Buy a new Z97 Motherboard or upgrade to Skylake?

[Johnmakuta]

My motherboard is fried and I want to get my rig back up and running. I have a mid tier i5 right now and I will also be buying new ram. I was looking at it and it looks like upgrading to Skylake, with a getting a nice motherboard, will cost around $400 more than just replacing my current motherboard. Is Skylake worth it or should I stick with what I have? $400 is kind of hard to pull for me now so if I do it I will be strapped for games and other fun stuff for a while.

[Lays]

I'd just get a new board.

 

Depending on which tier you want, maybe something like a Z97 hero / SOC Force / OC Formula for mid-range stuff, lower range maybe a Z97-A or maybe Z97 Fatal1ty, it's on sale right now.

[Hackentosher]

I say stick with Z97. A lot cheaper and the performance will basically be the same

[Nonco]

Stick with Z97. Its not a big difference iirc (5-10%). Not worth $400 atleast.

[Mew]

Have you tried RMAing it first? Even if your warranty is void, the repair cost won't be more than a new board. 

[airdeano]

i like my ASUS Z97a board. intel nic, PCIe m.2, great fan curve UEFI/software.

 

no sense in draining the wallet for minimal gains, plus you already have a platform

that is near current.

[Johnmakuta]

Have you tried RMAing it first? Even if your warranty is void, the repair cost won't be more than a new board. 

I checked, the repair cost is less than buying a new board but the board was kind of crappy to begin with so I don't want to put more money into something I already want to replace.

[Imakuni]

My motherboard is fried and I want to get my rig back up and running. I have a mid tier i5 right now and I will also be buying new ram. I was looking at it and it looks like upgrading to Skylake, with a getting a nice motherboard, will cost around $400 more than just replacing my current motherboard. Is Skylake worth it or should I stick with what I have? $400 is kind of hard to pull for me now so if I do it I will be strapped for games and other fun stuff for a while.

Have you factored in the money from selling the old RAM and CPU?

 

Still, I'd just replace the mobo with another one. If you have a K CPU, get a z97 board, otherwise you'll be perfectly fine with something less expensive.