GA-Z87X-D3H VS G1. Sniper Z87
- Thread starter jejo1
- Start date
Solution
photonboy
Titan
- Jun 20, 2006
- 21,567
- 13
- 85,015
First of all, I recommend a Z97 motherboard, unless there is solid reason why the Z87 version is better (cheaper?).
As for overclocking, I would highly recommend just running the default 4.4GHz which any Z97 can do. Just choose "XMP" in the BIOS and save. (and for cooling a Noctua NH-U14S is a great choice unless fan color is critical).
Going above 4.4GHz is likely to eliminate most of Intel's Power Management tweaks which then causes the temperature to rise quite a lot. It will make usually no difference in the slightest for gaming, and even if you could utilize the CPU fully you're talking about a 9% improvement for going to 4.8GHz which for a well threaded program like Handbrake would be lucky to translate to a 5% savings in time.
THIS is a great, inexpensive board: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a
The only reason i'd personally look at something better is for superior audio. If another board appeals then i suggest looking for reviews, and customer feedback as well.
The Asus Maximus Hero VII cost about $205 and has better than normal audio with virtual surround to front stereo headphones as well: http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VII_HERO/
Asus has a "TUF" series of boards that have 5-Year warranties which is comforting. The cheapest I believe is the Mark 2 which doesn't include the ARMOR which is $90 so hard to justify to me anyway: Sabertooth: http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_Z97_MARK_2/
The Z97 Gigabyte Sniper isn't too expensive though I've never looked at reviews nor compared features:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gag1sniperz97
As for overclocking, I would highly recommend just running the default 4.4GHz which any Z97 can do. Just choose "XMP" in the BIOS and save. (and for cooling a Noctua NH-U14S is a great choice unless fan color is critical).
Going above 4.4GHz is likely to eliminate most of Intel's Power Management tweaks which then causes the temperature to rise quite a lot. It will make usually no difference in the slightest for gaming, and even if you could utilize the CPU fully you're talking about a 9% improvement for going to 4.8GHz which for a well threaded program like Handbrake would be lucky to translate to a 5% savings in time.
THIS is a great, inexpensive board: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a
The only reason i'd personally look at something better is for superior audio. If another board appeals then i suggest looking for reviews, and customer feedback as well.
The Asus Maximus Hero VII cost about $205 and has better than normal audio with virtual surround to front stereo headphones as well: http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VII_HERO/
Asus has a "TUF" series of boards that have 5-Year warranties which is comforting. The cheapest I believe is the Mark 2 which doesn't include the ARMOR which is $90 so hard to justify to me anyway: Sabertooth: http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_Z97_MARK_2/
The Z97 Gigabyte Sniper isn't too expensive though I've never looked at reviews nor compared features:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gag1sniperz97
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