Benching board

[keny]

Ok, looking for a new Z87 board for benching. I'm swinging towards the giga oc, but I'm not completely sold on it as there are others in the mix also which are also verry good boards, I'm not looking for 10 fan headers, 15 sata ports, amazing onboard sound etc etc as none of it will get used, just looking for a solid board that's gunna be able to take a beating.

Options I am thinking of

Giga Z87 OC
Asus Z87m OC formula
Asus MVIG
Any more that I'm unaware of ?

 

[Woomack]

All of these 3 boards will be great for OC. Pick the cheapest one with best warranty.
I'm happy with my Z87X-OC so far.
The main difference between boards is how are they OC memory. In this case all these 3 models can make ~4GHz+ on LN2 ( I assume that 2nd one is ASRock Z87m OCF )
The main problem is to get good CPU as even if you get something that will run @4.5GHz 1.15V then it won't guarantee that it will make 5.5GHz+. Some are scalling good with voltage, some not. As you see you can find chips that won't run @5GHz+ on SS no matter what voltage. I would focus more on finding good CPU than pay more for a board which won't change anything.

 

[EarthDog]

All of these 3 boards will be great for OC. Pick the cheapest one with best warranty.
I'm happy with my Z87X-OC so far.
The main difference between boards is how are they OC memory. In this case all these 3 models can make ~4GHz+ on LN2 ( I assume that 2nd one is ASRock Z87m OCF )
The main problem is to get good CPU as even if you get something that will run @4.5GHz 1.15V then it won't guarantee that it will make 5.5GHz+. Some are scalling good with voltage, some not. As you see you can find chips that won't run @5GHz+ on SS no matter what voltage. I would focus more on finding good CPU than pay more for a board which won't change anything.

Spot on!

As far as other choices, the MSI MPower MAX is a another name to throw in the ring...

 

[keny]

Thanks for the input, I'm currently using a asrock extreme 6 and I don't realy like it, there's no values on bios options (usualy highlighted next to the option) so its a guess as to what its running and it won't run any other bclk strap thsn stock, which is no good for pushing mem clocks higher than 3000, that's the main reasons why I'm looking for another board, plus the bios on the asrock looks cool but seems a bit glitchy in places, probably me just being picky but, its the small things that annoy in the end.

 

[EarthDog]

Are you manually adjusting straps? Just raise bclk and let the board adjust the straps.

 

[keny]

Manually adjusting, I don't see how the board will adjust it auto, if I want to run 125 it fails to boot, every other option is auto, and if I manually adjust other settings to compensate for 125 it still fails

 

[EarthDog]

When I reviewed the MSI boards, I was adjusting the strap manually and leaving bclk at 100 and none worked. However, if I just input 125 bclk, it booted and was using the 1.25x strap. Or if I asked for 150 bclk, it picked the 1.66x strap until I found the limit for the CPU/board.

I hope that helps?

 

[keny]

Weird !!!!! i may try that and see if i get the same results.... I still don't like the bios Lol

 

[keny]

So, went for the Gigabyte board in the end..... anybody want a Asrock Lol