Home server build...ASUS Z97-A vs ASRock Z97 Extreme4?

[gerr]

I am debating between the ASRock Z97 Extreme4 and an ASUS Z97-A for a home server build. Both mobo's go for around $140 and have similar features. Overclocking is meaningless to me, I am more concerned on lower power consumption, stability, longevity, and compatibility with WHS 2011. Opinions?

If anyone has any other recommendations, below are the features I am interested in and the ones I could care less about...

Features:
Price - $150 or under, the lower the better.
Power Consumption - high priority as this will be a always on server.
Stability - another high priority.
Longevity - another high priority as this server will likely be running for years once built.
CPU - has to support i5-4690 socket 1150 CPU.
NIC - Intel only for compatibility and lowered CPU utilization.
Power phases - 6 min, prefer 8-12. This basically rules out H97 boards.
SATA - at least 6 ports, 8-10 would be nice but not required.
eSATA - would be nice, but not required as my external enclosure I use for backups is also USB3.
PCI ports - would be nice, but not required asI don't have any PCI cards.
Overclocking - meaningless as I wont be overclocking.
SLI/Xfire - meaningless as I wont even have a videocard installed.
Audio - meaningless as not needed on a server.
M.2 - meaningless as I don't have any of these devices.
SATA-Express - meaningless as I don't have any of these devices.
Color of mobo - meaningless as my case doesn't have a window.

 

[GhislainG]

They're both good, but why do you need 8-12 power phases if you won't overclock and adjust voltages to achieve maximum speed? A motherboard like the ASRock H97 Pro4, the GIGABYTE GA-H97-D3H or the ASUS H97M-PLUS Micro ATX would meet your requirements.

 

[gerr]

In this thread...
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2344045/phase-power-home-server.html

I asked if a higher number of power phases is needed for a home server. I also did an Internet search and for the most part, the more phases means more stable power and that helps the stability and longevity of the server. So ya, I would prefer more than 4 power phases and am willing to spend the extra money to get it. Unless you or someone else has a reason not to?

 

[GhislainG]

The quality of components is more important than the number of phases. I built a few home servers, some with motherboards that use more power phases than others. The latest one uses an Intel DQ77MK (five-phase VRM), a i7-3770 CPU and 32GB of memory. It's running Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V with several VMs and it never crashed. I bought it because it's built for stability and it has 2 Intel Gigabit controllers. I still have an older server built on a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P (I don't overclock for stability) and it's been acceptable (2-3 crashes in 3 years, but none was caused by the motherboard). The GA-EP45-UD3P has six-phase VRM (30 amps per phase for a total of 180 amps) which is more than needed by a Quad processor. I'll build another server to replace it and it probably will be based on the ASRock H97 Pro4 (four-phase) and an i7. A Z97 motherboard has to be able to handle high overclocking, but the H97 doesn't.

Edit: I'm not trying to convince you that you should buy a motherboard with less power phases. Buy a motherboard that you trust and know is stable running as a server.

 

[gerr]

I ended up going with the ASRock as ASUS seems to be riding their reputation and cutting back on quality a bit.

 

[GhislainG]

It's a good choice.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

ASUS boards are better than Asrock when it comes to Haswell.