Which is the better motherboard?

Forums › Desktop computing › Which is the better motherboard?

homebrand

40 posts

Geek

#133995 11-Nov-2013 15:05

im getting one of the two motherboards and would be interested to know your opinions
GIGABYTE GA-Z87MX-D3H LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

keeping in mind im using an i5 4670k cpu with a r9 290 gpu (with a 750W power supply)
Oh and one last thing also wondering if the motherboards will fit these coolers
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan
ARCTIC Accelero TT II VGA Cooler - nVidia & AMD, Dual Quiet 92mm PWM Fans, SLI/CrossFire

Thanks

timmmay

20575 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#930839 11-Nov-2013 16:23

The only major difference seems to be the size - atx vs micro atx. One has an extra USB port. Price is much the same. Gigabyte is a better name IMHO (could be wrong) so I'd go that way.

homebrand

40 posts

Geek

#930859 11-Nov-2013 16:42

Im just worried that the micro ATX wont be able to fit the two coolers comfortably :(

sidefx

3711 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#930860 11-Nov-2013 16:42

I was under the impression (perhaps incorrectly :) ) that full ATX tends to use better components and thus support more in the way of overclocking vs the smaller ATX boards.

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

Ruphus

465 posts

Ultimate Geek

#930912 11-Nov-2013 17:37

The ASRock has the better audio but it also includes the Killer E2200 network adapter. From the research I've done in the last couple of days (also looking at a Z87 motherboard), there's mixed reviews on the Killer NIC. General consensus was that Intel NIC was better. More support, stability and that adding extra layers to the network is not generally a good idea.

I'm looking at using the ASRock Z87 Extreme4.

k1wi

484 posts

Ultimate Geek

#930913 11-Nov-2013 17:38

If you want to play it safe go with the ATX board (I do have a personal aversion towards ASRock, because I haven't found them to be as reliable as I would like).

Without seeing the schematics of the boards and coolers (for the clearance) it would be hard to know whether the clearance on the mATX is enough. But if you google it/go to the manufacturer pages, it should be possible to find out. That said a PCIe 8x slot should be enough for most GPUs, so you could always drop it in the PCIe 8 slot lower down if worst comes to worst. After all, GPUs are barely saturating PCIe2 16x anyway.

There are a number of equally priced Gigabyte full ATX boards that have essentially identical specs for a equal price as the two boards (if you want gigabyte but want ATX).

From reviews the r9 290 will probably be above that VGA cooler's 250w max power dissipation limit, 300w would be more realistic, but the arctic cooler for that is massive and pricey... It sounds like noise is a big issue for you?

Further info here: (http://www.arctic.ac/worldwide_en/products/cooling/vga.html)