b75 vs h61 vs something else

[mauvex]

So my Z77 died over the weekend and i'm left with my 3770k (beautiful, beautiful processor, as you all know). I did the rounds and just as you'd expect, the stores don't stock z77's anymore, or any other 1155 mobo other than H61's (roughly $50.00). There are a few sellers in our area with old b75's (bundled with i3's - around $100). A new build is out of the question (and budget).

So do I go with the H61, B75 or possibly another suggestion? Thanks in advance!

 

[Hellfire13]

First the difference pretty much here... http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1799266/h61-b75-h77-z77.html

Now, that is an unlocked chip which is meant for OCing. So your best option is to go for a z77 board for unleashing its full potential. The cheapest one available is this... https://pcpartpicker.com/product/KyMFf7/intel-motherboard-boxdz77sl50k

In case its out of your budget, then you can go for any of the other platforms, that fits your budget. Cheapest one being this... https://pcpartpicker.com/product/xm9KHx/asus-motherboard-p8h61mlecsmr20

 

[mauvex]

thanks! yeah, i've run through the differences. believe me, if i could get my hands on a reasonably priced z77 (like my last one), i would. Sorry, I guess I forgot to mention: i live in the philippines and while the base prices on online stores are reasonably fair, i'm afraid shipping, posting and taxes factored in would end up doubling the cost. So my only options are with actual stores and used item sellers. the best H61 board stocked here would be the ASUS H61M-C (pcie 3, 4x SATA III, no USB 3.0).

Really sucks that something that came out just 4 years ago has almost little to no support here anymore while I'm still seeing a lot of socket 775 pieces in the stores, but ah well...

I've almost resigned myself to the fact that I'm never going to be able to OC this thing, so I guess the real question is: aside from OC'ing, what other performance hits am I going to be taking?

 

[Hellfire13]

lets see...less pcie slots...less tweaking options...less ports maybe, specially sata 3...not a major difference if you are not overclocking...z77 is just more flashy with a lot of features which are not absolutely nescessary...there is a comparison here...
http://ark.intel.com/compare/52806,64024

 

[mauvex]

Thank you, I'll probably go with the H61M-C until I find something else (by way of a used locally available z77) since it has PCI-E 3.0 and the 4 SATA III slots and then probably just slap a USB 3.0 card on it (need it for a few of my devices). Sigh, would've been nice to get it back to my previous OC, but oh well, I guess I'll just have to bear with the 3.9 GHz turbo (hopefully, just in the meantime). At least until I scrounge up enough for whatever i7 is available by the time I have the money (or Zen next year). Then this thing becomes an HTPC. Thanks for the help!

 

[Hellfire13]

Try the online used market like amazon/ebay/etc. You might find something.
Welcome. Cheers mate.