What Motherboard to Buy

[vietly23]

Hello! I'm going to buy an Intel Core i7-4790K to upgrade my computer for school (majoring in aerospace engineering). Since I'm looking to only do schoolwork, what motherboard should I buy? Should I get the new ones with the z97 chipset, or go for an older motherboard? Thanks.   

[i_build_nanosuits]

Hello! I'm going to buy an Intel Core i7-4790K to upgrade my computer for school (majoring in aerospace engineering). Since I'm looking to only do schoolwork, what motherboard should I buy? Should I get the new ones with the z97 chipset, or go for an older motherboard? Thanks.   

Yes you need a Z97 board to support this CPU out of the box, otherwise you are looking at having to flash the bios wich can turn into a major screw up and also you need a compatible cpu (older haswell) in the board in order to do the bios update...and since you have a ''K'' CPU wich means it's unlocked for overclocking, a Z97 motherboard is what you need!

 

Are you going to use dual graphics card? wan't me to suggest a good board for the price on these? Also ATX or microATX form factor?

[Wesley219]

go with the z97 chipset. In my opinion I would go with Gigabyte or Asus.

[vietly23]

Yes you need a Z97 board to support this CPU out of the box, otherwise you are looking at having to flash the bios wich can turn into a major screw up and also you need a compatible cpu (older haswell) in the board in order to do the bios update...and since you have a ''K'' CPU wich means it's unlocked for overclocking, a Z97 motherboard is what you need!

 

Are you going to use dual graphics card? wan't me to suggest a good board for the price on these? Also ATX or microATX form factor?

Yes that would be awesome if you could suggest a good board! I'm planning to use only one graphics card and would prefer ATX form factor.

[Najuno]

I would go with a Z97 chipset it isn't really worth the hustle since you build this new anyway.

 

One of the best boards out there is this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132124&cm_re=asus_sabertooth_z97-_-13-132-124-_-Product

 

I use Asus because I like them the best when it comes to mainboards, though other brands like Gigabyte or MSI are really good as well. But the Sabertooth Z97 Mark1 is for me one of its own kind and has ATX form factor.

 

Or you can look at the Asus Maximus VII Formula ( I use Mark VI and it's perfect for OCing, comes with a ton of features).

[i_build_nanosuits]

Yes that would be awesome if you could suggest a good board! I'm planning to use only one graphics card and would prefer ATX form factor.

ok so here we go!

 

This one is defenetly an awesome motherboard for the price and it does support dual graphics card if you ever wish to go SLI or crossfire down the road (you never know..)

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97g55sli

 

If you might want something cheaper but still good, won't support dual GPU but you save some $ (this BTW is basicaly the cheapest board available but it still has all the features one might want such as sata3, usb3 etc..):

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97pcmate

 

This would be the Asus one that would sit in between those two MSI boards, won't support SLI but still a great board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97kcsm

 

The next boards that i'm gonna link support dual graphics and all the features one might wan't they are awesome to overclock the CPU they are basicaly what i would consider the sweet spot if you're not too tight on budget i would defenetly consider one of those two boards or the first MSI that i linked, anything above those is just icing on the cakes and are boards i wouldnt recommend you to get because motherboard won't affect performance and past this point it's only about support 3 or 4 GPU's and looks, so here we go:

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97gaming5

 

My personnal pick if you could afford it would be the MSI Z97 Gaming 5...if you can't afford it my second choice would go to the Z97 G55 SLI.