Three Sub-$100 LGA1150 Mini-ITX Motherboards

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Early Verdict

Fit for [networked] business use, but so is just about every board ever made - nothing special.

Pros

  • +

    Audio quality • eSATA • Price

Cons

  • -

    Indistinct from competition • No front USB3.0 • Sparse

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Introduction

As a long-time reader, forum participant and now moderator at Tom's Hardware, I have eagerly devoured build articles and comparison pieces for years. When I was given the opportunity to address a particular market segment - one that has not always been well-represented - I jumped at the chance. Little did I realize how difficult it would be to find the proper focus. I wanted to provide another useful "data point" on which enthusiasts might base rational buying decisions. I have seen enough motherboard comparisons over the years to be skeptical of the value of standard benchmarks, such as would be used to compare graphics cards, CPUs or even storage devices. I know some of that matters, though, so I wanted to be sure to run the numbers that would turn up any anomalies. As you'll see, I found two. One may not matter much to most users and the other turned out to provide an excellent lesson, which wasn't even relevant to motherboards.

Aside from the benchmarks, though, what might set a handful of mini-ITX motherboards apart? This form factor offers limited surface area, so you won't find the wide variety of options found on larger boards. That doesn't mean there are no differences, however, as we will see.

Three boards made their way onto my test bench. Two were provided by ASRock and Tom's Hardware sent over a model from Gigabyte. It seems that vendors aren't too interested in this segment either, though I have a hard time understanding why. I live in the entry-level end of the build spectrum, and playing "what-if" is one of the fastest ways to bust a budget. It's been years since I needed a feature that wasn't available on one of these smaller boards. So, for whom might these specific boards be a good or bad choice? Let's find out.

Technical Specifications
ASRock H81M-ITX
ASRock H97M-ITX/ac
Gigabyte B85N Phoenix WiFi

All of these boards have decent audio codecs. The ALC892 has a 97 dB SNR on the outputs, and the ALC898 has a pro-quality 110 dB SNR. If you are building an HTPC, these boards should all provide good sound to your speakers or amplifier.


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Joe Trott
Joe Trott is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews motherboards, specializing in budget Intel chipsets.
43 Comments Comment from the forums
  • PaulBags
    Fix ya damn website tom's, why take up 60% of the screen with a "recommended article" while I'm trying to read this one, with a close button that doesn't work? Android 4.4.2, default browser, desktop mode.
    Reply
  • Firion87
    Dear Tom's. I own the Gigabyte B85N Phoenix for 2 months. Never measured the power draw but I'm using an Intel m-sata 530 SSD and that thing gets hot! I build some sort of duct above it with a 40mm fan to try cooling that thing from 56 degree Celsius to at least 48 which still seems a lot to me. The duct extends and covers also the chipset which stays nicely around 28 degrees. There's nothing else negative to report from this board. Everything works.
    Reply
  • DonkeyOatie
    Thanks for the validation.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2625445/build-log-consolidated-middle-school-builds.html

    My students have been building successfully with the ASRock H97 ITX/ac and it does everything you say. What challenges there are, like getting those tiny connectors on the WiFi card to fit into the sockets on the antenna wires, add texture, and frustration, to the building experience.

    All customers are satisfies at the moment and we are trying a Z97E ITX/ac build now.

    The i5 4460/GTX970 configuration is being updated to a GTX 980 and 4k monitor.
    Reply
  • akula2
    Interesting article.

    Some folks may consider to pay a bit more for AsRock Rack boards if they are looking for personal or enterprise-grade storage (NAS server/box) based on ZFS. E.g., a typical home box config:

    1) Core i3 4360T (35W) + C226M WS uATX board + 8GB ECC RAM
    Reply
  • Onus
    It looks like prices have changed again since I tested these boards.
    The more I think about it, the more I like the H97 chipset; the only thing you really give up is overclocking "K" CPUs. In the old days, you almost had to overclock to get good performance, but CPUs are so much faster today it seems less of a requirement unless you're down in Pentium territory; but that one can be overclocked on H97.
    Reply
  • dvanburen
    15857592 said:
    Thanks for the validation.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2625445/build-log-consolidated-middle-school-builds.html

    My students have been building successfully with the ASRock H97 ITX/ac and it does everything you say. What challenges there are, like getting those tiny connectors on the WiFi card to fit into the sockets on the antenna wires, add texture, and frustration, to the building experience.

    All customers are satisfies at the moment and we are trying a Z97E ITX/ac build now.

    If you can justify the additional cost you should like the Z97E ITX/ac. I have both of these boards in different builds. While the H97M ITX/ac is a nice board, the Z97E ITX/ac is nicer all around. For me it is about a $30 USD premium.
    Reply
  • Onus
    I built a rig on the Z77E-ITX, and it was my primary for months (its name was Gypsy, and true to form, it eventually wandered off to join the Circus; I sent it to some friends who have six minions). It was a nice board, and I could see buying another one for the i5-3570K from a different build that is now idle. It had a mSATA slot on its underside for a SSD. One gotcha: The mSATA screw was not included, and if whatever you used was long enough to short to the case, the board would not boot; a piece of electrical tape fixed that.
    Reply
  • dvanburen
    It's interesting that their use in an HTPC was mentioned in the article. I'm using an H97M ITX/ac for just this purpose. However, I don't think most will use the onboard audio as I believe HDMI will be used in the majority of HTPC builds. To be honest, the only reason I went this route is because I already have a very nice case with a VFD, a decent PS, and drives. If I was to start from scratch I would probably use something like the MSI Cubi. That is, if I could live without the VFD...
    Reply
  • Karsten75
    Could you only get boards from ASRock and Gigabyte? I'm not too sure I understand testing two much older chipsets against a more modern chipset. The price points are also way off. Why pay as much for a B85 chipset motherboard as for a H97??
    Reply
  • Onus
    All the "big boys" were invited to send boards. Only ASRock sent any; two. Some specifically expressed disinterest. Tom's bought the Gigabyte board.
    I'm working on more boards now. Once again, ASRock has sent two. I bought one, and I believe Tom's is buying others.
    As to the prices, they've jumped around in the last month or so.
    One thing I think the article showed is that the price jump from H81 to another chipset buys quite a bit.
    As to B85 vs. H97, it depends on your uses. In this case, Gigabyte's superior network adapters are worthwhile if you don't care about specific H97 features like RAID.
    Reply