general purpose motherboard

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3djedi

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Dec 10, 2013
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Looking for a good solid general purpose mother board. I do a lot of Photoshop work but also like to play fps games occasionally. I don't plan on any overclocking.

I was thinking about the Asus sabertooth z87 but is this a waste of money for my purpose? I do like Asus boards though.

Let me know what you recommend and possibly a link on amazon or something.

Thanks!
 
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photonboy
Just to be clear:
You are building a new PC using a 4th gen (Haswell) CPU such as the i7-4770K or i5-4670K?

If so, my recommendations are the following (one has been mentioned):
1) http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z87plus

2) http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-maximusvihero

The HERO above has a few advantages including SUPREME-FX audio. The difference in quality is significant even with fairly inexpensive speakers. It's also a well designed board IMO.

If you add in the cost of a $50 sound card you can see the value in the HERO board.

However, your TOTAL BUDGET does also need to be factored in as well. If that's fairly tight then perhaps the best $120 or so board would be more ideal with the remainder going...
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someguynamedmatt

someguynamedmatt

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Feb 7, 2010
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I like Asus boards too - they make solid hardware. Now, people do and always will hate me for this, but if you ask me, the $250 Sabertooth board is a waste of money for just about any purpose when a $100-$150 board will work just as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131981

There's a good, quality board for you. The Z87-PLUS is the next model up and will give you two extra SATA ports should you need more than six, but other than that, you can't go wrong with the board above for $140. It's an all-around good setup.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

Titan
Jun 20, 2006
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Just to be clear:
You are building a new PC using a 4th gen (Haswell) CPU such as the i7-4770K or i5-4670K?

If so, my recommendations are the following (one has been mentioned):
1) http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z87plus

2) http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-maximusvihero

The HERO above has a few advantages including SUPREME-FX audio. The difference in quality is significant even with fairly inexpensive speakers. It's also a well designed board IMO.

If you add in the cost of a $50 sound card you can see the value in the HERO board.

However, your TOTAL BUDGET does also need to be factored in as well. If that's fairly tight then perhaps the best $120 or so board would be more ideal with the remainder going elsewhere.

Reviews:
*Look at BOTH customer and "professional" reviews. The HERO got 4.9/5.0 average at pcpartspicker for customer reviews. Now here's a "pro" review: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/62388-asus-z87-maximus-vi-hero-motherboard-review-19.html

Other:
Here's also a link to some DDR3 memory if interested. The price is good, reviews are good, it shouldn't bottleneck anything and it's red/black if that matters (matches the Hero motherboard): http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f314900cl9d8gbsr

8GB (2x4GB) is optimal for gaming and will be for several years. You don't need any more unless you do video editing or some other task requiring lots of System RAM.
 
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3djedi

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Dec 10, 2013
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Thanks guys! Both of those asus boards look great! I do plan on an i5 4670 CPU. What is the main difference between the hero and the z87 board mentioned above? Is it mainly the onboard sound? Would the hero be recommended over the sabertooth?
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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You can go to the Asus site yourself and compare the features because people vary a lot in what they consider important. I own the Z77 Sabertooth partially due to the 5-year Warranty but most people don't care about that. The Sabertooth also has two annoying fans to compensate for the protective shroud which traps heat (can be disabled).

If your priority is PRICE then get the cheapest one, but without actually going over the pros and cons in a list my quick advice is the Hero.

I would definitely recommend the i5-4670K though. You can achieve a 4.2GHz overclock without affecting power management (like Voltage) so it still stays cool and you get a 10% performance boost on the i5-4670K versus the i5-4670 which is worth the small price difference (compare 10% to TOTAL BUILD COST not CPU cost difference).

At pcpartpicker it's currently a $5 difference between these CPU's so unless your budget forces you to a non-overclockable motherboard I just can't recommend the i5-4670.

I've got some time, so if you want me to put together a build then specify:
1) Country
2) Total Budget
3) What's included, such as:
a) case + internals
b) Windows OS
c) nothing else.

4) Other
 
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3

3djedi

Honorable
Dec 10, 2013
20
0
10,510
Thanks! Actually I didn't know there was a 4670 and a 4670k!

I don't really have anything specific in mind other than general purpose that can handle fps games at fairly high settings. Sounds like the hero with the i5 4670k is what I want. With 8gb ram. I am Aldo interested in fast read write times so maybe an ssd hard drive. I'm actually building a desk with a glass top and the computer will be built into the desk. So a cool looking motherboard like. The hero or sabertooth is a plus!

I live in the USA and I would like to keep it under $1000
 
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