Help choosing an intel vid editing board

[Teemosan]

I'm looking for an intel motherboard to support a rig I'm putting together, that is for vid editing. Gaming isn't a consideration. I've spent this past week looking at every H or Z97 board I could find from ASUS, Gigabyte, and ASRock ... comparing features and specs, and keep coming back to the same couple boards. I should say I'm in Canada, and am trying to stay under $200 with taxes included (13 % taxes here)

For this rig I already have from a previous build:

Seasonic 620 w bronze PSU
Nvidia GTX 650 Ti boost
16 Gb GSkill RIpjaws DDR3
Hyper 212 EVO
Kingston Hyper X 120 Gb SSD - Win 7 64 bit
2 Tb WD Black & 1 Tb WD Blue HDD - and more coming
NZXT Source 210 case
Generic DVD burner
23" LG and 24" Acer LCD\LED monitors

These will be pulled form the rig I'm using now which is a modest AMD build, with an FX 6300 on an Asus mobo.

I don't have the CPU yet, but I'm looking at either an i7 4770 or 4790. Right now I'm not interested in overclocking, so I excluded K series chips. Sony Vegas does take advantage of hyperthreading which is why I'm getting an i7 over an i5, and just the increased performance overall of an i7. So now to find a board that fits my needs.

What I want in a board ..
- 1150 chipset
- Stable, well constructed board suitable for an i7
- a BIOS where I don't need an engineering degree. Give me a simple and functional option any day
- Minimum 6 phase power, with decent heatsink(s) - 8 phase would be bonus. I don't know intel boards well, but are there even boards with 4 phase power that are suitable for a non-OC'd i7?
- Onboard support for two monitors, HDMi and DVI - I have my GTX 650 Ti, but I like the idea of having the onboard video just in case the card went down, or I decided to temporarily pull it for another build. For my non-3D vid editing, onboard vid could suffice if I had to.
- So only a single PCIE 3 is necessary, I have no legacy devices
- At least 6 onboard SATA III connects, plus definitely M2 - SATA express would be a bonus
- A combined total of 8 USB's on rear panel - minimum 4 of which are USB 3's; 6 is much preferable.
- Decent sound, like no less than Realtek 892 or equivalent
- It would be nice to stay in the blue color scheme to match my RAM, SATA UV cables, and adapter trays, but I'd go quality over esthetics if my decision hinged on it.

So the shortlist for me is:

ASRock Z97 Pro4 - ($ 163 CAD after taxes - and after rebate it's even lower at $133 CAD)
GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK ($185 CAD after taxes)

yes I considered Asus. The Asus Z97-A only has 4 onboard SATA IIIs. It looks like a sweet board, but for my needs that is the single biggest shortfall of that board. Yah it's got M2 and Sata Exp, but only 4 SATA III's?? I originally thought that was a misprint. Plus it only gives me 6 rear panel USB's total - 4 @ USB 3, and 2 @ USB 2. To me it's a board with an identity crisis. Where does it fit? Neither the Gryphon ($ 205 CAD after taxes) nor Sabertooth ($ 215 CAD after taxes) offer M2. Equivalently priced Gigabyte or ASRock boards offer more of the features I need if I was going to break my budget a little as with an Asus. It's strange with the sub $200 (CAD) Asus Z97 boards. They look like they have some rock sold built boards and each has some combo of features that are great and then it falls short for me in some other area - like the Sabertooth not having the M2, and not offering a DVI port which I would optionally want for one of my monitors. They look great for people where crossfire \ SLI setups are more important - not for mass media storage or USB peripherals.

I also considered:

GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK ($ 225 CAD - breaks the budget by $25)
ASRock Z97 Extreme4 ($ 215 CAD - over budget by $15)

I would break the budget for either of these two boards if my first two choices didn't look like good ones.

When I look at the ASRock Z97 Pro4, I think it is a board that is near perfect for my needs. I've never owned an ASRock product, so I'm kinda nervous about that choice. Plus having never owned an i7 I'm not sure how it will fare on that particular 6 phase board - not OC'd mind you. So this is where I really waffle. I am trying to sell my sefl out of the ASRock Z97 Pro4, even though on paper it has what I need.

The advantages of the GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK over the ASRock Z97 Pro4 are: 2 more SATA III's (8 total); 2 more rear panel USB 3's; Realtek 1150 over 892 sound; 8 phase power over 6; and a 5 yr warranty - I love that! Plus it has the burn in \ xtra bench testing. It's within the budget and an attractive choice to me. I also like the look of it - some hate it, but not me. Reading the Newegg reviews there are some concerns about the heatsinks not being very well attached - using only push-pins with coils, and no thermal tape. But they're a passive cooling solution, so how much difference will that make, and is it a deal breaker? Does anyone have experience with that board?

Thoughts?

 

[denis280]

GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK

My Choice

 

[Auric]

Yah it's got M2 and Sata Exp, but only 4 SATA III's??

Mainboards with 6 SATA may share two with M2 and SATA Express anyway so be sure how many ports are actually needed. Also, implementations tend to be limited to 10G and so of questionable value. Additional SATA ports may be provided by less reliable controllers. So in the end, a good PCIe add-on controller may be needed and if that is the case then the lanes and slot configuration provided demand more scrutiny -especially if planning on using the primary for a video card.

 

[Teemosan]

Mainboards with 6 SATA may share two with M2 and SATA Express anyway so be sure how many ports are actually needed. Also, implementations tend to be limited to 10G and so of questionable value. Additional SATA ports may be provided by less reliable controllers. So in the end, a good PCIe add-on controller may be needed and if that is the case then the lanes and slot configuration provided demand more scrutiny -especially if planning on using the primary for a video card.

Thanks Auric, yes i'm aware of the shared connection and the third party controllers. I'm taking a 'wait and see' attitude towards the M2 and SATA Express, but I'd like to have it as an option to see where it goes in the next year or two. I hadn't really considered the PCIe issue though, so yes that's something to consider. A raid config may still be a better solution.

Aside, something I need to look more closely at with the mobo is whether all 4 of my RAM will work with a 212 EVO on the boards I'm looking at. I was reading further on the ASRock extreme4 and a couple reviewers mentioned that you might lose the first slot if you have a bulky cooler and high profile RAM. I have the GSKill Ripjaws
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820231445
and I'm not sure if this would work with either of the two Gigabyte or ASRock boards I'm looking at. If it's a matter of the cooler rad fins blocking the slot that's tough, but if it's the fan then there are workarounds for that - raise it a little or use a pull only config. Does anyone know whether I might run into problems with my RAm and either of the 4 boards I'm looking at?

 

[Auric]

Heatsinks are not really necessary so could be removed but rather than voiding the warranty it's probably better to get new (then sell the old) and gain lower voltage, fewer modules (greater reliability and future expansion), and possibly lower latency (though not as important).