Motherboard Help

[01eggy10]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and i am looking for some help choosing a motherboard. I am looking toward the Gigabyte Z77-ud4h or the new MSI Z77-gd65 gaming motherboard. I am leaning toward the MSI one. If one could that owns either one or knows info about either one could help me pick. Or if anyone else has a motherboard that they would recommend in that price range....like $180.

Thanks for the help.

[Leonard]

I personally prefer ASUS motherboards and i would recomend the ASUS P8Z77 - V or P8Z77 - V PRO.

[Guest]

What CPU are you looking at using?

[01eggy10]

The i5-3570K Ivy Bridge.

[killerx525]

Well whatever that matches your colour scheme.

[01eggy10]

I was looking at the Asus P8Z77-V and LK and LE version, but they don't seem as good as the two boards I have in features and reviews. The PRO version is just a little to much.

Thanks for your help Leonard.

[01eggy10]

Well whatever that matches your colour scheme.

That is important point, but I don't think it is the most important and I could make either one work. Haha

[killerx525]

Well i suppose the MSI has a better NIC and can support ram speed up to 3000mhz.

[01eggy10]

Well i suppose the MSI has a better NIC and can support ram speed up to 3000mhz.

True, and I dont think to many people will have that kind of ram, but I guess better safe than sorry.

[killerx525]

Those were the only notable features I could find over the Gigabyte board.

[mgsstar]

I would get the MSI Z77-GD65 gaming and it has Killer NIC which allows your to manage your applications' bandwidth in order to get the best speed for your games.

[Acefire]

That bloatware that comes with the gd65 gaming is pretty close to useless. Just get the regular gd65 if your looking at msi mobos. 

 

Will you be overclocking?

 

And actually could you include your total budget for the build, as we may be able to help more than just mobo recommendations. 

[amintha1992]

i prefer a ASUS P8Z77 - V pro or non pro. they are awesome overclockers and both are solid boards. both have intel NICs and uses the same specifications that intel specifies for the next gen CPUs. for example the RAM traces 

 

so if these boards go with your builds colors then get it. if you dont like the multi-color PCI and PCIe slots get a Black marker and some patients. that is what i did.

[01eggy10]

That bloatware that comes with the gd65 gaming is pretty close to useless. Just get the regular gd65 if your looking at msi mobos. 

 

Will you be overclocking?

 

And actually could you include your total budget for the build, as we may be able to help more than just mobo recommendations.

Me budget is around $800. I am getting the Corsair Vengeance 2x4gb RAM, EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB, Intel i5-3570K processor. I am not changing those no matter what. Also i am not planning overclocking, but using the Turbo on the processor. I do like the design of the msi gaming one, but that isn't the most thing to me. I just want to get the best one i can for my price range. I reason i am leaning toward this gigabyte and msi gaming because newegg has nice combos for them right now. Saving $55 - $60..

[01eggy10]

I would get the MSI Z77-GD65 gaming and it has Killer NIC which allows your to manage your applications' bandwidth in order to get the best speed for your games.

I saw that and liked it.

Techpowerup gave it a 9.4 and he really loved the board, so that is why i think it would be a nice board.

I also have a big window in my case so i want a nice looking board, but most do look pretty nice.

[Acefire]

650ti is really under-powered for a $800 build. Just bullt my buddy a $800 rig with a 7870xt in it. And since your not overclocking you shouldn't even be looking at these motherboards. Just get the cheapest one possible by a preferable brand and call it a day. These boards have all this extra vrms and stuff for overclocking, which you won't see any benefit from. 

 

Are you planning to SLI in the future? Maybe look for pcie lanes. ETC..... 

[01eggy10]

650ti is really underpowered for a $800 build. Just bullt my buddy a $800 rig with a 7870xt in it.

Not sure if still makes a difference but i meant $700 with case and everything else, and it is not the best but it is go enough for me for now.

Nice set up buy the way.

[01eggy10]

What about the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H. Looks like a really nice board and in my budget.

This it worth the extra money from the Gigabyte z77x-ud4h because i also save $60 with the processor combo on newegg. So it is a $75 difference. It is also $50 difference with the msi one because it has a combo also.

[01eggy10]

The reason i dont think i am overclocking is because i heard that it is hard to do so. Although if it isn't hard i will overclock

[01eggy10]

Or the plain MSI Z77-gd65. And is the bios like on gigabyte and msi.

[mgsstar]

Or the plain MSI Z77-gd65. And is the bios like on gigabyte and msi.

Get the original GD65 if you don't want to get the looks and the gaming features like the Killer NIC and compatibility up to 3000mhz ram. The user interface for the bios is different than the interface of Gigabyte's.

[Acefire]

Overclocking is fairly simple, especially with all the in depth overclocking guides available today. I would say if you are not going to overclock go with the cheaper one, but if you are going to try the more expensive ones. With that said, I have achieved decent overclocks on cheap motherboards quite often. 

[01eggy10]

So i am going with the MSI Z77-GD65 (not the gaming one) or the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H. They both seem like great boards, but which one do you think is better.

Plan on overclocking some.

[mgsstar]

So i am going with the MSI Z77-GD65 (not the gaming one) or the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H. They both seem like great boards, but which one do you think is better.

Plan on overclocking some.

I would go for the MSI board because I think that this board is built more for overclocking because of the OC Genie II button that is included with the motherboard.

[killerx525]

The Gigabyte would be better because it has 12 + 2 + 1 power phase compared to MSI's 10 + 1.