Specs to look for in a motherboard for overclocking (i5-4690k)

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khawk1

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May 17, 2015
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Looking at getting the i5-4690k and wondering what specs to look for a motherboard to decide which is best for the price range. Other than it needing to be a Z97 chipset, what other options make it a more suitable board to overclock on?

Looking at Microcenter I have limited down to these five (prices after MIR and $30 bundle discounts):

ASUS Z97-E ATX $74.99
http://www.microcenter.com/product/446625/Z97-E_LGA_1150_ATX_Intel_Motherboard

ASUS Z97-P ATX $85.99

Asrock Z97X Killer $79.99
http://www.microcenter.com/product/433216/Fatal1ty_Z97X_Killer_LGA_1150_ATX_Intel_Motherboard

Asrock Z97 Extreme 3 $67.99
http://www.microcenter.com/product/446581/Z97Extreme3_LGA_1150_ATX_Intel_Motherboard

Asrock Z97 Anniversary $49.99
http://www.microcenter.com/product/446600/Z97_Anniversary_Edition_LGA_1150_ATX_Intel_Motherboard

My first thought is the Z97X Killer but I know overall ASUS is a higher quality brand.

Suggestions?
 
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cemerian
vrm design is the most important thing when choosing a board for overclocking, that said the best looks to be z97 killer in that regard, it has the best vrm design and should be able to support any oc you that your chip can handle, extreme3 would be next in line, it also has 8 phase vrm design, i would not say asus is higher quality, in my personal experience it is the other way around, never again will i buy asus boards, either way thos two boards are the best ones
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cemerian

cemerian

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Jul 29, 2013
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vrm design is the most important thing when choosing a board for overclocking, that said the best looks to be z97 killer in that regard, it has the best vrm design and should be able to support any oc you that your chip can handle, extreme3 would be next in line, it also has 8 phase vrm design, i would not say asus is higher quality, in my personal experience it is the other way around, never again will i buy asus boards, either way thos two boards are the best ones
 
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Ok Go

Ok Go

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May 23, 2015
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i agree with cemerian, your best bet is with either asrock Z97X Killer or z97 extreme 3 for the cheaper options. the sole reasoning is the power setup (8 phase vrm) which is necesarry to increase your chance of achieving higher stable clock and the confidence in increasing VID voltage without worrying you'd burn the mosfets.
 
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smorizio

smorizio

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Jan 22, 2010
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there a few things to look at on mb. first is the back ports on the mb how many of them are on the mb. with usb now your going to need a min of 4. two for the mouse and keyboard. one if you go for wifi usb and one for usb speaker or headphones. the second is the slots on the mb and there layout. some gaming mb when you put in two oversized gpu your left with one or two small pci-e slots on the bottom. for a sound or ethenet card. also look at the sound chipset and ethernet chipset in spec of mb. standard
ones are intel or realtrck or brodcade for ethernet chipset. for sound low end is al898 chipset if it has the higher end 1100ala chipset your better off. asrock at one point was part of asus and was made it own comp. some other things to look at are special features like asus usb flashback. or post it led or numbers to help to see where an error might be on the mb. the thickness of the mb. cheap mb have lots of flex. to much flex and a heavy gpu can over time break mb gold traces inside. also look at there warranty and be care full of the video slots and how there wired. some are not true sli or crossfire there wired at 16x and 4x slots and not 16x 8x/8x.
 
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khawk1

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May 17, 2015
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Thanks for the thorough and concise feedback. Looks like I will go with a Asrock motherboard, either the Extreme 3 or Z97X Killer ... leaning towards the Extreme 3 as the Z97X has extra slots / features that I don't need.

Have Asrock motherboards in both of my HTPCs and been satisfied with them so far.

Hope to find one with the updated BIOS that supports the 4690K.
 
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