Stuck deciding between these motherboards

Hello all!

Further to my last thread where i was trying to revive a mobo, i've decided to go and get a new Haswell based system. (For gaming and light streaming)


First off, confirmed components:

CPU: I5-4690 (Non-K, best non overclocking CPU I can afford, the K versions are too expensive for me where i live. I also dont want to deal with win10/skylake issues)

GPU: Sapphire 7870 GHz Ed. (given by friend)

PSU: Coolermaster RS 650W (refurbished PSU i bought which has had no issues)

Ram: 8GB of any old decent 1600MHz i can pickup

Storage: A spare 2TB seagate, and a bunch of laptop 500GB/750GB drives

Case: I have... something...


Now for the motherboard... I've narrowed it down to the following:
1. Asus H97M-E
2. G1.Sniper B6
3. GA-H97-HD3
4. Asus B85M-Gamer/B85 Pro Gamer

My aprox budget is ~US$120, however the above is what I know is available and within budget (at HK conversion rates)

I doubt i will overclock any if at all (non-K cpu and all), and considering my financials, I'm after long term reliability over RAW UNRESTRAINED POWARH for like 5 minutes...

Also likely will never do crossfire. When a GPU upgrade is needed, ill just do a single new one.

I still remember my first desktop was an Asus P4B533 and it served me well for 10 years, and kept operational for 14 years. While I doubt i can get away with that anymore, thats kinda the benchmark I personally have. (In terms of the computer actually still booting and working)

Thanks for advice!
-Coleman

I would have to say go with ether 1 or 3 for the extra usb 3.0 and sata ports. Then it just comes down to the manufacturer I have used both Asus and Gigabyte and both have worked very well I would have to give a slight edge to Asus because they have been around longer.

I typically prefer Asus however the gigabyte is abit cheaper.

I also forgot to add a 4th option, I've put it in now.

Its the Asus B85 range motherboards, specifically the B85M-Gamer and the B85 Pro Gamer. The lower price on the B85M is enticing.

I read that the haswell non-K cpu cannot be overclocked at all, compared to the ivy/sandy which still had some room to do that. So the B85 range seems like a good match. (Unless something about my choice of i5-4690/4590 is overkill for the boards)

If you go with a 4690 i would personaly recommend to look at a Z97 or H97 mobo.
Because then you know for sure that it will work out of the box.

lets see if i can find a nice board for you.
You buy from US?

Buying from Hong Kong

The models I listed were those that were in budget that I saw in stores and were affordable.

Speaking of H97, i did see a ASRock H97 Fatality Performance that barely fits in budget

Asus also has a H97 pro gamer, not sure if that fits?

Unfortunately I was unable to find that model anywhere. It was one of the few i was initially keeping an eye out for.

(The haswell stuff is becoming harder to find, and while sandy/ivy mobo are easy to get ahold of, the CPUs are almost impossible to get ahold of)

And Skylake?
like the I5-6500 + B150 board ?

The "little" increments in cost for skylake, for the CPU, motherboard and DDR4 ram just push it alittle over the edge for me.

Its ~US$25 extra EACH for the motherboard / cpu if I go skylake. And thats not including if I have to do DDR4.

There's also that whole new CPUs will only support windows 10 which is putting me off... (I like my windows 7! and kinda like my windows 8!)

You can use DDR3 aswell.
THere are B150 boards that support DDR3,
Like the Asus B150 pro gaming D3 for example.

I dont know much about hong kong pricing unfortunatly.

Also that is not a bad board by the way.

The B150 Pro D3 is ~US$140. The above boards mentioned are all US$100 or under.

The B150M-A, H110M-A, H110M-A D3 and H110I-PLUS are the only skylake boards within my budget (For Asus anyway, but then same chipsets from other makers will be similar)

That would leave the i5-6600(non-k) as the highest CPU i could afford from the lineup. (effectively same price as the 4690)

However I had fully intended on using either Windows 7 or windows 8. I'm still unsure/uneasy about the windows 10... and microsoft's forcing it down everyones' throats approach to it.

How big is the price diffrence between the 6500 and 6600 by the way?

Also if you still like the Asus B85 pro gamer for example.
You could of course look if you could get a i5-4670.

Windows8.1 should not be a problem on skylake by the way.

~US$18 difference

For haswell the only readily available options are:
i5-4460 $163
i5-4590 $184
i5-4690 $204 (pretty much my budget limit for the CPU side)
i5-4690K $222

Skylake:
i5-6400 $175
i5-6500 $193
i5-6600 $211
i5-6600k $235

Based on the rest of the budget, and prices of DDR3 ram, that leaves me about US$110 as my strict upper limit on Mobo. All the motherboards i've mentioned above fit within that budget.

Im just unsure which to choose to match the intended cpu

How would you feel about the 4690 + Asrock H97 Fatality performance?

It pushes the limit of my budget but Im cool with it.

When i went to check it up, i saw there is also the Fatal1ty B85 Killer avaiable, I'm looking it over right now.

If I did consider the ASRock fatality, then its direct competition would be the Asus H97M-E/B75 versions

I've just never used or known anyone who uses Asrock before

Im willing to spend up to my budget limit if its worth doing. However if I can sacrifice some bells and whistles for a reliable board (Since no OC), then that makes me happier.(which is why i looked at the B85... however their power delivery has 4/6 phases only)

Well you are basicly not going to overclock.
So basicly any board from a reasonable brand should do the job.
The main thing i do like about the Fatality H97 is that it atleast has a vrm heatsink, that cools the vrm a bit.

The problem with B85 motherboards is, that they are basicly compatible with haswell refresh cpu´s.
But i you buy a B85 board it could be that you need a bios update, before the 4690 would work.
Since the 4690 is basicly a haswell refresh cpu.
Some motherboards will standardly shipped with a newer bios version.
But yeah, that will be a gamble.

If the Asus B85 pro gamer supports bios flashback, then you could pickup that board aswell.
Because then you can update the bios without cpu and ram installed.
I know that the Asus Z87 boards have that feuture, but not sure about their cheaper B85 etc.
I need to look that up eventualy.

Oh yea I had taken that into account.

The shops usually offer free build/os install etc. So I was considering taking advantage of that just so they will help do the bios update first with their own out of box supported CPU first.

Ah well if they flash the bios for you.
And you like the Asus B85 pro gamer, then go with that.
Its a very nice board.

If I go the B85 route, then its between:

Asus B85 Pro Gamer @ $93
or
Asrock Fatal1ty B85 Killer @ $83

I'm watching wendell's review of the B85 killer right now. And am comparing to see if that extra $10 is worth it. (trying to be a smart shopper and all... granted I have a bias towards Asus)

If the B85 doesn't go though, then I'll be choosing between the Asus/Asrock fatality H97 boards instead (Unless i get sudden change of heart towards windows 10 and pickup skylake instead)

Thanks!