$100 Asus vs Gigabyte vs Asrock vs MSI Motherboards. Newbie build workstation

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timewaster1700

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So I'm working on picking out parts to build my first ever PC. The main purpose of the machine will be to rip, encode, and stream a large library of movies (PLEX server) but the secondary purpose of being a good workstation for further video or programming usage. I have no desire to game on this machine. Here is my current pcpartpicker list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/H7qZ7P

I chose the Xeon because it seems good for its hyper threading and stability. As you can tell by my choice in processor I have no intention to over clock.

The part of this list i'm the most shaky about and have the hardest time with is the motherboard. Picking a motherboard is becoming a nightmare for me. EVERYONE has a different opinion. I hear good and bad things about all 4 of the major manufacturers of motherboards: Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock, and MSI. To me, reliability is VERY important. I understand a motherboard crapping out is a nightmare I'd really like to avoid. I know there are no guarantees but getting a board with a high chance of success for a long time is at the top of my priority list. I was hoping to spend around $100 for a motherboard. My budget for this project was $600 but is now closer to $1000 as I did research and decided I want to do this right and have something fast that lasts. Also the storage added a lot of cost since I need a SSD for boot drive, 2 TB hard drive for media files, and second 2 TB hard drive for backup.

Besides reliability, I'm wondering about audio quality. I'm typing this on a 2012 2.0 Ghz i7 Macbook Air. I would like to have audio quality that is at least a good as it. My iTunes files sound great through my KRK Rokkit studio monitors. I don't listen to FLAC, just normal AAC and MP3. Is the Realtek ALC892 I see on a ton of ~$100 boards at least as good?

I've been looking a ton at H97 and Z97 chip boards. I know I don't need the Z97 since I won't be over clocking but with Z97 being the most popular I wonder if the quality is higher. I will be getting the Corsair 230T Orange case and think a yellow or blue interior theme will go best with it. Since I can't find any yellow 2 x 4GB RAM modules, I'll probably go blue. With that in mind I've considered these two:
MSI H97M-G43 (or Z97 version)
Asrock H97M-Pro4 (or Z97 version)

BUT, as important as color is, I could always do a black Asus or Gigabyte board and put blue or black RAM on it. Color is cool, but not as important as reliability. I've literally leaned towards all of the 4 different brands at one time or another.

So I have a couple questions.

1. Is $100 (+/- $20) too low for what I'm trying to accomplish? Would a $150 be significantly better? Are both of these prices too low for a board to reliably last say 10+ years? Also I keep hearing these motherboards being used in "budget builds". I doubt anyone ever got excited to spend $1000 on a "budget computer". Kind of makes you feel like crap. Are they really that "bad"?

2. If $100 (+/- $20) will work for me, which is the best brand in this category. Model suggestions?

Also I was leaning toward Micro-ATX since their usually cheaper and I don't need the ATX features.
 
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incognito31
LOL, don't sweat it. Yeah, you are overthinking it, but without the experience I would be too. :)

ASRock is 4th because the other major manufacturers overclock better, with ASUS being number 1, and most people on places like Tom's OC, so that's why they will be most popular around here, but my experience is that ASRock gets the job done especially when you are not OCing. Once you get through the first year your board is extremely unlikely to fail, regardless of manufacturer, and even in that instance you'd be covered by the manufacturer warranty.

The 4790K comes out of the box at 4.0GHz with boost to 4.4, and that's on stock cooling, so you don't have to mess with overclocking.

No, you don't need a graphics card to drive a HD...
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timewaster1700

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Have you had either of them for very long? I'm hoping if I buy one of them and they're designed with good components to last and I'm not over clocking then maybe I could get 10 yrs out of it. The warranty is 5 yrs.
 
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incognito31

incognito31

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Seems like cost and reliability are both important to you, and I've never had a ASRock Mobo fail. In fact, I was just going to do a video on how the ASRock boards need more love. ASUS are great boards, but they are more expensive and typically used more for stable overclocking. If you are just looking for a solid board where you don't need to OC then the H97M pro 4 would be a great option. ALC892 is pretty standard and high quality. In fact you could probably just go with the H81M-ITX which also comes with ALC892. I'm sure I could come up with a similar configuration with a 4790K including the OS for under 1K. PM me if you are interested.

Another thought, are you sure you even need that graphics card? It doesn't sound like you even need one based on your intended usage. Even if you went with the H81M-ITX the board would support up to 1920x1200 resolution and come with integrated Intel HD 4600 graphics (assuming you went with a 4790K - no CPU graphics on the Xeon). You can stream and program with that graphics capability, so I don't see an issue there. You can always easily add a graphics card later if you feel like you need one.

Just to be clear, I would agree that ASUS boards are generally better overall quality, but in terms of reliability I've had more issues with ASUS boards that ASRock over hundreds of builds. I use ASUS boards primarily for high performance builds where I want a high/stable overclock, but that's not what you are looking for.
 
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timewaster1700

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Thanks for chiming in. I appreciate various opinions and it sounds like yours like Tradesman1 is coming from a lot of experience. Thanks for putting a lot of detail in there. I continue to feel myself swayed back and forth. I think more and more reliability is more important to me than cost even within reason. If for instance I knew I could get several years more out of the Asus Gryphon for $160, it might be worth it over the Asrock H97 Pro4 for $80. Being that this will be a server for my media streaming I would like it to last. Sounds like you've had good experiences with Asrock. So are most people's motherboard life being limited from over clocking due to all the excess heat and strain it puts on components?

I wouldn't mind seeing your 4790K. Although I probably wouldn't need the K model since I wouldn't be over clocking. I also had the Xeon recommended due to its stability as a server cpu. The downside to it is no integrated graphics. I've had a tough time knowing exactly how much graphical power I need. At work I use some 3D modeling software and I could "potentially" see myself doing modeling on this machine. But maybe it would be best to go super low budget on the card and then I could always upgrade if I did get modeling software or need something more demanding. So what would I need to drive an HD display? What about 2? I've been trying to compare things with the passmark benchmark website. But comparing scores between video cards is like telling a fellow american the speed limit is 120 km/hr vs 80 km/hr. They're numbers that we can't visualize because we have no experience. We have to convert to mph to have a physical understanding of how fast that feels. In the same way these benchmarks are difficult to compare without a basis. I suppose if I was a PC gamer it would be easier because every generation of card coming out would be compared to previous and then I would have a baseline. As far as benchmarks for processors, I know the Xeon I chose has about a 3x higher benchmark score than my Macbook Air. Does that mean it will be 3x faster? I'm kind of doubting that, but that would be awesome when it comes time to encode. Overall building a PC for the first time can be tough. Especially since most people seem to be building PC's for gaming so that seems to have the highest level of support and experience.

I really want to believe your claims about Asrock. It seems they do need more love. I've gotten a general vibe that they're always in 4th place among the big 4. I'm not sure if its due to legitimate deficiencies?

Also thanks for clarifying the ALC892. Sounds like it should be plenty good for my uses.

I think I'm probably over thinking all of this, but the motherboard is the part of the build process that has me stressed. Its almost to the point of sucking the fun out of this.

Here's the latest build I was considering if I went with the Gryphon:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Qk2vt6
 
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incognito31

incognito31

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LOL, don't sweat it. Yeah, you are overthinking it, but without the experience I would be too. :)

ASRock is 4th because the other major manufacturers overclock better, with ASUS being number 1, and most people on places like Tom's OC, so that's why they will be most popular around here, but my experience is that ASRock gets the job done especially when you are not OCing. Once you get through the first year your board is extremely unlikely to fail, regardless of manufacturer, and even in that instance you'd be covered by the manufacturer warranty.

The 4790K comes out of the box at 4.0GHz with boost to 4.4, and that's on stock cooling, so you don't have to mess with overclocking.

No, you don't need a graphics card to drive a HD display. You can run 2 1920x1080 monitors using the onboard graphics with the ASRock ITX and 4790K

Benchmarks do not translate to practical application, so no, the Xeon will not be 3x faster, but it will perform better no doubt. The i7 would really outperform the Xeon.

I understand the need to want to build your own - I started out that way one day too, but it's tough for me to watch knowing that you would benefit from someone like me just building this kind of computer for you. It's hassle free, would probably cost the same including shipping, would be reliable and higher performing. I'm guessing there are TONS of people out there just like you struggling to come up with the right fit, reading reviews and trying to do research and wondering who knows what they are talking about and who doesn't.

Anyway, hopefully this was helpful.
 
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timewaster1700

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I plan to give a better response later but I noticed the Xeon 1220 model came up on super biz for $175. That would Save me $75 on my processor and basically pay for the graphics card. It's 3.1 Ghz but probably good enough for me. Thoughts? Also the 4970K would be overkill wouldn't it since I'm not overclocking? I wouldn't need the K model.
 
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timewaster1700

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I'm getting ready to pull the trigger. I found some good deals and could build much cheaper with a z87 setup. I don't need the extra features of the z97 and I'm ok with slightly lowering to the Xeon E3-1230 v3 3.3 Ghz to save some money overall. Here's what I'm thinking:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qjKYK8

Xeon E3-1230 v3 3.3 Ghz - $260.00

Asus Gryphon Z87 LGA 1150 mATX mobo - $75.00 after Asus rebate
(Checked Asus website and the Xeon 1230 is listed under this mobo)

Mushkin Silverline 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3 1600 model 997002 - $45.00
(brown to go with the gryphon and rated well with lifetime warranty)

Samsung 850 Evo 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive MZ-75E120B/AM - $68
(Rated super well and very fast)

(2x) WD Red 2 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM drives - WD20EFRX - 2x$79.00
(new egg one day sale)

EVGA 220-GS-0550-V1 80 Plus Gold 550 W - $66 after EVGA rebate
(rated highly in power supply tier list and on newegg)

MSI N750-1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 750 1GB GDDR5 - $45 after rebate

Corsair Graphite Series 230T Orange ATX Mid Tower - $77

This comes to a total of: $794.00 (or ~$800)

I already got an LG blu-ray drive for $40. And I'm leaning towards giving Linux Ubuntu a try and learning something new. What do you think?

 
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hhkk

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I'd avoid Gigabyte Gigabyte products AT ALL COSTS! If it breaks after 30 days, you'll still need to pay to get it fixed/replaced. Doesn't matter how long the warranty period is. I had a motherboard that failed on me. After a few emails and an hour-long call to their customer center with their operations manager, Gary Tam, warranty manager, Maggie Lin, and service manager, Chuck Liu, they basically told me that they're not responsible for the defective product. If I don't want to pay the extra fee, they're not going to fix it. They also said that since they're a manufacturer, not a retailer, and it doesn't matter if the customer's not happy with their service and product.
 
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