Which Z87 mobo

[GReeN_ORB]

Posted on Carbonite too, but may as well post here.

I'm in the process of speccing out a new rig, based around a 4770k, but I have no idea what mobo to get. Looking at the MSI Mpower Max, but one or two reviews moan about the immature BIOS (which was the Achilles heel of my MSI P55 board, when I got it). Would be interested to hear what you guys think are alternative options.

Key requirements for me are full-size ATX, PCI 3.0 supporting 16x/16x SLI/CF, good (read, easy. I'm an OC n00b ) overclockability, plenty of SATA3 ports and ideally wifi.

I would prefer not to spend more than R4500 on the board...

Suggestions?

[maaz]

Well I did some research, because I too will be upgrading in a month or two and I came up with these choices.

ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO
ASUS Z87-DELUXE
ASRock Z87 OC Formula/ac

In my opinion the best board in that price point is the ASRock Z87 OC Formula/ac it is build for overclocking. This board is loaded with top features 8 x USB 3.0, 10 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s and 4 way CrossFireX.

Hope this helps your choice.

[Edelweiss]

Rich kid gets a free x360 and has a cool pc. Grrrrr. Guess some people just have all the luck.

[Glordit]

Rich kid gets a free x360 and has a cool pc. Grrrrr. Guess some people just have all the luck.

Orb has probably been on this earth longer than you, so please show a little respect, and he also has what adults call a "JOB". Don't get jealous now. Sheesh.

My Advice: Go for the ASRock.

[Wesley]

ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO
ASRock Z87 OC Formula/ac

Those are both fantastic boards. Personally, I feel that ASRock is trying for the premium market a little too quickly with the Z87 OC Formula, its an over-engineered board that isn't as good as some of the other, cheaper, offerings on the market. My vote goes to the ASUS, every review I've seen on the Deluxe has ended in praise.

Honestly, though, its a lot of money for that board. I'd personally go for the ASRock Z87 Extreme6 and buy a PCI-Express Wi-Fi card instead.

Rich kid gets a free x360 and has a cool pc. Grrrrr. Guess some people just have all the luck.

Rather be happy for OP. He's got enough money for a good PC, good for him. I'd love to have some new hardware right now, but you don't see me going around and being jealous now, do we?

[rootworm41]

Out of those I would go for the OC Formula, but remember 4 way SLI and CrossFire aint too good on non- LGA 2011 systems. The CPU doesn't have enough lanes...

You might want to look at the MSi Mpower and Mpower Max as they are basically the same. Asus motherboards at that price range are great for OCing as the UEFI is awesome (And so is the software). Truthfully though you will get the same overclock unless you are going extreme...

[GReeN_ORB]

Rich kid gets a free x360 and has a cool pc. Grrrrr. Guess some people just have all the luck.

Thanks for letting me know. Didn't even realise I won something. Also, I worked rather hard (this is an understatement) for the cash for the PC

Orb has probably been on this earth longer than you, so please show a little respect, and he also has what adults call a "JOB". Don't get jealous now. Sheesh.

My Advice: Go for the ASRock.

Thanks

Those are both fantastic boards. Personally, I feel that ASRock is trying for the premium market a little too quickly with the Z87 OC Formula, its an over-engineered board that isn't as good as some of the other, cheaper, offerings on the market. My vote goes to the ASUS, every review I've seen on the Deluxe has ended in praise.

Honestly, though, its a lot of money for that board. I'd personally go for the ASRock Z87 Extreme6 and buy a PCI-Express Wi-Fi card instead.

Rather be happy for OP. He's got enough money for a good PC, good for him. I'd love to have some new hardware right now, but you don't see me going around and being jealous now, do we?

I looked quite seriously at the Asus, but the price and that revolting gold colour scheme put me off. As you say, all the reviews were good, though. My biggest complaint with the ASrock and the Asus are the silly slot spacings. I'll be running SLI and a Creative ZxR, so I need the kind of slot spacing on the MSI board. Hmmmm.

Out of those I would go for the OC Formula, but remember 4 way SLI and CrossFire aint too good on non- LGA 2011 systems. The CPU doesn't have enough lanes...

You might want to look at the MSi Mpower and Mpower Max as they are basically the same. Asus motherboards at that price range are great for OCing as the UEFI is awesome (And so is the software). Truthfully though you will get the same overclock unless you are going extreme...

Fortunately, I don't plan on going 4-way SLI. 2 x GTX780s will be sufficient

Maybe I should just stick with the MSI. I like the colour scheme, it opens up some interesting mod options. Hopefully the 8x/8x won't be a limitation.

Thanks for the advice guys. Will read some more reviews of the options listed, and see what's what

[rootworm41]

Thanks for letting me know. Didn't even realise I won something. Also, I worked rather hard (this is an understatement) for the cash for the PC



Thanks



I looked quite seriously at the Asus, but the price and that revolting gold colour scheme put me off. As you say, all the reviews were good, though. My biggest complaint with the ASrock and the Asus are the silly slot spacings. I'll be running SLI and a Creative ZxR, so I need the kind of slot spacing on the MSI board. Hmmmm.



Fortunately, I don't plan on going 4-way SLI. 2 x GTX780s will be sufficient

Maybe I should just stick with the MSI. I like the colour scheme, it opens up some interesting mod options. Hopefully the 8x/8x won't be a limitation.

Thanks for the advice guys. Will read some more reviews of the options listed, and see what's what

8x/8x PCIe gen 3 is the same as 16x/16x on 2nd gen...so you will be fine

[Glordit]

8x/8x PCIe gen 3 is the same as 16x/16x on 2nd gen...so you will be fine

+1 you wouldn't even see a performance hit. Even with 16x/8x the speeds of the BUS are way higher than what the cards process.

[rootworm41]

All Z87 motherboards run at x8 or lower when you go SLI...that I know of...