3 low-budget MOBOs to choose from

[Syrocc]

Hello.

I need some advice for choosing a lower budget MOBO for an i3-540 CPU. I have checked features on many motherboards in the price-range I was looking for, and found 3 that kind of stand out, judging by features. Here they are

ASROCK H55M-GER2.0 - 90$
ASUS P7H55-M - 105$
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3L - 120$

(these are not newegg prices, since I don't live in the US)

Some more important details that weight my choices:

- I do not intend to use SLI/Crossfire, so one PCI-E slot 2.0 is enough
- I am aiming for 2x2GB 1600 mhz RAM for now, with the possibility of adding another pair later on
- I'm not interested in USB3, I don't care about the number of hard drives that can be connected, USB ports, and so on
- I do however want to OC the CPU, so I'm interested in a stable motherboard
- I need RAID 0 support, since I want to use 2x Samsung F4 series, 320GB hard drives connected in Raid 0
- At this moment, the Asrock motherboard seems to have all the features I want, and is the best priced of the bunch, I'm not sure about build quality though, and I could not find any information about RAID 0 support, not even on the manufacturer website. I am assuming it will work, but I'm not sure.

So, some help in deciding would be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any input

 

[doive1231]

I would go for the Gigabyte one as they are quality whilst ASUS cut corners like the sound chip on the P7H55-m/USB3 and their I/O shield is a joke flimsy bit of metal. Overclocking is very easy with Gigabyte, madness with ASUS.

 

[excelerater]

ASROCK , impressive
Tried them out for the first time on a small AMD build
Very easy very complete and far from low end
Id consider them again for any buiild

 

[davcon]

ASRock P55 PRO/USB3
Gigabyte GA-H57M-USB3
Are good boards if you can source them.

 

[geekapproved]

It depends on if you plan to use the cpu's integrated graphics. If you are, then you NEED a H55. You cannot use cpu's integrated graphics on a P55.

Also some H67 only have 2 dimm slot, so check that first.

 

[Syrocc]

@ Davcon - Thanks, I did scoop some more into Mobo's, and I think the Asrock P55 Extreme would be the best gang for the buck, it outperforms the PRO and is priced more or less the same. So it's probably what I'll stick with.

@GeekApproved - I don't plan on using the onboard graphics, that would be horrid. Will be using an EVGA 560 GTX

 

[davcon]

@ Davcon - Thanks, I did scoop some more into Mobo's, and I think the Asrock P55 Extreme would be the best gang for the buck, it outperforms the PRO and is priced more or less the same. So it's probably what I'll stick with.

@GeekApproved - I don't plan on using the onboard graphics, that would be horrid. Will be using an EVGA 560 GTX

Good stuff! i think you'd be hard pressed to find better then what ASrock brings to the table.

 

[geekapproved]

@ Davcon - Thanks, I did scoop some more into Mobo's, and I think the Asrock P55 Extreme would be the best gang for the buck, it outperforms the PRO and is priced more or less the same. So it's probably what I'll stick with.

@GeekApproved - I don't plan on using the onboard graphics, that would be horrid. Will be using an EVGA 560 GTX

Well don't you think it would be helpful to mention that when asking what motherboard you should buy??

 

[Syrocc]

I do, however I mentioned that I needed one PCI-E 2.0 slot, so I thought it was self-explanatory. In any case, sorry for leaving out that detail

 

[geekapproved]

I do, however I mentioned that I needed one PCI-E 2.0 slot, so I thought it was self-explanatory. In any case, sorry for leaving out that detail

No it's not self explanatory. Needing 1 PCI-e 2.0 slot does not mean your not using the cpu's integrated graphics. You could want it for future upgrade. Got it now