Z77 MB advice

[willzzz]

I am looking to build a fairly basic mid range system using a 3570k, just wondering what motherboard to go for.

Looking at
http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/motherboards-intel/socket-1155-intel-z77/socket-1155-intel-z77-matx

I have very little idea what differentiates the different models

Should I just go for the cheapest?
Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H

It seems you can almost double the price while I cannot see any obvious changes to the feature set, anyone know what the different letters in the product names actually mean? What features would I be paying more for and do I actually need them?

 

[Robi_g]

reliability and stability generally increase, as do the number of SATA ports and PCIe express ports running at speeds that GPUs will run on.
Will you be overclocking at all?

 

[willzzz]

I'm quite happy with the number of ports on the basic models.

When you say reliability and stability is with respect to overclocking? I mean if it wasn't reliable and stable at stock speeds then it is surely defective?

I would envisage overclocking in the long run, but it probably won't be necessary in the short term based on my general usage.

 

[kivblue]

Z77 chipset boards are more or less a "performance" series so they are quite robust and reliable at stock speeds, most gamers choose Z77 because of the overclocking abilities that Z77 gives.

If intense gaming and overclocking is not really your main thing, a H77 chipset actually would be more than sufficient at a very economical cost, in fact Z77 would be an overkill for general computing.

 

[willzzz]

Firstly I can't find a H77 board for cheaper, and I almost certainly will want to overclock in the future.

 

[Ironslice]

Get this one: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asrock-z77-extreme-4-intel-z77-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-d-sub-dvi-d-hdmi-a

Absolutely great board.

 

[willzzz]

Thanks for your advice, but could you please explain what the extra £43 gets me over the cheaper motherboards?

Is it the Lucid Virtu Universal MVP? Anything else?