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Z77 board recommendations

tim81517lh
By tim81517lh
in CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory
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Hey guys,

I know that there are TONS of mobos to choose from, just from the Z77 chipset alone. I was hoping you guys can recommend a few for me. I am currently using a Asus mobo and it is proving to be pretty reliable for the most part, aside from its weak RAM compatibility. (Asus P7P55D-E) I am currently looking to upgrade to the 3770k so I need a Z77 board. Anyhow, I do prefer Asus due to its "MemOK" feature, it quickly tells me whether my RAM is compatible. Also, I am looking to buy the Thunderbolt display from Apple, nothing special about it, it is just gorgeous (all the other displays out there cannot beat it, it is just that good looking), so I need a thunderbolt port on the mobo as well.

Some of my needs:

- USB 3.0 (most boards have this anyway, shouldn't be an issue)

- Thunderbolt

- Easy overclocking abilities (i am not very good at overclocking, I currently use Asus's auto-overclock utility...yes...iknow i can push it further...but i don't know how...)

- Easy RAM compatibility checking abilities

- SLI support

- PCI-E 3.0

- At least 6 6gb/s SATA ports (I currently have 5 drives, 2 ssds and 3 hard drives)

- RAID support (most boards have this)

- Additional soundcard

That's it so far... THANKS PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

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Just to verify - you really need 6 x SATA3 connectors? your normal hard drives cannot even really benefit from them and going that many puts you in the range of uber boards, esp wanting thunderbolt support... Talking $350-$400 for a quality board... some that come to mind...

13-157-322-TS?$S125$

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ASROCK Z77 Extreme 9

ASUS Maximus V Formula's...

ASUS Maximus V Extreme...

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7

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If you absolutely need the 6 SATA3 ports you are looking at a Maximus V Extreme. The Maximus V Formula has the SATA ports you would need but it doesn't support thunderbolt. The extreme board has the port built in. If you can live with only having 4 SATA 3 ports you have a couple more options that are considerably cheaper than the MVE. The Asus P8Z77-V Pro/TB has 4 SATA3 and 4 SATA 2 ports. There is also the Z77X-UP5 TH and Z77X-UP4 TH from Gigabyte. They both have 2 TB ports. The downside is they only have 2 SATA2 and 4 SATA3 connections. You could get one of the cheaper boards and get an add in SATA card as well.

My suggestion would be to go with the Asus P8Z77-V/TB, put your SSD's on the SATA3 ports and your HDD's on the SATA2 ports in RAID. If you are only using your HDD's for storage you will not really see any performance difference over using SATA3.

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Mhm okay. Now that I thought about it 4 is adequate since I will be upgrading my SSDs, or adding more SSDs for RAID10 configuration. Most important requirement is probably thunderbolt, I do a lot of file transferring from my mac to my desktop. Ability to daisy chain the Thunderbolt display and the MBP would be nice.

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The specs don't mention thunderbolt port... or I did miss it...

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Not sure you will find a board, unless ultra high end, that supports 4 SATA3 and can do RAID 10. Z77 chipset only supports 2 SATA3 ports. Any extra are usually provided by a secondary controller, which cannot span ports with the Intel controller.

So, you can do RAID10 - but normally with 2 x SATA3 and 4 x SATA2.

Looks like, at newegg.ca at least, these boards have thunderbolt:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130642

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128559

Forum Links - Community Standards, Privacy Policy, FAQ, Features Suggestions, Bug and Issues.

Folding/Boinc Info - Check out the Folding and Boinc Section, read the Folding Install thread and the Folding FAQ. Info on Boinc is here. Don't forget to join team 223518. Check out other users Folding Rigs for ideas. Don't forget to follow the @LTTCompute for updates and other random posts about the various teams.

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Whaler_99 Links - "Green Machine" (watercooled), "Out of the Blue" (watercooled), My 4P Folding rigs, My multi GPU Folding Rigs, The Water Cooling FAQ, My 40TB Storage Server, My Folding Stats. The CM HAF XB review, the Aqualis Pro 450 review, the PrimoChill CTR Phase II Res review, the IcyDock ToughArmor 6x1 review, the 3x2 Storage Cage review, the 5x3 Storage Cage review, my Milwaukee Jobsite Backpack review, my Thermaltake Core X2 review, my CoolerMaster Storm Stryker overview. Link to DA Blogs home.

Follow me on Twitter for updates @Whaler_99

 

 

 

 

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UP4/UP5 (TH versions) would have my vote. Not insanely overkill like some other thunderbolt-based boards, while supporting the features you want.

Don't see why an auto-ram checker is really necessary though. Most modules are compatible anyways also long as it's a 240pin DDR3 stick @ 1.5v or lower, there's probably better ways of troubleshooting faulty sticks too.

On the note of drive compatibility, getting a RAID or SATA expansion card may be worth considering too, since you there's two extra PCI-e slots with both boards. I typically recommend expansion cards where possible anyways, because you can use it in newer builds and can give more flexibility.

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That MemOK button is very handy! I've pushed mine over two dozen times while OCing memory.

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