First time posting. Should this article be in the 'Buld a PC' section?
Hey,
I'm planning to build a new PC, but I don't know which motherboard should I pick. I was already looking at Asrock Z97M Pro4. The thing is, I don't even know what should I pay attention to when choosing a motherboard. I would mainly use it for gaming.
Here's a list of things I don't need:
no need for SLI and Crossfire
no need for Wi-Fi
Also, a friend has a 8GB memory kit, which goes up to 2133MHz (?). If I want to use that at 1600MHz, do I need a motherboard which supports that frequency? I know CPU also has something to do with that, but I have not yet decided which particular CPU I want. I was looking at i5 4590, but should I spend extra ~25€ to buy i5 4960k?
You should compare between manufacturers. There are other things that factor into motherboard choice - power phase, ports, etc., as well as just overall build quality.
4690K is an unlocked cpu, you basicly need to go with a Z97 board to get fully overclock control for the chip.
If you not care about overclock then you could offcourse look at cheaper options like a H97 board with a 4690 cpu. But then you can´t overclock. I assume you prefer to have the abillity for overclocking so i would recommend to grab a Z97 m-atx board. since you dont care too much about sli or Crossfire capabillity´s you could look at the cheaper boards if you like.
Unless you plan to overclock to the extreme, then i would recommend to buy a decent one.
Asrock Z97M Pro4 is a very decent board IMO. Although it does support SLi and Crossfire, but due to the placement of the second PCIe slot makes it difficult.
I would ask anyone to take a look at the numbers when it comes to overclocking on intel for gaming. Its kind of a shame. Overclocking on haswell seems to only produce 1 to 2 FPS difference on most games. You get the biggest jump between the 3,5,and 7 parts. If you are trying to keep a budget the difference between a 4590 stock and a overclocked 4690k at say 4.5Ghz in gaming is kind of disappointing.
Also keep in mind I have not gotten to mess with new Nvidia Maxwell parts besides the 750 Ti. I am basing everthing on current AMD cards and Nvidia Kepler cards. So Maxwell may scale better per higher clock. Might be something you want to look at if you go for the new GTX 970 and GTX 980.
As far as Motherboard. If you don't mind spending a little more the Asus H97 and Z97 are good parts. There a little lacking on fan headers. If you need more than 2 case fans you can get a fan splitter cable. All headers on those boards will handle 1 amp. Most case fans tend to be around 0.3 amp. Most will say on back of them. If fans are PWM they do make PWM spitters that will work with this board.
I guess the question is and was for me. Is the i5 unlocked and overclocked worth the extra 40 or in my case 60 bucks. In games I really don't see the need. If you end up doing any productivity work. Than the overclocked chip does seem to help a lot.
Here is a graph from Anandtech:http://www.anandtech.com/show/8227/devils-canyon-review-intel-core-i7-4790k-and-i5-4690k/5
Also, a friend has a 8GB memory kit, which goes up to 2133MHz (?). If I want to use that at 1600MHz, do I need a motherboard which supports that frequency?
the 2133Mhz just means its binned to that speed, by default the mobo will set it to 1600Mhz or less, so it does not heave to support the 2133 speed, and for gaming unless on a APU there is not much benefit from 1600 to 2000++++ speeds
highspeed memory is indeed just a waste of money, wenn you have a dedicated gpu.
There is basicly no diffrences between 1600mhz and 2400mhz, atleast not something you will see or feel in the real world.
Unless you have an APU or IGPU based setup, in which the graphic processor inside the cpu uses the speeds on the ram. Then highspeed ram does makes sense.
But most people use a dedicated GPU anyway. so highspeed memory does not make any sense. It will only creates headaces wenn overclocking, especialy on intel.
i allways recommend 1600 / 1866mhz CL9 1.5V ram´s as a sweet spot.