hi, i'm getting a new pc and i'm really confused on what to buy. The system i'm going to use it for has (or will have):
i7 3770k
8 gb ddr3 corsair vengeance 1600mhz
gtx 660 ti
seasonic 520w bronze
wd caviar black 1tb
I've narrowed it down to these : Asrock z77 extreme4 and the Gigabyte z77x ud3h
Both offer pretty much the same things and both are the same price in my area. However there are some annoying things about both that make it really hard to decide.
I'll list everything that bugs me/that i like the most about each one in order of importance for me
Asrock:
- My main gripe with it is that it is smaller than the regular atx board ( and uses 6 screws instead of 9 ) thus making it less solid in my opinion.
- Also as i've never owned one i have no ideea of the build quality and from what i've read the gigabyte wins here.
- It doesn't have the dual bios that the gigabyte has and it comes with only 2 sata cables
Gigabyte:
- the integrated audio is Via and from what I've seen it's lower quality than the realtek on the asrock and has worse drivers. I don't want to spend money on a dedicated soundcard so i need solid integrated audio.
- The dual bios feature is a big plus in the case that i mess something up.
- Taking a closer look, i've noticed that the heatsink is really close to the pci slot. I'm concerned the the gpu will hit that and even if it won't, from the looks of it, it will be really close to it; not sure how i feel about that or if it will affect anything.
- 4 sata cables. Since i'll get an ssd in the future i'll be needing more than the 2 that come with the asrock mobo. I can always buy cables but it's worth mentioning
- asrock's bios looks better
Help :) ?
I'm pretty sure you're making a mountain out of a mole hill. If sound quality is an issue, go with the ASRock. It's still within the standards of ATX and will mount in any ATX case. BIOS (EFI, technically) are easy enough to reset, by either a clear CMOS button, clear CMOS jumpers, or just removing the battery. SATA cables are dirt cheap, and some SSD's even come with the cables and adapter bracket.
Pro tip: Use the enter key and more people will help you.