Choosing the Right Motherboard

I've recently started learning how to build my own PC and I've been having problems choosing a motherboard that's right for me. I want to use this PC for gaming, along with running programs such as ArcGIS and other programs used in Geosciences.

I have already narrowed down my CPU to either the i5-3570k (LGA1155 socket) or the i5-4670K (LGA1150 socket) depending on the socket type on the motherboard I choose to get. I am leaning more towards the i5-3570k, but motherboards with the LGA1150 socket seem to be more popular / greater in number. I'm hoping to keep the cost under $200 for the motherboard, but if I do find a highly rated motherboard at a greater cost than $200, I will probably make an exception. I will not go over $300 dollars though; I'm still a university student and have a budget.

I have been looking at several motherboards, but I'm inexperienced and am afraid I will make a bad decision. According to the comments and reviews I have seen, ASUS seems to be a pain to deal with and I've seen many a review involving people who refuse to continue to do business with ASUS due to motherboards that are DOA, some experience the BSOD, and some fail within the year. I'm not sure if Gigabyte, ASRock and others have as many similar problems, I just noticed that most of these were on ASUS motherboards, and was wondering are they really as crappy as they sound?

So, with that being said I would greatly appreciate any help I can get and would like to see what others would suggest.

Grab an i5-4690K and ASRock Z97 Extreme6, with that budget

I know you mention not liking Asus. That's all I use and have only had issues with one board, which was probably self inflicted anyway. The Z97-A 1150 board is an excellent board for less than 150.00.

Daddyjaxx said:

I know you mention not liking Asus. That's all I use and have only had issues with one board, which was probably self inflicted anyway. The Z97-A 1150 board is an excellent board for less than 150.00.

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I've seen the Extreme6 on sale under $150 already.
Its feature set leave the Z97-A in the dust.

Don't blindly overpay for a name.

Just giving a suggestion. Sorry, I'm an Asus, eVGA, Intel, and Corsair fan boy.

Daddyjaxx said:

Just giving a suggestion. Sorry, I'm an Asus, eVGA, Intel, and Corsair fan boy.

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No worries!
I'm also not saying the Z97-A is a bad board by any means, I just shop by the feature set

It's not that I don't like ASUS, I've never had experience myself with them yet, I've just read a lot of reviews involving the problems I mentioned. I'm going to check out the suggestions mentioned, thanks!!

the rig atminside posted will much more than just fill the bill.
I am an asus/amd fanboy, just ask atminside.

I have to agree with ATM and C/D as well.

The ASRock Extreme 6 has more features than I will ever use. Ever.

How did AsRock start? The first two characters should tell you. It was low end Asus.

Daddyjaxx said:

How did AsRock start? The first two characters should tell you. It was low end Asus.

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With an emphasis on WAS.

They've made more than a good name for themselves and have some amazing offerings at phenomenal prices.

Well I won't exclude ASUS in my search! What about Gigabyte motherboards? I was looking around last night and seen some G1 gaming motherboards such as the GIGABYTE GA-G1.Sniper Z97. There is also the G1 sniper M3 that has the LGA1155 socket, which I couldn't even find for sale anywhere, so I don't really know what to think about those. There were only 16 reviews for the Sniper Z97, good reviews, but 16 isn't very many.

I have the extreme 9 for intel and asus ch5-f and an ch5-f-z for amd and no complaints about any of them, it's just taking me a while to get used to the dad blamed asrock bios and intel clocking.

Gigabyte makes great motherboards as well.

There won't be many reviews for any of the Z97 boards as they are VERY fresh to the market.

Gigabyte. MSI, Asus, Asrock.....take your choice. On NewEgg, the Z97-A had the most reviews for a Z97 board I'm still not convinced on Asrock. They were started by Asus as their bargain basement boards. They are getting better. Some boards get glowing reviews, some do not. Don't even consider ECS, Jetway, Biostar or (I hate to say it) eVGA....yuck. eVGA used to be top of the line, but they are fine for video cards and not so fine for motherboards anymore. I wish DFI was still a player. They used to have top notch boards.

What video card are you considering since you mention gaming? I am an Nvidia fanboy, but ATI may be the best for your buck...unless you want this....... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487048

I have to say that I've been an Asus fan (too old for the boi part )
Last time I crossed an Intel chip with an ATI card though....let's just say I was a sad Panda after two weeks trying to get a computer to run.
Bought the NVidia, and it's been running for two or three years like a Swiss watch. Sold the ATI for half price to a bud that runs AMD and it's still fine there.

I haven't gotten around to choosing a graphics card yet, so suggestions are welcome I think that $3200 bucks is out of my budget for the whole computer, let alone one part

courtneystg said:

I haven't gotten around to choosing a graphics card yet, so suggestions are welcome I think that $3200 bucks is out of my budget for the whole computer, let alone one part

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What's your whole system budget? I'll throw one together for you

I was initially hoping 1500, but now after reading up on some things I'm thinking it's going to be more around 2000. I can go more, but I don't really want to if I can help it!

courtneystg said:

I was initially hoping 1500, but now after reading up on some things I'm thinking it's going to be more around 2000. I can go more, but I don't really want to if I can help it!

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Here you go

I'm assuming your gaming occurs on one 1080p monitor?