New Build Motherboard Recommendations

I am thinking about upgrading one of my PC's motherboard, CPU and RAM. For the CPU I have decided on Intel Core i5 Socket 1155 with built in graphics (I am not a gamer.). The RAM should be an easy choice.

What is difficult is the choice of motherboard (Standard ATX form factor). In the past I have had mostly ASUS motherboards (3) with reliable results. I have one Gigabyte motherboard which is also doing well. The one MSI motherboard that I had crapped out after about two years. I had a low end budget ASRock which I purchased several years ago and it had problems.

Basically, I am looking for a best quality/value motherboard which does not have a lot of extra PCI-E16 slots that I will not ever use since I am not a gamer.

There is a MSI ATX motherboard on NewEgg at a very reasonable price with many of the features that I like. However, I am a little shaky about getting another MSI motherboard after the bad experience with my first and only one. The description "Military Class III Quality" is probably just to get more Sales.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130674

Any motherboard suggestions/comments?

Thanks in Advance.

 

I m not into Intel, but i wouldn't buy MSI. In AMD boards they detain the trophy for motherboards catching fire, because they don't have a mechanism that throttles down CPU when VRM/mofsets get too hot.

http://www.overclock.net/a/database-of-motherboard-vrm-failure-incidents


ASUS, Gigabyte and Asrock, have implemented VRM overheat protection. With MSI, if they overheat, they still go on fire (literally).

The Military Class is a marketing BS, all vendors have similar features, they just have different names. I 'd buy Asus or Gigabyte for more quality, Asrock if i wanted to save money.

 

I agree. Get an ASUS or Gigabyte, avoid the MSI.

 

You want the specific model or just a brand recommendation?

 

Maybe several Models.

This one is a little pricey for my needs, but it looks interesting:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131819

 

+1 - I agree

 

I'm using this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821

Very nice!

 

ever since dfi left the scene (they were my fav boards) ive been using a lot of asrock as a slightly lower priced board and they have been rock solid for me. asus is also great the sabertooth mentioned above is just a ridiculously durable board i find it lack a bot in overall overclocking performance in the very extreme end (know i overclock with things like dry ice and ln2 and compete) but if you want a board that is just solid and very reliable the sabertooth is a great one. i agree about msi i just have not liked there boards in a while they have some awesome features but i have had some issues with them even in non overclocked systems.

but really unless you are overclocking the snot out of the board most good boards will be fine for you even the lower priced ones. if you are not doing serious overclocking and cooling i would for sure stay under 200$ and probably even under 150$ honestly. if you had a specific question about a board and i can help let me know i sell most of these models all the time and have experience with most of them.

 

That has been my experience too. The only real con with ASRock's boards is that they sometimes have slightly thinner PCBs compared to Asus or Gigabyte. I have never had any issues with ASRock either. ASRock was the first motherboard brand that actually did a respectable automatic overclock on my rig. With others, I had to fine tune things myself to get a good result.

Another brand I tend to put a lot on builds these days is Biostar - lately they have been coming up with good, stable and VFM designs. Have had good experience with these boards since the P55 era.

Asus and Gigabyte are of course good, but I'd still think twice before going for an MSI.

If you just want a board that will work well and not offer you any bells and whistles at all (this means tweaking anything will ruin the stability of the board), you can also try ECS and Foxconn. These should be available for cheap, but I would never get them as a first choice.

 

I have owned one MSI MicroATX Motherboard, and the on-board video started going out after a couple of years. The LCD monitor would frequently briefly lose the signal. I tried switching LCD monitors and the problem was still there so I replaced the MSI Motherboard with an ASUS Motherboard which is still working.

I have owned three ASUS Motherboards. I thought that the second one was defective and was thinking about RMA'ing it. The PC would frequently crash and reboot. I flashed the BIOS and the problem was solved. This motherboard had only been out a couple of months when I purchased it. The initial BIOS was obviously buggy.

The ASUS Motherboard that I am thinking about replacing is a little over 6 years old. I started having issues the other day which I have not yet resolved. I think that the issues may be corrupted OS related rather than Motherboard related.

I have owned one Gigabyte MicroATX Motherboard, and it is still working after about 4 years. I use that PC to try out Linux Distro's. The Gigabyte Motherboard was quite warped upon receipt, but it seems to work OK.

 

i still hold to if you want best bang for the buck asrock's are awesome. we have VERY VERY few come backs with them and sell hundreds. even the cheapest bargin board we used to use for the el cheapo systems the g31m-s at under 50$ we sold probably more then 300 of in total and had to this day had maybe only 5-6 come back. otherwise all the systems we still see with them are fine and i even used those for my simple office pc's we have 24 of in service still for more than 3 years and not one has failed due to motherboard issues. awesome track record for us. they also handle warranty very well and quickly. asus is our second go to board nowadays. gigabyte is only as requested we stock some but dont use them all that often they are normally pretty good boards but tend to be very picky for higher overclocks though as they tend to need more work to be stable at higher overclocks.

biostar is okay i had more issues than i like to see and had a few warranty issues but the boards are very solid when they work without issues and they are a good budget board. i do deal with msi laptops and have very few issues but i stay away as i said from the mobo's. ecs are ehh not my cup of tea a lot of problems with them from my experiences. foxconn's (remember they oem for MANY companies) are pretty solid for budget boards i didnt like their high end stuff though all that much. i also say not a first choice though.

and ill say i miss dfi a lot.

 

I have always used Gigabyte and MSI's in the PC's i build and none of them have given me any problems as of now. So i would say you will be fine.
Gigabyte, Asus or MSI they will all do their work.

 

My last 2-3 builds were Gigabyte and Abit before that. I just finished my new build using an ASUS P8Z77-V LE PLUS and I am happy with it so far. I'm not using the on-board graphics or sound, so I have no idea how good they are. I went with the i5 also and made sure I got one of AES-NI models.

 

After much reading I just bought this one. Haven't used it yet. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128583&Tpk=GA-Z77X-UD4H

 

Seems a very good one. Has all the latest bells and whistles.

 

Yes, I'm building a new pc and the motherboard took the most time deciding. Every time I came back to Gigabyte, but the 3 and 5 weren't ideal for different reasons. The day I thought "now I must choose!" this one came along as if there was divine intervention to help poor Get (drama is my middlename). Sometimes something feels right. This one does.

 

Good to know, that is a great board Get

I built two platforms based on Biostar TZ68A+ and ASRock Z77 Pro4. Both are doing very well, and the features are great for the price

 

Pricewise I could've doen better indeed, but every part of the pc became more expensive as time passed. An easy trap. "For only €20,- more I have that" etc. Since this pc was put together by me (amd athlon64) I haven't followed the developments so happy to hear the mb is a good choice.

 

Some research links ...may be of help?.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ ;
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/130 ;
http://notebookhunter.ninemsn.com.au/mobile/default.aspx

-cheers,
feandur

 

OOOPs: links for laptops, forgot OP was about PC's

-my bad.

-cheers,
feandur

 

I like ASUS, but some of my friends also use Gygabyte.
So I guess either one of these two will work fine.
Mrk

 

could someone recomend a decent mobo?
i'm not rich so i don't want to spend more than 150$ max.

i intend to get an i3 CPU but want to be able to change to a quad in 2-3 years if i need/want to.
the i5 is outside of my target budget at the moment and i think an i3 should be enough for my needs atm.
i need integrated sound if possible.
i got a good video card so i don't need that integrated into the mobo.

SATA 3 and USB 3.0 of course.

 

I am an AMD user, so i m not very informed on Intel motherboards, but when it comes for bang for buck, Asrock is always unbeatable and this one i know for sure that is very popular amongst "gamers on a tight budget".

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

If you search Newegg for Z77 motherboards, you will find cheapers too.

I 've used Asrocks for years and specially if you don't overclock, they run solid. Asrocks are usually a bit thinner than say ASUS boards, that's the only thing you must be careful about. When you install things, don't push too hard if you see it bending a lot.

Be warned, that the next Intel CPU, Haswell, will change socket. If you want to upgrade CPU in the future, you will have to either change motherboard too or search in the used market.

 

moontan, if you're on a budget, I recommend you to get an ASRock or Biostar motherboard - these usually provide great bang for the buck.

 

tnx for the recommendations folks!

i'll look into it.