Best Motherboards For The Money: October 2014 (Archive)

[adamovera]

Are you having a hard time keeping track of the best motherboards out there? Our resident motherboard expert helps you pick the right platform with this collection of award-winning boards covering today's top AMD and Intel processors.

Best Motherboards For The Money: October 2014 : Read more

 

[adamovera]

Archived comments are found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2606927/motherboards-money-october-2014.html

 

[bak0n]

No form factor listed still. How are you supposed to find an ITX board in the list quickly, if one even exists on your list. Or how about a full ATX board?

 

[jimernst]

I am getting ready to due my last build ever. At 66 I want to build a high end air cooled system. I was leaning toward the Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard, but I don't see it listed in your review. Is it bad or just expensive, or is there another reason for it not being listed?

 

[TechyInAZ]

Lots of good choices by Tom's Hardware. Asrock defiantly knows how to pack as many features into a mobo as possible while offering a surprisingly low price point.

 

[TechyInAZ]

I am getting ready to due my last build ever. At 66 I want to build a high end air cooled system. I was leaning toward the Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard, but I don't see it listed in your review. Is it bad or just expensive, or is there another reason for it not being listed?

All the mobo's that you see were reviewed specifically by Tom's Hardware. It could be the X99 Deluxe (also the X99-A and Z97-A) are not reviewed by tom's hardware yet. Don't expect them to review every motherboard on the market.... Make a post on the forums about your concerns.

 

[xkm1948]

How about ASUS Sabertooth X99? It seems to be a very solid board. Can you guys do a review on that one?

 

[Onus]

I really want to see more AM1 boards tested and listed, especially the ones from ASRock that have four SATA ports, not just two.

 

[lifeoflopez]

I'm looking for a Z97 mobo to run with an I7-4790k and a GTX 980 (will eventually bump up to dual SLI) and that also has built in Bluetooth for under $250. Any suggestions? The ASUS Maximus VII Formula was my top pick but its too expensive. I'm planning at running dual 1440p 144hz monitors and will eventually upgrade to dual 4K once the prices go down and they figure out how to do 4K at 144hz. Right now i'm interested in the ASUS Z97-Pro. Any suggestions? Just trying to save a few bucks to invest into some hardware.

 

[RedJaron]

I'm looking for a Z97 mobo to run with an I7-4790k and a GTX 980 (will eventually bump up to dual SLI) and that also has built in Bluetooth for under $250. Any suggestions? The ASUS Maximus VII Formula was my top pick but its too expensive. I'm planning at running dual 1440p 144hz monitors and will eventually upgrade to dual 4K once the prices go down and they figure out how to do 4K at 144hz. Right now i'm interested in the ASUS Z97-Pro. Any suggestions? Just trying to save a few bucks to invest into some hardware.

I'm all for saving some money, but if you're already spending $2000 on CPU, GPU, monitors, and mboard, quibbling over an additional $100 seems . . . off.

However, you have plenty of options for under $250. Relatively few boards have Bluetooth built-in, so I'd say just get a good board that fits the rest of your needs and get an aftermarket BT device. Going this route you can be well under your $250 limit. USB BT plugs are pretty cheap. Or get a combo Wi-Fi/BT add-in card if you want to spend a little more money. Something like this basically gives you a PCIe -> mini-PCIe adpater, so you can swap out the cards when wireless protocols upgrade. Or just get a board that already has the mini-PCIe slot and spend $20 on any mini-PCIe card of your choice. The ASRock Z97 Extreme6 and Asus Z97-Pro are nice options. The ASR Extreme9 has a slightly better SLI layout and lane support, though.

 

[Crashman]

No form factor listed still. How are you supposed to find an ITX board in the list quickly, if one even exists on your list. Or how about a full ATX board?

Agreed. The top bar of the description should list the category for which it was awarded (Z97 ATX for $xxx-$xxx, Z97 mini-ITX, etc). To get there you're going to have to lean on Adam, but don't be surprised if he leans back since he's already the busiest man in the company.

I am getting ready to due my last build ever. At 66 I want to build a high end air cooled system. I was leaning toward the Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard, but I don't see it listed in your review. Is it bad or just expensive, or is there another reason for it not being listed?

Asus' Deluxe series used to get constant awards, but the X99 Deluxe hasn't been reviewed yet. The X99 Pro received a lot of honorable mentions but didn't get an award due to competitive issues involving both price and the need to disable some onboard features in order to enable others. It's still a solid board, which is why it's used in memory reviews.

How about ASUS Sabertooth X99? It seems to be a very solid board. Can you guys do a review on that one?

No clue, but Pro and Deluxe boards are more likely to get awards than ROG-series, due to the balance of features and price.

I'm looking for a Z97 mobo to run with an I7-4790k and a GTX 980 (will eventually bump up to dual SLI) and that also has built in Bluetooth for under $250. Any suggestions? The ASUS Maximus VII Formula was my top pick but its too expensive. I'm planning at running dual 1440p 144hz monitors and will eventually upgrade to dual 4K once the prices go down and they figure out how to do 4K at 144hz. Right now i'm interested in the ASUS Z97-Pro. Any suggestions? Just trying to save a few bucks to invest into some hardware.

The list contains awarded candidates. Both the -Pro WiFi/ac and -A were reviewed and did well, but were undercut on cost by substantially similar products. If you have better luck with Asus, I'd say go with Asus

 

[Onus]

The Sabertooth isn't a ROG board. The Sabertooth line is their "TUF" series, with milspec components and a five year warranty. For someone building a "final" PC, it is hard to argue against those features.

 

[Oggy1985s]

Why not take into consideration newer versions on certain motherboards (ie. ASUS) where the same model is avaliable but supports USB 3.1?