Need a new compatible motherboard

zgebhard · Aug 13, 2015

hey, new here to Tom's Hardware and was recommended by a friend for some help. I'm having difficulty finding a reliable and compatible motherboard for my new setup. can anyone helpme out? I purchased an asrock z75 pro but when i used it, i got 3 long beeps and couldnt find anything in terms of support for the mobo, so i sent it back

case: Rosewill R5 RTL
cpu: Intel Core i7-2600 3.40GHz Socket 1155 Quad Core
video card: GIGABYTE GTX 750
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 2x
corsair vengeance 4gb 2x
hard drive: KINGSTON SSD 240g 2.5"
power supply: BP550 Plus Antec Basiq
heatsink: cooler master

thanks for any help you guys can provide in advance, i really appreciate it. sorry about my english it is very bad.

Darkbreeze · Aug 13, 2015

What country are you in?

zgebhard · Aug 13, 2015

I am in USA, Florida

Calvin7 · Aug 13, 2015

It is not unusual for a PC to be unable to boot when using multiple RAM kits together.
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

zgebhard · Aug 13, 2015

I tried all different combinations of the RAM, including 2 of each, 1 of each,

Darkbreeze · Aug 13, 2015

Make absolutely sure that any installed module is fully seated and that the locks are engaged into the recesses at each end of the memory modules. Sometimes it takes more force to seat the memory than what you would think.

Make sure you didn't forget to plug back in the 4 or 8 pin CPU power cable to the motherboard in addition to the 24pin connector.

BUT, since you already sent it back, those are really just reminders for the future.

Even halfway decent boards for the LGA 1155 socket processors are getting very hard to find, and in some cases anything that's not a very basic or business chipset board is even harder.

I'd recommend this board:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($139.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $139.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-13 12:35 EDT-0400

You may also find that, especially on older chipsets, mixing RAM has unexpected and sometimes NO results. With only ONE category of module installed though, you shouldn't have issues. On the next board, make certain you install a single module first, IN the DIMM slot designated for use with only a single installed module or in the channels as designated by the motherboard user manual.

On a board as old as the Z75 Pro3, it's also possible that it could have had a dead CMOS battery after sitting on a warehouse or store shelf for a long period of time as well. Probably a shot in the dark on that part but it's possible.

zgebhard · Aug 13, 2015

would you reccomend updating any of the pieces of hardware i have even further? i recently bought all of that, but i'm not opposed to grabbing some more stuff. from what you say, i think i may need a new processor chip.

Darkbreeze · Aug 13, 2015

Tell you what. If you can tell me exactly what the main use of this machine will be for, and any secondary usage as well, and what you could actually afford to sink into it right now, I'll be glad to offer my advice regarding what probably should or should not be upgraded. In all honesty, I think dishing out 140 bucks for a new motherboard on a processor that's now 4 generations old, 5 if you count Broadwell which is a stretch but technically IS another generation even if we never saw any chips reach the market. So four generations anyhow. After your Sandy Bridge chip there was Ivy Bridge, then Haswell, Haswell Refresh, Broadwell and currently Skylake which just released this month.

I think your money would be better spent on moving up to Haswell Refresh at least which would only require a new processor and motherboard. Skylake would require new RAM as well I think, depending on the board. There may be some boards that support both DDR 4 used by Skylake and Haswell-E platforms and DDR 3 used by previous generations but I'll have to check into that. As I said, it's new.

Darkbreeze · Aug 13, 2015

Actually, it turns out they only support low voltage DDR3L on the DDR3 side of things so your memory wouldn't work with Skylake, but that doesn't rule out moving to that platform depending on what you can budget. Considering the cost of a good board and CPU, the only real different in price between going with Haswell Refresh and Skylake, would be the additional cost of memory since you'd need DDR4 with that. Honestly, if you think what you have now is working Ok-ish, moving to Haswell Refresh would be a pretty significant upgrade as is.

zgebhard · Aug 13, 2015

Probably about 300$ I can invest. it's for gaming mostly and web work on the side

Darkbreeze · Aug 14, 2015

Well, that's not enough to do what I had in mind so I'd probably just stick with the Extreme4 board I linked to above. In reality there are no processors you can upgrade to on that same platform that are much if any better than what you already have and it's still a fairly respectable configuration for now anyhow.

A good current gen or Haswell refresh CPU is going to eat up most of that budget anyhow, but this would be another option, although I think for gaming an upgrade of your GPU card would net you better performance results than a newer CPU would because your current CPU is still quite capable even if it's not as fast as newer generation chips.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($86.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $329.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-14 00:43 EDT-0400

That would probably net you about 20-30% better performance, on the CPU side of things, than your current configuration. For gaming, excepting those few games that are more CPU bound than most, a higher tiered GPU card is probably a better option and then upgrade the CPU and motherboard later. Replacing the CPU and motherboard now still leaves you with a low end GPU card and not a lot of performance increase over your current CPU.

zgebhard · Aug 14, 2015

I went ahead and picked up the ASRock Z77. I'll let you know what happens when it arrives and I try to piece it together. What are your reccomendations for a new GPU, you were saying?

Darkbreeze · Aug 14, 2015

Honestly, with only 160 bucks left out of 300, there are really no cards worth investing in. When you can scrape together another forty bucks, the GTX 960 or R9 280x would be major upgrades from that GTX 750. Personally, I'd opt for the 280x which beats out the 960 in most games but both are good choices and offer much better performance than what you have so long as your case supports them but considering your PSU model which is really NOT a 550w model based on it's amperage specifications, the GTX 960 would be the card to get as it's got a much lower power requirement.

zgebhard · Aug 20, 2015

Hey update on situation..

Got the motherboard ASRock Z77 in the mail, plugged it in and we're all set. Can't get my Win7 installed, though, after I restarted when it got stuck @ 94% in install, I got error that BOOTMGR is Missing and when I was able to launch through CDRom before hard drive, I kept getting corrupted or missing. Tried replugging calbes and everything. Gonna try to burn a new Win7 I can put on there maybe the CD is corrupted. Will update again soon. : )

Darkbreeze · Aug 20, 2015

Try doing a CLEAN install, by following these instructions EXACTLY. Reset your bios to default settings after making sure you have the most recent bios version installed by checking the motherboard product page on the ASRock website.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

Also, make sure any secondary drives are disconnected during the installation process. You can reconnect them later. Double check the motherboard manual as well to verify that you have the OS drive connected to one of the primary SATA headers, preferably SATA 0 or 1, rather than to a secondary header. Secondary SATA controllers are generally slower and are sometimes problematic if the motherboard uses both a primary and secondary SATA storage controller.

zgebhard · Aug 20, 2015

Hey, thanks for help Darkbreeze.

I managed to format a USB for UEFI on my laptop and put Win7 on that and a disc and tried to boot from both and neither worked. I also intercharged my SSD and my old hard drive and both got same error BOOTMGR is Missing unfortunately. Not sure what to do now, I don't have Win7 installed yet on the PC and I've tried rearranging the cables. I can't launch the CD that came with the mobo either. Only thing I can get to work is the UEFI config when I hit delete and the boot menu with F11.

Darkbreeze · Aug 21, 2015

If you're able to complete 94% of the installation, there must be a problem with your installation media if it won't go further than that. Are you using a legitimate version of windows or is this a torrented operating system? Do you have other drives attached to the system? If so, disconnect them, and reinstall using the method outlined above for a clean install. Make sure to choose the "Custom" installation option when it asks and delete ALL existing partitions on the drive when you get to the point where it asks where you want to install windows. This sounds very much like either bad installation media or another boot partition messing with the installation.

I'd also make sure CSM or compatibility support module is enabled in the bios so that any non-UEFI hardware does not cause issues.

Need a new compatible motherboard

Reputable

Retired Mod

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Retired Mod

Reputable

Retired Mod

Retired Mod

Reputable

Retired Mod

Reputable

Retired Mod

Reputable

Retired Mod

Reputable

Retired Mod

Share this page