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Z97 Micro-Atx Motherboard for gaming?

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Jack378

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Jun 27, 2014
Hi all. I'm building my first PC, and thank also to the precious advices given me on this forum I've been able to select all the components, except for the motherboard. I can't decide between four models:

Asus Gryphon Z97 ARMOR EDITION: http://www.asus.com/...ds/GRYPHON_Z97/

Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-GAMING 5: http://www.gigabyte....spx?pid=4968#ov

MSI Z97M Gaming: http://us.msi.com/pr...G.html#overview

MSI Z97M-G43: http://www.msi.com/p...l#hero-overview

I fancy particularly the MSI Z97M Gaming for its OC Genie button and its MSI GAMING APP (which I still don't know if its present also on the g43 one) "which allows simultaneous control of both your Motherboard and Graphics Card's overclocking" since I want to over clock but I'm not an expert. The g43 seems to be pretty similar to the z97m gaming but it costs 50 euros less.
There's one thing though that makes me wonder if the gryphon would be the best solution. Since I'm building a Bitfenix Prodigy M, the mobo will be placed vertically and I'm afraid that the weight of the cooler (noctua nh-d14, 1,2 kg) and that of the video card (asus gtx 780, 900g) will stress too much the mobo and eventually break it; therefore the TUF fortifier placed on the back of the GRYPHON z97, as written also in their website, seemed to me as something useful to avoid such risk. Is this just a futile concern of mine? Are motherboards enough resistant event for such components? If that so, which Mobo would you suggest?
Thanks :)
 
Any reason you're going for mATX instead of mITX?
Personally, if you're going SFF, I would go ITX.

I have never seen a motherboard break from "stress" of a heatsink and/or GPU.
Asus' "armor" is a gimmick at best, and a detriment to cooling at worst.
 
I'm going for mATX cause I will use a BitFenix Prodigy M as chassis, I like it too much.
I've considered the Asrock mobo but it will cause compatibility issues with the noctua cooler as stated in their compatibility list.
So one of you said they won't break, the other that they will, what should I do? :)
 
Link please , hard to believe, but possible

One of the ambient air members would be better equipped to answer that
 
Jack378 said:
I'm going for mATX cause I will use a BitFenix Prodigy M as chassis, I like it too much.
I've considered the Asrock mobo but it will cause compatibility issues with the noctua cooler as stated in their compatibility list.
So one of you said they won't break, the other that they will, what should I do? :)
Click to expand...

Witchdoctor is saying that the ASRock will "destroy" the boards you linked.
Not that the boards will break from a heatsink. I've literally never seen that.

You know the normal Bitfenix Prodigy is ITX, correct?
The internal layout of the normal Prodigy is more conductive to proper cooling than the M variant.
 
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=34&lng=en

"In vertical orientation, the cooler is extending over the first PCI-E x16 slot, so please use the other available PCI-E slot(s) for your video card(s) or turn the cooler by 90°."

(can't really understand well what this means though)

Ans btw, asrock's warranty for that mobo is only of 1 year, something not very appealing....

Yes I know of the normal prodigy, but MATX mobo got more features and would give me the opportunity to go SLI in the future....
 
ATMINSIDE said:
Witchdoctor is saying that the ASRock will "destroy" the boards you linked.
Not that the boards will break from a heatsink. I've literally never seen that.

You know the normal Bitfenix Prodigy is ITX, correct?
The internal layout of the normal Prodigy is more conductive to proper cooling than the M variant.
Click to expand...

I've spent a lot of time to create a build for the Prodigy M, but just for curiosity, would all the components I've chosen fit in the normal Prodigy?
(I've already ordered the noctua nh-d14)

Samsung MZ-7TE120BW SSD 840 EVO 120 GB

DDR3 1866Mhz PC15000 8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 1.5V CL9 Black (2x4GB)

ASUS PCI-E N GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OC

Corsair AX Serie AX760 80+ Platinum 760W Modular

Core i5-4690K (Haswell Refresh)

Western Digital 1TB WD1003FZEX 7200rpm 64MB Caviar Black SATA6

Noctua pam fans

As for the mobo I don't know any miniITX Mobos...
 
What about the MSI miniitx gaming model? I don't like asrock that much... Will the ventilation be that better in the normal Prodigy? Will I be able to overclock let's say to 4.8 ghz? Won't the possibility to go Sli in the future be worth the loss of a little bit of ventilation? In my configuration beside the noctua cooler I would put 2 120mm PWM fans on the top, a 140 PWM fan on the rear, all from noctua, and a big 230mm bitfenix spectra pro led fan on the bottom, I thought this configuration would have given good airflow...
 
I would avoid MSI, seen too many issues with them.
ASRock is a top-tier brand, not sure your issue with them.

Overclock is a silicon lottery. It'll depend on what the CPU can do.

Honestly, unless you're pushing 4K res or 3x 1440p there is zero need for SLI.
 
Because I've always read that the top mobo manufacturers are MSI, Gigabyte and Asus, and usually Asrock provides a shorter warranty. Compared to the configuration i had in mind for the Prodigy M, will the airflow in a normal Prodigy be considerably better?
 
What's the hang up on the prodigy ?
Have seen for real ?

If not you could be underwhelmed when you open it
I was when I looked at them in the MC

For SLI you have to go MATX or better
 
MSI has had issues lately, and not good ones.
Asus has terrible RMA issues.

Gigabyte and ASRock are the only companies I'll trust (or recommend) any more.

Yes, the Prodigy M leaves almost zero room for airFLOW. There are a lot of blocked areas in the M variant that are open to flow in the standard.

I agree with witchdoctor though, there are a lot better cases, especially for the money.
Check out the Hadron Air, I absolutely love mine.
 
I liked the Prodigy because it appeared to have a compact design, and I wanted a compact case capable of maybe being moved from one room to another in case of need without effort, and the Prodigy has those handles.
Could you suggest, apart from the Hadron, other cases with those characteristics, preferably for micro-atx mobs? (I fancy the idea of being capable of upgrading the system in the future )
 
I'm going to give you something to think about here:

mATX isn't great for SLI for one big reason. Heat.
Two top-tier GPUs put out too much heat for something that small to handle.

By the time you need a second GPU for SLI, you should be looking at a new single GPU anyway. (That's still upgradability after all)

As I mentioned before, there is no need for it (from a performance front) until you're looking at a 4K monitor or 3x 1440p monitors.
The extra heat generated and power draw simply aren't warranted when a single GPU can do the job.

Also, by going single, you can drop to a MUCH cheaper PSU.
 
I guess you have convinced me. I'll buy the normal prodigy then and one of your suggested motherboards. I don't like the hadron air unfortunately and do not know other small portable cases. I also guess that a 650w PSU Would suffice, can you suggest a platinum one? the Corsair ax stops at 760, it's manufactured by seasonic, and it's pointless to buy a sea sonic platinum 660w one cause it would cost me the same price as the corsair ax 760. I still can't figure out properly where to place the sad and hdd in the normal prodigy, cause I presume that I will have to remove the hdd brackets to give room for the asus gtx 780
 
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