Debating switching fanboyism....

[SteveGrabowski0]

Have some free time today, looking at motherboards. I think this has been covered at some point.. but.. .

 

Im having a lot of trouble picking out a motherboard. Part of my problem is I'm really picky with my colors. Has to be blue/black.. that being said, I dont know whats too much when it comes to buying on. I figure, somewhere in the neighorhood of $80-$100 should be plenty for a motherboard. Doesn't have to be crazy, or support huge amounts of overclocking or anything like that. I wont be OCing a cpu that much anyways. Maybe a little bit, but nothing any decent motherboard cant handle. SLI/Crossfire support is a must(not not, but for future upgrades) but again i think any decent quality motherboard can do that just fine. Also, hows Asrock as a brand? I dont really hear much of anything about them. They look like they have some solid choices in my price poing (minus the board that has a 4pin molex in the middle of the board, and what looks like front pin headers in the same place on a different one). 

 

What are some good choices in that price point that dont go over the top with features i dont need, but still offer enough to be 'high end'?

 

I wouldn't buy a 980 and I especially wouldn't consider SLI 980 when 16 nm gpus are coming in 2016. R9 390 and GTX 970 are at least somewhat reasonably priced while offering most of the performance of a GTX 980.

 

 

But the drop to 16 nm might end up giving us enormous gains in performance like the drop to 28 nm did with the GeForce 600 series a few years ago.

[App4that]

I wouldn't buy a 980 and I especially wouldn't consider SLI 980 when 16 nm gpus are coming in 2016. R9 390 and GTX 970 are at least somewhat reasonably priced while offering most of the performance of a GTX 980.

 

 

But the drop to 16 nm might end up giving us enormous gains in performance like the drop to 28 nm did with the GeForce 600 series a few years ago.

What is that graph of, I need to know which bull shit card to use.

[SteveGrabowski0]

What is that graph of, I need to know which bull shit card to use.

 

It's from TechPowerup's review of the PowerColor PCS+ R9 390.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/R9_390_PCS_Plus/30.html

 

The 390 is probably getting raped by Project CARS in that summary over 22 games, that game hates AMD gpus.

[N3rot0xin]

You're looking at a retail of 160us for the board you want, not including sales. Sorry, but if you go cheaper you're giving something up in return. I'd look for sales and worry less about aesthetics. Your GPU covers up most of the board anyway.

And build an ugly looking computer? I'll do no such thing! My computer i have now is decent looking, want to one-up it. I guess it doens't have to be blue and black.. because only a small handul of GPUs would match that. And nothing less then $160? The board i have now retails for around $100, and it can do pretty much everything i need. Overclocks just fine, can support multi-gpus. I dont think there's any benefit to buying a more expensive board "just because". The One I have now.

 

I wouldn't buy a 980 and I especially wouldn't consider SLI 980 when 16 nm gpus are coming in 2016. R9 390 and GTX 970 are at least somewhat reasonably priced while offering most of the performance of a GTX 980.

 

-snip-

 

But the drop to 16 nm might end up giving us enormous gains in performance like the drop to 28 nm did with the GeForce 600 series a few years ago.

And those new gpus will probably be expensive for a high end one right? The only benefit to waiting for me is that the current gen will be cheaper. Still, I'm either gunna buy a 980 or 390x. Probably a 390x. 

[App4that]

It's from TechPowerup's review of the PowerColor PCS+ R9 390.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/R9_390_PCS_Plus/30.html

Ah, old bullshit. Got it, it's from July of 2015. And is horrible, and should feel bad.

[SteveGrabowski0]

Ah, old bullshit. Got it, it's from July of 2015. And is horrible, and should feel bad.

 

They should really pull Project CARS out of their testsuite, it's the big outlier that drags AMD cards down.

[App4that]

And build an ugly looking computer? I'll do no such thing! My computer i have now is decent looking, want to one-up it. I guess it doens't have to be blue and black.. because only a small handul of GPUs would match that. And nothing less then $160? The board i have now retails for around $100, and it can do pretty much everything i need. Overclocks just fine, can support multi-gpus. I dont think there's any benefit to buying a more expensive board "just because". The One I have now.

 

 

A black motherboard lets the rest of the colors jump out better. Pay no attention to the cable management, I took this before it was fixed, really need to update this. My motherboard cost 165us retail, I got it for 119us on sale. I wasn't saying to spend 160us, but to shop smart.

 

[don_svetlio]

A black motherboard lets the rest of the colors jump out better. Pay no attention to the cable management, I took this before it was fixed, really need to update this. My motherboard cost 165us retail, I got it for 119us on sale. I wasn't saying to spend 160us, but to shop smart.

 

Vapor-X be sexy

[SteveGrabowski0]

And build an ugly looking computer? I'll do no such thing! My computer i have now is decent looking, want to one-up it. I guess it doens't have to be blue and black.. because only a small handul of GPUs would match that. And nothing less then $160? The board i have now retails for around $100, and it can do pretty much everything i need. Overclocks just fine, can support multi-gpus. I dont think there's any benefit to buying a more expensive board "just because". The One I have now.

 

And those new gpus will probably be expensive for a high end one right? The only benefit to waiting for me is that the current gen will be cheaper. Still, I'm either gunna buy a 980 or 390x. Probably a 390x. 

 

The $300 GTX 660 Ti beat the $500 GTX 580 last time there was a node shrink (from 40 nm to 28 nm, this one will be 28 nm to 16 nm).

 

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/767?vs=860

 

And honestly, the GTX 580 wasn't the GTX 980 equivalent of the era; it was the GTX 980 Ti / Titan X equivalent. The node shrink from 40 nm to 28 nm made such a huge performance difference Nvidia stopped naming their high end chips 80, and started naming them Titan / 80 Ti. The GTX 680 was supposed to originally be called GTX 670 Ti.

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/162901/did-nvidia-originally-intend-to-call-gtx-680-as-gtx-670-ti.html

[N3rot0xin]

Your build looks a lot like mine actually, an all black mobo always looks good! Nice build tho, pics of cable management?

 

I must've misunderstood what you meant by that price point too, my mistake. I was just looking for what things to avoid ina mobo like red flags. 

[VagabondWraith]

And build an ugly looking computer? I'll do no such thing! My computer i have now is decent looking, want to one-up it. I guess it doens't have to be blue and black.. because only a small handul of GPUs would match that. And nothing less then $160? The board i have now retails for around $100, and it can do pretty much everything i need. Overclocks just fine, can support multi-gpus. I dont think there's any benefit to buying a more expensive board "just because". The One I have now.

And those new gpus will probably be expensive for a high end one right? The only benefit to waiting for me is that the current gen will be cheaper. Still, I'm either gunna buy a 980 or 390x. Probably a 390x.

Between those 2, get the 390X. $70 cheaper for almost the same performance. AMD has simply locked down the mid/ upper midrange market.

[VagabondWraith]

wrong post

[don_svetlio]

Vapor-X be sexy[/quote

What case is that? Looks like my 760T.

why quote me?

[VagabondWraith]

A black motherboard lets the rest of the colors jump out better. Pay no attention to the cable management, I took this before it was fixed, really need to update this. My motherboard cost 165us retail, I got it for 119us on sale. I wasn't saying to spend 160us, but to shop smart.

What case is that? Looks like my 760T

[SteveGrabowski0]

Hell, the $230 GTX 660 was comparable to the $500 GTX 580 after the node shrink.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/767?vs=783

[VagabondWraith]

why quote me?

Sorry, wrong person.

[don_svetlio]

Hell, the $230 GTX 660 was comparable to the $500 GTX 580 after the node shrink.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/767?vs=783

look at the 5870 - it was outperforming dual GPUs (was the shrink from 65 to 40 I believe)

[App4that]

Your build looks a lot like mine actually, an all black mobo always looks good! Nice build tho, pics of cable management?

 

I must've misunderstood what you meant by that price point too, my mistake. I was just looking for what things to avoid ina mobo like red flags. 

Ah, my bad then. I've had a horrible experience customer service wise with Gigabyte, but the board itself is a tank. I don't think you can get one build any better for the money, just don't expect anything good to happen if you ever have to contact Gigabyte. Make sure it's M.2 ready as that's going to be a thing. Look for where the SATA ports are. Keep an eye on fan connectors for both number of and location. Oh, and USB 3.0, make sure it's got a TON of them.

[SteveGrabowski0]

look at the 5870 - it was outperforming dual GPUs (was the shrink from 65 to 40 I believe)

 

Yeah, node shrinks can be huge for turning your expensive gpu into a dinosaur overnight. That's one big reason I think the only gaming GPUs that make much sense with an i5 or better right now at 1080p are the 380/970/390. GPUs are never very future proof, but especially not right now with the big node shrink around the corner. Can you imagine how pissed you would have been to buy a GTX 580 a few months before the 600 series came out and have it trading blows with their $230 lower midrange card?

[don_svetlio]

Yeah, node shrinks can be huge for turning your expensive gpu into a dinosaur overnight. That's one big reason I think the only gaming GPUs that make much sense with an i5 or better right now at 1080p are the 380/970/390. GPUs are never very future proof, but especially not right now with the big node shrink around the corner. Can you imagine how pissed you would have been to buy a GTX 580 a few months before the 600 series came out and have it trading blows with their $230 lower midrange card?

a GTX 570 performs the same or worse than a 965M lol

580 loses to a 970M

[SteveGrabowski0]

Ah, my bad then. I've had a horrible experience customer service wise with Gigabyte, but the board itself is a tank. I don't think you can get one build any better for the money, just don't expect anything good to happen if you ever have to contact Gigabyte. Make sure it's M.2 ready as that's going to be a thing. Look for where the SATA ports are. Keep an eye on fan connectors for both number of and location. Oh, and USB 3.0, make sure it's got a TON of them.

 

Sad that Asus is supposed to be even worse. Gotta say MSI is about the only good looking board manufacturer right now with AsRock having a bad customer support reputation forever (they were once part of Asus after all).

[App4that]

Sad that Asus is supposed to be even worse. Gotta say MSI is about the only good looking board manufacturer right now with AsRock having a bad customer support reputation forever (they were once part of Asus after all).

My next motherboard will be MSI for sure, even if I have to spend more.

[N3rot0xin]

I like how this thread went from motherboards to 2-3 generations old GPUs. Obviously a die shrink will bring better performance. But cost wise out of the gate, not an option for me. Id like to still get a 980, because the OC headroom would probably be a bit higher considering the 390x is basically an OC'd 290x with little room left. Which brings me to my next consideration, 

 

4690k vs 4790k for being roughly $100 cheaper, (ref: Newegg.) Will i really miss hyper threading if all i'll be doing is gaming primarily? That extra $100 could be put to something else in the build. 

[Dabombinable]

I like how this thread went from motherboards to 2-3 generations old GPUs. Obviously a die shrink will bring better performance. But cost wise out of the gate, not an option for me. Id like to still get a 980, because the OC headroom would probably be a bit higher considering the 390x is basically an OC'd 290x with little room left. Which brings me to my next consideration, 

 

4690k vs 4790k for being roughly $100 cheaper, (ref: Newegg.) Will i really miss hyper threading if all i'll be doing is gaming primarily? That extra $100 could be put to something else in the build. 

The 4790K will be relevant for longer, just price the parts around the 4690K, then do the same for the 4790K and compare the resulting builds.

[App4that]

Though the performance is roughly the same between the 200 series and 300 series, don't be fooled into thinking they're the same card. I have a 290 and 390 and spent a month testing and inspecting, two completely different cards with similar chips. Saying the 2390 is an overclocked 290 would be like saying the 970 is a 390 because the fps performance is similar.

 

Oh, and my 4690k is a beast. A fucking beast. 4690k for the win