Looking for good 1151 Mobo

[Rukjor]

Hey guys,

 

I could need your help again.

 

I got an Office PC with an i5 8400 and 16 GB DDR4 2666 for very cheap.
This was a hell of a deal.

I noticed it is even better than my old i7 4770.

And of course the much newer platform, with 2x M.2 Slots and so on.

So I changed the Mainboard, CPU and RAM in my main gaming Rig.

The Mainboard is only an ASUS B360M-C in an OEM form.
It is an ugly green PCB. I don't care about the color.

But I noticed two big negative things, I can't live with:

1) I can't control the air cooling about the Mainboard
> I know there are solutions for Controlling about software. But I am not a huge fan of those softwares. I wan't to control it in the BIOS.

2) The Onboard Sound is okay, but not near as good as on my old MSI 1150 Mainboard.

> I thought I wouldn't care or not even notice. But I do. And the difference is huge... 

Do you know a good ATX / M-ATX 1151 Mainboard, which provide me a nice Onboard Sound and a Fan Control?
I don't care for the Brand. Perhaps you have personal experiences that you can share with me.

Thank you!

Greetings

Andy

(I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes. Please let me know, if there a huge mistakes. English is not my first language.)

[Jurrunio]

12 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

1) I can't control the air cooling about the Mainboard
> I know there are solutions for Controlling about software. But I am not a huge fan of those softwares. I wan't to control it in the BIOS.

the BIOS doesnt give such option?

 

12 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

2) The Onboard Sound is okay, but not near as good as on my old MSI 1150 Mainboard.

> I thought I wouldn't care or not even notice. But I do. And the difference is huge... 

Just get a sound card

 

budget?

[Rukjor]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

the BIOS doesnt give such option?

Unfortunately not. I can choose the preset "Silent" (Standard/Turbo/etc). But this is not as silent as I want it to be.
 

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

 

Just get a sound card

Good Sound Cards are expensive. And I don't want to block the fans of my GPU, as the M-ATX Board is not very big...

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

 

budget?

max 100 EUR
This should be enough, to get a decent 1151 Mainboard. Or am I wrong?

[nox_]

5 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

Unfortunately not. I can choose the preset "Silent" (Standard/Turbo/etc). But this is not as silent as I want it to be.

Ability to control fans won't make it more silent, only changing the cpu cooler will.

6 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

Good Sound Cards are expensive.

Not really, get an usb one if you like, it will be better than your current one.

 

7 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

And I don't want to block the fans of my GPU, as the M-ATX Board is not very big...

That's a non issue.

 

[Rukjor]

1 minute ago, noxdeouroboros said:

Ability to control fans won't make it more silent, only changing the cpu cooler will.

Already got a big be quiet cooler for the CPU. My Chassis Cooler are the "problem". And these are already very good ones from "EKL". I can hear the air streaming... if you know what I mean   The cooler themselfs are silent.

1 minute ago, noxdeouroboros said:

Not really, get an usb one if you like, it will be better than your current one.

I don't want to.

1 minute ago, noxdeouroboros said:

 

That's a non issue.

 

For me it is.

 

[nox_]

 

Just now, Rukjor said:

For me it is.

Why? It's not an issue. It won't block anything.

[nox_]

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-LGA1151-Motherboard-PRIME-B360M/dp/B07BP6RGG6?th=1

Should fit your needs.

[Jurrunio]

29 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

This should be enough, to get a decent 1151 Mainboard. Or am I wrong?

If PCPP is correct, then no.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#sort=price&c=129,136,130,134,128,135

Other countries using euros will have even worse pricing

 

29 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

Good Sound Cards are expensive. And I don't want to block the fans of my GPU, as the M-ATX Board is not very big...

Your current board has ALC887 codec, boards below 120 EUR either use the same codec or the ALC892 which is just a slight upgrade to the 887. Of course there's more than the codec that makes the audio good, but then there wont be any guarantees when even a better codec that's already used on high end boards not making into a lower end one. What old board did you have? Maybe that's a high end board with say an ALC1220 and extra effort to the audio section.

 

and if you get a good sound card, you dont need to worry about audio of any board no matter how crap it is.

 

Or you could get a graphics card and use the audio codec on that, but that's pointless for a office work machine

 

29 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

Unfortunately not. I can choose the preset "Silent" (Standard/Turbo/etc). But this is not as silent as I want it to be.

There are low speed or low noise adapter for fans you could buy for maybe 3-5 euros each

[Rukjor]

17 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

If PCPP is correct, then no.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#sort=price&c=129,136,130,134,128,135

Other countries using euros will have even worse pricing

I see... Maybe I should not invest any more money on this and go for a Ryzen 3600 instead.

Because I also have a second PC with an ASUS AM4 Mainboard, for GPU testing and Benchmarking fun (I collect old Dual GPU Cards, which are very cheap here). It is an ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS.
Maybe you can tell me something about the audio coding here?

It only got a Ryzen 1200 (which I could use for the BIOS Update).

But I checked the prices:
New Ryzen 3600 > 160 EUR

Used i5 8400 > 100 EUR

Used ASUS B360M-C > 40 EUR

So I could sell the i5 + Mobo and get a Ryzen 3600.

And use the 2666 DDR4. I know 3200/3600 MHz would be better, but I can still change the RAM later.
My be quiet Cooler also fits on AM4.

What do you think?

I would use my old i7 combo for the Benchmarking fun, after changing the systems.

Quote

 

Your current board has ALC887 codec, boards below 120 EUR either use the same codec or the ALC892 which is just a slight upgrade to the 887. Of course there's more than the codec that makes the audio good, but then there wont be any guarantees when even a better codec that's already used on high end boards not making into a lower end one. What old board did you have? Maybe that's a high end board with say an ALC1220 and extra effort to the audio section.

 

 

I used a MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Mainboard. Which got a nice Sound Chip. "Sound Blaster Cinema"
I never cared about it, but now I miss it.
But I don't know anything about Audio Codec... to be absolutely honest.

Thanks for your help so far!
Also noxdeouroboros 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Rukjor

[nox_]

11 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

Also noxdeouroboros 

So in your mind having an audio card below your gpu in matx board will block airflow to your gpu? That's simply not an issue. Won't block anything in any way.

@Jurrunio Am I wrong here?

[Rukjor]

3 minutes ago, noxdeouroboros said:

So in your mind having an audio card below your gpu in matx board will block airflow to your gpu? That's simply not an issue. Won't block anything in any way.

@Jurrunio Am I wrong here?

Sorry, I will say it more clearly: I Don't want any Audio Card.
This is not an option for me. But thank you for this idea.

So I will get a new Mobo or change the system completely to a Ryzen Combo. 
As written before.

[Jurrunio]

17 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

It is an ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS.
Maybe you can tell me something about the audio coding here?

It's the same thing as the B360M-C, does it actually sound better?

 

graphics card is always an option for audio, if it turns out to be equally bad

 

18 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

I used a MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Mainboard. Which got a nice Sound Chip. "Sound Blaster Cinema"
I never cared about it, but now I miss it.
But I don't know anything about Audio Codec... to be absolutely honest.

ALC1150, previous gen high end stuff that's not a separate card.

 

7 minutes ago, noxdeouroboros said:

So in your mind having an audio card below your gpu in matx board will block airflow to your gpu? That's simply not an issue. Won't block anything in any way.

@Jurrunio Am I wrong here?

That depends on the cards used, on the B360M-C though the two PCIe x1 slots are too close or under a 2 slot card while the PCIe x4 slot could get in the way of the front panel headers.

 

and also cost, maybe good audio is not necessary as long as it's not bad as this board has.

[nox_]

4 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

That depends on the cards used, on the B360M-C though the two PCIe x1 slots are too close or under a 2 slot card while the PCIe x4 slot could get in the way of the front panel headers.

But could it block airflow to the gpu in any significant way?

[Rukjor]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

It's the same thing as the B360M-C, does it actually sound better?

I don't even know, if the sound works on this Board  I never attached anything, because I didn't need any sound while Benchmarking.
But I will just check it.

Maybe it got better isolation or I don't know.
I am a rookie in Audio Stuff.

So... if I like the Sound on my ASUS AM4 Board.
Should I go for the Ryzen 3600? Because it got more power.

And selling the Ryzen 1200, i5 8400 and ASUS B360M would bring me enough money...

[Jurrunio]

16 minutes ago, noxdeouroboros said:

But could it block airflow to the gpu in any significant way?

If it's tall enough it could block the left fan of say, a reference 20 series video card. If the card only has 1 fan, then that's done for.

[Jurrunio]

16 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

So... if I like the Sound on my ASUS AM4 Board.
Should I go for the Ryzen 3600? Because it got more power.

For gaming yes, for office work I doubt you'll need anything more than the 1200 really

[Rukjor]

1 hour ago, Rukjor said:

I noticed it is even better than my old i7 4770.

So I changed the Mainboard, CPU and RAM in my main gaming Rig.

It is for my gaming Rig

Thank you both a lot!

I will check the Sound.

[Rukjor]

The sound of the ASUS Am4 Board is okay.
Maybe I'm imagining things... But I will be fine using this one.

I just got a used Ryzen 5 3600 for 120 EUR on ebay !!
Very very nice. A 1151 Mobo would have cost me about the same.

So... I will pull out the i5 8400 again and sell it.

 

Thank you again, for your help!