Keep ASUS Sabertooth Z87 or Get ASrock Extreme6?

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Angelz

Angelz

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I ditched my Intel 4770K and ordered an intel 4790K which will be here on the 27th because i'm a lousy overclocker when i try to do it manually. I couldn't even get 4.2GHZ OC or, heck, enable XMP by itself without blue screens. So i decided i won't OC manually anymore and just get the 4790K. Should i keep the Z87 Motherboard or sell it and get an Asus Z97 Extreme6? I've asked others, they said to just keep the Z87, that i won't feel any performance gain on a Z97. I wanted to see what tom's community thinks.
 
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Damn_Rookie
If you're not planning to do any overclocking, the only real benefit of the Z97 Extreme6 would be its support for the M.2 and SATA Express interfaces, which frankly aren't a whole lot of use right now (there aren't many commercial products for the interfaces yet, and the benefits from them just aren't that appealing yet - this will change eventually, but not for quite some time). So if you do want to be at the bleeding edge of this storage tech, then a Z97 could be a good choice.

One additional benefit of the Z97 boards are that they are compatible with the upcoming Broadwell chips, while currently, the Z87 boards apparently aren't (someone correctly me if I'm wrong). So if you're planning to upgrade to the upcoming CPUs, then...
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TheMentalist

TheMentalist

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May 13, 2013
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Wait for the cpu first and keep the sabertooth. Overclock it manually on it and see how it goes. Haswell was a b*tch in OC'ing, HWRefresh will do better, even on Z87. If you still find it hard to overclock, then buy another motherboard.
 
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Damn_Rookie

Damn_Rookie

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If you're not planning to do any overclocking, the only real benefit of the Z97 Extreme6 would be its support for the M.2 and SATA Express interfaces, which frankly aren't a whole lot of use right now (there aren't many commercial products for the interfaces yet, and the benefits from them just aren't that appealing yet - this will change eventually, but not for quite some time). So if you do want to be at the bleeding edge of this storage tech, then a Z97 could be a good choice.

One additional benefit of the Z97 boards are that they are compatible with the upcoming Broadwell chips, while currently, the Z87 boards apparently aren't (someone correctly me if I'm wrong). So if you're planning to upgrade to the upcoming CPUs, then a Z97 makes sense.

So, if either of those two reasons is enough of an incentive for you, get the Z97, but if they're not, well, stick with the Z87 and save your money.
 
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Angelz

Angelz

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TheMentalist, that's a good enough reason for me! Maybe i had a crappy CPU and it was the real problem. I've even run tests against my memory and it always passes.

Damn_Rookie, thanks for the response too. :D That said, i'm actually not interested in that whole M.2 or SATA Express thing so maybe that'll narrow it down some more. I have a 3-Way RAID0 setup with three Samsung 830 pro 128's and i'm always backing up anything i make changes to. You never know..
 
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Damn_Rookie

Damn_Rookie

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I certainly don't blame you on the M.2 and SATA Express thing; they're really not all that appealing yet.

Yes, you certainly could of just had a bad CPU; all part of the silicon lottery 'fun'! ;) Just today, the system builder marathon article posted on Tom's Hardware featured an i7 4770K that couldn't get past 4.2, regardless of how much voltage they fed it.

Anyway, best of luck with your Sabertooth and your new i7 4790K.
 
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Angelz

Angelz

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Thanks Blackbird. I'm definitely going to keep it now. :D

damn_rookie, Yeah, ahhh.... now that you say that i hope i don't get another bad chip. I've had bad 3770k's too... So i was still stuck using it on stock too.
 
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Damn_Rookie

Damn_Rookie

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Supposedly Intel have been binning their best 4770K CPUs for months, picking the best ones to become the 4790Ks (the first retail batch of 4790Ks that have come out are stamped as being made back in 2013, with some going at least as far back as July 2013). So unless you're horribly unlucky/cursed you should hopefully do a fair bit better with your 4790K than with your 3770K or 4770K. :)
 
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Angelz

Angelz

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Thanks Blackbird! I love the Z87 Hero with the armor on it. It's the best looking board i've ever seen but i was going for a "blue" look inside my new Phantom 820 case. :p

Oh wow Rookie! That's excellent news! I definitely can't wait til tomorrow :D
 
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Angelz

Angelz

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Well i got the 4790K but i'm not happy with the results. It's only giving me 4.2GHZ turbo and i can't restart manually without getting a red light on the board, and losing the video signal. But if i turn it off with the button, then restart, it works fine. So either i got a crappy 4790K (like all my crap luck with CPU's every-single-time) or this motherboard has to go. I tried asking the CPU section of the community but nobody's helping. I guess all the smart users just aren't on yet. lol
 
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Angelz

Angelz

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I have it updated to the latest version. I triple checked everything to make sure it's all right. But nothing. What good could a cross ship do if this problem persists on the replacement? I don't know... I just don't get it. What's worse is it's friday night and i'm going to be stuck with this problem all weekend. Of course... Just like the last 4 times something this happened happened, it was always on a friday. <___<
 
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