Which Z87 motherboard?

G

GoogalyMoogaly

New member
Hi,

I'm new to the forums, so hi all!

I've been having a few frustrations clocking my 8350 in my Asus M5A99X EVO (rev1) board (mostly around the fact that changing the offset VCore causes Prime to freeze the system in seconds).

I originally got a 1055T setup to mess about with watercooling on. I had high hopes for Bulldozer, but we all know how that turned out. So then I was hoping Piledriver would be better. Avoided it for a long time but then gave in and promptly regretted it. Needless to say I'm not expecting big things from Steamroller.
Anyway, I'm now thinking I'm probably best just getting an Intel setup.

I've decided on getting a 4670K as SB and IB just doesn't seem worth it since I'm basically buying from scratch.

My question is what motherboard do I get to go with it?
Gigabyte Z87X-OC
Asus Z87 Maximus VI Hero
Asus Z87 Maximus VI Gene

The Gigabyte looks nice, but it bugs me that this board seems design for testbenches rather than 24/7 PCs.

Anything else for a similar price? (Been burnt before by MSI so I wouldn't touch them again with yours and still don't have confidence in ASRock).

I understand that this is more of a gaming forum than an overclocking forum, which is pretty much where I'm at. I do want to OC, but not expecting to break any records. The machine will mostly be for gaming (with a 7950 BOOST) and some video encoding using Handbrake.

I've asked this on the OcUK forums (in case it seems familiar) and I think that has me leaning towards the Hero board. But thought it wouldn't hurt to get a few more opinions.

Thanks.
 
go for gene if you wanna go asus because it is a sku higher. and between asus and gigabyte i will say go for gigabyte (personal choice), check out the review for z87x-oc on this website
 
I am now leaning towards the Gigabyte a bit more (I change my mind at least once a day). My last Gigabyte board was disappointing (and caught fire), but it was cheaper (even cheaper than the Z87X-OC).
So really I'm due a decent Gigabyte motherboard.

That said at some point MSI will surely have to stop producing s*** products.
I had the Z68A-GD65 and it was pathetic/useless.
I've also not heard good things about their graphics cards for a while.
Maybe now is the time MSI get something right? That said their GD65 'Gaming' series board(s) look about as interesting as a blank piece of paper. So maybe they've made them functional this time for a change?
 
um yeah msi gd 65 gaming looks good. well to be honest with any of these board you have mentioned you will not run into any problems with overclocking because unless you are running a custom high end water loop. you are going to hit the thermal limit first. so in my opinion go for the one you think looks best :)
 
GIGABYTE's motherboards are epic this generation.
If you like overclocking, I'd say get the Z87X-OC, it's still rather suitable for a 24/7 PC if you'd ask me.
If you don't particularly need the overclocking features, but still want an epic board with good OC'ing capability, get the Z87X-UD4H, also from GIGABYTE.
If you like gaming, the GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M5 might be the way to go, or if you want ATX, get the MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming :)
 
vish93 said:
um yeah msi gd 65 gaming looks good. well to be honest with any of these board you have mentioned you will not run into any problems with overclocking because unless you are running a custom high end water loop. you are going to hit the thermal limit first. so in my opinion go for the one you think looks best :)
Click to expand...
With all the higher end MSI boards it looks a lot like they actually did use my blank piece of paper comparison. They took a blank piece of black paper and then made all their motherboards look like that.
Then just to be different they added some red to their Gaming motherboard, since nobody (except ABit, ASRock and Asus) have used red and black as a colour scheme for a gaming motherboard.

Looking at the website and even some reviews the GD65 does seem like it's quite good. But I've never owned an MSI product that's been even close to half decent (also remembered I had an MSI GD65 motherboard with my i5 750). Also surprised a board labelled as 'Gaming' limits you to just 3 graphics cards. Surely next to benchmarkers, gamers are the ones likely to use multiple graphics cards?
If only it didn't get such good review scores it'd be easy to discount it.

Also, in fairness to the MSI and Gigabyte boards, it's doesn't matter that they look *** as they'll be inside a case (hopefully Corsair 540) so they wont be seen.
 
the limit of 3 graphics card is due to the chipset, you cannot support more unless you have a plx chip (only very high end motherboard like, sniper 5 and maximus extreme have them).

Also doesnt carbide 540 have a massive window panel?
 
I think the Gigabyte Z87X-OC supports 4 cards (probably at 4x/4x/4x/4x).

Yes, it does have a massive window (wonder if you can buy a non-windowed panel?) but it'll be under the desk facing away from me. Even if it wasn't I don't spend a lot (any) time looking into the windowed panels on a case.

On the plus side I think I've ruled out the Asus boards now, fancy a change.
So would've been the Gigabyte if it wasn't for the MSI. For all the bad things I've said about the MSI, at least it doesn't come with the stupid PCI brace, overclocking panel and internal external USB connectors. It does have extra SATA connectors though, which will probably remain unused, but better to have and not need than to need and not have.
 
Some with C2 revision when show up and I see people over net recognize and find some better batches of Haswell. That is important for someone who want to invest in good motherboards and to steal little performance from Intel with OC.
 
Dude whats your budget? And tbh what are you going to do with it because I still say the GD65 Gaming is stupidly good for £160.
 
Don't really have a budget. Expecting to be paying £160-170 though.

It'll be mostly a gaming rig with some video encoding done from time to time.
 
Deffinitely the MSI GD-65 Gaming then, or the Gigabyte G1 Sniper M5 if you're going Micro-ATX.

Both overclock really well, and also have a solid ethernet and sound solution that will help you with gaming and save you the money of buying a decent sound card. One of those 2 boards would be what I'd spend my money on...
 
Have just been reading on the MSI forums and it seems the KillerNIC Network stuff is causing a number of people issues.

I'm also not sure I want to deal with MSI CS if I do get problems.

On the plus side it's good to hear MSI have improved their BIOS cuz that was horrid when they first did it.

That said the Gigabyte Z87X-OC annoys me.
 
Still it's a nice option to have.

The Z87-GD65 already seems to have some layout issues, I guess adding another PCI-e slot would only make things worse.
 
from your list in 1 post i say go 4 Gigabyte Z87X-OC , i'm in the same loop as u ... maybe in a month i'll make up my mind what to buy :) have u considered asrock z87m oc formula?
 
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