Another " Which Motherboard should I get?" post

[Philipkrieger]

I'm looking at upgrading my motherboard by the holiday season, its been about 4 years since I've bought my current motherboard and need a little guidance on what to keep my eyes on. I'm a college student still... even after 6 years, so I have a limited budget and I'm looking to spend less than $200 (thank god for Paypal Credit).

I currently have an ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+

other specs:
CPU - AMD fx-6100 3.30 GHz AM3+ (which should be upgraded as well at some point)
GPU - ASUS R9 390
RAM - 4 x 2gb DDR3
PSU - XFX ts 550w
Case - Enthoo Luxe (Full tower)


My case has two front USB 3.0 ports that would be nice to use. I'm also looking into upgrading my sound system, so perhaps an on board 5.1 audio port would be a plus too.

Any recommendations or help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[playingnetwork]

Just keep your motherboard for now its not worth going with fx. Get i5 + motherboard and you will be fine.
You can get http://pcpartpicker.com/list/YLYL4D for 20 usd more.
Even the MSI H81M-P33 is budget motherboard if you have little bit more ASRock H97M Anniversary is a better choice.

 

[Hlsgsz]

Dead platform. Move on:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: *Asus H110M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: *G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($32.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $194.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-12 14:52 EDT-0400

you will have a very nice time with this and your 390

 

[Philipkrieger]

Dead platform. Move on:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: *Asus H110M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: *G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($32.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $194.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-12 14:52 EDT-0400

you will have a very nice time with this and your 390

Thanks for the list of suggestions, although is there a reason for the Micro ATX board? is a full ATX board just a waste of money? Just thinking ahead for future upgrades with the chance for possible cross fire.

 

[Hlsgsz]

Dead platform. Move on:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: *Asus H110M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: *G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($32.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $194.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-12 14:52 EDT-0400

you will have a very nice time with this and your 390

Thanks for the list of suggestions, although is there a reason for the Micro ATX board? is a full ATX board just a waste of money? Just thinking ahead for future upgrades with the chance for possible cross fire.

The reason for mATX is simple: price. I wanted to show you that geting a modern and powerful platform is doable on a budget.
More forward thinking, heres a CF capable config:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $335.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-13 02:00 EDT-0400

And here's a CF and SLI capable one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $354.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-13 02:02 EDT-0400


You can obviously still go with the i3 6100 on either.

 

[Philipkrieger]

Dead platform. Move on:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: *Asus H110M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: *G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($32.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $194.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-12 14:52 EDT-0400

you will have a very nice time with this and your 390

Thanks for the list of suggestions, although is there a reason for the Micro ATX board? is a full ATX board just a waste of money? Just thinking ahead for future upgrades with the chance for possible cross fire.

The reason for mATX is simple: price. I wanted to show you that geting a modern and powerful platform is doable on a budget.
More forward thinking, heres a CF capable config:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $335.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-13 02:00 EDT-0400

And here's a CF and SLI capable one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $354.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-13 02:02 EDT-0400


You can obviously still go with the i3 6100 on either.

Gotcha, so I should just shell out the extra $100 or so to go ahead and upgrade the CPU. I've done some research and think I'm going to bite the bullet and go with the i5.
With that being said, I do like the idea of the ASRock Z170 being able to CF and SLI, that way I'm not limited to just CF in case I switch over to Nvidia. I know this shouldn't matter as much, but I'm not to keen on the looks of the ASRock, what are your thoughts on this Gigabyte Z170XP? I notice some of the Memory slot clock speed is different on the Gigabyte motherboard than the ASRock, is this going to be a game changer?

 

[Hlsgsz]

Dead platform. Move on:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: *Asus H110M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: *G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($32.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $194.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-12 14:52 EDT-0400

you will have a very nice time with this and your 390

Thanks for the list of suggestions, although is there a reason for the Micro ATX board? is a full ATX board just a waste of money? Just thinking ahead for future upgrades with the chance for possible cross fire.

The reason for mATX is simple: price. I wanted to show you that geting a modern and powerful platform is doable on a budget.
More forward thinking, heres a CF capable config:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $335.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-13 02:00 EDT-0400

And here's a CF and SLI capable one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $354.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-13 02:02 EDT-0400


You can obviously still go with the i3 6100 on either.

Gotcha, so I should just shell out the extra $100 or so to go ahead and upgrade the CPU. I've done some research and think I'm going to bite the bullet and go with the i5.
With that being said, I do like the idea of the ASRock Z170 being able to CF and SLI, that way I'm not limited to just CF in case I switch over to Nvidia. I know this shouldn't matter as much, but I'm not to keen on the looks of the ASRock, what are your thoughts on this Gigabyte Z170XP? I notice some of the Memory slot clock speed is different on the Gigabyte motherboard than the ASRock, is this going to be a game changer?

That GB is even better then the Asrock.
As for those "OC" memory frequenices, they are meaningless as, past 3200Mhz, highly diminishing returns kick in. No that 2400 to 3200 is actually worth the price difference, unless you do RAM heavyu stuff like rendering.