What's the best MOBO for the I7-4790k?

[sebastian869]

What do you guys think is the best i really want to stick to asus if possible or asrock and its obviously 1150 all with z97 chipset. I do have plans for a 2 card SLI when prices drop and put in a right away SSD.
P.S. How much mem is best like 12 gigs? Its mainly for hardcore gaming. Lastly what model of mem do you guys recommend I've always been using corsair and they have lifetime warrantee so i never been burnt and Asus has very good tech support so I've always stuck to them to date.
Thanks,
Sebastian

 

[ctk1981]

Z97 boards are dual channel. So two sticks of memory or four sticks. 16gb is what I'd shoot for, 32gb if you got the money. 1600mhz, lowest latency, 1.5v or lower....brand wise I'd check the compatibility list of the motherboard you have but in general corsair, crucial, mushkin, geil, g.skill are all good.

In response to your other thread about ssd all motherboards today are equal in that regards. If you're interested in the m.2 slot, asrock extreme6 or 9 because they use four pcie lanes to get maximum performance. Currently you will want the Samsung xp941 or when it arrives the sm951. But be aware because of the four pcie lane use sli is out on the extreme6...the 9, not sure.

As far as what ssd drive id recommend samsung or crucial. 840 pro, evo, 850. Mx500, mx550, mx100.

 

[Skott]

The Asus Sabertooth would be one good mobo choice. The Mark 1 in particular. Check it out. 16GB ram is more than plenty for gaming.

 

[dragantoe]

The Asus Sabertooth would be one good mobo choice. The Mark 1 in particular. Check it out. 16GB ram is more than plenty for gaming.

yeah I can't speak for the z97/87 saberteeth(tooths?) but I have an x58 and had my friend get a z77, they are a dream to build with, ridiculous build quality and have excellent overclocking capabilities from my experience... Most people can't run an L5639 @ 4ghz 24/7, but I've had no problems so far, going on 10 months

 

[BonzaiDuck]

MAXIMUM PC magazine featured a Z97 board comparison this last month -- sorry, not "last month" -- the August 2014 issue is on the stands by now and that's the right issue.. I cannot remember precisely all the competing boards: one I think was MSI and the other was probably Gigabyte. They also gave a "9" to the ASUS Maximus VII Hero.

One of those boards was the Sabertooth. I think the Sabertooth got an "7" because "it's the only board which keeps the Intel recommended settings" for an intel 4770K under multi-threaded load. This didn't say anything about overclocking the processor or board, but of course the board is well-designed to do that -- and ASUS wouldn't make a BIOS that prevented it.

Another thing MaxPC didn't like was an absence of onboard "LED" switches for CMOS reset, reset and power-on/off.

I don't always trust MaxPC's verdicts. The Sabertooth comes with a 5-year warranty -- departing from the 3-year warranty on other ASUS boards and consistent with Sabertooth for three generations or so. It's overclockable; it's "rugged ("TUF"); it comes with a ready-made motherboard duct if you can appreciate that feature and see the possibility for enhancing "ducted performance."

Perhaps you should look at the August 2014 issue of MaxPC and see if there are other web-sites like Tom's or TechReport or Anandtech which also weigh in. You can use all the information in the MaxPC article and all other reviews, but with that level of knowledge and comparison, you should be able to make up your own mind --- whatever MaxPC sez.

With my last serious build (this SB-K rig), I just got lucky. Z68 was a new chipset, but my mobo had stellar reviews, and the BIOS revisions matured quickly. I've often thought it would be good to "wait around" and see how different boards perform from hot-dawg over-clocker forum posts. Wait long enough, the BIOS would be "mature" and cleaned up. It may be that the drawbacks of choosing early are no longer extant. It's a very competitive market, and the industry would find it to their advantage to issue a board with a better-than-decent BIOS.

 

[The Gaige]

This: https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-Z97XGWB