A Smart Guy Needed to Guide My Spending

[irasmaldinista]

Alright, imagine I got $1000 to spend on a Motherboard and a Graphic Card.

How should I divide it? I mean, which one really affects my gaming performance? Should I go 50/50 or 80/20 in favor of the GPU?

Is ROG VII Formula really in a league of its own compared to, say, VII Ranger?

I need an old head to enlighten me.

Thanks guys.

 

[sadams04]

um... what CPU and MEM do you plan to pair with this motherboard? Going to do SLI / CF? What size PSU do you have and what connectors does it have to power the GPU(s).

 

[giantbucket]

1/99.

there was a video on youtube by someone popular comparing a ROG ATX board against a cute little ITX board, and they had ALMOST the same performance using the exact same cpu/gpu parts. so spend ALL your money where it counts, and don't spend ANY of it where it doesn't. so, you know, LED fans don't give you any fps boosts. neither do individually sleeved usb cables. or hello kitty stickers.

 

[irasmaldinista]

@Sadams04
Dude, I know you may need specific answers, and I got the answers, but I'd rather get a general idea of exactly what percentage should I allocate to GPU and what percentage to the MOBO.

Note: I plan to get a 4790K, 16GB 2133 RAM, and got 850W PSU (I wish I didn't have to post my parts to get the general answer I was seeking!)

 

[Entomber]

with a 4790K, just grab the cheapest Z97 you can find that also has the features that you want.

 

[giantbucket]

edit - it was that Linus weirdo:

Link to youtube

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeuJAOVRoA0"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeuJAOVRoA0[/video]

 

[sadams04]

@Sadams04
Dude, I know you may need specific answers, and I got the answers, but I'd rather get a general idea of exactly what percentage should I allocate to GPU and what percentage to the MOBO.

Note: I plan to get a 4790K, 16GB 2133 RAM, and got 850W PSU (I wish I didn't have to post my parts to get the general answer I was seeking!)

I ask because it makes a difference! On the Intel platform there is no benefit while gaming with memory modules past DDR3-1866, but if you want to run 2133 there need to be motherboard considerations. Since you are going with a K series CPU that means overclocking which means Z97 chipset. It could have also been on the X99 platform...

NOTE: I really wish people would read the sticky on asking for new build advice before submitting a thread. It makes a difference.

MB - There is no practical benefit of the Ranger / ROG over the Z97-A past the number of SATA devices. This board will deliver a high overclock and handle a pair of "large" GPUs in SLI / CF.
GPU - You have the budget available so shoot for the GTX 980. Add a second later in SLI if desired...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($130.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card ($553.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $684.97

 

[irasmaldinista]

@Sadams04

That was one wonderful post, man.

You got a point; I give up.

But, can you also be a pal and tell me why people go for $300+ motherboards such as the delicious-looking ROG series? I mean, I understand the advertising campaign and all, but really, is that it? How could there be just NO difference?

I ain't no pro, so, I'd love to learn from you guys...

 

[Entomber]

With a high-end system it's worth it to pay more for a more expensive motherboard, since it allows you to overclock with a greater degree of stability, and will offer you more features. As you said, it also looks nicer, but it's not the looks alone that make it cost hundreds more.

With a normal one-GPU gaming system you don't need to get an expensive motherboard unless you know exactly why you need it.

 

[irasmaldinista]

I am getting an ASUS VG248QE monitor which could run at 144HZ.
Does this mean I need a specific sort of motherboard to enjoy my monitor's full performance?

 

[Entomber]

No.

You just need a GPU that supports Displayport and can run the games you're playing at 144Hz

 

[sadams04]

The differences lie more with the "extras". You won't see a (notable) higher overclock and your GPU isn't going to perform better on one board over another (listed in this thread anyway). The differences will be with the number of SATA ports and their configuration. Do you need 8 SATA ports? 6? 4? SATA Express? eSATA? As Entomber mentioned, with a traditional single GPU system (or dual GPU system for that matter), you won't see a difference.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/asus-motherboard-maximusviihero%2Casus-motherboard-maximusviiranger%2Casus-motherboard-z97a/

 

[logainofhades]

Get an MSI Z97 gaming 5, and use the rest on GPU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($136.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $136.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-22 15:29 EDT-0400