Looking for best budget z77 motherbaord for OC'ing on my new build

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Sort by date Sort by votes
Headbomb

Headbomb

Honorable
Oct 29, 2012
236
0
10,710
+1 ^

I have an ASRock z77 extreme 3 Mobo and I Overclocked my i5-3570k to 4.5ghz no problem. There is very little difference between the Extreme 3 and The Extreme 4.
both are great boards and I very highly recommend them.

Cheers :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

muttley89

Honorable
Mar 6, 2013
20
0
10,520


This is a very misinformed response. Clearly mojin has no experience of using the Pro4. I was torn between buying the Extreme4 and the Pro4 - I don't need Crossfire and the Pro4 had more than enough features, I just wanted to overclock my i5 3570k to 4.5GHz, run a SATA3 SSD and a PCIe graphics card.

A lot of comments I found on forums wrote the Pro4 off as terrible for OC'ing. I doubt any of the people writing those comments had even laid eyes on a Pro4 - it is fantastic.

I have had the Pro4 for a few weeks now. After installing Windows I went into BIOS and ramped the multiplier on my i5 3570k to 40 - giving me 4.0GHz. This was completely stable with no need for voltage offsets. I now have my CPU happily running at 4.5GHz with a minor voltage increase. The board can probably go further but I am near 70C on full load so I'm happy with the 4.5GHz for now.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mojin7

Honorable
Jun 7, 2012
148
0
10,690


Misinformed? Clearly I do have experience with the Pro 4 and the extreme 4. I first purchased the Pro4 because i, like you, said it has enough features for me and blah blah. Guess what. It was perfect up until I tried going for a nice healthy overclock. My OC was CLEARLY limited by the board because of how hot the chipset itself got due to the voltage regulation on the board. This was with a 2700k at 4.6 or 4.7 with no voltage tweak. The board caused throttling due to heat. The CPU was cool and collective still. I tried everything aside from sticking heat sinks onto all those tiny mosfet and whatnot. Because thats silly to me. Guess what else. I bought a Extreme 4 two weeks later and my new OC is 5.2 Ghz with a H100 and a mild voltage tweak which peaks around 1.4. The Extreme 4 is a BEAST. Clearly a better board for OC.

So... you might want to get "informed" as I clearly speak from experience on this and clearly have owned both and overclocked with both. Nevermond "laid eyes on then." Your mild OC proves nothing about the pro being a good overclocking board.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

muttley89

Honorable
Mar 6, 2013
20
0
10,520


Well your experience with the Pro4 is definitely unfortunate and I apologise for calling your post misinformed. Whilst I have only pushed my CPU to 4.5GHz, I have not had the time to test it further and the 4.5GHz was easily obtained with only minor tweaking. I would consider a 1.1GHz (32%) overclock quite reasonable, especially considering how little effort it took - no doubt this board can push it further. We are also comparing my Ivy CPU with your Sandy CPU - It is generally easier to get higher clockrates out of Sandybridge processors.

Crossfire support on the Pro4 is x16 x4 so it's a poor man's crossfire really - not true x16 x16 (or even x16 x8) crossfire.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mojin7

Honorable
Jun 7, 2012
148
0
10,690
For a PCI E 3.0 x4 and x16 crossfire setup being poor mans is really splitting hairs. And hey I know I flamed a little because I got offended for a minute (im a silly dude) but Im telling you getting past that point you are sitting at with your ivy on that mobo is just trouble. When you start bumping that voltage even a little or upping that frequency even another point or two, you will start seeing crazy heat and it is just not the mobo for the job.

Now like I said for a mild OC its fine. It really is. But for more then that you really should have the Extreme 4 with its 8 + 4 power phase design over the Pros 4s 4 + 2. Especially at such low prices.

Budget board for 0 to mild OC and Crossfire = Pro4
Budget board for moderate to high OC and/or SLI = Extreme4

Its well known bud.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mojin7

Honorable
Jun 7, 2012
148
0
10,690


I can agree there. I think an Ivy at 4.5 with voltage bump at only 70C under load is a real GEM of a CPU actually ;)

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

muttley89

Honorable
Mar 6, 2013
20
0
10,520
I'm running it on a cheap watercooler (Antec Kuhler 620 - a really great choice for ~£45) and off the top of my head the voltage is 1.3v full load and it hits 68-70C. I may be overdoing the voltage but just haven't had the time to reduce and retest. I like to get the best performance out of my money so for £225 for my CPU+Mobo I am very pleased with what I have got :)

Back to the topic of budget z77 board for overclocking - I have had a good experience with the Pro4 so I can thoroughly recommend it for a budget z77 board which will allow you to hit 4.5GHz with an i5 3570k. However, if you would rather be on the safe side, splash the extra £30 or so on the Extreme4 and you will be guaranteed a great board and better Crossfire capability + SLI capability.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

alex2000robert

Honorable
Feb 26, 2013
116
0
10,690

Actually ASUS is the company made ASRock.

About OC, you should select Extreme4, (talking to MyNewPCBuild) as it's a very good motherboard for OC.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
P

Paul_B

Honorable
Oct 26, 2013
7
0
10,510
I have a question mainly concerning Asrock and Asus MB's - but it can also apply to Gigabyte.
I've been looking for weeksssss trying to decide on a Z77 MB. I pick one and then pick another and revert back and on and on and on.
Why? Because of Reviews.
Here are some I've considered.
Asus P8Z77-V LX
Asus P8Z77-V LK
ASRock Z77 Extreme4
ASRock Z77 Pro4

I read reviews and post that talk about the onboard power distribution (as in thsi thread about the Asrock Pro4) of the quality of capacitors, etc., Asrock being a lower quality product.
And the reviews on Newegg, and this is for all the brands. It appears that for any particular MB (that has say 40 to 1000 sales) that ~ 1/3 of the reviews will be 1 Star and ~ 2/3 will be 5 star (just considering 1 star and 5 star only).
It may possibly be 1/4 vs 3/4.
I consider 1 out of 3 or even 1 out of 4 and bad track record for any product.
Of course I realize some of the people buy and building PC's are Goofs, but still, Many of the 1 stars are saying things like DOA or died within a few days or weeks or had defects.
Many talk about "bent CPU Socket pins" and the Manufacturers post replies swearing "they are sent from the factory with a protective cover to prevent that"
One review on Amazon said he bought an Asrock from Newegg that was defective so he sent it back to Newegg for RMA but before he did he took timestamped pictures of the motherboard to have proof of the condition. Newegg responded that the RMA was denied because the CPU Socket pins were bent by the customer.
His pictures he sent as proof to Newegg after complainng to management showing that the Pins were NOT bent when HE had the board and the Newegg was falsifying the issue. He got a refund..... And bought and Asus from Amazon.

So that's my quandry. I want a budget, but good Z77 motherboard with the features of the above boards and I don't really plan to overclock.
I just want it to work from the start, be reliable, and last, and hopefully not have to worry about updating and old bios version, etc etc.
Right now I'm leaning toward the Asus P8Z77-V LX although I wouldn't mind have an eSATA port.
I'm only planning to put an i3-3240 and 8gig Ram and Gtx 650 ti Boost because of very limited funds.

But my point is, reviews and post aren't necessarily always helpful I guess because all of the manufacturers are putting out too many products with quality control issues. Also I seem to read that Asrock support is leaves a lot to be desired compared to the others (which is not necessarily stellar either).
I did do a bit of a test - I sent emails to Asus, Gigabyes, Asrock, MSI asking them about AHCI drivers listed on their support sites for specific MB's for Windows XP. To see what kind of responses I would get and how timely.
I would give Asus an "A" for replying with a Name and return Reply addy and and Case number and a "Yes" answer.
I would give MSI an "A" for replying "Yes, those are the drives you need if you intend to do slipstream for your WINXP."
I would give Gigabyte a "B++" for a "Yes" reply.
I would give Asrock a "C" for a slower reply that didn't seem all that helpful or caring.

My problem with MSI is that all their customer replies on Newegg are asking the customers to call a non-toll free number with their concerns and to get help.
But maybe Asus and Gigabyte are no better.

Also, MSI is the only one of the 4 that is a BBB member and has an A+ rating which kinda amazes me.
Asus currently has no rating.
Gigabyte I forget at the moment.
Asrock as an F rating for not responding to complaints.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom