2 motherboards enter only 1 leaves! FIGHT!

[LukaH]

Hello everybody!

 

So my moms laptop died today sad story short i will be building her an ITX system. I have chosen everything except I cant really decide what motherboard i should get. it has come down to these two boards:

 

the ASRock H170M-ITX/ac

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H170M-ITXac/

with

G.Skill F4-2133C15D-8GRR 8GB

      - and -

the MSi B150I GAMING PRO AC

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B150I-GAMING-PRO-AC.html#hero-specification

with

CORSAIR Vengeance LPX CMK8GX4M2B3000C15 8GB

 

from what i can tell the ASRock should be the better option sporting the H170 chipset, while the MSi has the GAMING branding which should make it 10x as fast (that is how it works right?). Wi-Fi is the only MUST HAVE feature and ill be installing an Intel i5 6400 CPU.

 

Thanks for the help guys. 

[79wjd]

they're both equally good. Get whichever has the features/layout/aesthetics/price you want. The motherboard you choose really makes no difference, literally any/all LGA1151 boards (from asus, msi, gigabyte, or asrock) are good. 

[TheGhzGuy]

2 minutes ago, LukaH said:

Hello everybody!

 

So my moms laptop died today sad story short i will be building her an ITX system. I have chosen everything except I cant really decide what motherboard i should get. it has come down to these two boards:

 

the ASRock H170M-ITX/ac

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H170M-ITXac/

with

G.Skill F4-2133C15D-8GRR 8GB

      - and -

the MSi B150I GAMING PRO AC

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B150I-GAMING-PRO-AC.html#hero-specification

with

CORSAIR Vengeance LPX CMK8GX4M2B3000C15 8GB

 

from what i can tell the ASRock should be the better option sporting the H170 chipset, while the MSi has the GAMING branding which should make it 10x as fast (that is how it works right?). Wi-Fi is the only MUST HAVE feature and ill be installing an Intel i5 6400 CPU.

 

Thanks for the help guys. 

They're pretty much the same. However, the ASRock has two Ethernet ports, if that's any use to you.

[LukaH]

3 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

they're both equally good. Get whichever has the features/layout/aesthetics/price you want. The motherboard you choose really makes no difference, literally any/all LGA1151 boards (from asus, msi, gigabyte, or asrock) are good. 

any word which bios is more user friendly?

[79wjd]

Just now, LukaH said:

any word which bios is more user friendly?

They're both good. 

[LukaH]

ok tnx guys ASRock it is then. The msi board is 6€ cheaper but after ram the ASRock wins by 4€

 

 

[zMeul]

if you plan to use WiFi a lot go with the MSi, it has an Intel WiFi chipset

the WiFi on the AsRock is RealTek 

[LukaH]

7 minutes ago, zMeul said:

if you plan to use WiFi a lot go with the MSi, it has an Intel WiFi chipset

the WiFi on the AsRock is RealTek 

any reason to avoid realtek?

[79wjd]

1 hour ago, LukaH said:

any reason to avoid realtek?

Technically Intel NICs have fewer driver issues, but to be honest, anything is really fine these days. 

[NumLock21]

1 hour ago, LukaH said:

any reason to avoid realtek?

Get the Asrock one, the wifi card can be changed if you decided to change it, as the they're using standard antennas. MSI on the other hand, can't see well from that pic, looks like the antenna are soldered to the wifi card.

Might want to check out other itx boards before making a purchase. Most basic ones will have just 2 fan connectors. 1 for CPU and the other for a case fan. Planning to install more case fans, then look for those that have at least 3 fan connectors or more.

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

Get the Asrock one, the wifi card can be changed if you decided to change it, as the they're using standard antennas. MSI on the other hand, can't see well from that pic, looks like the antenna are soldered to the wifi card.

Might want to check out other itx boards before making a purchase. Most basic ones will have just 2 fan connectors. 1 for CPU and the other for a case fan. Planning to install more case fans, then look for those that have at least 3 fan connectors or more.

A fan splitter is like $5, I wouldn't base my decision on fan headers. 

[NumLock21]

19 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

A fan splitter is like $5, I wouldn't base my decision on fan headers. 

From PCPP Asrock cost $98 and MSI cost $107. The MSI says OP is willing to spend the extra if the MSI is a better board. This Gigabyte one cost $103 and has 3 fan connectors.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5639#ov

[LukaH]

thanks for the extra input

 

i ordered the asrock board and owning a couple of noctua fans i have fan splitters for days