Can you recommend a $150-$200 Z77 motherboard to me?

[Barfo]

Hello, looking for a motherboard to pair with a 3570K, wondering if someone can recommend one that matches my requirements:

-Must be available from Amazon.com.
-Form Factor: ATX (does this even matter? mATX seems cramped and lower quality to me so I tend to stick with ATX).
-Brand: I've had good experiences with ASUS products so I'd prefer an ASUS board, although I like Gigabyte too.
-Must have at least 6 SATA ports, although at this price point this doesn't seem to be a problem.
-The more USB ports in the back panel, the merrier.
-Reliable/durable: don't know about the power phase and capacitor thingy, but if someone knows of a particular board with widespread issues I'd be grateful if you pointed it out to me so I can avoid it.

I think that's all. I might be willing to go a few dollars above my budget if there's something really compelling. I haven't ruled out the possibility of overclocking, but it's very unlikely, I'd rather have a reliable board than one good for OC'ing.

Thanks mates

 

[blastingcap]

Asrock z77 Extreme4 is a popular choice for a reason. You get ~$150 quality for ~$100 (when on sale).

 

[vailr]

Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Cross.../dp/B007R21JK4

 

[crazymonkeyzero]

Asrock z77 Extreme4 is a popular choice for a reason. You get ~$150 quality for ~$100 (when on sale).

Agree with this. :thumbsup: The Asrock z77 extreme4 is the best bang for your buck!

EDIT: The Gigabyte board posted above is also pretty good alternative. But I still personally prefer Asrock for their reliability.

 

[WiseUp216]

I've been using the Asrock Z77 Extreme4 since May with very good results.

The only discrepancy that I see with your requirements is that the Extreme4 is slightly smaller than a full ATX. Around 2" narrower, IIRC.

 

[kleinkinstein]

The Gigabyte board posted above is also pretty good alternative. But I still personally prefer Asrock for their reliability.

That's funny! AsRock for their reliability! That's really funny!! Their low-end and mid-tier boards are nothing but unreliable. You must not own or have ever owned one. Nothing beats the UD5H on price, specs and performance and I'm not even really a Gigabyte guy.

 

[crazymonkeyzero]

That's funny! AsRock for their reliability! That's really funny!! Their low-end and mid-tier boards are nothing but unreliable. You must not own or have ever owned one. Nothing beats the UD5H on price, specs and performance and I'm not even really a Gigabyte guy.

Gigabyte is a pretty flaky company in terms of reliability, in case you haven't noticed the countless rma, issues and doa reviews on newegg and various sites (not necessarily the mobo in question, but many of their mobos in general). If you're claiming Gigabyte in general is better and more reliable than Asrock, then I definitely do not agree. Asrock and Asus are the top two mobo manufacturers HANDS DOWN.

Here's a sample of gigabytes "high tier board" There were more reviews similar to this on motherboards, but Newegg discontinued those products...for obvious reasons.

 

[Razorbak86]

Gigabyte is a pretty flaky company in terms of reliability, in case you haven't noticed the countless rma, issues and doa reviews on newegg and various sites (not necessarily the mobo in question, but many of their mobos in general). If you're claiming Gigabyte in general is better and more reliable than Asrock, then I definitely do not agree. Asrock and Asus are the top two mobo manufacturers HANDS DOWN.

Here's a sample of gigabytes "high tier board" There were more reviews similar to this on motherboards, but Newegg discontinued those products...for obvious reasons.

There are several different ways to measure "top" motherboard manufacturers.

For example, the "top" three Intel motherboard manufacturers in terms of product SKUs available on NewEgg are: (1) Asus - 89 SKUs, (2) ASRock - 54 SKUs, and (3) Gigabyte - 36 SKUs.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...l-Motherboards

On the other hand, the "top" rated Intel motherboard on NewEgg is a lowly $130 Z77 board form Gigabyte, with an average 5-star rating from 20 customers reviews (17 five-star reviews, 1 four-star review, 0 three-star reviews, 0 two-star reviews, and 2 one-star reviews).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128542

Furthermore, the "top" motherboard in terms of popularity among NewEgg customers is a "Customer Choice Award Winner" from ASRock, with 354 customer reviews logged to date.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157265

Finally, you can just as easily isolate a "bad" premium-class motherboard manufactured by ASRock, simply by focusing on an average two-star customer rating on NewEgg, largely due to a massive 67% DOA rate in the customer reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157318

Note that I could just as easily have selected "Asus" or "Gigabyte", ranked their products by "Best Rating", and scrolled to the bottom of those two lists and come up with equally "bad" results.

Frankly, with complicated electronic products like computer motherboards, it is quite common to find large numbers of DOAs shipped to end users from all of the top motherboard manufacturers. Some of those are clearly non-functional products. Some of those "DOA" claims are also clearly reflective of simple user error (i.e., not fully seating the RAM modules, installing without standoffs). Nevertheless, if you look at a small enough sample across any manufacturer's product line, you can easily craft an argument, supported by real data, that every motherboard is "flaky" in terms of reliability.

Frankly, I think it is more helpful to simply acknowledge the fact that a small portion of motherboards will be DOA.

Of course, you should always do your homework, read customer reviews, and stay away from boards that have known problems. More importantly, though, you should focus on product features that you want or need and that your budget will support. Then throughout the purchasing and building process (i.e., planning, scheduling, sourcing, and returns), you should allow for the very real possibility of a DOA, regardless of your chosen manufacturer's reputation for reliability.

Personally, I prefer Asus motherboard because of their product features (i.e., UEFI BIOS, software suite, fan controls), but those are simply personal preferences which motivate my own buying decisions, and I am fully prepared to deal with a DOA if/when it occurs.

Just my two cents.

 

[vailr]

Don't underestimate the ability of a bios update to solve problems.
Example: the Gigabyte Z77-UD5H user review (dated May 18, 2012) on Amazon complaining about some unspecified memory compatibility issue with the board when using version F7 bios.
The most recent bios F14 (dated 8/22/2012) is much improved, allowing better use of the Samsung 1.35 volt 4 GB memory modules (which I would also recommend) in any available memory slot.

 

[blastingcap]

I'm sorry but if you're going to pay a premium over Asrock (which has improved by the way), do it for an ASUS, not a Gigabyte. You know ASUS is a solid company when they even provide ECC traces for their consumer motherboards on the AMD platform, something few others do. ASUS also makes rock-solid laptops (usually no. 1 or no. 2 in reliability for any given year), which is no mean feat when you compare them to the competition. ASUS video card engineering could use a little improvement, though, with initially flaky GPU contact on the 7970 DCuII and weird re-use of the 7870 cooler on the 7850 PCB (DCuII versions).

 

[Shmee]

What about MSI? They have some pretty good looking boards.

 

[LoveMachine]

Here's my recent experience: I've been running an Asus P8Z77-V for a couple of months. 1st one had a memory board failure that was RMA'd. Their RMA process was a bit of a nightmare, so do not buy Asus thinking you are getting better SERVICE. Reliability: All manufacturers will have bad runs, and Asus is no exception. But they are likely a little better than some other makers.

I recently built up a very similar system using an ASRock Extreme4. No doubt, the price is better. Numbers don't lie. But the included software and utilities don't hold a candle to the equivalent Asus features. Fan control, overclocking, etc. are far superior on the Asus board, and I find the BIOS more flexible, though slightly less intuitive. The one major advantage of the ASRock board is boot time. The Asus is a dog and takes forever to get past POST, but my system is on 24/7, so it isn't much of an issue for me.

They are both good boards, so it comes down to your preference. Looking to save some dough, get the ASRock. Willing to spend a bit more, go Asus. I have no experience with Gigabyte or MSI so no help there.

 

[WiseUp216]

There are several different ways to measure "top" motherboard manufacturers.

For example, the "top" three Intel motherboard manufacturers in terms of product SKUs available on NewEgg are: (1) Asus - 89 SKUs, (2) ASRock - 54 SKUs, and (3) Gigabyte - 36 SKUs.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...l-Motherboards

On the other hand, the "top" rated Intel motherboard on NewEgg is a lowly $130 Z77 board form Gigabyte, with an average 5-star rating from 20 customers reviews (17 five-star reviews, 1 four-star review, 0 three-star reviews, 0 two-star reviews, and 2 one-star reviews).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128542

Furthermore, the "top" motherboard in terms of popularity among NewEgg customers is a "Customer Choice Award Winner" from ASRock, with 354 customer reviews logged to date.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157265

Finally, you can just as easily isolate a "bad" premium-class motherboard manufactured by ASRock, simply by focusing on an average two-star customer rating on NewEgg, largely due to a massive 67% DOA rate in the customer reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157318

Note that I could just as easily have selected "Asus" or "Gigabyte", ranked their products by "Best Rating", and scrolled to the bottom of those two lists and come up with equally "bad" results.

Frankly, with complicated electronic products like computer motherboards, it is quite common to find large numbers of DOAs shipped to end users from all of the top motherboard manufacturers. Some of those are clearly non-functional products. Some of those "DOA" claims are also clearly reflective of simple user error (i.e., not fully seating the RAM modules, installing without standoffs). Nevertheless, if you look at a small enough sample across any manufacturer's product line, you can easily craft an argument, supported by real data, that every motherboard is "flaky" in terms of reliability.

Frankly, I think it is more helpful to simply acknowledge the fact that a small portion of motherboards will be DOA.

Of course, you should always do your homework, read customer reviews, and stay away from boards that have known problems. More importantly, though, you should focus on product features that you want or need and that your budget will support. Then throughout the purchasing and building process (i.e., planning, scheduling, sourcing, and returns), you should allow for the very real possibility of a DOA, regardless of your chosen manufacturer's reputation for reliability.

Personally, I prefer Asus motherboard because of their product features (i.e., UEFI BIOS, software suite, fan controls), but those are simply personal preferences which motivate my own buying decisions, and I am fully prepared to deal with a DOA if/when it occurs.

Just my two cents.

Excellent post.

You can try to mitigate risk as much as possible by reading customer reviews but, in the end, there is no *perfect* manufacturer.

This is why good customer service is as valuable as the product itself.

 

[NickelPlate]

I was an Asus user since Windows 95 but I wasn't impressed with my last two. So I took a chance on Gigabyte this time around and am very happy so far.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

I think that the Asus P8Z77-v is a good board I would honestly go with the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 which is going for $140 or less on Newegg.com.

 

[Despoiler]

Gigabyte is a pretty flaky company in terms of reliability, in case you haven't noticed the countless rma, issues and doa reviews on newegg and various sites (not necessarily the mobo in question, but many of their mobos in general). If you're claiming Gigabyte in general is better and more reliable than Asrock, then I definitely do not agree. Asrock and Asus are the top two mobo manufacturers HANDS DOWN.

Here's a sample of gigabytes "high tier board" There were more reviews similar to this on motherboards, but Newegg discontinued those products...for obvious reasons.

I'm not buying a Gigabyte ever again. They might have been awesome before, but my first Gigabyte, GA-Z68X-UD4-B3, just fried out it's rear USB 3.0 headers last night. I have been having intermittent hard lock issues for the last month. I assumed it was alt + tabbing a lot in GW2 making my system unstable. I guess not. Fortunately, nothing else went with it, but I never expect this to happen on a $200 + mobo. This is on top of the reboot loop issue, which is still not 100% resolved. It's still under warranty, but I never want to stop gaming for 2 weeks to RMA.

So I'm getting an AsRock Z77 Extreme4, then RMA the Gigabyte, then the Gigabyte is getting sold.

 

[SolMiester]

Hello, looking for a motherboard to pair with a 3570K, wondering if someone can recommend one that matches my requirements:

-Must be available from Amazon.com.
-Form Factor: ATX (does this even matter? mATX seems cramped and lower quality to me so I tend to stick with ATX).
-Brand: I've had good experiences with ASUS products so I'd prefer an ASUS board, although I like Gigabyte too.
-Must have at least 6 SATA ports, although at this price point this doesn't seem to be a problem.
-The more USB ports in the back panel, the merrier.
-Reliable/durable: don't know about the power phase and capacitor thingy, but if someone knows of a particular board with widespread issues I'd be grateful if you pointed it out to me so I can avoid it.

I think that's all. I might be willing to go a few dollars above my budget if there's something really compelling. I haven't ruled out the possibility of overclocking, but it's very unlikely, I'd rather have a reliable board than one good for OC'ing.

Thanks mates

Hi, interesting that you are getting a K version chip but OC is unlikely?.....I would suggest a non k pair with an ASRock Z77 chipset, which will save you money and allow non k OCing if at a latter date you decide you need moar! power...

I have a 3470 non k for my work PC with the Z77 Pro4 M, current running at 4ghz with the click of a button...

 

[Stoneburner]

I'm sorry but if you're going to pay a premium over Asrock (which has improved by the way), do it for an ASUS, not a Gigabyte. You know ASUS is a solid company when they even provide ECC traces for their consumer motherboards on the AMD platform, something few others do. ASUS also makes rock-solid laptops (usually no. 1 or no. 2 in reliability for any given year), which is no mean feat when you compare them to the competition. ASUS video card engineering could use a little improvement, though, with initially flaky GPU contact on the 7970 DCuII and weird re-use of the 7870 cooler on the 7850 PCB (DCuII versions).

I've been using gigabyte in all my builds since without any hiccups. I have the z77-ud5h and it's been stable (OC 3770K to 4.5ghz) as you could hope.

 

[Barfo]

Hi, interesting that you are getting a K version chip but OC is unlikely?.....I would suggest a non k pair with an ASRock Z77 chipset, which will save you money and allow non k OCing if at a latter date you decide you need moar! power...

I have a 3470 non k for my work PC with the Z77 Pro4 M, current running at 4ghz with the click of a button...

Hmm, for some reason I wasn't aware there is a 3570 non-K CPU that is $15 cheaper. Pretty awesome!

As for the ASRock board, how can it OC non K CPUs that much? I was under the impression those were locked.

 

[blastingcap]

Hmm, for some reason I wasn't aware there is a 3570 non-K CPU that is $15 cheaper. Pretty awesome!

As for the ASRock board, how can it OC non K CPUs that much? I was under the impression those were locked.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd get a 3470 with stock cooler and save myself $60 in aftermarket cooler costs plus the extra cost of the 3570K. I got the 3470 on sale for my gf's PC and it uses the same cooler as the 3570K. Many (most? all?) Ivy Bridge chips are partially unlocked and allow you to go up to four bins higher (i.e., 400MHz higher) than spec. So that 3.6GHz Turbo is now 4GHz Turbo (single thread). http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/the-intel-ivy-bridge-core-i7-3770k-review/2

 

[lkailburn]

Good info here. I'm starting to get in the market for Z77. I've been running an asus p5ke wifi board for 4 years and it has been rock solid. Anyone have experience with the saber tooth z77? Seems a little overkill but I really like longevity in my systems. thoughts on future proofing multi gpu

-Luke

 

[SolMiester]

If I had to do it all over again, I'd get a 3470 with stock cooler and save myself $60 in aftermarket cooler costs plus the extra cost of the 3570K. I got the 3470 on sale for my gf's PC and it uses the same cooler as the 3570K. Many (most? all?) Ivy Bridge chips are partially unlocked and allow you to go up to four bins higher (i.e., 400MHz higher) than spec. So that 3.6GHz Turbo is now 4GHz Turbo (single thread). http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/the-intel-ivy-bridge-core-i7-3770k-review/2

???, Only 400mhz?...dont think so...i have the IB i5 3470, stock = 3.2ghz, Non K OC = 4.0Ghz...800mhz total OC, and its ALL cores.
Edit--Video
Youtube video

 

[blastingcap]

???, Only 400mhz?...dont think so...i have the IB i5 3470, stock = 3.2ghz, Non K OC = 4.0Ghz...800mhz total OC, and its ALL cores.
Edit--Video
Youtube video

I was referring to single-thread and even said so. Please see my link to Anandtech article. For multiple core it gets more complicated but the bottom line is that partially unlocked IB is a lot cheaper if you are okay with stunting your oc potential. Save money on CPU and cooler.

 

[SolMiester]

I was referring to single-thread and even said so. Please see my link to Anandtech article. For multiple core it gets more complicated but the bottom line is that partially unlocked IB is a lot cheaper if you are okay with stunting your oc potential. Save money on CPU and cooler.

So normal turbo is only 400mhz?, single thread?....

allow you to go up to four bins higher (i.e., 400MHz higher) than spec. So that 3.6GHz Turbo is now 4GHz Turbo (single thread)

The NON K OC is ALL core 800mhz faster, i have the 3470 you stated.....it runs at 4ghz...did you see the video?

 

[Nelly]

Their is a review article of the Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH in Custom PC magazine (Not sure if available outside UK) regarding overclocking a 3570K to 4.8GHz.

Using the same CPU, it only took 1.30v with the Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH, but it took 1.34v with the expensive Asus Z77 Maximus V Formula, and 1.37v with the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H.

I have previously owned a Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H, so in terms of overclocking and price the Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH would be the better buy.