SOLVED Looking for a new motherboard

[alzerm]

My current z87-a isn't covered by my warranty so in need of a new mobo. Don't really want to take a gamble and buy an open box/refurb cause of the short/non-existent warranty for them but will if the price/board is right for me. Don't care for the m2/sata express features. I do care for a pci port since my sound card requires that. Would also like at least 2 pcie ports in case I want to xfire/sli in the future since I plan on keeping this cpu in use as long as possible. Also would like no less than 8 phase count since I just picked up a nh-d14 and will be OC'ing. Not sure if I would strictly require a z87/97 mobo or if I could get away with another series board that includes these features.

I have given thought to switching out my sound card with one that is pcie instead so I am not limited to boards that may not fit xfire/sli if a pci is on the board or if they even have a pci slot on the board.

My price range is strictly $130 or less (went wild this past holiday season ).

Edit: PWM fans. Have a few so that would be a plus on the mobo as well.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I'd say ASRock Z97 Fatal1ty Killer or GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-Gaming 3

Worth noting, these two boards may very well have better onboard sound than the Xonar DS.

 

[alzerm]

I'd say ASRock Z97 Fatal1ty Killer or GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-Gaming 3

Worth noting, these two boards may very well have better onboard sound than the Xonar DS.

I switched to a sound card because of the hissing from my 890fxa's onboard via front headphones and rear jacks. I've heard (not sure if it was the z87 or z97) that the fatality killer tends to have some problems via LAN because of the killer chipset. How is the phase count? For the killer?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

From the ASRock website:
- Digi Power, 8 Power Phase design

 

[alzerm]

From the ASRock website:
- Digi Power, 8 Power Phase design

May go with that fatal1ty. Hopefully it has enough space between the socket and ram since I don't have low pro sticks.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=34&lng=en#LGA1150_ASRock
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_ram_gen&products_id=34&lng=en#DDR3_G.SKILL

 

[alzerm]

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=34&lng=en#LGA1150_ASRock
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_ram_gen&products_id=34&lng=en#DDR3_G.SKILL

Thanks for the help!

 

[Theocnoob]

I just want to mention that unless you're sub zero cooling, a decent 4 phase VRM is all you need for Haswell, as the chips have integrated VRM (FIVER) onboard, taking a lot of stress off the motherboard's power delivery section.

With most (not all) onboard audio these days, it's going to sound as good as a $100 soundcard. Particularly the latest high end integrated audio chips like the ALC1150. You really need a $200 class sound card to noticeably edge out quality onboard audio these days, and even then, it's only going to become apparent on audiophile grade speakers/headphones.

I would urge you to sell your low end sound card for chump change and look into a board with the ALC1150 and ideally also a headphone amp, quality electrolytic capacitors, with a seperated audio section on the PCB that also has the L/R channels on seperate PCB layers. Sounds expensive, but these sorts of features kick in around the $140 level on many boards.

 

[alzerm]

I just want to mention that unless you're sub zero cooling, a decent 4 phase VRM is all you need for Haswell, as the chips have integrated VRM (FIVER) onboard, taking a lot of stress off the motherboard's power delivery section.

With most (not all) onboard audio these days, it's going to sound as good as a $100 soundcard. Particularly the latest high end integrated audio chips like the ALC1150. You really need a $200 class sound card to noticeably edge out quality onboard audio these days, and even then, it's only going to become apparent on audiophile grade speakers/headphones.

I would urge you to sell your low end sound card for chump change and look into a board with the ALC1150 and ideally also a headphone amp, with a seperated audio section on the PCB that also has the L/R channels on seperate PCB layers. Sounds expensive, but these sorts of features kick in around the $140 level on many boards.

I just don't want gnarly feedback in my speakers and or in my headphones. As for phase count I guess 6 would be fine if that's the case but most of the boards without higher phase count are lacking extra features.

 

[Theocnoob]

I just don't want gnarly feedback in my speakers and or in my headphones. As for phase count I guess 6 would be fine if that's the case but most of the boards without higher phase count are lacking extra features.

You won't get gnarly feedback with a quality modern solution. You are right that usually, features are added as a bundle- going from 4 phase to split 4 or true 8 + adding better audio at the same time, rather than one or the other. There are "entry level decent" boards in the $100 range like ASRock's Z97 anniversary which is 4 phase with halfway decent audio (nothing spectacular) and 2 PCI slots. Only 1 PCIE X16 though. That's neither here nor there as it wouldn't really provide any of what you're looking for. Look at what Gigabyte, ASRock and ASUS have to offer in your price range + or - $15 and see what you can find. I don't know all the audio specs for the 6-9 boards this encompasses off hand so you'll have to go have a gander on their websites and see what the boards have to offer.

One board I know you'll be happy with that is within your price range and offers all of the audio features I was talking about is the ASRock Extreme 4. It has the ALC1150, isolated audio PCB section, seperated L/R channel layers, good audio caps, headphone amplifier... Everything you need to wipe the floor with your soundcard. It's an excellent board that a lot of people on the board have used. It has 12K capacitors, which is great, 12 phase power-- useless on air or water, but it's there... and SLI/CFX support. It's a winner.

 

[alzerm]

You won't get gnarly feedback with a quality modern solution. You are right that usually, features are added as a bundle- going from 4 phase to split 4 or true 8 + adding better audio at the same time, rather than one or the other. There are "entry level decent" boards in the $100 range like ASRock's Z97 anniversary which is 4 phase with halfway decent audio (nothing spectacular) and 2 PCI slots. Only 1 PCIE X16 though. That's neither here nor there as it wouldn't really provide any of what you're looking for. Look at what Gigabyte, ASRock and ASUS have to offer in your price range + or - $15 and see what you can find. I don't know all the audio specs for the 6-9 boards this encompasses off hand so you'll have to go have a gander on their websites and see what the boards have to offer.

One board I know you'll be happy with that is within your price range and offers all of the audio features I was talking about is the ASRock Extreme 4. It has the ALC1150, isolated audio PCB section, seperated L/R channel layers, good audio caps, headphone amplifier... Everything you need to wipe the floor with your soundcard. It's an excellent board that a lot of people on the board have used. It has 12K capacitors, which is great, 12 phase power-- useless on air or water, but it's there... and SLI/CFX support. It's a winner.

Assume you are talking about purity sound 2 correct? If so does it not exist on the Fatal1ty Z97 Killer as well?

Edit: Looking like I might go with the Extreme 4 unless anyone else has other suggestions?

 

[alzerm]

So I have a B85-G43 Gaming on another PC running my 4670k. I have seen that it can apparently be OC'ed on but it is a B85 chipset which does not support OC'ing correct? Take it a UEFI flash would be required in order to do so? I was able to OC on this Z87-A w/ the 4670k and it ran perfectly fine so I would have no problem switching to the B85 if I can flash the BIOS and OC on it. Just a little nervous about it since I have a 4790k on here now and don't want to fry the board since it apparently may only have 6 phase count.

 

[Theocnoob]

Assume you are talking about purity sound 2 correct? If so does it not exist on the Fatal1ty Z97 Killer as well?

Edit: Looking like I might go with the Extreme 4 unless anyone else has other suggestions?

There is no such thing as "Purity Sound 2". It is a marketing term used by ASRock. It's an ALC1150 codec. That's all that matters. They could call it "Darth Vader THX audio 3". It'd still sound like an ALC1150 .

Yes the Fatal1ty K1ller has ALC1150 too but it's a fugly board...

 

[alzerm]

There is no such thing as "Purity Sound 2". It is a marketing term used by ASRock. It's an ALC1150 codec. That's all that matters. They could call it "Darth Vader THX audio 3". It'd still sound like an ALC1150 .

Yes the Fatal1ty K1ller has ALC1150 too but it's a fugly board...

Been debating it and I am prob going to pick one up. I noticed that the board has a power button. This allows for booting without having a front power connector correct?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Correct

 

[EarthDog]

Just a little nervous about it since I have a 4790k on here now and don't want to fry the board since it apparently may only have 6 phase count.

You are just going to need to get over that. As was alluded to and mentioned before, a quality 4 phase will allow for moderate overclocking (air/water). Also note, not all X phases are created equal too. Some 8 phase boards use doublers. So again, you won't fry that board before the CPUs own heat becomes an issue (air/water).

 

[alzerm]

You are just going to need to get over that. As was alluded to and mentioned before, a quality 4 phase will allow for moderate overclocking (air/water). Also note, not all X phases are created equal too. Some 8 phase boards use doublers. So again, you won't fry that board before the CPUs own heat becomes an issue (air/water).

Now the problem with that board is getting it flashed so it can OC (if that is possible). Anyone know about how one could do that?

 

[EarthDog]

It may or may not with a flash... But being a B85, I wouldn't bet on a flash being able to do it.

 

[alzerm]

It may or may not with a flash... But being a B85, I wouldn't bet on a flash being able to do it.

I just looked into it a bit more and saw that it may not work since an old bios would be required.


My only real concern is since the z97 Extreme 4 does not have a pci slot is do any of you that have a z97 board and use onboard sound hear ANY feedback on your rear jacks/front headphone jack? I have no problem getting a board with less features (really liking that 12 phase/power button on mobo/debug led ) that cost a bit less if I can't get my sound card on this board cause of feedback. Minimal to some but it really annoys me.

There is however the GA-G1 Sniper z97 for a bit more but the colors don't match with my led fans (won't really matter anyways cause of the noctua fans lol) and crappier phase count...

Someone who uses onboard audio for z97 boards give some insight on this please !

 

[Theocnoob]

Why are you still going on about phase count? Do you have a large stockpile of liquid nitrogen in your garage? If not, then it honestly doesn't matter.
As was mentioned several times, your soundcard can not hold a candle to modern integrated high end solutions. The sound on the Extreme 4 will obliterate the sound on that sound card.
The only sound cards that are worth anything these days are $200 class soundcards. Everything else is bunk.

Just get the Extreme 4. Leave your PCI expansion cards in the past, where they belong.