Just browsing and playing around with PCpartspicker. I have noticed that while the xeons are $50+ more expensive than the FX chips, Their boards prices are far more varied.Seeing as how the Xeons are not able to be overclocked, are there any real pitfalls to these low cost boards if the powerphases are less of an issue? I know Asrock has one $44 board.
Depending on what you wanne do with it. for a Xeon basicly a H87 or B85 board would be fine. i would personaly not realy go lower. i personaly prefer a VRM heatsink, to just keep that part cool. for example the Asrock H87 Fatal1ty performance. arround $90 would be basicly fine for the Xeon chip. Z87 chipset boards are basicly pointless for a locked cpu.
I have started liking that fatality board, but it is so....Red...I hate red motherboards. lol
The other nice thing about Xeon chips are that they actually run pretty cool. My E3 1230V2 maxes out at 55C gaming with the stock cooler. I was actually able to run it without the cooler fan plugged in once when I was writing an essay (forgot I unplugged the fan).
Anyways, like Angel said, a B85 or H87 will work great for any of the current generation chips.
Hell, companies are bringing their high-end stuff to the party, ASRock has a B85 Fatal1ty motherboard, MSI has a B85 Gaming motherboard, ASUS is making a B85 version of their Sabertooth/Gryphon boards, and Gigabyte has a B85 G1.Sniper motherboard. All of those other than the Asus have built in headphone amps too.
As far as I'm concerned, Xeon is the budget powerhouse for Intel. It's like somebody could go for a $340 i7 4770K and a $200 motherboard OR they could go for a $250 Xeon E3 1230V3 and a $100 motherboard. The Xeon and motherboard cost almost the same as the i7 4770K by itself.
Yeah, Logan's video turned me onto them, and i was wondering if they were a good alternative to an FX, they are with a good GPU and they are so powerful tey need no overclock AND you can get by with a much smaller PSU. It is a very compelling chip. I may wind up building a HTPC with it. They somewhat remind me of an overwhelmingly powerful FM2+
but still with all that....the Fata1ity is RED! RAAAGGEE (have a white h230 NZXT, a red mobo would look weird without more red....I hate red mobos) But is is a great spec'd card
There are alot of H87 and B85 boards arround, just pick one up which you like the most. Basicly the H87 chipset it totaly the same as the Z87 chipset, only H87 has limited overclock options. Furter everything that the Z87 chipset has to offer, are also pressent on H87.
THe Xeon is basicly a very good alternative for an FX chip. especialy wenn you wanne build a small or portable, system. The only con its not overclockable, But there is basicly no need for overclocking anyway. ☺
I find myself more and more often turning people to the Xeon... if the Z87 chipset wasn't so damn ridiculously priced, maybe a different story...
but the Xeon is an excellent processor... and should be on par to faster with any overclocked 8350, with all the stability and ASIC quality a server grade chip can provide...