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Should I go with a different motherboard?

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Dravenspur

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2015
I have decided on a lot of the components of my new build so far, but I had one last question before I start buying them. I started putting my build together on this forum in December last year and it was recommended that I go with an ASUS Maximus VIII Gene mobo for my SFF build. I was just wondering if something has changed in the last eight months or so. Obviously, the Gene is still a good board, but is there one that is better now? I'm looking at mATX boards because I will be using an mATX case. I remember there was also an MSI board that was recommended if I wanted to go a little cheaper, but money isn't a problem and the ASUS board has more features than the MSI board. Here are the components I've got on my list...

Fractal Design Arc Mini R2
ASUS Maximus VIII Gene (maybe)
Intel i5 6600k
be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Samsung EVO 500GB SSD
EVGA 850W Gold PSU (I know this is overkill, but I already bought it and stuck it in the computer I have now before I started thinking about building a new one)
Corsair 8GB LPX DDR4 Memory
For the video card, I'm going with an aftermarket Sapphire or ASUS RX 480; just waiting for the ASUS to release and to see some reviews. I know the GTX 1070 will have better performance, but the RX 480 is cheaper and I like to help foster competition. Plus, my display is only 1080P, so the RX 480 will be fine.

So, anything you guys can offer about the motherboard will be a help. Thanks.
 
Any board will be fine for you uses honestly. The Gene is fine, likely overkill for you. Just make sure that you will actually USE the features you are paying for. Truth be told a much lesser ($) board would be fine in that form factor... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N83UT3534&cm_re=z170-_-13-128-844-_-Product

Make sure your ram is 2x4GB and not a single stick.

Also, why not get a GTX 1060? It does performs better than a 480 and only costs a little more (not nearly as much as the 1070). See ATM's review on the front page for the MSI card. We will be getting the ASUS cards soon. ;)
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. I thought about the ASUS, one because the company has had great reliability for me in the past (I've owned mostly ASUS boards...I did own one Gigabyte board and it didn't last very long), and two it was recommended to me. People have had good success with ASRock? It seems like the company isn't that reliable or wasn't in the past. Have things changed? I know there are lemons in every batch of hardware, but I've had a lot less with ASUS. I'm not set on ASUS, I just want to try and avoid having the motherboard fail and take everything else I buy down with it. And yes EarthDog it will be two 4GB sticks of memory. Finally, I have oiwned nothing but ATI/AMD cards in my builds, and like I said, I just want there to be competition so NVidia can't charge whatever they feel like for their cards, however good they might be.
 
People have had good success with ASRock?

I've had 3 ASRock boards in the last 3 months. Two are mAtx boards, both still running currently (HTPC and a desktop for the family that isn't my gaming rig). The third was a board from Newegg that I bought for the gaming rig. Received it with the incorrect bios chips, which ASRock swears is impossible (not ruling out Newegg putting a return back to stock as new that was tampered with). Despite the incorrect bios, it booted, overclocked, and ran perfectly. I only returned it because I wanted what I ordered, not something almost what I ordered. Newegg refunded me 100% and I would have bought another but got a great deal on my Gaming 7.
 
ASRock is one of the most recommended board manufacturers on this forum. They make very solid boards for the money.
 
I have a total of 5 asrock boards in four flavors, good stuff.
I also have a bunch of asus boards, good stuff also.
just make sure they have the connectors you want, sata, usb and the like, the features, usb 3 or whatever, nic or dual nics, gigbit nic, wifi is nice to have on the board and things like that, just take things like super usb and ultra fast what ever with a grain of salt.
features I look for is a button on the back panel that resets the bios and a usb slot that will reflash the bios without booting, let's just say I need saving quite often...........
 
I'm going to lose my amd fanboy status over this, but holding my nose, here goes.
I don't see going amd right now, amd sockets are dead until zen releases
 
Just outta curiosity...why not an AMD cpu solution as well then?

I've had an AMD CPU every build I've done (two so far, this will be three...I've upgraded individual parts throughout the last 15 years or so but this will be the third clean build I've done), because they are cheaper than Intel. I thought it was time to switch...plus I've never had an unlocked CPU before. Also, when I asked late last year about the build, Intel was recommended because they apparently are better for gaming. Finally, I'm with caddi on this...we'll see what happens with Zen.

That ASRock Extreme4 board looks pretty good. I'll look at some reviews, and then make my decision. Plus it's over $100 cheaper than ASUS. Thanks guys
 
One more thing...Newegg says the Extreme4 is a micro ATX board, ASRock says it's a micro ATX board...I looked at a review on Tom's Hardware and they say plain ATX form factor. The Extreme4 is an mATX board, right? Just want to be sure before I buy it. Thanks for all the help guys.
 
One more thing...Newegg says the Extreme4 is a micro ATX board, ASRock says it's a micro ATX board...I looked at a review on Tom's Hardware and they say plain ATX form factor. The Extreme4 is an mATX board, right? Just want to be sure before I buy it. Thanks for all the help guys.

No...should be the Z170M Extreme4 is the micro ;)
 
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