budget overclock motherboard

[budgetnewbie123]

Hey im choosing between these motherboards

pls recommend

gigabyte h81m-gaming 3 or asrock b85m pro 3 or asus h81m-series.

im using g3258

and i am planning to overclock

[OfficialJsP]

If you really want to overclock you should get a Z97 board.

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

If you really want to overclock you should get a Z97 board.

Z87 is equal to Z97... the only difference is a few sata ports

[Oshino Shinobu]

Out of those, the H81M PLUS from Asus would be my choice. 

[Mao_Zedong]

If you really want to overclock you should get a Z97 board.

When you spend that much, it's better to just get an i3.

[OfficialJsP]

Z87 is equal to Z97... the only difference is a few sata ports

 

Yes but most Z87 boards need a bios updates and prices really shouldn't be that different.

[OfficialJsP]

When you spend that much, it's better to just get an i3.

 

I know that but he wants to overclock so yeah. I am really not sure how they boards will last.

[Razarza]

Hey im choosing between these motherboards

pls recommend

gigabyte h81m-gaming 3 or asrock b85m pro 3 or asus h81m-series.

im using g3258

and i am planning to overclock

 

 

When you spend that much, it's better to just get an i3.

G3258 + Z97 = $150USD

4160 + H97 = $170USD

 

The G3258 will perform just as good in applications that only use two threads (once it is OCed similar frequencies), the i3 would start showing its advantage one you start using programs that can use 4 threads. It depends on how tight his budget is. If he wanted he could go with the i3 and a h8x board but then he may have to borrow a CPU to update the BIOS if it isn't already.

[Mao_Zedong]

G3258 + Z97 = $150USD

4160 + H97 = $170USD

 

The G3258 will perform just as good in applications that only use two threads (once it is OCed similar frequencies), the i3 would start showing its advantage one you start using programs that can use 4 threads. It depends on how tight his budget is. If he wanted he could go with the i3 and a h8x board but then he may have to borrow a CPU to update the BIOS if it isn't already.

Not all haswell i3s are from the refresh. 99% over motherboards will support haswell refresh anyways, as it has been over a year since it launched. You can get a haswell (non-refreash) and an h81 motherboard for $150, as seen below. 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($40.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $149.98

 

The i3 will basically always perform better, even if the g3258 is overclocked, as shown here. Sometimes the g3258 performed the same, but only when the cpu wasn't a bottleneck at all. Just because hyperthreading isn't extremely important on a quad core doesn't mean the same is true for a dual core. Another point is that you need a decent cooler if you want the g3258 to overclock well, which adds $30 to that.

[Razarza]

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Another point is that you need a decent cooler if you want the g3258 to overclock well, which adds $30 to that.

I should have put more research into my post then, but I will say that you won't need an aftermarket cooler for the G3258 as you can get up to around 4Ghz on just the stock cooler.

[Mao_Zedong]

I should have put more research into my post then, but I will say that you won't need an aftermarket cooler for the G3258 as you can get up to around 4Ghz on just the stock cooler.

Yeah, I just meant that you need to if you want to go to the 4.7ghz range.