Best motherboard under $150

[jimmy_dog]

I am looking to get a motherboard under $150 but could go a bit higher if there are more features. I would prefer an asus motherboard. The current one i am looking at right now is a ASRock Z77 Extreme4 but is it good?. I plan to have a i5-3570k, 16 gb of dual channel ram 1600 mhz, a single 1tb 7200 rpm samsung spinpoint and maybe a ssd later, a cooler master v6 gt cpu cooler, sli GTX 670 graphics cards. my case has support for 2 usb 3.0 ports, 2 usb 2.0 ports, plus a headphones and microphone jack, so i need those on my motherboard.

 

[jimmy_dog]

Note that it will be used for gaming.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

The Extreme4 is the one that I would recommend for that price range.

This is a nice one as well, but it's only a 4+2 power phase design instead of the 8+4 design on the Extreme4 ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

 

[jimmy_dog]

I do plan to overclock so a 8+4 design would be better for that. I see that you overclocked your cpu a lot. Could I clock mine up that much? I'm getting a i5-3570k with the asrock extreme 4 motherboard, a cool master v6 gt, and i'll be using artic silver as5 thermal grease.

 

[bigcyco1]

Agree with DJDeCiBeL either of those motherboards will serve you well both are decent

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

I see that you overclocked your cpu a lot. Could I clock mine up that much? I'm getting a i5-3570k with the asrock extreme 4 motherboard, a cool master v6 gt, and i'll be using artic silver as5 thermal grease.

Since that's a 3570K and not a 2500K, 4.5 will be a challenge, even with the V6 GT cooler, so you'll probably end up being temperature limited. If you're lucky and get a good chip, you may get to 4.5 without a TON of heat though. We usually recommend top end cooling for 4.5 and above with 3570K's. The Extreme4 is a good board for it though.

 

[jimmy_dog]

is a 2500k better for overclocking? Its $20 less so i'll get it if it is.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

is a 2500k better for overclocking? Its $20 less so i'll get it if it is.

It's better for higher OC's on air, yes. Just to compare, a 3570K @ 4.5 = a 2500K @ ~4.8.

 

[jimmy_dog]

Then i might just stick with the 3570k and overclock it to 4.2 gHZ

 

[jimmy_dog]

Wait... Are you talking about performance or overclocking capabilities?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Wait... Are you talking about performance or overclocking capabilities?

Performance.

 

[jimmy_dog]

I'll do that then.

 

[jimmy_dog]

Best answer selected by jimmy_dog.

 

[J_E_D_70]

I got stable to 4.4 with auto voltages in testing then backed off since it wasn't necessary for anything I play (BF3, Skyrim, etc).

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr