Need help deciding on a Haswell motherboard (3 choices)

B

BDS

New member
Hello all, I have decided to build a Haswell rig mainly used for gaming/multimedia and I have narrowed it down to these three choices:

  • Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H
  • Gigabyte G1.Sniper M5
  • MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming

I already purchased both Gigabytes off eBay at a steal price of $130 USD each brand new but have been eyeballing the MSI as we'll and could easily sell the Gigabytes for a small profit.

Which motherboard is the best in your opinion and why?
 
I'd say one of the two bottom ones as they have a better ethernet and audio solution, which will be helpful for gaming.

If you have a regular sized (ATX) case, then please don't put an m-ATX motherboard in there, it will look silly :(
 
Haha no I haven't purchased a case yet just needing to sort out the motherboard first and then decide between i5-4670k and i7-4770k after that :-)
 
Just pick a case you like and then pick a motherboard to go with it. You can't go wrong with the GD65 Gaming or G1 Sniper M5 :)

Might I suggest the 350D for m-ATX and the Arc Midi R2 for ATX?
 
Those were the ones I was considering actually haha!

Another question, so the Intel LAN on the UD4H wouldn't be sufficient for gaming as I really like the looks of that board?
 
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BDS said:
Those were the ones I was considering actually haha!

Another question, so the Intel LAN on the UD4H wouldn't be sufficient for gaming as I really like the looks of that board?
Click to expand...

The LAN is fine dont be daft. Youll never notice the difference.
 
Yeah, it's going to be more than sufficient and tbh, you don't *need* the Killer Ethernet. See it as a bonus :)
 
tinytomlogan said:
The LAN is fine dont be daft. Youll never notice the difference.
Click to expand...

Tom, honored you actually replied to me. Does the extra phases of the UD4 make it easier to overlock or hold a steady clock for a complete noob as myself over the Sniper M5? I have watched the 1155 guide and want to try this out for myself on my own kit and the way you talked about the UD4 made it seem like one sweet, easy to OC board.

Last question is the audio on the UD4 really that much lesser than the other two's onboard solutions? I am by no means an audiophile but I'd love to get a punchy system someday.
 
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BDS said:
Tom, honored you actually replied to me. Does the extra phases of the UD4 make it easier to overlock or hold a steady clock for a complete noob as myself over the Sniper M5? I have watched the 1155 guide and want to try this out for myself on my own kit and the way you talked about the UD4 made it seem like one sweet, easy to OC board.
Click to expand...

Overclocking on Haswell actually depends more on the CPU than the motherboard. In his reviews, Tom was able to get 4.9GHz stable on the G1 Sniper M5 and 4.8GHz stable on the GD65 Gaming, if I remember correctly.

Mind you, his chip was a really good one and you're probably not going to reach such high clocks speeds.
 
No I'm planning on a 4.4ghz or so OC for a few additional FPS and match it to some 2400mhz ram and hopefully a R9-280X or two down the road.
 
You may or may not be able to run the RAM @2400MHz or more if you also oc the CPU. It depends on the individual chip, and from what I hear, not many are oc-friendly. Besides, 1600MHz will be more than enough for gaming as will the 4670K. Read/Watch the latest review.
 
I hasn't seen that one posted until just now, I'm on the boards while at work ;-)

How does the new APUs like the A88X compare to the i5s? I'm sort of intrigued with the whole HUMA prospect and they seem to be making higher end boards now for the FM2+ socket.

I'm not trying to make an uber multi screen rig right now just something to get me out of consoles since the next gen seems weak from the get go and to hold me over until my fiancé graduates from medical school next year and I can afford a proper skylake rig :-)
 
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You may be able to run games at very low settings, but for "proper" gaming, a dedicated gpu is a must. And in my opinion, Intel/Nvidia is the way to go.
 
So if kaveri apu is out of the question them which of the two gigabyte boards would be better in the long run?
 
Obviously the costlier one has more juice, but both are good-enough for gaming. IMO (and Tom's) spend more on a better GPU to benefit the most in gaming. Also, a fast ssd will reduce load times and bring a general snappy feel to everyday computing.
 
Roy, I own both of them and got them both for $130 USD so I need to keep the best and sell the other :-p

I already own the MSI z77a-gd65 gaming setup with an i7-3770k but want to upgrade to haswell.
 
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Upgrading to Haswell won't bring you any additional fps. Sell whatever brings you the most money. For better gaming all you need is a better GPU (unless you have Titans in sli...)
 
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