Good Motherboard for a i5 haswell

vampyiere6 · Oct 20, 2013

I have asked many diffrent questions about amd/intel cpu's and motherboards.

Now i have made up my mind and i will go with intel i5-4670k instead of the fx-8350, As i will get better performance in alot of games and will most likley last for a couple of years.

Now i want a good motherboard for the intel lga 1150 socket, that will overclock good, be able to suport multi gpu sli/crossfire. and overall have all the extrea features, as i am very happy with my mobo i have atm for amd i want something simmilar i guess as it is a very good board.

And that all my other commponents will work good wit hthe new mobo.

So i am open to suggestions what mobo you think is good and so i would say my budget would be about 300$ for a mobo. Dosent have to be the highest priced one aslong its good and fill my needs.

Spec:

cpu: amd fx-4100 OC 4,2 Ghz
mobo: asus m5a99x evo
ram: kingston 16gb 1333 mhz 4x4 gb sticks
gpu: Gigabyte radeon HD 7970 oc 1000 mhz
storage: 120 gb ssd 60x2 ocz and 1tb normal hdd
cooler: antec kuhler 620
case: fractal design core 3000
psu: 730w thermaltake SP-730AH2NH
optical drive: LG bluray station
fan controller: Lamptron Fan Controller FC5 V2

aznricepuff · Oct 20, 2013

Asus Maximus VI Hero

The above is a good motherboard for overclocking. Also supports SLI and crossfire.

vampyiere6 · Oct 20, 2013

aznricepuff :

Thx It looks really good.

If you would suggest a gigabyte lga 1150 haswell motherboard, what one would you suggest. just thinking about gigabyte because it would match my blue colour of rest of my system haha. but will most likley go with the asus you suggested, heard asus make the best mobos.

geofelt · Oct 20, 2013

Any Z87 based motherboard will perform about the same, and allow a similarly high overclock. A budget of $150 or so should be plenty.
I think you will do fine with your 4 sticks of 13333 ram, assuming they are compatible. Intel is not sensitive to ram speeds. Try them first.
If you do need replacement ram, look for 2 x 8gb kit. It is easier to oc with fewer ram sticks.
Do not pay much extra for an enthusiast motherboard unless it has a specific feature that you need.

Unless you are planning on triple monitor gaming, or 4k monitors, I might avoid planning for crossfire/sli.
Here is my canned rant on planning for dual cards:
-----------------------------Start of rant----------------------------------------------------
Dual graphics cards vs. a good single card.

a) How good do you really need to be?
A single GTX650/ti or 7770 can give you good performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.

A single GTX660 or 7850 will give you excellent performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
Even 2560 x 1600 will be good with lowered detail.
A single gtx690 or 7990 is about as good as it gets.

Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming, then sli/cf will be needed.
Even that is now changing with triple monitor support on top end cards.

b) The costs for a single card are lower.
You require a less expensive motherboard; no need for sli/cf or multiple pci-e slots.
Even a ITX motherboard will do.

Your psu costs are less.
A GTX660 needs a 430w psu, even a GTX780 only needs a 575w psu.
When you add another card to the mix, plan on adding 150-200w to your psu requirements.

Even the most power hungry GTX690 only needs 620w, or a 7990 needs 700w.

Case cooling becomes more of an issue with dual cards.
That means a more expensive case with more and stronger fans.
You will also look at more noise.

c) Dual cards do not always render their half of the display in sync, causing microstuttering. It is an annoying effect.
The benefit of higher benchmark fps can be offset, particularly with lower tier cards.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

d) dual card support is dependent on the driver. Not all games can benefit from dual cards.

e) cf/sli up front reduces your option to get another card for an upgrade. Not that I suggest you plan for that.
It will often be the case that replacing your current card with a newer gen card will offer a better upgrade path.
The Maxwell and amd 8000 or 9000 series are due next year.
-------------------------------End of rant-----------------------------------------------------------

vampyiere6 · Oct 20, 2013

geofelt :

Any Z87 based motherboard will perform about the same, and allow a similarly high overclock. A budget of $150 or so should be plenty.
I think you will do fine with your 4 sticks of 13333 ram, assuming they are compatible. Intel is not sensitive to ram speeds. Try them first.
If you do need replacement ram, look for 2 x 8gb kit. It is easier to oc with fewer ram sticks.
Do not pay much extra for an enthusiast motherboard unless it has a specific feature that you need.

Unless you are planning on triple monitor gaming, or 4k monitors, I might avoid planning for crossfire/sli.
Here is my canned rant on planning for dual cards:
-----------------------------Start of rant----------------------------------------------------
Dual graphics cards vs. a good single card.

a) How good do you really need to be?
A single GTX650/ti or 7770 can give you good performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.

A single GTX660 or 7850 will give you excellent performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
Even 2560 x 1600 will be good with lowered detail.
A single gtx690 or 7990 is about as good as it gets.

Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming, then sli/cf will be needed.
Even that is now changing with triple monitor support on top end cards.

b) The costs for a single card are lower.
You require a less expensive motherboard; no need for sli/cf or multiple pci-e slots.
Even a ITX motherboard will do.

Your psu costs are less.
A GTX660 needs a 430w psu, even a GTX780 only needs a 575w psu.
When you add another card to the mix, plan on adding 150-200w to your psu requirements.

Even the most power hungry GTX690 only needs 620w, or a 7990 needs 700w.

Case cooling becomes more of an issue with dual cards.
That means a more expensive case with more and stronger fans.
You will also look at more noise.

c) Dual cards do not always render their half of the display in sync, causing microstuttering. It is an annoying effect.
The benefit of higher benchmark fps can be offset, particularly with lower tier cards.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

d) dual card support is dependent on the driver. Not all games can benefit from dual cards.

e) cf/sli up front reduces your option to get another card for an upgrade. Not that I suggest you plan for that.
It will often be the case that replacing your current card with a newer gen card will offer a better upgrade path.
The Maxwell and amd 8000 or 9000 series are due next year.
-------------------------------End of rant-----------------------------------------------------------

Thx for that it was very informative, i will maybe go tripple monitors later that im not sure about yet as i am happy with my asus full hd 27" screen atm. And will maybe later get a r9-280x to add to my gigabyte 7970 just for better fps. But my biggest problem is my fx-4100 cpu as it bottlenecks me and dosent work that good in new demanding games, which why im going intel.

And should not like almost all ddr3 ram work with all new mobos?

and what mobo if you have to pick one or three so what ones would you suggest? as i have read that Asus makes the best mobos.

aznricepuff · Oct 20, 2013

geofelt :

Just so you know, the 690 and 7990 are really two GPUs on one PCB. This means they perform like two GPUs in SLI/Crossfire, so issues like microstuttering, poor SLI/crossfire scaling all are relevant issues for those cards.

And should not like almost all ddr3 ram work with all new mobos?

and what mobo if you have to pick one or three so what ones would you suggest? as i have read that Asus makes the best mobos.

Depends on the mobo. Most Z87 mobos will accept dual-channel DDR3 RAM clocked between 1066 and 2133 MHz. Some might let you go higher than 2133 MHz.

If I were to pick three to suggest:

Asus Maximus VI Hero
Asus Z87-PRO
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC

geofelt · Oct 20, 2013

aznricepuff :

geofelt :

Just so you know, the 690 and 7990 are really two GPUs on one PCB. This means they perform like two GPUs in SLI/Crossfire, so issues like microstuttering, poor SLI/crossfire scaling all are relevant issues for those cards.

True enough. My rant is primarily directed at planning for dual cards, more than dual gpu's. I think I will update the rant to reflect that.

And should not like almost all ddr3 ram work with all new mobos?

and what mobo if you have to pick one or three so what ones would you suggest? as i have read that Asus makes the best mobos.

Depends on the mobo. Most Z87 mobos will accept dual-channel DDR3 RAM clocked between 1066 and 2133 MHz. Some might let you go higher than 2133 MHz.

If I were to pick three to suggest:

Asus Maximus VI Hero
Asus Z87-PRO
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC

geofelt · Oct 20, 2013

Some motherboards are sensitive to certain ram. It pays to buy supported ram, otherwise you are facing a finger pointing situation.
4 stick ram is more likely to have a problem than 2 stick configs.

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Good Motherboard for a i5 haswell

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geofelt

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