Budget motherboard, which one to pick?

[sayler350]

Hello,
I am in dilema, don"t know which mobo is better build quality&durability.
Msi one: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/H110M-PRO-VD.html#hero-overview
Or asus one: https://www.asus.com/rs/Motherboards/H110M-C/
Both are 6 phases, there is gigabite mobo avaible also: http://www.gigabyte.rs/products/page/mb/ga-h110m-ds2rev_10/overview/#kf but it has got 4 phases only.
Full build should be: rx 580 4gb sapphire pulse
Cpu: i5 7400/i5 7500(still thinking which one to take)
Psu:thermaltake 630w smart se-sps modular
Ram(8gb)/hdd(2tb)/case: cheapest.

Cheers!

 

[raisonjohn]

Since you are planning to get a Kaby Lake (7th-gen) Intel CPU (either the i7-7400 or the i5-7500 -- I recommend the 7500), it would be best to pair the CPU on a motherboard that can natively support 7th-gen Intel CPUs out-of-the-box to eliminate the possible issues regarding BIOS update.

Those H110M motherboards you are considering does support the Skylake (6th-gen) and the Kaby Lake (7th-gen) CPUs. But 7th-gen CPUs will only work IF the motherboard has an updated BIOS. If the motherboard you will receive from the seller does not have an updated BIOS, then, you cannot use the 7th-gen CPU (can't boot). You would have to get a 6th-gen CPU first to be able to boot and update the BIOS before you can plug in that 7th-gen CPU for it to work.

There is a possibility though that the H110M motherboard you will get will already have an updated BIOS if that specific board was manufactured after the release of the 7th-gen Kaby Lake CPUs -- but its a risk and you'll never know until you try to boot up.

To eliminate this possible incompatibility, I would highly suggest looking at motherboards with the B250 chipset (i.e., B250M for mATX format). The B250/B250M motherboards support both Skylake and Kaby Lake out-of-the-box.

 

[sayler350]

Well since I am buying from a store where they actually merge all parts in case, I could prolly require from them to update motherboard bios so kabylake would work. Reason why I am not going B150m is simply to save few bucks, mainly I wanted to go with Mortar Msi B150m(it has 4 DDR4 slots while H110m only 2) but it costs almost twise the price of H110m, H110m has the the all features I need, except it has only one 4pin for case coolers while B150 has 2. I think that issue can be overwriten simply by getting a hub(at least thats what I heard, dunno if it's safe. So if I decide to go H110m mobo, should I go Asus/Msi or Gigabite with 2 fewer phases?

 

[raisonjohn]

Well since I am buying from a store where they actually merge all parts in case, I could prolly require from them to update motherboard bios so kabylake would work. Reason why I am not going B150m is simply to save few bucks, mainly I wanted to go with Mortar Msi B150m(it has 4 DDR4 slots while H110m only 2) but it costs almost twise the price of H110m, H110m has the the all features I need, except it has only one 4pin for case coolers while B150 has 2. I think that issue can be overwriten simply by getting a hub(at least thats what I heard, dunno if it's safe. So if I decide to go H110m mobo, should I go Asus/Msi or Gigabite with 2 fewer phases?

On Power Phase
Assuming you got an H110M to work with the Kaby Lake CPU, the number of power phases does not matter since you'll only be using a locked CPU with a low-TDP (i.e., low heat and low power consumption). The higher number of phases does lessen the load/stress of each of the other phases when converting the +12V power supplied from your PSU to the required voltage going into the CPU/RAM/MB, however, this is only beneficial/evident if you are overclocking or using a high-TDP CPU. So, with 6 PP vs 4 PP, that 2-phase difference is not a grave concern especially in running a non-OC'able/locked CPU with only a 65W-TDP.

Which Motherboard?
The choice of motherboard entirely depends on your required connectivity and features. Among the motherboards mentioned, all are very similarly spec'd (i.e., all have 2x RAM slots, 1x PCIe3.0 x16 slot, 2x PCIe2.0 x1 slots, 4x SATA ports, 3x Audio Jacks, same Audio Codec, same LAN Controller, 2x fan headers, etc.).

If you need PWM fan headers for your case fans, you should get the Asus as it has 2x fan headers that are both 4-pin PWM headers. Msi and Gigabyte, have only 1x PWM header (the CPU_FAN), despite having all headers as 4-pin headers, the 1x case fan header is actually a DC header (voltage-controlled) only.

If number of USB rear panel ports is a concern, the Gigabyte only has 4x (2x USB3.0 + 2x USB2.0) while Msi and Asus have 6x (2x USB3.0 + 4x USB2.0). If number of USB internal headers matter, the Gigabyte offers 3x Internal USB Headers (1x USB3.0 + 2x USB2.0) while Msi and Asus only offers 2x Internal USB Headers (1x USB3.0 + 1x USB2.0).

If you need legacy ports (old ports for older interfaces):
Asus has 1x PCI slot, 1x Serial and 1x Parallel Headers on-board and 2x PS/2 ports and 1x Serial Port at rear panel;
Gigabyte has 2x PS/2 ports, 1x Parallel Port and 1x Serial Port at the rear panel; and
Msi has 1x Serial Header on-board and 1x PS/2 port at the rear panel.

There's also a slight difference in size (if it matters to you on looks), despite all being mATX in form. The Asus is the largest at 244mm x 182mm; the Msi is 235mm x 180mm; the Gigabyte is the smallest at 226mm x 174mm. Aesthetics, esp. if you are using a window panel case, might also be considered as both Msi and Gigabyte are Black-Gray while the Asus is Black-Gray with Gold accent (the chipset).

In terms of features, the Msi has the Debug LEDs (for CPU, RAM, and GPU) for diagnostics and Reinforced PCI slot (to prevent breakage due to heavy GPUs); the Gigabyte has the DualBIOS (exclusive feature for safe BIOS updating in case of failure); Asus doesn't have any of these features based on specs.