Which motherboard is better?

[Multisupermono]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-138-357&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo VS. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128540 Just wanted to see which one is better

 

[avenseth12]

The boards are about the same except the 1st one can support up to 32gb of ram where the 2nd one only 16gb ram. The biostar board is lower rated and both only support up to 1600 mhz ram and both micro atx which will limit your ability to sli or xfire if you choose that.

 

[Pinhedd]

Biostar is horrible, avoid it like the plague.

Gigabyte is decent enough. They're not as good as Asus IMO but the price is right

 

[Multisupermono]

So, it seems that both won't do very well. What board would you recommend? It has to have a LGA1155 socket and cannot go over $85. Could you help?

 

[Pinhedd]

Sure can

If you don't mind open box this one would work great. It's regularly $120 so $85 is a great deal:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131786R

Z68 is a very solid chipset and Asus's Pro motherboards are only one step down from the Deluxe lineup.

If you want something a tad bit newer (but not as good):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131836

The Z68 is a much better chipset than the B75 by far and that Pro motherboard will beat the snot out of anything else in the price range.

Z68 has Intel RST (firmware RAID) and Smart Response (SSD caching), B75 has neither. The only advantage that the B75 has is native USB 3.0 support on that chipset. The Z68 gets its USB 3.0 support from a third party add-in chip (usually ASMedia 106x). The performance difference between the two is pretty small.

 

[avenseth12]

Try these:

ASRock Z75 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z75 $84
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157304

MSI Z68A-G43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel Z68 $89
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130614

 

[Multisupermono]

avenseth12: Could you please list the pros and cons of each motherboard.

Pinhedd: The Z68 sounds pretty good except that i am not sure if i can trust open box.
Do the open box things come with the cords i need?

 

[Pinhedd]

avenseth12: Could you please list the pros and cons of each motherboard.

Pinhedd: The Z68 sounds pretty good except that i am not sure if i can trust open box.
Do the open box things come with the cords i need?

They almost always do come with everything. Open box just means that it's been returned

 

[avenseth12]

The problem with 1155 boards is that they are hard to find under $100

 

[Multisupermono]

But you found them for $85. Are you saying they're perfect?

 

[avenseth12]

No, I am saying the choices for mobo's below $100 is not great for 1155 cpu's

 

[Multisupermono]

No, I am saying the choices for mobo's below $100 is not great for 1155 cpu's

Could you please explain how they are not good.

 

[InvalidError]

The problem with 1155 boards is that they are hard to find under $100

People who have no intention of overclocking or SLI/CFX-ing can step down to h77 or b75 which opens up quite a few reasonable options under $100. Unless the OP plans to get an SSD for SRT, the b75 becomes effectively the same as h77.

Not much point in paying extra for features the OP may have no intention of ever using.

 

[Multisupermono]

OK, I don't plan to OC or SLI/CFX. So with this in mind how good are your choices for
a motherboard?

 

[Pinhedd]

OK, I don't plan to OC or SLI/CFX. So with this in mind how good are your choices for
a motherboard?

Do you plan on using a RAID at all?

 

[Multisupermono]

What is RAID?

 

[InvalidError]

What is RAID?

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives

It can be used to enhance performance, reliability and storage capacity by aggregating multiple drives together using various algorithms depending on the primary goal and budget.

If you have no idea what that means, you do not need it.

 

[Multisupermono]

OK, so now what?

 

[Multisupermono]

With all this in mind about the motherboard's features i want, what motherboard would you suggest?

 

[InvalidError]

If you do not want SLI/CFX nor overclocking, do not want SRT nor RAID then you should be fine with a b75 board from any major manufacturer... ASUS, MSI, Asrock, etc.