Is it worth spending between $250 and $350 on a motherboard?

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16bit

16bit

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Oct 6, 2013
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I am going to be building a pc with its primary uses being number one gaming then adobe creative suite primarily photoshop. I have decided I will most likely go with the i7 4770k I was wondering if its worth it to drop $250-350 on a lga 1150 motherboard?

 
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Tradesman1
I think so, it's what I decided on and I love it, It's my primary work station and I also use it to test components for new builds, upgrades and repair rigs, haven't come across anything yet that won't run nicely with it, in it's normal set up I run 32GB of 2666 and have it OCed to 4.6...24/7...
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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If you like the looks of the Formula, check the Asus Hero, very little difference other than the Armor, and built in goodies the Formula has for mobo water cooling....and just slightly more than the Pro, It's the one I decided on after about 20 assorted builds, OCs well, runs cool, good BIOS and takes everything I throw at it, which is a lot, I use it to test components for builds, upgrades and repairs, so it's seen a lot of different things and nothing phases it, run my at 4.6 with 32GB of 2666 Tridents
 
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16bit

16bit

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Oct 6, 2013
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If you had 350 bucks to blow on a mobo would you or is it sill mostly a waste and mostly for show in your opinion?
 
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16bit

16bit

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Oct 6, 2013
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If I have the money would you recommend I get the hero over the formula?
 
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patrick47018

patrick47018

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Jan 14, 2013
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"IF" I had 350 bucks to blow on a motherboard, I wouldn't mind having a premium mobo, then I'd have bragging rights
 
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DarkSable

DarkSable

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Sep 27, 2012
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I personally still wouldn't waste the money there. I would much rather buy a $200 MAX (and that's if you're buying a more expensive small form factor) motherboard and spend the extra $150 on my watercooling loop, getting 8 more USB 3.0 ports, downsizing to laptop hard drives in raid... I could think of a lot of ways that I would rather spend $150 than on a prettier motherboard, and as soon as you have the computer, you'll have it too.

Bear in mind as well that the motherboard, CPU, and graphics card are going to be replaced quicker than any other part in your computer, unless something fails. It doesn't make sense to spend more money on virtually nothing but aesthetics rather than gaining a practical benefit that'll last way longer.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
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I went through about 20 builds before deciding on the Hero, I think it's about the best Z87 out there, and the people that have picked it up seem to feel the same from the reviews at the Egg, it did have the most as well as about a 75% 5 Egg rating, hard to argue with that
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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The Plus is another good mobo, then the Rock, MSI I won't touch for client builds, poor QC, the OC Formula is a good mobo - if wanting like triple SLI, though if looking at that ought to go Z&( that can handle more PCI-E lanes and get your moneys worth out of the GPUs
 
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16bit

16bit

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Oct 6, 2013
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Most likely I won't do more than a duel crossfire or sli It might be nice to have to the option of an extra pcie 16.

Do you think there are any other boards I should consider?
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
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I think so, it's what I decided on and I love it, It's my primary work station and I also use it to test components for new builds, upgrades and repair rigs, haven't come across anything yet that won't run nicely with it, in it's normal set up I run 32GB of 2666 and have it OCed to 4.6...24/7...
 
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16bit

16bit

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Oct 6, 2013
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Thank you so much for all your help.

Is your cpu the 4770k?
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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I OC everything, my one son is running a Q6600 (2.4 stock) from 2007 at 3.6 as a server at his place, my other son is running my Q9650 at 4.0 GHz as a secondary gaming rig and workstation, my 2500K is running 24/7 at 4.8, my 3570K runs 24/7 at 4.7 and none have failed yet....want good cooling (all are on air, not that big a fan of Liquid cooling), and a good setup, lowest voltages while maintaining stability, good components and rigs will run till they are to slow for you, thinking of giving my 2500K to one of the kids, (and I'm sure they pass their old one to someone)
 
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16bit

16bit

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Oct 6, 2013
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How do you feel about self contained liquid coolers like the corsair h100i or h110?
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
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I don't use them, have yet to have a need for one on my builds for myself and family, if clients want LC, I offer them a screwdriver ;) I'm long past building anything someone wants, I don't do liquid (had a couple clients screw around with LC builds and ruin them) and I only build Intel on Asus, the Rock and GB mobos,,, if some one wants to insist on LC I send them to another guy I know, or if they want to build on MSI, BioStar or the like, I'll basically tell them good luck, don't know any local builders that build on those....it's a bit of a kick in the butt to pass up an easy C-Note but it's not worth the problems I might likely encounter and have to deal with
 
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