How to 'generally' decide on the amount to invest on a motherboard

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
D

death_relic0

Distinguished
Sep 18, 2009
183
0
18,690
Hey guys, was hoping you could help me out.

I intend on getting a new system soon inshAllah so doing some research on available options. After quite a bit of reading, I've realised that spending on motherboards is just as important as any other component.

Now to the question, in general, how much should I spend on a motherboard compared to what I spend on a processor? Like if I spend $x on processors, should i spend $x on motherboard as well, or 0.5 * $x,etc

For example, assuming I intend to overclock and primary purpose is gaming

if I go for amd and a fx-6300 (~$110), would it be smart to invest in a ~$120 board , rather than going down to a $60 board and getting a fx-8xxx

if I go for intel 2500k/3570k, would it be smart to invest in a ~$150 board rather than getting a cheap $60 board and spending the remaining money elsewhere (a better cpu perhaps?).

Thanks in advance

******

Oops, just realised I made a typo on the title.. my bad..
 
Solution
H
After quite a bit of reading, I've realised that spending on motherboards is just as important as any other component.
Click to expand...

actually, that's not entirely the case, as it depends on your preferences. you could pair an $80 board with a $200 cpu and it'd still, assuming this is for gaming, be a great gaming PC. if you want it to be more practical, it's usually better to spend on a quality PSU followed by the GPU & CPU for performance.

there's no complex math to it. it all comes down to your budget and requirements when it comes down to choosing a motherboard; do you plan to OC? How high? do you plan to get another GPU in the future to run it in SLI/CF? will it be more than 2 cards? ATX/mATX/mITX/etc.? do you care about aesthetics...
Sort by date Sort by votes
J

Jared485

Honorable
Jan 6, 2013
284
0
10,810


well if you're overclocking you don't want to really cheap out on either. you need to get a cpu that will overclock well and a motherboard that will handle the overclocking. I personally have an i7 3770k overclocked ay 4.7ghz, which i paid $320 for. I have the asus p8z77 v pro motherboard which i paid $180 for. the motherboard is mid-end and same for the processor. id say spent at least 60-70% of what you spend on your cpu, on your motherboard.

But it really cant be judged like that you need to look at what software/hardware/specs come with the motherboard and if it will fit your all around needs, and whatever price range it falls into is what you're going to pay.

Same with a cpu if you need a to do certain thing you need to see what your processors potential is and find a processor that will do what you want, and where ever that falls in price that's the price.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

Hazle

Distinguished
Oct 28, 2011
1,327
0
19,960
After quite a bit of reading, I've realised that spending on motherboards is just as important as any other component.
Click to expand...

actually, that's not entirely the case, as it depends on your preferences. you could pair an $80 board with a $200 cpu and it'd still, assuming this is for gaming, be a great gaming PC. if you want it to be more practical, it's usually better to spend on a quality PSU followed by the GPU & CPU for performance.

there's no complex math to it. it all comes down to your budget and requirements when it comes down to choosing a motherboard; do you plan to OC? How high? do you plan to get another GPU in the future to run it in SLI/CF? will it be more than 2 cards? ATX/mATX/mITX/etc.? do you care about aesthetics? paranoid and prefer a better warranty? build quality? etc.

most $100-120 Z87/Z77 boards are more than plenty for a modest OC. SLI support usually starts in the $130 mark sometimes less. around the $150+ mark, you get better components to OC with and some other extra features like a built in wifi card. can't recall where the tri-SLI support starts, but usually close to the $200 point. beyond $200 is the realm of the enthusiasts; built in chipset water blocks, tri-, sometimes quad-, SLIs/CF support, supposedly superior sound/ethernet, guaranteed quality, buttons to simplify OCing & BIOS management, pretty looking boards (subjective), heat shrouds, etc.

again, it comes down to your needs. a simple single GPU build with a modest cpu OC; $70-120 board. need quality assurance/more features? you spend more.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom