Which z97 board - or are they all the same ?

[you2]

I'm looking at z97 boards (single gpu solution) and bit unsure which one. I'm mostly looking in the $120 - $150 range and read a few reviews but figure I'd see what folk had to say. Some of hte models I've considered (this is strictly based off of price that I've seen on line):

This is what I care about:

1) reliable/problem free/acceptable support if there is an issue (i've heard horrible things with asus; and I've always had good results with msi and asrock):

2) good onboard sound (not from spec but actual usage; I can read the spec but they can also be misleading)

3) reasonable layout

--
I don't really think I care about m.2 or esata slot at this point. pcie ssd will be the way to go in a year or two. wifi is a bonus I guess but not required. usb 3.1 isn't needed. 6 sata ports is plenty. I don't plan on overclocking. The devil canon i7 runs very hot with stock cooler and I will be using stock cooler. I suppose if the i5 ran similar to the 2500k (which runs pretty cool with stock cooler) I might up it 10 or 15%.

gigabyte gaming 7 (approx $130); concern is that one review noticed that audio has considerably worse than others. Maybe a newer revision fixed this issue - currently pretty cheap.

msi gaming 5 or 7 (approx $145 for the 5 or $165 for the 7); seems ok but can be slow boot. Has good set of fan headers - leading contender.

asrock extreme 6 (the 4 seems to have some issues from reviews; the 6 is a bit expensive these days)

asorck fatality ($104 to $140); so many different variances of them no clue which one has good sound and is reliable; hard to pick among them.

asus - excluded due to support/rma issues reported by others

msi power max - ($150). Seems like a high end board at a good price.
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The cpu will either be a devil canon i7 or i5; undecided which one - micro center has the k version a bit cheaper than the non k but a 3.6 ghz non-k in a bundle would be fine.
-
Slight preference for an intel ethernet over killer but in the end I don't think it matters. The power max has intel; the gaming boards (msi/gigabyte) have killer.
-
Open to other considerations as long as the board current price is below $160 (microcenter or newegg).
-
Primary reason for upgrade now is some issue with the 1155 motherboard I have (very early variant) and skylake is a bit of a disappointment and too expensive (vs benefit). Figure I should go ahead and do the haswell upgrade while the boards are cheap - as supply dries up in a few months prices will probably go up.

 

[spaceduty]

I also purchased a microcenter bundle 4790k and gigabyte gaming 3. I didn't oc and temps are ~34 idle and ~60 while spectating a game in cs:go after a few minutes. Using a 212 evo for the cpu. The temps if considered high, would be due to a poor choice of intake fans (corsair af140) on my case (nzxt s340) or high ambient temps (~78-80 F).

I only speak for myself, but I've had no problems with this motherboard. The onboard sound has a soundblaster application from the gigabyte website if you want to customize some settings. Unfortunately I can't report back how the sound actually is because my headset is rather awful. Kingston hyperx cloud v.1. I've heard other people say the same thing about the headset. As for speakers, I use the ones that asus provides on their monitor, not great either.

So in your search for the onboard sound being good, I believe that largely depends on the output device; speakers or headset.

All in all that range will probably serve the same features, so I suggest choosing what color theme may fit, or manufacturer that you like.

 

[zambien1]

Don't buy an ASUS board. They might make good products but the nightmare that is their RMA department kills the deal.

My experience has been that on today's motherboards components are more likely to fail than with motherboards of yesteryear so buying from a vendor that is known for having a decent RMA process is important.

Edit: I see you already ruled out ASUS. I wish I had done that research...

 

[Jubassi]

I would go with a gigabyte model cuz you can make a hackintosh which is running mac on windows based hardware.

 

[larryccf]

i'm running an asus z97m-Plus micro Atx board - my first DIY computer at the age of 65 - have had nearly zero issues - the ones i did were driver related but asus tech support (in Indiana, USA no less) was awesome.

Two calls in for support and the issue was resolved in approx 30 minutes each time. The Asus mobo support forum has also been a great resource, especially for the procedure to add a PCIe M.2 SSD as the OS drive.

Price wise, when i purchased price was $150, but believe they're down now to $128-$136 on amazon, shipped

 

[zambien1]

i'm running an asus z97m-Plus micro Atx board - my first DIY computer at the age of 65 - have had nearly zero issues - the ones i did were driver related but asus tech support (in Indiana, USA no less) was awesome.

Two calls in for support and the issue was resolved in approx 30 minutes each time. The Asus mobo support forum has also been a great resource, especially for the procedure to add a PCIe M.2 SSD as the OS drive.

Price wise, when i purchased price was $150, but believe they're down now to $128-$136 on amazon, shipped

Have you needed to send the board in for an RMA? This is where most of the complaints come from.

 

[Achilleslastand]

I'm looking at z97 boards (single gpu solution) and bit unsure which one. I'm mostly looking in the $120 - $150 range and read a few reviews but figure I'd see what folk had to say. Some of hte models I've considered (this is strictly based off of price that I've seen on line):

This is what I care about:

1) reliable/problem free/acceptable support if there is an issue (i've heard horrible things with asus; and I've always had good results with msi and asrock):

2) good onboard sound (not from spec but actual usage; I can read the spec but they can also be misleading)

3) reasonable layout

--
I don't really think I care about m.2 or esata slot at this point. pcie ssd will be the way to go in a year or two. wifi is a bonus I guess but not required. usb 3.1 isn't needed. 6 sata ports is plenty. I don't plan on overclocking. The devil canon i7 runs very hot with stock cooler and I will be using stock cooler. I suppose if the i5 ran similar to the 2500k (which runs pretty cool with stock cooler) I might up it 10 or 15%.

gigabyte gaming 7 (approx $130); concern is that one review noticed that audio has considerably worse than others. Maybe a newer revision fixed this issue - currently pretty cheap.

msi gaming 5 or 7 (approx $145 for the 5 or $165 for the 7); seems ok but can be slow boot. Has good set of fan headers - leading contender.

asrock extreme 6 (the 4 seems to have some issues from reviews; the 6 is a bit expensive these days)

asorck fatality ($104 to $140); so many different variances of them no clue which one has good sound and is reliable; hard to pick among them.

asus - excluded due to support/rma issues reported by others

msi power max - ($150). Seems like a high end board at a good price.
-
The cpu will either be a devil canon i7 or i5; undecided which one - micro center has the k version a bit cheaper than the non k but a 3.6 ghz non-k in a bundle would be fine.
-
Slight preference for an intel ethernet over killer but in the end I don't think it matters. The power max has intel; the gaming boards (msi/gigabyte) have killer.
-
Open to other considerations as long as the board current price is below $160 (microcenter or newegg).
-
Primary reason for upgrade now is some issue with the 1155 motherboard I have (very early variant) and skylake is a bit of a disappointment and too expensive (vs benefit). Figure I should go ahead and do the haswell upgrade while the boards are cheap - as supply dries up in a few months prices will probably go up.

Where did you see the Gigabyte Gaming for 130$? The cheapest I could come up with was around 150 and that was after a 20 dollar rebate.
Just got a i7-4790K myself and could use some good suggestions for a good z97 board?

 

[eton975]

Biostar Hi-Fi Z97WE?

 

[Achilleslastand]

Went with this...........
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128723

 

[you2]

Newegg had it @ 134 for about a month but after I posted this it went up (the mpower msi board was $169 but this week it went up to $249). Not sure if prices will drop again next week or if we are beginning to see inventory dry up. Microcenter has it for $134 if you buy it with a processor (all 1150 intel boards are $20 off if you buy with i5 or i7 k).

Where did you see the Gigabyte Gaming for 130$? The cheapest I could come up with was around 150 and that was after a 20 dollar rebate.
Just got a i7-4790K myself and could use some good suggestions for a good z97 board?