Friend is building a Z77 gaming pc should he be put off by this NIC

[Shalashaska]

He has a 3770K cpu and a few other bits (ram/gtx 760) already so we wanted to find a Z77 board which has been hard, Amazon have this but it has an Atheros NIC which I've never heard of (always had Intel NICs) so I'm wondering if that is an issue or not for a gaming system that will be basically playing CS:GO all the time?

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-Z77X-D3H-SKT-1155-Z77X-D3H-Motherboard/dp/B007KZQFEI

 

Location UK, budget £100 if you know of a better 1155 board for the money please post.

 

Only stipulation, no ASUS their customer support isn't worth the hassle.

[Sernyhough]

its fine.

[Sernyhough]

I'd be more concerned about a 4-pin on a Z77 Board.

 

Personally, i'd get this. Solid VRMS and 8-Pin power.

 

Dispite ASrocks bad rep i have been delighted with my Z87 ASrock board and it has not had any problems dispite it being on 24/7 for over a year.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z77-Extreme4-Motherboard-Supports-CrossFireX/dp/B007KTY4A6/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413757630&sr=1-2&keywords=z77+motherboard

 

@Shalashaska

[TheSLSAMG]

I'd be more concerned about a 4-pin on a Z77 Board.

 

Personally, i'd get this. Solid VRMS and 8-Pin power.

 

Dispite ASrocks bad rep i have been delighted with my Z87 ASrock board and it has not had any problems dispite it being on 24/7 for over a year.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z77-Extreme4-Motherboard-Supports-CrossFireX/dp/B007KTY4A6/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413757630&sr=1-2&keywords=z77+motherboard

 

@Shalashaska

AsRock's Z77 line were known as being their worst. You would have a far better chance with the D3H.

 

I owned a Z77 Pro3, the board killed all of it's DIMM slots and USB 3.0 ports before it was a year old. @Excon owned a Z77 Extreme4, and (I believe) it killed his SSD/SSDs. You have been delighted by your Z87 board because that's when AsRock got their heads out of their asses.

[Excon]

AsRock's Z77 line were known as being their worst. You would have a far better chance with the D3H.

 

I owned a Z77 Pro3, the board killed all of it's DIMM slots and USB 3.0 ports before it was a year old. @Excon owned a Z77 Extreme4, and (I believe) it killed his SSD/SSDs. You have been delighted by your Z87 board because that's when AsRock got their heads out of their asses.

2 SSDs and 2 HDDs to be exact. It also caused GPU issue for a long time

[Shalashaska]

OK it's safe to say I'm not buying the Z77 Asrock then.

[Sernyhough]

AsRock's Z77 line were known as being their worst. You would have a far better chance with the D3H.

 

I owned a Z77 Pro3, the board killed all of it's DIMM slots and USB 3.0 ports before it was a year old. @Excon owned a Z77 Extreme4, and (I believe) it killed his SSD/SSDs. You have been delighted by your Z87 board because that's when AsRock got their heads out of their asses.

 

 

2 SSDs and 2 HDDs to be exact. It also caused GPU issue for a long time

Ah, The Z77 days i was rocking a 4170. :D

Never got the pleasure to use any of Asrocks older boards.

[TheSLSAMG]

OK it's safe to say I'm not buying the Z77 Asrock then.

Yeah, it would be wise not to.

 

As for your options, the Z77 D3H is there. As a board, it's not too shabby, but definitely not for OC (seeing as it has a 4-pin only.)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Z77A-G43-Motherboard-Pentium-Celeron/dp/B007JRGV14/ref=sr_1_9?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413758336&sr=1-9

The G43 is a solid board, though without SLI support. If you want to spend more (no one does ), then the UD3H is a fantastic piece of kit (I own one), though let down by the subpar BIOS.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-Z77X-UD3H-SKT-1155-Z77X-UD3H-Motherboard/dp/B007R21JJK/ref=sr_1_19?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413758336&sr=1-19

[TheSLSAMG]

Ah, The Z77 days i was rocking a 4170. :D

Never got the pleasure to use any of Asrocks older boards.

Trust me, it was no pleasure

 

And now my i5 happily resides on a Gigabyte H61N-USB3, where it can't be pushed hard. For all it's worth, I would give AsRock another chance, but I am still a bit weary of their products.

[Shalashaska]

Yeah, it would be wise not to.

 

As for your options, the Z77 D3H is there. As a board, it's not too shabby, but definitely not for OC (seeing as it has a 4-pin only.)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Z77A-G43-Motherboard-Pentium-Celeron/dp/B007JRGV14/ref=sr_1_9?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413758336&sr=1-9

The G43 is a solid board, though without SLI support. If you want to spend more (no one does ), then the UD3H is a fantastic piece of kit (I own one), though let down by the subpar BIOS.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-Z77X-UD3H-SKT-1155-Z77X-UD3H-Motherboard/dp/B007R21JJK/ref=sr_1_19?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413758336&sr=1-19

 

What is the difference between the UD3H and the D3H I posted in OP which costs £83?

[TheSLSAMG]

What is the difference between the UD3H and the D3H I posted in OP which costs £83?

The UD3H has SLI support, an 8-pin CPU connector (allowing higher power delivery I believe) and some different I/O IIRC.

 

That being said, the G43 will serve perfectly so long as SLI isn't in his future.

[Shalashaska]

The UD3H has SLI support, an 8-pin CPU connector (allowing higher power delivery I believe) and some different I/O IIRC.

 

That being said, the G43 will serve perfectly so long as SLI isn't in his future.

 

OK thanks, the MSI G43, you think the quality of the customer service/components/the board in general is as good as gigabyte?

 

I've always used gigabyte boards since 775 socket but my current one is ASUS and I keep hearing badness about their customer support so I don't want to land my friend in a sticky situation.

 

Gigabyte have a very good CS rep in the UK, as good as EVGA.

[TheSLSAMG]

OK thanks, the MSI G43, you think the quality of the customer service/components/the board in general is as good as gigabyte?

 

I've always used gigabyte boards since 775 socket but my current one is ASUS and I keep hearing badness about their customer support so I don't want to land my friend in a sticky situation.

Gigabyte have a very good CS rep in the UK.

I do believe that the board's quality is as good as the equivalent Gigabyte board, if not a bit better. I can't speak for customer support though.

 

If I understood correctly, you have been hearing bad about ASUS's CS? I have heard that they're subpar as well, though my ASUS board is pretty awesome.

[Shalashaska]

I do believe that the board's quality is as good as the equivalent Gigabyte board, if not a bit better. I can't speak for customer support though.

 

If I understood correctly, you have been hearing bad about ASUS's CS? I have heard that they're subpar as well, though my ASUS board is pretty awesome.

 

Yes I've never heard good things about ASUS service, not the products from what I gather they are good but the CS lets the company down especially in UK it can take weeks to do an RMA and gigabyte/msi/evga is only a few days.

 

Alright then thanks for the help on this.