Best Z77 motherboard?

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JamesPoulton

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Nov 14, 2012
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Hi guys,
What's the best LGA1155 Z77 motherboard for, under $300 and under $400?

My only requirements are:
SATA III
USB 3.0 Internal header
I'd like atleast 3way SLI for the future but 2 way will be okay
Not dreadfully ugly.

Thanks,
James.
 
J

JamesPoulton

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Nov 14, 2012
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Thanks.

My currents specs are:
Intel 2600 - Going to 3770K when I can afford.
Corsair AX850W PSU
8GB RAM
EVGA Geforce GTX 660 SC, upgrading to SLI before long.
WD 1TB Black
WD 1TB Green
And I'm going to get an SSD when I decide one.
 
TheBigTroll

TheBigTroll

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Apr 15, 2012
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-for a gaming rig, a i5 3570k is a better idea. going to a i7 has no performance gains
-a ax 850w is pretty overkill in price. a xfx xxx 750w is only 79.99 after a MIR and would do the job just as fine
-unbalanced as a 660 makes no sense in this rig where all the other components are really ahead of the GPU
-a blue drive performs the same as the black and better than the green

if you have not bought the items, id suggest changing now. but then if you have and they are already in a system up and running, then i cant tell you to do anything about it
 
D

darksparten

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Nov 30, 2012
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The absolute best is debatable.

For overclocking the ASRock Z77 OC Formula holds the world record and would be the best for overclocking, however it's expandability is mediocre with only 2 PCIe 3.0 slots operating at x16/x8.

For expandability the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7 is the best, with 4-way SLI capable, and no shortage of SATA/USB. However it's 400 dollars. Also it's worth noting this board held the highest OC honor before Nick Shih got 7.something on the ASRock OC Formula.

Asus Maximus V Extreme is a decent choice but it's 370 dollars and I'd just get the Z77X-UP7 for 29 more bucks.

Good luck!

BTW to help you decide on your SSD the OCZ Vertex 4 is the fastest on paper with 120,000 Write and 100,000 read, and the Corsair Force trails slightly behind with 90,000 read and 100,000 write. However these are just academic figures and in all actualality will perform around the same as a more modest, say 520 Cherryville or a Samsung 840 because of the 6GB/s bottleneck and Latency between the Drive and the Motherboard.
 
J

JamesPoulton

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Nov 14, 2012
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TheBigTroll: The parts are mixed up like that because I had a low end computer and have been upgrading it gradually ever since. The graphics card was the first thing I did, and only got the 660 because it was miles ahead of what was in there but not expensive, the PSU was given to me, the green drive was already in there, the black drive was on special offer so I went with that.

darksparten: Thanks for all of the advice, I'll have to do a bit more research then, yay.
 
J

JamesPoulton

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Nov 14, 2012
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I don't plan on keeping standard cooling for much longer, I'm looking to get either a H80 or H100 when it'll be possible for me to overclock
 
TheBigTroll

TheBigTroll

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Apr 15, 2012
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thats not out of standard. out of standard means phase-change cooling (refridgeration), dry ice, and LN2 overclocking. those things will make boards show themselves from others

and you are better off with a good heatsink like the noctua nh-d14 or a phanteks equivalent heatsink. they cool the same as those closed loop kits yet cost less and wont have as many failure points (no leaks, exploding pumps etc)

if you want some custom watercooling, get this instead. but then you need a proper watercooling case
http://www.crazypc.com/products/xspc-rx240-93812.html


watercooling still doesnt make boards differentiate themselves from others much.
 
J

JamesPoulton

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Nov 14, 2012
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Ohh I see, I thought by Standard Cooling you meant like, the included heatsink or something.

I have a good watercooling case, supports a top 360MM rad and a bottom 240MM rad.
What kind of overclock could I get from a 3770K with the water cooling kit you linked me?
 
J

JamesPoulton

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Nov 14, 2012
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Thanks for the advice guys, but I went for the ASRock Extreme9 because it seemed like the best board for my budget, also got an Intel 520 240GB SSD :D
 
TheBigTroll

TheBigTroll

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Apr 15, 2012
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id never get a asrock board above the extreme6.

the intel 520 240gb is a pretty terrible value given i can get a sandisk extreme 240gb that will perform the same for 159.99
 
Ceee9

Ceee9

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Oct 12, 2012
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Even i were asking myself this question, and after tons of research on multiple forum and owner club, i come up with the msi z77 mpower board, but i believe the best premium board is the up7 and the maximus vformula,

My reason for going with the msi is it lacks of best onboard sound card than the maximus v formula, why? It is nothing when u buying a soundcard.

Up7 have a lot pcie slot, only if u really use all of it, and the sli capabilities.

The msi got a bunch of features only lacking of thunderbolt,3 way sli, not included usb front panel. At least this what i cxan think of.

U currently own a very good chipset, forget about upgrading it.

Lastly, all these 3 board does not have a gay blue colour scheme.
 
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