board advice

[RobM]

Not sure yet which way I will go yet but either i5 or FX. got my eye on a couple items on the bay since funds are extremely tight so with intel im looking out for damage sockets to hopefully repair along with 2nd hand cpu.
Would love to go DDR4 route but no way possible for the forseable future.

Any board recomendations by you guys appreciated please.
Only really used to gigabyte and abit in recent years so could do with finding out what the following brands are like for reliability/overclockability
Asrock
Asus
MSI

or should I stick with gigabyte?

Rig is used mainly for gaming /streaming @1080p and will be keeping my current GPU till next year along with my RAM

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

Well an FX 8xxx with some overclocking could do very well for your setup if you plan on using x264 encoding.
If you go FX then I recommend going 990FX chipset for more overclocking capabilities and more features. Also on your shortlist you should have only ASUS boards, asus has proven to be the best designer of AM3+ boards, they know how to handle the power an FX chip needs while overclocked. Best Value for money solution? M5A99FX R2.0 by asus it's a solid motherboard, can handle overclocking, has all the features you will need (you can buy a usb 3.1 pcie card for cheap should you need it).

Now if you go i5 and since you want to keep the ram the obvious option is going to be last gen. i5 4460 or i5 4690 -more expensive however-
Since it's not a K processor you don't really need a motherboard with a crazy power design, just go through the B85, H97, Z97 boards and pick one with the features you need MSI has some really neat gaming boards on the B85 and H97 chipset that give you gaming audio and crossfire support for a lower price compared to the asus ones

 

[RobM]

Thanks mate so AMD Asus 990 or intel MSI 85/97
I dont really need a huge amount of features 2.0 audio is fine. so long as has a lan socket and 3.0 and 1x16pcie and is not itx (to small for a window case lol)
I dont understand why last gen i5 is more expensive then current gen though seems a bit odd

 

[AlienALX]

The last gen is more expensive now because there will be less stock and people will be looking for them to upgrade to before they disappear. It always happens.

Unless you are desperate I would hold on for Zen. DO NOT I repeat DO NOT buy an AMD FX CPU now. You'll regret it.

 

[RobM]

yeah Zen is looking like a good option but its been delyaed again afaik, was meant to be out by now. and my APU is showing its age now even with the discreate gfx.
I also need a board that is blue although I dont mind painting heatsinks.