Looking for motherboard advice

thegameksk · Nov 5, 2015

Hey all. I just purchased a cooler master Haf X case. I am looking to get either (I think) an I5 or I7 processor. I will use the computer for everyday activities, gaming, some photo editing and video editing. Im planning on putting liquid cooling in it, and updating to a video card prob later on in the year if I find a good sale on a GTX 980. Im also considering putting in WIFI and Bluetooth into the PC. I need advice on motherboards. There ao so many with so many different prices. Im willing to spend a little money on a board. I want to make my machine as future proof as possible. Thank you.

theunliked · Nov 5, 2015

What is your budget? We can put together a part list. I'd say now that an i5 is better. The gtx 980 is not worth the price. go up the gtx980ti or down to the gtx 970.

thegameksk · Nov 5, 2015

Ill do I5 with the gtx980ti. Ill make my budget 1300 without the case. I really like the cool master case so ill keep that as the case. Plus I got it for a good price. Im planning on buying the parts slowly over the next few months especially with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and maybe some xmas deals coming up. I was going to do liquid cooling because I am planning on putting my SSD that I currently own as my main drive, and 3 other hard drives as slaves. Plus I have heard from friends who have this case that liquid cooling help with keeping the temp down during heavy gaming. For what I wnat as far as future proofing my cpu and playing games on max do you think an I5 would be the way to go?

theunliked · Nov 6, 2015

Nothing is future proof. Everything will go out of date eventually. Of course, a better cpu will last longer. For the time being, a good i5 (like i5-4460 or 4690k or 6600k) is more than enough.

thegameksk · Nov 6, 2015

Okay so ill do that. Can you give me a parts list for the rest of my budget?

theunliked · Nov 6, 2015

This will last you a good while.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: MSI H170A Gaming Pro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($116.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($48.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($649.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1271.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-06 17:56 EST-0500

I added the hard drives as well. If you don't already have an SSD, you definitely need to get one. Liquid cooling is good, but a decent fan is better. Liquid cooling is riskier, because it can leak. It also requires maintenance. (priming it)

thegameksk · Nov 7, 2015

I already have an SSD and backup HD's that I plan on moving to new system .If you want to make any changes to the part list due to me already having HDs please feel free. If I am adding 3 or 4 total HDs will just fans be enough? I want something that will keep the whole system cool and as quiet as possible. If i wanted the computer to have blue tooth and WIFI should I get a motherboard that already has that or get separate cards? I am planning on purchasing the video card last. Will I be able to play games decently with the motherboard until I get the video card? Thank you.

theunliked · Nov 8, 2015

Depends what games you are going to play, but generally onboard graphics sucks. Minecraft and LoL might work at lowest settings.

Adding hard drives will only affect the temps inside the case, not the cpu temps. I have the i5-4690k @ 4.5ghz with the cooler master hyper 212 EVO. It stays pretty quiet and cool most of the time, unless I'm running a stress test.

If I were you, I'd get separate cards, because you can really get the features you want. USB dongles are an option too.

thegameksk · Nov 9, 2015

Thank you. Would that power supply be enough to power all the hard drives?

theunliked · Nov 9, 2015

Yes. Hard drives don't need much power. Graphics cards take the most power. Other than the cpu, the rest don't affect it much.

thegameksk · Nov 10, 2015

Do you know anything about this motherboard? I have only found 1 review for it which says 3 of the SATA ports might be blocked if your card is to big.

thegameksk · Nov 12, 2015

theunliked :

What do you think of the Hero VII for the mother board? Would it work with this config??

theunliked · Nov 13, 2015

That's a pretty good motherboard. Its kind of overkill though.

thegameksk · Nov 13, 2015

theunliked :

I see the price difference between the 2 is $70.00. For that extra money what does this motherboard do/have that the other one doesn't?

theunliked · Nov 15, 2015

More expensive motherboards generally have better and longerlasting capacitors and other parts, more pci-e slots and dimms slots.

thegameksk · Nov 26, 2015

theunliked :

Ive decided to go with the hero since I just got a good deal on it for black friday. Will the power supply you recommended be good for that mother board? Just want to be sure. Thanks.

theunliked · Nov 26, 2015

Yes, it'll work.

thegameksk · Nov 27, 2015

What do you think of this cpu: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processor.

Was going to go with I5 but microcenter has this for 250. Same price as the I5.

theunliked · Nov 28, 2015

You definitely should go with the i7. Its got more threads and is faster.

thegameksk · Nov 29, 2015

theunliked :

Im a little bit confused. Can the I7 devils canyon go with the Hero 8 motherboard? If not, what CPU would you recommend? I will do some editing of videos and photos. By that I mean home videos and home photos. Will the I5 be good for this?

Looking for motherboard advice

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