[SOLVED] Darn, I have to change my plans for motherboard

[CorpRebel]

I've been buying the components needed for my PC build but the motherboard I needed was no longer available (snooze I lose, I guess). I was going for the older GIGABYTE GA-B250-HD3 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel B250 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX which was supposedly Retail Box New.

I realize that it's hard to find these older 200 series chipset motherboards as NEW these days and I was too slow in snapping this one up. I do see a couple Refurb units for sale.

But... I just saw a (Retail Box New) ASUS PRIME Z270-P LGA1151 DDR4 HDMI DVI M.2 USB 3.0 Z270 ATX Motherboard for sale, but I'm not all that familiar with the brands of MBs.

Would this particular MB by ASUS be a good fit for an Intel 200 chipset MB?

This is gonna be a new Skylake Win7 PC build. The CPU I already have is the Intel Boxed Core I5-6600 FC-LGA14C 3.30 Ghz 6 M Processor Cache 4 LGA 1151 BX80662I56600.

NOT interested in gaming. This will be replacing my 10 year old Dell XPS 8100 i5-650 "workhorse". heh heh

Any insights would be welcome.

Thanks!

CR

 

[Lag_behind]

A 200 series board can have some issues when installing windows 7, its not impossible, but in my experience, its a hassle. I would go with a 100 series board instead. Also going used isn't a bad option for a build, trying to go new with older hardware like that just jacks the price up. I've had few issues with asus boards in the past, so you should be fine with that one if you are dead set on getting it.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

You are going to have to jump through a lot of hoops to get Windows 7 working on LGA1151. Driver support is spotty at best. Just get Windows 10.

that board will work with your CPU.

 

[CorpRebel]

You are going to have to jump through a lot of hoops to get Windows 7 working on LGA1151. Driver support is spotty at best. Just get Windows 10.

that board will work with your CPU.

Thanks for your reply! Interesting... I'm curious as to what " hoops to get Windows 7 working on LGA1151" there are. The reason I was going with the Gigabyte B250-HD3 originally was a couple of people I know are using it and had no issues installing Win7 outside of having to add USB 3.0/3.1 and NVMe drivers to their Win7 installation USB disk since Win7 didn't have those newer drivers back then.

The only real differences between their PCs and my upcoming build is they are using i7-6700 and have a much better graphics card than I will have.

And as for Win10... Been there, done that and won't go there ever again.

Once again, thanks for your insights. I really appreciate it!

Have a GREAT week!

CR

 

[CorpRebel]

A 200 series board can have some issues when installing windows 7, its not impossible, but in my experience, its a hassle. I would go with a 100 series board instead. Also going used isn't a bad option for a build, trying to go new with older hardware like that just jacks the price up. I've had few issues with asus boards in the past, so you should be fine with that one if you are dead set on getting it.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

I'm curious as to what Win7 hassles/issues there are between the 100 and 200 series chipsets.

I'm not really minding checking out a used/refurb mb, I've been looking. Not many to be shipped here in the U.S. Not sure I want to wait 14-17 days to get one from overseas (Hong Kong). heh heh

And yep... the new older boards do have their price "jacked up" which doesn't surprise me.

Examples I've come across so far:
(Used) GIGABYTE GA-B250-HD3 = ~$180
(Used) GIGABYTE GA-H170-D3HP = ~ $200
(New) ASUS PRIME Z270-P = ~$235

Decision,decisions... LOL

Thanks again for your reply. It's helpful.

CR

 

[Turtle Rig]

Are you kidding me Windows 7 box? Dude you might as well stop right there with your new PC you want to put together. Unless you don't care about security patches and no updates and poor match with a current CPU and video card in the future or now depending on what you have. Also what CPU do you want to couple that motherboard with? Tell us your AMD budget and we will build you a nice system don't go out of your way for old motherboards my friend, as your waisting your time. Also Windows 7 updates no more for a while now so your stuck with security flaws software flaws and no big updates ever never. Also old drivers. For a B250 motherboard that might sound ok, but we can build you something more recent for the same price you want to spend. As I said tell us your budget and we will help you my friend. 🙉

 

[Exit 119]

"saw a (Retail Box New) ASUS PRIME Z270"​

I wouldn't use that platform at all, much of the time 'going back' with Intel is not a good idea. New 300 series are faster, some are better priced and flat out better. Win7 is not a great OS for 2020.

This deal for a shade over $300 at Amazon hits all the major points, and it's considerably faster than the 6600.

Total price: $313.97 (link to Amazon)

1. ASUS LGA1151 (300 Series) DDR4 HDMI DVI VGA M.2 mATX Motherboard (PRIME B360M-A) $79.99

Intel Core i5-9400 Desktop Processor 6 Cores up to 4.1 GHz Turbo LGA1151 300 Series 65W Processors… $165.99

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15 Desktop Memory Kit - Black… $67.99

Couple that with quality components, install Win10 LTSC and you're all set, bam! Shopping around may save another 20-50$, I would probably take the deal for the convenience. YMMV

 

[Exit 119]

The only real differences between their PCs and my upcoming build is they are using i7-6700 and have a much better graphics card than I will have.

And as for Win10... Been there, done that and won't go there ever again.

Also, the I5 you have is listing (new) for $248 / the link I posted refreshed the motherboard for a Gigabyte, totals $308.97. Resell the CPU you bought and add $50 for a new 300 series motherboard, CPU and ram. There's five years worth of newness and performance on this "cheaper, all new parts" 300 platform.

 

[CorpRebel]

Are you kidding me Windows 7 box? Dude you might as well stop right there with your new PC you want to put together. Unless you don't care about security patches and no updates and poor match with a current CPU and video card in the future or now depending on what you have. Also what CPU do you want to couple that motherboard with? Tell us your AMD budget and we will build you a nice system don't go out of your way for old motherboards my friend, as your waisting your time. Also Windows 7 updates no more for a while now so your stuck with security flaws software flaws and no big updates ever never. Also old drivers. For a B250 motherboard that might sound ok, but we can build you something more recent for the same price you want to spend. As I said tell us your budget and we will help you my friend. 🙉

LOL Look... I appreciate that you took the time from your day/night to reply to my post here, but you need to chill out a bit and don't get carried away about MY choices.

I just asked ONE question and it WASN'T about what kind of PC I should build. So please don't rant at me about what I should or should not build.

I'm deliberately building a Win7 PC for my own reasons. I have all the components already except for the mobo and was JUST asking that ONE question about a motherboard for 200 series chipsets.

I'm NOT a gamer and I don't need/want a 2020 PC at this time. I already had a NEW sealed retail boxed i5-6600 and since Skylake is the last cpu that supports Win7, that's why I was looking for a 200 series chipset mobo.

AND I want nothing to do with Win10, so don't care about updates and new features that I won't care about. This PC, after being built and set up, is going to be a NON-Internet PC just like my present Win7 PC has been. So I am NOT as concerned about security updates.

Win10 bs drove me to use Mac (which I am REALLY liking) and I'm just using the Win7 PC for my older software that won't run properly on Win10 (for example, Adobe CS6 Master Collection). I just wanted a a bit faster PC than my 10 year old Dell XPS 8100 i5-650. I don't need a 2020 version.

CR

 

[CorpRebel]

"saw a (Retail Box New) ASUS PRIME Z270"​

I wouldn't use that platform at all, much of the time 'going back' with Intel is not a good idea. New 300 series are faster, some are better priced and flat out better. Win7 is not a great OS for 2020.

This deal for a shade over $300 at Amazon hits all the major points, and it's considerably faster than the 6600.

Total price: $313.97 (link to Amazon)

1. ASUS LGA1151 (300 Series) DDR4 HDMI DVI VGA M.2 mATX Motherboard (PRIME B360M-A) $79.99

Intel Core i5-9400 Desktop Processor 6 Cores up to 4.1 GHz Turbo LGA1151 300 Series 65W Processors… $165.99

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15 Desktop Memory Kit - Black… $67.99

Couple that with quality components, install Win10 LTSC and you're all set, bam! Shopping around may save another 20-50$, I would probably take the deal for the convenience. YMMV

Thanks for replying but I'm deliberately building this as a Win7 PC for my own reasons and like I mentioned to the previous commenter, I'm NOT a gamer and I don't need/want a 2020 PC at this time for MY use case. I already had a NEW sealed retail boxed i5-6600 and since Skylake is the last cpu that supports Win7, and THAT'S why I was looking for a 200 series chipset mobo.

But thanks for taking the time for those suggestions you made for some of the components, but I already have all the components but the mobo, which was why I asked my one question in my original post here.

What I'm building... It's a decent 2015 PC - RIGHT? LOL
Case: Corsair Carbide 200R ATX Mid-Tower Computer Case - Black
PS: Corsair CX Series 650 Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Modular Power Supply (CP-9020103-NA)
MB: ??? Gigabyte GA-B250-HD3 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel B250 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX
CPU: Intel Boxed Core I5-6600 FC-LGA14C 3.30 Ghz 6 M Processor Cache 4 LGA 1151 BX80662I56600
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) 2133MHz C13 DDR4 DRAM
SSD: Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 500GB - M.2 NVMe
HDD: Seagate BarraCuda 2TB Internal Hard Drive HDD – 3.5 Inch SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM 256MB Cache 3.5-Inch
DVD/CD Writer: LG Internal 24x Super Multi
Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 1650 DirectX 12 GTX 1650 GAMING X 4G 4GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready
Displays: Already have a pair of Dell 23" Displays ST2310
OS: Win7 Pro

Have a GREAT rest of the week!

CR

 

[Math Geek]

the mobo has win 7 drivers right on the product page so no problem there. the hoops people talk about are not really from personal experience. i think it's easier for some to just say "get win 10" than to understand how to install win 7 and what exactly the compromises are for using it. despite what people claim you will get many security updates for a long time to come. how do i know? because you still get updates for win xp and the other older OS's. MS reuses a big chunk of the code for the various versions. so when an update is created for win 10, it usually works with win xp, 7, 8 and so on. what you won't get is any feature updates or fixes. big difference that folks refuse to understand. i use win 7 as my daily driver and get updates just as often as it always has. and i know i will keep getting most of the major security patches for years to come as well. it won't be as secure for sure as win 10, but a good AV/malware set-up will make up the difference along with being careful like you should anyway no matter the OS.

as you noted all you may need is usb 3.0 drivers in the install media. how hard is that to do? very easy for sure. check this little tool out and it will update your win 7 install media with all it needs to install on ANY new hardware!! i use my iso i created with this to install win 7 on all kinds of new hardware. it'll work for you as well

Windows 7 Image Updater - SkyLake\KabyLake\CoffeLake\Ryzen Threadripper - VideoHelp Forum

so yes the mobo will work with your cpu and yes you can easily put win 7 on it and yes you'll be good to go with the system for whatever your uses are.

enjoy the system.