Starting a new system from the mobo out..where does $175 get me?

[Jim Bancroft]

My box is from 2008 and it's time to upgrade. Looking to stay under $750 total. Thinking of a Radeon R7 260x for the graphics card.

Medium-duty box overall, 8GB of Ram, SSD boot and 2 TB HDD. I already have a case and Corsair CX430 PSU.

Other than that I'm open. Not wedded to Intel or AMD CPUs. Looking to spend $150-$200 on a mobo, what works for me along with a chip?

Figure the budget is:

GPU ~ $125 AR
8GB RAM ~ $100
SSD ~ $90
2 TB HDD ~ $120

Total spent before mobo + CPU = $435. Leaves $315 give or take.

I'm more interested in a mobo that has some lifespan and upgradability to it and can skimp a little on the CPU if need be.

Thanks!

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I'd suggest getting this thread moved over to general hardware. There are a lot of very competent people for budget building over there.

I'm more interested in a mobo that has some lifespan and upgradability to it and can skimp a little on the CPU if need be.

If reliability is paramount check out the ASUS TUF series (with 5 year warranties), especially the B85 Vanguard. Its a bit more expensive then your average B85 board, but you do get a lot for the money. That's if you don't intend to overclock...

 

[Jim Bancroft]

I'd suggest getting this thread moved over to general hardware. There are a lot of very competent people for budget building over there.

Sorry about that. I see what you mean, my listing all the specs gave a bit of a false impression. I did that to show the general horsepower of what I'm after.

In truth though I'm especially interested in a motherboard that can direct that setup competently in the price range I listed. On sites like tomshardware.com I can find good reviews of other components, and draw conclusions for them, but for mobos I get overwhelmed by the various (chipset, socket type) configurations.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

On sites like tomshardware.com I can find good reviews of other components, and draw conclusions for them, but for mobos I get overwhelmed by the various (chipset, socket type) configurations.

Don't we all...

Its a little difficult to give advice on which board might suit you, because there is really no one-size-fits-all. Unless you have an unlimited budget there are always going to be trade-offs. I can give you some general advice, but remember YOU are the only one who knows what fits your needs.

If you want to start with the mainboard, the most important questions you should ask yourself is:

1) What features will I need/use? Includes things like overclocking, SRT etc. Don't pay extra for features you'll never use.
2) How much expandability do I need? This is things like how many SATA or PCIe ports do I need? It also determines what size mainboard you're after. F.x. do you want a heavily integrated ITX board or a full size ATX.
3) What price am I willing to pay? If you can get 99% of features for 50% of the cost, that's something to consider.

Sockets rarely last more then one, or at most two, CPU generations. So you should not factor a CPU upgrade into the mix. The best you can hope for is picking up the top model in a line-up used in a few years.

Generally there isn't much difference in mainboard build quality any more. But you should do some research on particular boards to see if there are any issues. This applies especially to new boards. Older models usually have their kinks worked out with subsequent BIOS releases.

I don't really have too much feel with American pricing, but I'd suggest an LGA-1150 board with either the B85 or H87 chipset if you don't intend to overclock, otherwise you'll need a Z87 board and a K series CPU.

 

[Jim Bancroft]

Don't we all...

Its a little difficult to give advice on which board might suit you, because there is really no one-size-fits-all. Unless you have an unlimited budget there are always going to be trade-offs. I can give you some general advice, but remember YOU are the only one who knows what fits your needs.

Thank you kind sir, this is just what I need. :thumbsup:

 

[*kjm]

For $175 I would look at the motherboard I got It is loaded with great features and I wanted Intel LAN.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157377

8GB ram that is on the approved list
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820104262

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty Z87 Professional/index.us.asp?cat=Memory

That should give you around $175 for the CPU with your budget. That gets you close to an I5-4430 for your processor. You could just go with the HD you want to build your system and use it till you can save up for a SSD(175+90=265) I5-4670K. Then image the HD to your SSD and go nutz.

 

[coolpurplefan]

Sorry about that. I see what you mean, my listing all the specs gave a bit of a false impression. I did that to show the general horsepower of what I'm after.

In truth though I'm especially interested in a motherboard that can direct that setup competently in the price range I listed. On sites like tomshardware.com I can find good reviews of other components, and draw conclusions for them, but for mobos I get overwhelmed by the various (chipset, socket type) configurations.

I'm going through the same "motherboard uncertainty hell" at the moment. lol

 

[Jim Bancroft]

For $175 I would look at the motherboard I got It is loaded with great features and I wanted Intel LAN.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157377

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out...also, wondering if anyone knows of AMD equivalents to the H87 / Z87 chipsets and 1150 slot, just for comparison's sake?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out...also, wondering if anyone knows of AMD equivalents to the H87 / Z87 chipsets and 1150 slot, just for comparison's sake?

Unless you're going to overclock, that board is way overkill. You also need a K series CPU to overclock, which limits your choices to either the 4670K or 4770K.

A few suggestions, with 98% of the features, two B85 and two H87:

B85:
Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H This is your standard issue B85 board, without any bells and whistles...
ASUS B85M-E/CSM Slightly fancier B85 mainboard, one of the few B85 boards to have DisplayPort.

H87. Basically the same as the B85, with a few extra features. Most notably Intel SRT, and a few more SATA6 and USB3 ports.
Gigabyte GA-H87M-HD3 Fairly standard H87 board.
ASUS H87M-PRO Top-of-the-line H87 board, has 99.9% of the Z87 features minus overclocking. With a price to match...

The AMD alternative would be FM2(+) + A88X chipset. But it does not make sense at your budget. I'm hesitant to recommend AM3+, because its a "dead" socket, with chipsets from 2009.

 

[crashtech]

Not a huge fan of ASRock, but it's hard to beat the feature set of the Fatal1ty H87 Performance for the money. I'd consider it for a midrange non-overclocking build. Paired with a 4670, it puts you right on budget.

 

[Jim Bancroft]

Not a huge fan of ASRock, but it's hard to beat the feature set of the Fatal1ty H87 Performance for the money. I'd consider it for a midrange non-overclocking build. Paired with a 4670, it puts you right on budget.

That looks like a real winner, thanks for the post. I've been out of the loop for 4-5 years and always thought of ASRock as the budget manufacturing arm of ASUS. I read now they've split into their own company/division and are competing head to head.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Live near a microcenter? Can't beat their CPU/mobo combo's

 

[crashtech]

Really we need to include "Do you live near a Microcenter?" in the pre-build questionnaire, because it inevitably comes up, and it ends up irritating me because I am jealous of those who do...

 

[*kjm]

Really we need to include "Do you live near a Microcenter?" in the pre-build questionnaire, because it inevitably comes up, and it ends up irritating me because I am jealous of those who do...

So true Just as bad as giving a price someone wants to spend and you put time into helping and........:whiste:

Anyhooo this is the first ASRock I have owned and I have nothing to good to say about it.

 

[crashtech]

So true Just as bad as giving a price someone wants to spend and you put time into helping and........:whiste:

Anyhooo this is the first ASRock I have owned and I have nothing to good to say about it.

I didn't notice you recommended and even own the same board I suggested. I assume you mean "nothing but good to say about it?"

I'll have to try one of those ASRock boards someday. They just look more solid every year. In fact, the differences between ALL the manufacturers are a lot less than they used to be.

 

[*kjm]

I didn't notice you recommended and even own the same board I suggested. I assume you mean "nothing but good to say about it?"

I'll have to try one of those ASRock boards someday. They just look more solid every year. In fact, the differences between ALL the manufacturers are a lot less than they used to be.

Yep nothing "but" good to say about it
I have the ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Professional though not the ASRock Fatal1ty H87 Performance.

I have been in the game from 1986 on and this board is nice.... just trying to let everyone know.

 

[coolpurplefan]

Not a huge fan of ASRock, but it's hard to beat the feature set of the Fatal1ty H87 Performance for the money. I'd consider it for a midrange non-overclocking build. Paired with a 4670, it puts you right on budget.

Can you say why you were not a huge fan of Asrock? I read their Z77 series did not have real digital VRMs. Does anyone know if they have real digital VRMs on their Z87 series?

Yep nothing "but" good to say about it
I have the ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Professional though not the ASRock Fatal1ty H87 Performance.

I have been in the game from 1986 on and this board is nice.... just trying to let everyone know.

Do you care to say what you like about it?

 

[crashtech]

Can you say why you were not a huge fan of Asrock? I read their Z77 series did not have real digital VRMs. Does anyone know if they have real digital VRMs on their Z87 series?

Historically, ASRock was a lower quality arm of Asus, this seems lo longer the case. Though most of ASRocks offerings still seem slotted in slightly below Asus, they have become known as a quality manufacturer in their own right, striking their own balance of price/performance that has won many followers.

As to the PWM debate, I have to wonder how significant the difference analog vs digital is with Haswell, since the voltage is regulated again on die. I haven't seen any information addressing this specifically, but it could be that analog is a perfectly adequate fit.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

Don't waste your money on Azzrock unless your buying ther top of the line board. total waste of time/money!!

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

Historically, ASRock was a lower quality arm of Asus, this seems lo longer the case. Though most of ASRocks offerings still seem slotted in slightly below Asus, they have become known as a quality manufacturer in their own right, striking their own balance of price/performance that has won many followers.

As to the PWM debate, I have to wonder how significant the difference analog vs digital is with Haswell, since the voltage is regulated again on die. I haven't seen any information addressing this specifically, but it could be that analog is a perfectly adequate fit.

1,700 posts..............................:whiste:

 

[crashtech]

Don't waste your money on Azzrock unless your buying ther top of the line board. total waste of time/money!!

I suppose the implication from your other post is that I am not bringing much to the table. Point taken. So show me how it is done, and substantiate this post of yours with some data.

 

[coolpurplefan]

Well, one is for sure, if Gigabyte or MSI is reading this, why don't they put the number of phases and whether the VRM is digital or analog in their specifications? Do consumers want to buy mysterious motherboards?

 

[pcsavvy]

+1 Do you live near a Microcenter? The cpu/mb combos are hard to beat.

With motherboards figure out what features are important to you.
For example: is overclocking, pcie x 16 3.0 vs pcie x 16 2.0, # of sata6, # of pcie x 1 slots vs # of pci x 1, size of motherboard: itx, matx, atx, spacing between pcie x16 and other slots ie will graphics card cover one or more slots, type and # of outputs and placement of hook ups on motherboard. These are just a few things to decide upon in conjunction with your budget.
Are you gaming or htpc or general purpose computer?

 

[crashtech]

"Do you live near a Microcenter" in quotes gets 111,000 hits on Google.

 

[coolpurplefan]

Since I'm doing research myself, I'm going to list some boards here I find interesting.
*Disclaimer: These boards are only interesting if the information I read was "correct". Meaning, I read Intel LAN and Realtek audio is more compatible. The other factor is that 8 phases are better than 4 phases. It may be debatable whether this is necessary for people who don't overclock but in any case, if you look for these three parameters, Intel LAN, Realtek audio and 8 phases, here are some boards...
(Also, I said compatible. I didn't say Realtek was always the best. I did not include Realtek ALC887 because I didn't see if it was compatible with Blu-ray audio. I also did not include WS models because they're workstation models probably more compatible with Xeon processors.)

Asus GRYPHON Z87
LAN: Intel® I217V
Audio: Realtek® ALC892 ($185, Blu-ray audio, micro ATX, TUF components, four USB 2.0 on rear panel, complete rear audio panel)
phases: 8

Asus Z87-PRO
LAN: Intel® I217V
Audio: Realtek® ALC1150 ($210, no USB 2.0 on rear panel)
phases: 12

Asus Z87-DELUXE/DUAL
LAN: Intel® I217V Realtek® 8111GR
Audio: Realtek® ALC1150 ($320)
phases: 16

Asus SABERTOOTH Z87
LAN: Intel® I217V
Audio: Realtek® ALC1150 ($260)
phases: 8

Asus MAXIMUS VI EXTREME
LAN: Intel® I217V
Audio: Realtek® ALC1150 (low newegg ratings, $420)
phases: 8

Asus Z87-DELUXE/QUAD
LAN: Intel® I217V
Audio: Realtek® ALC1150 ($360)
phases: 16

Asus Z87-PLUS
LAN: Intel® I217V
Audio: Realtek® ALC892 ($175, no USB 2.0 on rear panel)
phases: 8

Asus Z87-EXPERT
LAN: Intel® I217V
Audio: Realtek® ALC1150 ($245, no USB 2.0 on rear panel)
phases: 8

Asus Z87-DELUXE
LAN: Intel® I217V
Audio: Realtek® ALC1150 ($350)
phases: 16

The (regular size ATX form factor) Asus Z87-PLUS is interesting and even the (smaller) micro ATX Asus GRYPHON Z87 are less expensive than the other models listed here. The one thing I find confusing though is when they put "Digi VRM" in their descriptions. Is that a hybrid or analog VRM? One person on another site said some Asrocks were not really digital, but analog. So writing "Digi" instead of "digital" makes it look a little suspicious. But, whatever. You can only find the information you can find.

Asus Z87-PLUS
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z87PLUS/

Asus GRYPHON Z87
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/GRYPHON_Z87/

A cheap model I found was the Gigabyte GA-H87-D3H which has Intel LAN and Realtek audio.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4491#sp

I did not make a complete search of all Gigabyte and MSI models because I didn't like the fact I didn't see the number of phases listed on their site. So, I hope someone appreciates the research I did on this even though I'm not an expert.

EDIT: I looked at a lot of current motherboards including Gigabyte and MSI and the ones I highlighted in blue are more interesting to me.