[Solved] Urgent - Motherboard for Intel Core i5 7500

[gx_saurav]

Update - I purchased this motherboard. Everything is working fine. This thread has reached its purpose. Thanks for everyone's help.


Hello,

I am upgrading my PC tomorrow to an Intel Core i5 7500 CPU + 2 x 8 GB DDR4 2133 MHz RAM. I am not going to overclock my system ever. I use a PCI based Asus Xonar DG sound card but don't mind buying a PCIe based sound card.

I have shortlisted Gigabyte B150 - D3H. Personal favourite as it gives everything I need from a motherboard. I believe the x16 port for GPU will run from CPU's PCIe lanes and since B150 chipset has 8 PCIe lanes in chipset, I can use a x4 M.2 SSD over PCIe lanes too. The VRMs are covered by a heatsink too so heat won't be an issue.

What do you think? Is there anything else I should consider and keep in mind?

I don't want to spend on a motherboard with features I won't use. You can see a list of motherboard available here http://www.costtocost.in/list/pricelist.pdf. Lower prices are preferred.

 

[crashtech]

That board will only officially support Kaby Lake with a beta BIOS. Do you have a Skylake chip to flash the BIOS to F20a?

http://www.gigabyte.in/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5516#bios

 

[crashtech]

There are other B150 boards that have non-beta Kaby Lake support, the B150M Pro4 among them, but even then you don't know what BIOS it's going to ship with or if it will boot with an unsupported CPU.

 

[gx_saurav]

That board will only officially support Kaby Lake with a beta BIOS. Do you have a Skylake chip to flash the BIOS to F20a?

http://www.gigabyte.in/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5516#bios

F20 BIOS with support for Kaby Lake was released on 2016/11/15. The new stock should have it.

If not, I should be able to talk to the vendor to use a Skylake Chip to boot and flash the BIOS.

 

[crashtech]

Given your limited selection and your knowledge of the risks, I see no obvious problems.

 

[gx_saurav]

http://imgur.com/a/otzP3


I just noticed that there are two models. The one with B150M & DDR3 and one with B150M & DDR4. I am taking the BIOS file with me in a pen drive and I will be careful in selecting the DDR4 model.

 

[Danielx64]

http://imgur.com/a/otzP3


I just noticed that there are two models. The one with B150M & DDR3 and one with B150M & DDR4. I am taking the BIOS file with me in a pen drive and I will be careful in selecting the DDR4 model.

If I was you, only have one BIOS file that you need- then that you you won't pick the wrong file by mistake

 

[gx_saurav]

I purchased this Gigabyte motherboard yesterday. It came preinstalled with F20 BIOS as it was a January manufactured unit. Kaby Lake Core i5 7500 booted fine on it.

After setup, I upgraded BIOS to F21. Everything is working fine.

This actually is a sweet little motherboard. It's mATX with enough space to install a big cooler Master 212X CPU fan. VRM had heatsink on it. Ports are well laid.

The only problem is that my half height Xonar DG sound card is very close to the GPU for comfort. I will keep an eye on it for some days. If i see temperature issues, i will replace this internal sound card with an external USB one.