Best General Purpose Mobo Long Term?

[Wonky]

Looks like I've killed my old Asus LGA775 motherboard in the process of transferring it to a new case and giving it a heart transplant (cpu upgrade) the sort of thing I've done quite a few times in the past - first time I've killed anything.

Sort of good news, bad news as it was quite an old system and even though it basically did what I needed, it really struggled on video editing in particular. We have a lot of old analogue videos from previous trips eg England in 1994 and family stuff I want to digitise and edit. I'd added a Firewire card which I tested and it worked well, but it took up my one usable expansion slot, so when I got my USB 3.0 expansion card in the next week or two (ordered from China on eBay) I was going to have to remove the Firewire card to get USB 3.0. :(

Unfortunately I haven't been keeping up to date on the latest processors and motherboards and now need to make up my mind and purchase ASAP, so need guidance please.

My requirements are basically future expandability. Basically I want a low cost current Intel processor with a view to upgrading down the track to much faster processor with the same LGA so I don't need to change the motherboard. Similar to my current system which started with E5200, then E8400 dual core and was going to put an E9600 quad core I'd just bought until I killed the motherboard.

1. The motherboard has to therefore suit one of the current or very recent LGAs for maximum cost effective upgradability into the future. At the moment the Pentium G3258 seems a good cheap CPU to start with and being LGA1150 there seems plenty of faster CPUs to upgrade to in future as they drop in price, but of course am open to other suggestions.

2. Multiple usable expansion slots which don't share interrupts if possible so using a card in one slot doesn't automatically preclude using a different slot (if I understand correctly). With my current setup I can only use one of either my Firewire card or USB 3.0 card and have to swap between them - frustrating! No doubt in the future new things will come along which now current boards will need add on cards for, so I want to ensure plenty of future expandability.

3. a) multiple USB 3.0 ports and internal headers b) 6 SATA ports with at least 2 being SATA III c) preferably M.2

4. Preferably more than 2 memory slots with memory expandable to at least 16gig. My current setup has max 4gig across only 2 slots and according to the Cacheman program which runs in the background my free memory rarely drops below 2.5gig on Win7/8/10. Whilst my applications don't seem memory intensive I should future proof that aspect too.

I don't need the latest and greatest CPU as long as it has a good upgrade path, but don't mind paying up to $300 or so for a motherboard which meets my requirements. I don't play games on the pc so don't need a motherboard specifically for that. I do have a Transcend 1TB SSD drive and new GTX 750 Ti card to go in (part of the upgrades I intended to use on my old LGA775 motherboard to drag it up to a reasonable speed).

However, I haven't yet worked out which motherboard chipset is best to go for - I gather the Z prefixed chipset are overclockable and whilst it's been a while since I overclocked it would seem a good option to keep up my sleeve for the future.

I'm open to suggestions thanks (except crossing to the dark side - Mac).

Cheers,
Gary

[Micks]

Gaz my last three Gigabyte Mobos have treated me well, pretty reasonable & will get change outta your $$. I'm still using two of the three I've had over the last six years.

[Wonky]

Yep, Gigabyte or Asus are the two makes I'd be most interested in, though not discounting others thanks Mick.

However, what I'm more interested in knowing is which is the best onboard chipset to get without going over the top. Eg H97, Z97, H87/Z87 (which as far as I can tell are older versions of H97/Z97) or others.

I used to keep up to date with offerings in the pc world but haven't for years. Unfortunately my current motherboard having turned up its toes a couple of days ago has left me desperate to make a decision tonight or tomorrow in order to get my pc up and running ASAP. There are things I can't do on my phone or tablet which are now getting desperate. :(

Even if someone can tell me what chipset I should be looking at I can then choose a board within that range, but at the moment I don't want to choose a board only to find out I've not gone the right way.

Googling for info on chipsets on phone or tablet isn't all that easy. :(

[gavlotic]

Gary,
The last time I built our rigs was about 4 years ago.
But the best resources i found was tomshardware and the knowledgebase on whirlpool.
Hope that at least helps to point you in the right direction.
Cheers
Gav

[Smitty]

Gaz...
last weekend I finished a build of a new machine for the study at home...
same ANTEC case and p/s but with new Asus Z97A mobo, intel i5-4690 , 16gb Kingston DDR3 Hyper 2400 ram
a new Samsung 250gb 840SSD for the OS drive plus a couple of extra 1TB fast 7200 SATA drives for storage etc.
Chucked a couple of new Pioneer Blu-Ray RW optical drives in and she was sweet! The BIOS setup is super easy!

this replaces the old AMD based PC that I built about 5 years ago .. and sure rocks!

I spent the last 2 months reading up on mobos and that Z97 I found to be the best value mobo
around with a decent chipset .

It also has plenty of slots.. with an add on R7 290 video card, 3 port firewire card going in
and even room for a extra USB 3 card (you can't have enuff USB slots these days)

the mobo was $227 from PC Case Gear in Clayton via their site (ignore their ebay page)
but I had to wait a week for stock to arrive. i-store had 'em for $230 and CPL $249

have a look and see if this suits...

https://www.asus.com/au/Motherboards/Z97A/


just watch you get the 'A' version... the M and K are not as good in my opinion
(maybe check out the Asus comparo page - https://www.asus.com/au/Motherboards/Intel-platform-Products/ )



cheers

[duke5700]

$232 from MWave, I reckon it should do all you require.



Brand
Gigabyte


Model
GA-Z97X-UD3H


Chipset
Intel Z97 Chipset


CPU Socket
Intel LGA 1150


Memory
4 x DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
* Due to a Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than the size of the physical memory installed.
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules


Graphic
1 x D-Sub port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200@60Hz
1 x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200@60Hz
* The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter.
1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096x2160@24Hz or 2560x1600@60Hz
* Support for HDMI 1.4a version.
Support for up to 3 displays at the same time
Maximum shared memory of 1 GB


Expansion Slots
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
(The PCIEX16 and PCIEX8 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
* The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with all PCI Express x1 slots. All PCI Express x1 slots will become unavailable when a PCIe x4 expansion card is installed.
* When installing a x4 or above card in the PCIEX4 slot, make sure to set PCIE Slot Configuration (PCH) in BIOS Setup to x4. (Refer to Chapter 2, "BIOS Setup," "Peripherals," for more information.)

3 x PCI Express x1 slots
(The PCIEX4 and PCI Express x1 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)

1 x PCI slot

Support for 3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFire™and 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology


Audio
Realtek® ALC1150 codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF Out


LAN
Intel® GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)


USB Ports
6 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers)


Storage
1 x M.2 PCIe connector
(Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe SSD support)
1 x SATA Express connector
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
(M.2, SATA Express, and SATA3 4/5 connectors can only be used one at a time. The SATA3 4/5 connectors will become unavailable when an M.2 SSD is installed.)
Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10


Internal I/O Connectors
1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x M.2 PCIe connector
1 x SATA Express connector
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
1 x CPU fan header
1 x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT)
3 x system fan headers
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1 x S/PDIF Out header
1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x serial port header
1 x Clear CMOS jumper
1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header


Back I/O Ports
1 x PS/2 mouse port
1 x PS/2 Keyboard port
1 x D-Sub port
1 x DVI-D port
1 x HDMI port
4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 x RJ-45 port
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In, Line Out, Mic In)


Form Factor
ATX

[Wonky]

Thanks Luke. Definitely seems the Z97 is the way to go which answers my main question. Now to look through the various motherboards and choose one.

PS I'm running 64 bit Win 10 so no problems with reporting correct memory. :)

[duke5700]

The newer boards come with a factory option to clock them up, my current ASUS MB that is roughly 3 years old has it available from the desktop. Benchmarks the system, creates the BIOS settings, the reboots and sets them for you. I've honestly never bothered, never struggled with a game or anything anyway.

[LS2_307]

Hmmmm
I have been running a LGA2011-3 for 6 months now
I7 Haswell

Seems to cut the mustard

:)

[Wonky]

From what I've seen the LGA2011-3 motherboards are quite expensive and I can't really justify spending that much on even the cheapest of them which compared to the LGA1150 boards will be relatively low spec.

[Smitty]

From what I've seen the LGA2011-3 motherboards are quite expensive and I can't really justify spending that much on even the cheapest of them which compared to the LGA1150 boards will be relatively low spec.


... that was my thought zactly when I had finished at looking at everything available
the 1150 mobo was going to do all I wanted so that was the choice in my case

[Wonky]

Ended up buying an Asus Z97 Pro mobo with WiFi. Probably a little over the top but now we've both retired future replacements/updates will even be further apart than previously so I want a board which will do me for quite a few years with only the occasional CPU updates to faster and faster LGA1150 ones as they drop in price.

Only got a $95 20th Anniversary Pentium for now, with 8gb fast RAM. My current 4gb setup typically rarely drops below 2.5gb free, so 8gb should be plenty for the short term with 3 more slots free for another 24gb.

Thank you to all who contributed. [emoji106]

PS I kept referring to my planned CPU upgrade on my old board as an E9600 quad core for some reason - was actually E9550 quad core. :doh:

[lmoengnr]

with only the occasional CPU updates

Get in while you can Gary, 'cos the next lot of CPU's will have an extra pin or two, just to keep you in the upgrade loop! :cussing:

[Wonky]

That's the problem with the pc field. Things progress so fast that even if you buy bleeding edge equipment you'll be up to date for a week or two at most.

That's why I went for a relatively high spec board with recent chipset and relatively up to date CPU LGA to hopefully give me a long upgrade path without paying a premium for bleeding edge.

I remember when a 10gig hard drive was considered massive and waiting 35 minutes to copy a 170kb floppy disk! :nutkick:

Them was the days - not!!!

[VYR8HSV]

Damn I wish I had been on here a bit earlier. Only really jump on once a week to catch up on stuff.

I've got a i5 4570 quad core 3.2ghz, Turbos to 3.6ghz sitting in my draw at home doing pretty much "F" all.
If you like Gary I can send it your way & will be close to twice as fast as the Pentium dual core that you have now.
Not sure if you would be able to send it back though for a refund..
If your interested PM your address & I'll send it out. No Charge mate. Happy to help out :)

[Wonky]

That's bloody awesome thanks! I love this forum and the people on it! [emoji106]

PM sent.

[VYR8HSV]

No Problem Gary.

I got your PM with your address. I'm on Night shift tomorow so I'll post it off tomorow arvo WA time.
i'm off to the post office to send something else, so easy as..
It's also just the CPU. No Fan. As it's out of my custom watercooled system I have upgraded.

Peter

[IJ.]

No Problem Gary.

I got your PM with your address. I'm on Night shift tomorow so I'll post it off tomorow arvo WA time.
i'm off to the post office to send something else, so easy as..
It's also just the CPU. No Fan. As it's out of my custom watercooled system I have upgraded.

Peter

Well done You! :D

[Wonky]

Thanks very much Peter! :goodjob:

I've also paid it forward. :) Someone else on here had asked me about the E9550 CPU I'd bought as part of my planned upgrade on the old board and I was aiming to sell it for what I paid for it in order to recoup at least a little money towards my recent unplanned upgrade, but now I'll just give it to him along with my 4gb RAM.

[VYR8HSV]

Hey Gary..

Just an update. I posted it off this arvo in a bubble type postage envelope things.
Hopefully you shall receive it by the weekend. No guarantees as it is Aust Post wer'e talking about here lol.

Peter

[IJ.]

Hey Gary..

Just an update. I posted it off this arvo in a bubble type postage envelope things.
Hopefully you shall receive it by the weekend. No guarantees as it is Aust Post wer'e talking about here lol.

Peter

Be surprised if it makes it by the weekend, AusPost are seriously slow down here for some reason, been like this a couple of weeks now... :(

[Smitty]

Be surprised if it makes it by the weekend, AusPost are seriously slow down here for some reason, been like this a couple of weeks now... :(

AusPost in Vic have been slow for several years now.. parcels from one suburb to the SAME suburb can take 5-7 working days to arrive
all within the same postcode!

[IJ.]

It's odd I can get stuff from England quicker than from QLD....

[Wonky]

Thanks Peter. Not urgent as in the meantime I can experiment with all the new motherboard utilities. :)

[VYR8HSV]

No problem Gary.. Australia have been slow for a while over here in the West as well.
And now they wanna put the cost up & ask for more time to post stuff.. Amazing..

Ohh just a small pic of what the cpu came out off. Has been well looked after

http://i1263.photobucket.com/albums/ii629/Purplehazeffc/20150703_195941.jpg (http://s1263.photobucket.com/user/Purplehazeffc/media/20150703_195941.jpg.html)

[Wonky]

Wow! What a setup! [emoji106]

Have just ordered a Noctua NH-D14 cooler as it turns out my LGA775 cooler won't fit.

[lmoengnr]

It's odd I can get stuff from England quicker than from QLD....

Yep, 4 days for a wooden crate with 2 chucks and a rotary table, 3 cheers for the Royal Mail!

[IJ.]

Yep, 4 days for a wooden crate with 2 chucks and a rotary table, 3 cheers for the Royal Mail!

The really weird thing is RM hand it off to Aus Post usually in Alexandria in NSW and it'll make it in a day... I can't get stuff from Melbourne which is 110 Km's from me in a day..

[Wonky]

It arrived today thanks Peter! :shock:

[VYR8HSV]

Gee Wiz that was quick. Only posted it out on Monday.
Hopefully it got there nice & safe & sound..

:)

[Wonky]

Finally got it fitted and running last night (5am! :shock: ) after a few hiccups and detours along the way - none of them to do with your cpu thanks Peter.

Thank you very much again - greatly appreciated! [emoji106]

[Micks]

Finally got it fitted and running last night (5am! :shock: ) after a few hiccups and detours along the way - none of them to do with your cpu thanks Peter.

Thank you very much again - greatly appreciated! [emoji106]

Gaz what took ya so long :lmao:

[Toddler78]

Gaz what took ya so long :lmao:

porn breaks :jerk::stick::hide:

[Wonky]

Gaz what took ya so long :lmao:

Long story Mick but trying to be concise

a) realised when I upgraded my motherboard my free upgrade to Win 10 was trashed due to the way Microsoft now record activation details. Basically it's now tied to your hardware, but nobody seems to know exactly how much. A motherboard change definitely unactivates a free upgrade (and I suspect a genuine OEM version too - trap for young players). I've seen people write that you can change cpu, hard drive or graphics cards but in researching it and contacting Microsoft through their chat line as I did on a few occasions one of the techs there (useless pr*cks mostly) I was told definitely cpu and graphics card would trigger unactivation. :(

The free upgrade is a once only so if you change mobo as I did you have to reinstall from a different OS than the one you upgraded from. I upgraded from 8.1 which I had previously free upgraded from Win 8 and the Win 8 key is changed in the process of upgrading to 8.1, so now I have to reinstall Win 8 on my new SSD drive and upgrade to Win 10 again, but at least I’m running again – on a now unactivatable Win 10.

b) my MND affects the dexterity of my hands to a degree, so the best way I can explain it is that me doing things internally in the pc is probably equivalent to able bodied people trying to perform the same tasks with their hands frozen from being in the cold for a long period. Everything takes me 5 to 10 times as long as it used to and some jobs, like getting jumpers into confined spaces are virtually impossible. All the time I’m doing stuff standing up I also have to concentrate on my balance and not falling over. The last time I was able to take even a single step unaided was 17 years ago now!

c) I took the opportunity when Peter said he’d send me his CPU to get a really good CPU cooler – a Noctua NH-D14 (absolutely gigantic mofo!!). Fitting that involved me pulling the motherboard right out again and even when it was back in I had heaps of difficulty using the tool they provided for the job, so had to go out and buy something else to use. It's a bloody awesome cooler so far according to what I've seen on my CPU temps!

d) The motherboard has 4 RAM slots and when you only have one stick it recommends using a particular slot. I tried using that slot first time around and the mobo gave a “no memory installed” code every time I did so moved it to a different slot which worked. When I took the mobo out again this time I foolishly tried again with the same result. Oops! Problem is to get at the RAM I ended up taking the cooler out again.

I’ve always loved working on my own pc upgrades but it’s now very slow and has a few extra frustrations thrown in for good measure! :)

There were of course various other complications along the way ……………

[Micks]

Yeah their very frustrating machines @ times even when they are working!
Your right windows is a real pita now with this Win 10 upgrade hence I have held off upgrading. Been running win 10 in a virtual machine until I'm happy to
go with it live.
Sounds like you have it nailed now mate.