Budget gaming rig, i3-4170, micro ATX, ASRock H97M Pro4 LGA 1150 Intel H97 for $59 after rebate good board/deal?

[raven1970]

Got a great deal at Frys last week for the i3 for $69. Right now, Newegg has the ASRock H97M Pro4 LGA 1150 Intel H97 for $59 after rebate, and that looks to be near an all time low. Reviews are good but not stellar. The one advantage of this board over many others at this sub $80 price is that it supports crossfire. However, I have no immediate plans to ever take advantage of. I just want a basic board I can plug something like a $200 GPU in like an R9 380 or GTX 960 or similar into.

As for case, leaning towards Thermaltake V21 micro atx cube. Because looking at cube based micro atx cases in general, I am also trying to avoid boards that put the GPU slot right up against the side of board.

Just to be clear, is that a good deal/price and/or would a different board serve me better? I am willing to wait until BF, but am picking up great deals as I find them (like the i3). TIA

 

[jkhoward]

Good deal.

 

[raven1970]

Good deal.

Good deal and also a good board for my i3 to be paired with? This vs. Gigabyte vs. MSI, etc.? Or, are you just saying good deal (price)?

 

[geofelt]

Sounds very good.
A i3-4170 is about as good as it gets for gaming short of $200+ processors.

A $200 gpu like the GTX960 is a good match.

Motherboards with the same cpu will perform the same.

 

[raven1970]

Sounds very good.
A i3-4170 is about as good as it gets for gaming short of $200+ processors.

A $200 gpu like the GTX960 is a good match.

Motherboards with the same cpu will perform the same.

Thank you. I'm good with understanding performance and such. More interested in real world experience with this board such as quality for price, spacing of components, # of fan headers, etc. compared to other boards in the $75 price range. I have been reading reviews and there are a lot of opinions out there

 

[G-star93]

for 70 bucks i'ts good cpu, but for 200 like geofelt said it's crap, you can get skylake i5 for that cash.

 

[raven1970]

for 70 bucks i'ts good cpu, but for 200 like geofelt said it's crap, you can get skylake i5 for that cash.

Not asking about CPU. Asking about motherboard and trying to see if that particular ASRock H97M Pro4 would be a good choice.

 

[filippi]

Everybody loves the little ASRock H97M Pro4. I dont think you will regret at all.
And yes i3+R9 380 or GTX 960 is such a good ideia for 1080p gaming.
I think you are in the right track mate

 

[raven1970]

Everybody loves the little ASRock H97M Pro4. I dont think you will regret at all.
And yes i3+R9 380 or GTX 960 is such a good ideia for 1080p gaming.
I think you are in the right track mate

Thanks. This is shaping up to be a nice little system. System is for my son for his 14 birthday. Going to put it into Thermaltake V21 case, some LED lighting (probably just from a fan(s) either green or blue), but going to rotate the window to the top (you can do it with that case), get the Dremel out, and etch Vault Boy (Fallout) logo on it.

 

[G-star93]

you can just go with almost any H81 mobo, you don't really need H97 for i3. My friend has i3 4160 @3.6ghz, gtx 960 evga soc, 8gb ram and everything works great. and also mobo was very cheap around 40€ i think, and It's msi h81m-e33p.

 

[raven1970]

you can just go with almost any H81 mobo, you don't really need H97 for i3. My friend has i3 4160 @3.6ghz, gtx 960 evga soc, 8gb ram and everything works great. and also mobo was very cheap around 40€ i think, and It's msi h81m-e33p.

Disagree. H81 only has 2 DIMM spots, PCIE 2.0 and could have issue upgrading. . .I'm sure they have bios updates, and less USB. But you are right, I could have gone with that board. I couldn't find all the fan headers and only saw 1 4 pin header, and I couldn't find a USB 3 for the case. So, thank you, but I think that choice would have been bad.

 

[G-star93]

you can just go with almost any H81 mobo, you don't really need H97 for i3. My friend has i3 4160 @3.6ghz, gtx 960 evga soc, 8gb ram and everything works great. and also mobo was very cheap around 40€ i think, and It's msi h81m-e33p.

Disagree. H81 only has 2 DIMM spots, PCIE 2.0 and could have issue upgrading. . .I'm sure they have bios updates, and less USB. But you are right, I could have gone with that board. I couldn't find all the fan headers and only saw 1 4 pin header, and I couldn't find a USB 3 for the case. So, thank you, but I think that choice would have been bad.

yes that's true that you only can have 2 RAM sticks but some H81 also have 4 DIMM spost,, and pcie 2.0 means that will run with 1-2fps less than at 3.0 nothing else. there's no problem upgrading. But yes those micro motherboards have less USB's, less fan heards etc..it's for real low budget systems, but with i3 it would still work perfect

 

[Eran__Zelikovich]

Great bord, buy it.