Compatible Motherboards With i3-4150

[Ridwan99]

So i have bought the i3 4150 and I am waiting for the Motherboard price to go down for Christmas.
My question is can I buy a H81M board or do I have to buy a H97 board? The Mobo needs to work out of the box as it is my first build... Thanks in advance!

My Build: http://

 

[SproutSchon]

There is only a teeny tiny chance that the H81 might not work out of the box.
This will only happen if the specific mobo you are getting has been sitting on a shelf for a long time.
I have done recently a build combining i3-4160 (Haswell Refresh too) with a B85 mobo without any problem.
In the case you have a problem it can be hectic because you will need an non Haswell Refresh CPU to update the BIOS.

If you are going for a budget build a H81 / B85 mobo is very tempting because it is much much cheaper and has 0 effect at all on system performance.
What you can do is try to contact your retailer before ordering to make sure the mobo you will get is not from an old batch.

 

[GhislainG]

The BIOS version on the last 2 motherboards I bought (ASRock and Gigabyte) was more than 6 months old.

 

[Ridwan99]

There is only a teeny tiny chance that the H81 might not work out of the box.
This will only happen if the specific mobo you are getting has been sitting on a shelf for a long time.
I have done recently a build combining i3-4160 (Haswell Refresh too) with a B85 mobo without any problem.
In the case you have a problem it can be hectic because you will need an non Haswell Refresh CPU to update the BIOS.

If you are going for a budget build a H81 / B85 mobo is very tempting because it is much much cheaper and has 0 effect at all on system performance.
What you can do is try to contact your retailer before ordering to make sure the mobo you will get is not from an old batch.

Where did you get your mobo from? I don't wanna spend a extra £20 on a H97 mobo because it will not make a difference!

 

[GhislainG]

One from Newegg (H97) and the other one from NCIX (Z97).

 

[Ridwan99]

One from Newegg (H97) and the other one from NCIX (Z97).

I'm from the UK so cant buy from them retailers

 

[GhislainG]

As suggested by SproutSchon ask the reseller what BIOS version is installed or make sure you can return the motherboard if it won't support the CPU. There's absolutely nothing on the box or on the motherboard that indicates the BIOS version; testing it with a CPU seems to be the only way (or contacting the manufacturer with the serial number, but most resellers obviously won't do that for free). I went with H97 and Z97 motherboards because I knew the CPU would be supported and I also wanted better audio and Intel LAN controllers.

Have you considered buying from a local store that could flash the BIOS if need be?

 

[Ridwan99]

As suggested by SproutSchon ask the reseller what BIOS version is installed or make sure you can return the motherboard if it won't support the CPU. There's absolutely nothing on the box or on the motherboard that indicates the BIOS version; testing it with a CPU seems to be the only way (or contacting the manufacturer with the serial number, but most resellers obviously won't do that for free). I went with H97 and Z97 motherboards because I knew the CPU would be supported and I also wanted better audio and Intel LAN controllers.

Have you considered buying from a local store that could flash the BIOS if need be?

I do not know any local stores that sell pc components near me. But CCL Online said to a person that "There's no way for us to determine the installed BIOS on a motherboard without powering it up which we are unable to do with new stock. We are able to offer a BIOS update if you were to place an order for one as this can be done prior to the motherboard being dispatched. -Danlevan "

So should I just buy that mobo from there and ask them to give it a Bios update?

Scroll to the bottom to see the Question and Answers Section: http://www.cclonline.com/product/129545/H81M-HDS/Motherboards/ASRock-H81M-HDS-Motherboard-Core-i7/i5/i3/Xeon/Pentium/Celeron-LGA1150-H81-Micro-ATX-Gigabit-LAN-Intel-HD-Graphics-/MBD0813/

 

[SproutSchon]

They should be able to tell you for how long the specific product has been sitting on stock.

If they offer to update the bios for you, the only thing you are risking is a delay.

 

[GhislainG]

The risk is very low because BIOS version 1.60 that supports the i3-4150 is dated 1/29/2014 which is before Intel released it in Q2'14.

 

[Ridwan99]

I just bought the MSI H97-G43 mobo, better safe than sorry