So many motherboards so many choices. Please help

[g335]

Hello

So I am about to purchase a Z77 board. It was suggested to me to buy a AsRock Extreme 4.

Before I make this move should I look at any other boards and makers?

I will go i5 or i7 for the build.

I will add my hd which is a WD Calvier Black 500gb Sata II or III. Not sure which one it is.

I want something with at least 3 sata 6gbp ports for 2 hd's and one ssd. Decent LAN card, I have up to 200mbps Internet speed. Good sound card, good controllers and all(such as the Marvells, Intels', ex.), which ever are the good ones.
At least 2 pic-e x16 3.0 slots for SLI in the future, a decent sound card (chip), and a decent amount of USB connections.

I have about 200 dollars to spend.
I am in a rush because my Dell computer died.

I need a computer now for taking online classes ASAP. I want the computer to play games of course.

The cheaper the board the better for now.

With that what are some other suggestions for mb's?

Should I just get a low priced board and later get a better one? Or should I try to get the best I can afford now? I don't have to have SLI now, it's a want not a need.

I do not know alot about the Z77 boards but trying to learn. Don't know what they are fully capable of.

Help please

 

[djangoringo]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837
With free 8GB of ram.

Or the asrock z77 extreme 6 with the same offer : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295

Both meets your requirements.

 

[chesteracorgi]

The ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 is a very good mobo at a good price. ASRock is very competitive on features/$ and while ASUS, Gigabyte Biostar, and MSI are also very good, I think that ASRock is a solid choice depending on the prevailing discounts.

I have run the Z77 Ex4 on my grandkids machine for over six months and just installed the Z77 Ex6 in my own gamer. Very solid builds and no problems to date.

I recommend overbuying on mobos because that leaves room for upgrades. The ASRock line is very overclockable.

 

[g335]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837
With free 8GB of ram.

Or the asrock z77 extreme 6 with the same offer : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295

Both meets your requirements.

Thanks for the links!

 

[g335]

The ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 is a very good mobo at a good price. ASRock is very competitive on features/$ and while ASUS, Gigabyte Biostar, and MSI are also very good, I think that ASRock is a solid choice depending on the prevailing discounts.

I have run the Z77 Ex4 on my grandkids machine for over six months and just installed the Z77 Ex6 in my own gamer. Very solid builds and no problems to date.

I recommend overbuying on mobos because that leaves room for upgrades. The ASRock line is very overclockable.

Cool good to hear.

Everyone, want are the biggest differences in the boards suggest here and the more expensive ones?
Also I will do 2D and 3D design and animation on the computer.

 

[paulys55]

Cool good to hear.

Everyone, want are the biggest differences in the boards suggest here and the more expensive ones?
Also I will do 2D and 3D design and animation on the computer.

I'm not up to date on mobos but if you're doing any intensive design/animation, I would consider the i7. i5 is fine for gaming

 

[djangoringo]

Cool good to hear.

Everyone, want are the biggest differences in the boards suggest here and the more expensive ones?
Also I will do 2D and 3D design and animation on the computer.

More sata III ports, more power phases with high end board and other features, but you probably won't need it, the asrock z77 extreme 4/6 has 4 sata iii ports and all the features that you need, the extreme 6 since it has the free 8GB of ram, it goes cheaper than the extreme 4 if you count the price of the ram.
If you're into editing or 3d modelling, then, the i7-3770k is the best cpu to go with.

 

[g335]

More sata III ports, more power phases with high end board and other features, but you probably won't need it, the asrock z77 extreme 4/6 has 4 sata iii ports and all the features that you need, the extreme 6 since it has the free 8GB of ram, it goes cheaper than the extreme 4 if you count the price of the ram.
If you're into editing or 3d modelling, then, the i7-3770k is the best cpu to go with.

What does having more power phases do for the board?