I have three cards plugged into my PC, 2 graphics cards with Accelero Hybrid 2's and a PCI-E sound card. Because of the coolers on the GPUs, they cover 1 slot above the PCI-E slot and 1 slot below. This means on a normal motherboard:

Slot 1 (covered by GPU1)
PCI-E x16 (GPU1 plugged in)
Slot 3 (covered by GPU1)
Slot 4 (covered by GPU2)
PCI-E x16 (GPU2 plugged in)
Slot 6 (covered by GPU2)
Slot 7 (PCI-E Sound card)

So I need the GPUs to be in slots 2 and 5 on the motherboard, which is fine as most are that way, but I need the bottom slot to be a PCI-E (x1 or x16, doesn't matter) and not to interfere with the speeds of the first 2 slots. Several motherboards run at 16/0/0, or 8/8/0 or 8/4/4, so if I use my sound card then my second GPU loses some bandwidth.

The other requirement I have is at least 1 fan header that can be controlled by Speedfan (I have my 2 3-pin intake fans on my case controlled by my GPU temperatures).

So far, the GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 is looking good but I can't find anyone who can confirm Speedfan works on this. Can anyone think of a Z97 motherboard that I can connect all my kit up to?

varkanoid · 1 Jan 2015 at 18:51

Confused Stu said:
So far, the GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 is looking good but I can't find anyone who can confirm Speedfan works on this. Can anyone think of a Z97 motherboard that I can connect all my kit up to?

Speedfan works on my Gaming 7 its basically the same board. (Beta F7 Bios)

russell664 · 1 Jan 2015 at 21:24

I have the MSI Gaming 7 z97, I would personally recommend those. However, Gigabyte are a really really good choice too!

BluD · 1 Jan 2015 at 23:07

I have a Gigabyte gaming 7, stay away if you like overclocking in windows, tweak launcher is incompatible with it. I dunno if gaming 5 is the same, hopefully sumone will let ya know.

Confused Stu · 2 Jan 2015 at 13:04

Thanks for the replies, especially the info that Gigabyte's boards may be supported in Speedfan.

I've gone with the GB Gaming 5 because the 7 (and the MSI boards) use the CPUs PCI-E3 lanes for the bottom slot, so running with my soundcard would drop my second GPU to x4. The GB Gaming 5's bottom slot uses the Z97's PCI-E2 lanes for that slot, so using it will disable the PCI-Ex1 slots (which I can't use as they're covered by GPU coolers) but will leave my GPUs running at x8 each.

Thanks again for the help, it's nice to know I was along the right lines with my thoughts. I'll make sure to use the latest Beta BIOS when I get it, and keep my overclocking to the BIOS. Cheers guys.

stulid · 2 Jan 2015 at 13:11

Could you not get a Sniper Z97 board and do away with the sound card as the board has Creative Core3D sound and upgrade able opamp etc.

Confused Stu · 2 Jan 2015 at 13:29

The main reason I want to keep the soundcard is I have my headphones and speakers permanently plugged in and just switch between them using the software (saves my crawling under the desk to the PC). The case's audio sockets are also under a flap that then sticks up unsightly-ly, so it's handy having the card's headphone socket on the PCI cover. Yes, I am THAT fussy!

The Sniper looks a good shout, but it's got less USB ports on the back than the Gaming boards, which I know I hadn't mentioned earlier but the more the better as far as I'm concerned. My current motherboard has 8 USB and they're all filled. I'm also living PCI free these days, so having the extra PCI slot on the Sniper is just going to be a waste. It still looks like the Gaming 5 is a better option for me personally, which is handy as my order is "Printed in the warehouse".

Thanks for taking the time to make the suggestion though Stulid, it's appreciated.

varkanoid · 2 Jan 2015 at 14:45

Confused Stu said:
Thanks for the replies, especially the info that Gigabyte's boards may be supported in Speedfan.

I've gone with the GB Gaming 5 because the 7 (and the MSI boards) use the CPUs PCI-E3 lanes for the bottom slot, so running with my soundcard would drop my second GPU to x4. The GB Gaming 5's bottom slot uses the Z97's PCI-E2 lanes for that slot, so using it will disable the PCI-Ex1 slots (which I can't use as they're covered by GPU coolers) but will leave my GPUs running at x8 each.

Thanks again for the help, it's nice to know I was along the right lines with my thoughts. I'll make sure to use the latest Beta BIOS when I get it, and keep my overclocking to the BIOS. Cheers guys.

Enjoy your new board and only proper overclockers use the BIOS!

Confused Stu · 2 Jan 2015 at 14:56

varkanoid said:
Enjoy your new board and only proper overclockers use the BIOS!

Thanks, and agreed about doing things in the BIOS rather than Windows where possible - the borked BIOS update on my P5WDH on the day I received it taught me that! Delayed my first ever build by a week getting a replacement board, very annoying with a Q6600, HD2900 Pro and a 74GB Raptor sitting doing nothing during that time. Ahh, happy memories.