Z97 or H81 for G3258 OC-- Or wait for Skylake?

Hello dear friends,

in the past few months i've been thinking to finally build a PC because i can't take the lag of the notebook anymore.

I already have everything i need including a decent aftermarket cpu cooler. All i need is an opinion on motherboards and whether or not its worth getting the G3258 anniversary Pentium now, or wait and get dual core Skylake.

So.

I want to get the Intel Pentium G3258 and overclock it as high as it can go. I've found an Asus H81m-E for 53 Euros (59 Including Shipping), from what i've read this mobo will support a moderate/decent OC on the said CPU, problem is that its very poor feature wise. It only has 1 fan connector, while my case has 3x140mm fans and i plan on adding more someday. I could buy 4pin to 3pin fan adapters but that's extra cost too.

Or, should i get the Z97 anniversary Asrock motherboard? Better overclocking capabilities, better features (i guess more fan connectors as well?) or generally any other cheap Z97 mobo instead of the H81. I just dont want to spend a lot because this is a budget build and im not going to add a better cpu or a good gpu anyways. I have found the Z97 Asrock Anniversary mobo for 81 Euros including shipping.

Last option, don't get anything and wait for skylake. Problem is, i've heard that the IPC improvement is very small - if any. And i don't think there is going to be a cheap dual core OC'able cpu in the 1151 socket.

Lastly, if you had any experience with any other cheap H81 mobo that could certainly OC the Pentium, please let me know.. it might help me decide.

Waiting for your opinions.. Thanks for reading

I'd take Asrock Z97 + G3258. Those cheapest boards (H81) don't have too much features as you said.

About waiting for Skylake... while building a rig you can always wait for something better Personally I've never waited for anything, because usually you need hardware right now. And it won't be performance jump like P4 -> C2D at example for sure.

Hello and thanks for the response. I have,found a second hand z97 anniv asrock for 70 euro and a brand new z97 asus pro wifi ac for 150 (costs 220 in the stores). Any opinion? Would the pro97 be,a good investment for future upgrades or is it a overpriced board and i should get something else for the money?

What do you mean upgrades? Are you going to switch to quad core soon? I'm kinda confused what you need

How much of an overclock and at what voltage do lucky g3258 chips usually achieve?

Best G3258 can make about the same as best 4790K. My best G3258 could make 4.8GHz ~1.35V but was scalling better on sub 0 cooling than my best 4790K which could make 4.8GHz ~1.26V. Many G3258 can make something like 4.5GHz 1.35-1.4V so it's not a rule that all will overclock good.

If you want CPU for games etc then think about quad core. Many new games are working faster on low 4 cores than on higher 2 cores. Optimal right now will be 6600K+DDR4 and cheaper Z170 board ( not the cheapest but something average, maybe ASRock Extreme series ). That's of course if you have budget for that. At least will be good for some longer while Pentium will be probably too slow in a year if not sooner ( depends what you do ).

Thank you.

Can you tell me if those speeds seem ok? I have had quite a bit of OCing experience with s775 s1156 and s1366 but not with haswell yet, this is my first haswell chip.

4.0ghz - 1.1v - stable, i havent tried downvolting yet.

4.5ghz - 1.22v - stable, havent tried less voltage

4.8ghz - 1.375v - stable, with 1.35 it wasnt very stable, haven't tried 1.36+ yet.

Cheap Arse boards for Pentium G3258 and Win 10 ???

Pentium G3258 owners considering upgrading to Windows 10 beware

PSA: Intel Pentium G3258 + Windows 10 = fail for most users. No official Fix yet....

By the time i put win 10, like in a few years. I will either have a different PC, or there will be a fix if there isn't one just yet. So it's not really something that bothers me, i have not considered switching from win7, im absolutely happy with it so far. Something like what happened with XP, i never put Vista, and win7 was well matured when i finally switched from xp to win7 sometime in 2010 or something.