Your take on "outdated" motherboards?

[Misanthrope]

So right now I'm preparing to put another order for my rig but I'm debating between what to get. I have a limited budget of about 340 bucks USD to get a CPU, a Mobo and DDR3 sticks (8gb) including shipping.

 

Now I'm tempted to pick up what I consider expensive motherboards ('bout 100 to 120 USD) because I'd like to have my case (Corsair SPEC03) to have enabled USB 3.0 working (It comes with no 3.0 to 2.0 usb header adapters and I haven't found em in any local stores so international delivery would take a while) however it is really making me consider much cheaper cpus to accomodate: Instead of an 8320 or a 6350 or an i5 4440 I'm downgrading to an i3 or a 6300. Granted they're good processors but I'm spending the same on the motherboard and I'm thinking "When was the last time I used USB for read speeds?" which I can honestly say not even once in 7 years: At most I'd need to carry a movie on a USB stick or something and I have always been able to just wait 5 minutes for the transfer to finish, when I use USB it's just to install OSes and stuff (really don't mind waiting for usb 2.0 speeds) and maybe your typical "save this word document on a stick and take it to an office depot to print" and even that is barely needed now (I can just email myself the doc and pull it from my gmail and print it there)

 

So one other option is getting to spend less than half on the Mobo since for example the AMD 760 based mobos start at less than half the price on the matx boards (60 bucks or so) and the only significant downside I can see if the no USB 3.0 on this boards. It also drops down to SATA II on some of them and I think that does affects my SSD (Corsair Force LX) so that will definitely take a hit but I am able to find and use a Sata III pci-e card though.

 

On the other hand while the processor downgrade on AMD is not that significant, it does drops me down to i3 levels for Intel chips, however because of the greater selections of newer motherboards I've found that the tradeoff is a bit better: For 60ish I am able to get full support for USB 3.0 and Sata III so I can leverage a bit more money towards the processor that way.

 

So TL;DR version: I can either not care that much about a sorta useless feature to me (USB 3.0) and a feature that will cripple me a bit but it is fixable in the future (Sata III) and spend more on a better CPU now or make a solid yet more conscious cpu choice right now for a more feature filled mobo. What do you guys think, is it worth it to spend more for this features that might be on the way out anyway vs future tech that I will need upgrades for anyway (Sata express, m.2, etc) 

 

 

[TheKDub]

I'd wait until I could afford a new mobo and cpu, makes finding a new cpu and motherboard a bit easier since you are not tied down with an old bit of hardware that has to be supported by the new mobo or cpu.

[Askew]

Get a Z97 board and a DC pentium or whatever you can afford, upgrade the CPU later when you have the money.

 

The old AMD platforms do not offer the same level of upgrade path, and you'd get SATA3 and USB3 right now on Z97.

 

Considering the number of PCIE 3.0 lanes you will require along with other features, you could consider the Z97-K from ASUS, the Z97-A from ASUS for a slightly higher priced but more fully featured option.

 

The MSI Z97-G55 SLI and SLI PLUS are good budget options also, as is the Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 and GA-Z97X-SLI

[LemonSpice]

Get a Z97 board and a DC pentium or whatever you can afford, upgrade the CPU later when you have the money.

 

The old AMD platforms do not offer the same level of upgrade path, and you'd get SATA3 and USB3 right now on Z97.

listen to him when you have money you could buy a moradwell i7 or i5 if you go z97

[Misanthrope]

Yes that's what I'm leaning heavily towards right now: a Z97 board with a cheap 4150 i3 right now and I can drop a better CPU next year specially after my xmas bonus and stuff. However Z97 it's still a bit expensive for my bones: I know better chips are coming but I'd be ok with a maximum upgrate to a 4770 really, way more than what I'll need for this build which is strictly gaming (I do no editing, I don't do other non-gaming intensive tasks, it's just gaming and light use for browsing and shit) Might even be able to just get one of those H81 boards

 

So staying in z87 or even a tad older as long as I can handle current haswell chips might be enough

[terrytek]

Oh, by old, I almost thought you meant a 775 board. If so, a nice Core 2 Quad will still work. never mind. :mellow:

[i_build_nanosuits]

So right now I'm preparing to put another order for my rig but I'm debating between what to get. I have a limited budget of about 340 bucks USD to get a CPU, a Mobo and DDR3 sticks (8gb) including shipping.

This would be ideal and will last you a long time:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.98 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.78 @ Newegg)

Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $332.75

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-30 10:53 EDT-0400

microATX version of this board also available...5$ cheaper.

[Misanthrope]

This would be ideal and will last you a long time:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.98 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.78 @ Newegg)

Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $332.75

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-30 10:53 EDT-0400

microATX version of this board also available...5$ cheaper.

 

Excellent choices but I'm afraid I can't get that specific mobo: I am ordering from a local shop here in Mexico and they don't carry that h97 model yet, importing I save for very specific occasions since it makes all orders take at least 3 or 4 weeks to arrive.and I get charged a lot of import tax. I'm looking at a Gygabyte GA-B85M-DS3H which is a B85 based board that's a bit pricier but available locally which is much better for me

 

I know that this will not upgrade to broadwell later on but that's ok I can do fine with just haswell chips

[i_build_nanosuits]

Excellent choices but I'm afraid I can't get that specific mobo: I am ordering from a local shop here in Mexico and they don't carry that h97 model yet, importing I save for very specific occasions since it makes all orders take at least 3 or 4 weeks to arrive.and I get charged a lot of import tax. I'm looking at a Gygabyte GA-B85M-DS3H which is a B85 based board that's a bit pricier but available locally which is much better for me

 

I know that this will not upgrade to broadwell later on but that's ok I can do fine with just haswell chips

if you go with a B85 motherboard you need a bios update for the haswell refresh cpu's to work, so if you go B85 look for i5-4430, i5-4440, i5-4570 or i5-4670 CPU as those are supported out of the box.

[Misanthrope]

if you go with a B85 motherboard you need a bios update for the haswell refresh cpu's to work, so if you go B85 look for i5-4430, i5-4440, i5-4570 or i5-4670 CPU as those are supported out of the box.

 

Thanks for the heads up