Recommendations on Motherboard

[Skwoad]

Hey I'm pretty new here to excuse if this is in the wrong area.

I'm looking at building another computer, this being my second. I have most of the components already chosen but I am a little bit inexperienced in motherboards. I have currently selected an ASRock Fatal1ty H97 - Performance motherboard. As far as the company goes I've heard little bad about them, I was just wondering what you guys think about if and please post any suggestions if there is a better motherboard in the same price range.

 

 

 

Ill put the rest of the spec below:

Intel I7-4790 @3.6GHZ Cooled by Arctic Cooling Freezer i30

Asus GF GTX660 OC Edition

Corsair 16gb Vengeance 1600 MHz

Sea Sonic G-650W

Coolermaster RC-K280-KKN4

 

Cheers,

Skwoad

[Askew]

MSI Z97-G55 SLI and swap the CPU to the 4690K and cooler to 212 EVO if this is a gaming rig.

[Skwoad]

Its mostly just for work, but games will be played occasionally. Its not for me so its really hard to say. 

Is the 4690K and I5 yea? Whats the reason to swap to it?

 

MSI Z97-G55 SLI and swap the CPU to the 4690K and cooler to 212 EVO if this is a gaming rig.

Is this the Mobo your talking about? 

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=10&bid=2&id2=376&sid=191225

I was looking for a Mobo around the same price. Is the ASRock one usable? 

And thanks I will swap the cooler - that one seems to be alot better.

[Askew]

Its mostly just for work, but games will be played occasionally. Its not for me so its really hard to say. 

Is the 4690K and I5 yea? Whats the reason to swap to it?

 

Is this the Mobo your talking about? 

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=10&bid=2&id2=376&sid=191225

I was looking for a Mobo around the same price. Is the ASRock one usable? 

And thanks I will swap the cooler - that one seems to be alot better.

 

No, I meant this one.

http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/Z97G55_SLI.html#hero-overview

[Skwoad]

No, I meant this one.

http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/Z97G55_SLI.html#hero-overview

I'm getting the stuff from Umart- its just around the corner so its easier to pick up.

They don't seem to stock it...

Is the ASRock one good? Im not going to be overclocking or anything like that.

[Askew]

I'm getting the stuff from Umart- its just around the corner so its easier to pick up.

They don't seem to stock it...

Is the ASRock one good? Im not going to be overclocking or anything like that.

 

I've never used it, but I doubt there's anything actually wrong with.

 

I would however always look to buy a motherboard from gigabyte asus or msi.

[Skwoad]

I've never used it, but I doubt there's anything actually wrong with.

 

I would however always look to buy a motherboard from gigabyte asus or msi.

Would this be a better mobo then?

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/products_review.phtml?id=10&bid=2&id2=376&sid=159316

It's about the same price and is an Asus board.

[Askew]

Would this be a better mobo then?

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/products_review.phtml?id=10&bid=2&id2=376&sid=159316

It's about the same price and is an Asus board.

 

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=376&bid=2&sid=189730

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=376&bid=2&sid=190611

 

These are good choices if you are still going with the locked (non K) i7.

 

If you think you only need 4 threads and might benefit from overclocking/gaming later and move the CPU to the 4690K (cheaper than the 4790 and unlocked) then this is a good choice.

 

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=376&bid=2&sid=189740

[Skwoad]

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=376&bid=2&sid=189730

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=376&bid=2&sid=190611

 

These are good choices if you are still going with the locked (non K) i7.

 

If you think you only need 4 threads and might benefit from overclocking/gaming later and move the CPU to the 4690K (cheaper than the 4790 and unlocked) then this is a good choice.

 

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=376&bid=2&sid=189740

I think ill go for the: (Gigabyte) 

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=376&bid=2&sid=190611

Im not interested in overclocking at all. Would you recommend just keeping the i7 i chose or should I get  a different one? 

Also, ive changed the ram to 8gb and swapped the graphics card to a 760 Oc for better performance. Is it worth trading some power efficiency for performance?   

[Askew]

I think ill go for the: (Gigabyte) 

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=376&bid=2&sid=190611

Im not interested in overclocking at all. Would you recommend just keeping the i7 i chose or should I get  a different one? 

Also, ive changed the ram to 8gb and swapped the graphics card to a 760 Oc for better performance. Is it worth trading some power efficiency for performance?   

 

If you think you will benefit from hyperthreading they yes keep the i7, if not then get an i5 and save a bunch of money.

Also if you are not going to overclock at all, you don't need an aftermarket CPU cooler the one that comes with the CPU will do fine, I only recommended the 212 evo for potential use with the unlocked i5 (4690K)

 

A 760 is a power efficient GPU.

[Skwoad]

Thanks a bunch, I might look into the I5-4690 @ 3.5 ghz then. That's saving $100 overall. I might put that into an SSD for the OS.

If you think you will benefit from hyperthreading they yes keep the i7, if not then get an i5 and save a bunch of money.

Also if you are not going to overclock at all, you don't need an aftermarket CPU cooler the one that comes with the CPU will do fine, I only recommended the 212 evo for potential use with the unlocked i5 (4690K)

A 760 is a power efficient GPU.

Im not confident in overclocking at all, and am not %100 sure how to do it/how it works. Does the 4690K come overclocked out of the box? Or do you have to set that up in the bios?

[Askew]

Im not confident in overclocking at all, and am not %100 sure how to do it/how it works. Does the 4690K come overclocked out of the box? Or do you have to set that up in the bios?

 

You do it in the BIOS, it is the easiest thing to do on modern chips, there are countless videos on youtube showing you exactly how even from Linus.

 

If you were to drop the 4790 to the 4690K, take the ASUS Z97-A motherboard, the 212 EVO cooler, the GTX 760 you'd have a system that is fast and efficient now, can be overclocked at a later date if you desire, and can have a new GPU slotted in at a later date.

 

I think the cash will balance out from the CPU change.

 

If you use applications that will benefit from the 8 threads given to you by the i7 then by all means take that, but if you don't it's far better in my opinion to save money and get an unlocked chip that you can then have the option there to overclock should you want to.

 

I must reaffirm that overclocking is effortless on todays systems and takes minutes if you just want a moderate overclock (4.2Ghz).

 

I think it is best for you to figure out the issue of whether you need 8 CPU threads or not, because if not the i5 is the same thing as the i7, the only difference that you will see is the lack of hyperthreading on the i5, the actual chip is the same.

[Skwoad]

You do it in the BIOS, it is the easiest thing to do on modern chips, there are countless videos on youtube showing you exactly how even from Linus.

 

If you were to drop the 4790 to the 4690K, take the ASUS Z97-A motherboard, the 212 EVO cooler, the GTX 760 you'd have a system that is fast and efficient now, can be overclocked at a later date if you desire, and can have a new GPU slotted in at a later date.

 

I think the cash will balance out from the CPU change.

 

If you use applications that will benefit from the 8 threads given to you by the i7 then by all means take that, but if you don't it's far better in my opinion to save money and get an unlocked chip that you can then have the option there to overclock should you want to.

 

I must reaffirm that overclocking is effortless on todays systems and takes minutes if you just want a moderate overclock (4.2Ghz).

 

I think it is best for you to figure out the issue of whether you need 8 CPU threads or not, because if not the i5 is the same thing as the i7, the only difference that you will see is the lack of hyperthreading on the i5, the actual chip is the same.

Thanks alot for the really detailed responses, you help is highly appreciated.

[Askew]

Thanks alot for the really detailed responses, you help is highly appreciated.

 

No problem.