Is it worth spending much money on a motherboard?

May 1, 2018
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First, I understand that you should not save too much money on a motherboard, a okay one is beneficial in any case.

My question is whether it's worth spending too much on a motherboard.

I want to give too comparisons:

1. For Z370, ASUS ROG Strix Z370-H vs ASUS ROG Maximus X Formula

2. For X299, ASUS ROG Strix X299-E vs ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme

In these two examples, the former is definitely a good motherboard and the latter is the best you can get.

Is it worth the money buying the best motherboards? What is the difference in terms of performance? If I have a limited budget, should I spend the money on high frequency RAM/better Graphic card?
 
Solution
Okay, in that case just get an I7 8700k z370, dual GPU mobo. It will give the best of both worlds for your proposed usage. It's plenty powerful to drive two 1080/ti's, for gaming. If you absolutely must have the most GPU processing power for deep learning then Titan XP is a consideration, but they are too expensive IMO.

Which GPU are you planning on getting?
Hi,

Yes, and No :)

Firstly your getting a little mixed up. The motherboard you choose should really be based on what your needs are but in advance of of even choosing a motherboard, you should think primarily about which CPU you want.

Those two boards are actually different platforms.

The first one, the Z370 is the mainstream/high end mobo for Coffee Lake CPU's. e.g I5 8600k, I7 8700k etc. These are pretty much the best bang for buck high FPS gaming chips from Intel. They are typically 6 core processors, with the I7 8700k being 6 core/12 threads.

The second one, the X299 is the HEDT (High end desk top) platform. It's mainly for Core X CPU's These are I9 7920x, 7940x up to the 7960x, which start at 6 core/12 threads (6c/12t) up to 16c/32t with the 7960x.

The price difference in the two motherboards, will be huge. The price difference between building a PC with the two will be even bigger. The Z370 setup might set you back $1500 for a top end gaming machine. For the same performance in games the X299 based system might cost an extra 500-1000 depending on what parts you buy. But if you are doing serious heavy loads productivity wise, then paying extra for the X299 system may make sense. But just for gaming the Z370 is the way to go.

If you are buying a gaming machine, then the best right now would be an i7 8700k, Z370 mobo, 16gb 3200mhx ram, a decnet GPU (GTX1070 or above, Radeon Vega 56 or above) and a decent 144hz panel. That would rock the gaming world right now, and give you an awesome experience.

If you have a budget in mind, and a place you could purchase from and a very clear idea of what you want your PC to do (i.e Gaming, productivity, video production etc etc) then I could advise you on a build to put together.
 


Thank you for your response.

For the first part, I understand the difference between Z370 and X299, the examples are just to show that the price difference of motherboards can be huge in both platforms.

I am considering building a PC for both gaming and deep learning (basically I am a Data Science graduate student who plays some games : D). I will be playing at 2K/144 and for machine learning, I am taking part in some Kaggle competitions.

I have two versions, good VS extreme.

For good: It should be based on i7-8700K/AMD 2700X with single GPU, personally I prefer AMD because it gives better performance in multi-task and slightly worse performance at 2K gaming.

For extreme: It should be based on i9-7900X with dual GPUs.

The budget I am having is around $4000 including the monitor and I can get an extra $1500 for the extreme version.

Right now I am running out of budget especially when it comes to the X299 platform. The motherboard ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme is super expensive (more than $700) and this is the first part I think that I could have a downgrade. The same is for the Z370/X470 platform as I can save around $150 by getting a cheaper motherboard. That is the reason why I am asking this question.

 
Well, if you have AMD in mind, why not consider ThreadRipper, and have the best of both worlds if your hitting the budget max, I'm sure there are mobo's for TR with sli/crossfire too, but at a much lower cost than an X299 based system.

Edit: I meant that from a price/performance perspective.

 


As far as I know, ThreadRipper is bad, especially at gaming. I will consider it when the next gen ThreadRipper is released.
 
Not bad, but roughly the same distance that Ryzen Summit Ridge is to Coffee Lake, is the delta between TR and Core 9. It's all application dependant though.

I don't know much about machine learning, or Kaggle Comps, but just read a little there. Presumably the machine learning is more GPU based? Do CPU cores/threads matter a whole lot?
 


Yes, deep learning is GPU based but I am going to get the same GPU whatever CPU I use so it makes no difference.

In my case, I pick CPU due to its gaming performance and multi-task ability which is related to data preprocessing.
 
Okay, in that case just get an I7 8700k z370, dual GPU mobo. It will give the best of both worlds for your proposed usage. It's plenty powerful to drive two 1080/ti's, for gaming. If you absolutely must have the most GPU processing power for deep learning then Titan XP is a consideration, but they are too expensive IMO.

Which GPU are you planning on getting?
 
Solution
No, paying a ton for a mobo doesn’t help at all with performance at a given clockspeed.

What it can do is help squeeze the last couple hundred mhz out of an overclock more easily due to a better power delivery system. More expensive boards may also include additional ports like thunderbolt.

Basically, any $150 mobo should get you to an all-core oc of 4.7ghz, up in the $180 might get 4.9-5.0 depending on luck with your chip.