Looking for best gigabyte motherboard

[Corey_9]

Okay i have a i7 4790 3.6ghz and gtx gigabyte g1 1080 gpu 16gb ram looking to swap from a dell motherboard to a gigabyte one also wanting to SLI 2 1080s so if anyone could tell me what best motherboard for me id appreciate it.

 

[ko888]

What sizes of motherboards does the computer case handle?

 

[Corey_9]

i have a full atx tower its pretty damn big lol. just using a dell xps 8700 motherboard atm.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The best Gigabyte Z97 MoBo might be hard to find as that's 2 generations past current. Also are you keeping the case and if so what size is it (ATX, mATX) ?

If ATX will work, I would suggest the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/R3V48d/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97xsoc

My son has this boards and it provides a nice space separation between the 1st and 2nd SLI slot.

Here's some pics:

Air Cooled Build

Water Cooled Build (before water cooler)

Water Cooled Build (after water cooler)

That case provides mounting holes for a 1200mm fan that was subsequently installed to blow air between the 2 cards ... you could I imagine do the same in your cases using one means or another but it dropped the temperature difference between the top card and bottom card from 10C to 0C.

Was dissapointed that the cable combs we bought could not be used as the Cable Mod Cables are much thinner than standard cables and they just fell off

 

[ko888]

I thought that the Dell XPS 8700 is a mini-tower that only handles micro-ATX size motherboards. When you look on the back of the computer case how many expansion slots do you see? Four or seven?

They're becoming scarce so get one while they're still available.

Full ATX size:
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#c=99&m=18&sort=a8&f=2,3&l=2,3,4&s=24

Micro-ATX size:
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#m=18&sort=a8&l=2,3,4&s=24&c=99&f=7

 

[Corey_9]

im looking to spend around maybe 150$ for a new mobo guys and yes i am keeping my case its a full ATX tower its black and dark blue leds.

 

[Corey_9]

Also i hear water cooling is best but im not sure if i wanna use water cooling whats yalls opinions on that?

 

[Corey_9]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147252&cm_re=full_atx_tower-_-11-147-252-_-Product this is my case.

 

[ko888]

Also i hear water cooling is best but im not sure if i wanna use water cooling whats yalls opinions on that?

You don't have a K series unlocked CPU so there's really no point in going with liquid cooling.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I thought that the Dell XPS 8700 is a mini-tower that only handles micro-ATX size motherboards. When you look on the back of the computer case how many expansion slots do you see? Four or seven?

He said above that he has a full ATX tower so I assumed he swapped cases at some point.

Also i hear water cooling is best but im not sure if i wanna use water cooling whats yalls opinions on that?

Real water cooling or '"Faux water Cooling ?

By real water cooling I mean custom loops components which are suitable for the purpose intended including pumps that can deliver > 1.0 gpm, include all copper / brass components to prevent galvanic corrosion, can be maintained can add corrosion inhibitors as original will lose effectiveness over time), do not sound like grandmas 1950s style vacuum cleaner. These can be either assembled by the user or pre-assembled at the factory as "All-in-one" units

By "Faux Water Cooling" I mean the CLC units sold by many vendors (OEM'd by setec and CoolIt) foisted on consumers which use aluminum radiators and inadequately sized pumps so that they can in no way match the performance of lower priced air coolers. here's a good example at the 23:00 mark of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYKdKVxbnp8

-The $80 Noctua air cooler beats the $100 Corsair 100i by a whopping 3C but to even get that close the CLC has to be 12 times as loud.
-The $150 Kraken does manage a marginal victory over the Noc but again, it has to be more than 4 times as loud ... not worth it for 1C to my eyes (er.. ears)
-The Swiftec H22-X on the other hand beats the Noc by a rather significant 5C and tops the Kraken by 4C. The Swiftec is twice as loud as the Noc but the Kraken is 3 times as loud as the Swiftech

So when it comes down to it, the CLC type water coolers with 2 fans that costs 20% more than the air cooler won't be able to touch it performance wise and will be 12 times as loud trying. CLCs that cost twice as much, can score marginal 1C victory over the Noc (tho the Cryorig R1 air cooler also beats the Noc by 1C, albeit louder again) but to do that it has to be 6 times louder.

The Swiftech uses a capable pump, an copper / brass radiator, has a reservoir, you can expand it to water cool your GFX card(s) and costs the same as the Kraken but it wallops the CLCs thermal performance while the CLC is 3 times louder.

Finally, as i don't see a "K" on the end of the 4790, if it's not a K there, then there is no reason to use anything but the stock cooler that came with it.

 

[Corey_9]

well im looking @ jacknaylorpe motherboard it looks nice but was it worth the money i mean im gonna have to pay 200$ for it lol.

 

[bloodroses]

I know this may be a silly question, but is there a reason for specifically a Gigabyte board? They are a great brand (i run gigabyte in my own machine), but there are other good options as well from MSI and Asus. I figured I'd ask since the decision may have been based on the brand of your video card; which is fine to mix brands.

This thread gave a couple good options from MSI and Asus:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2216503/good-motherboard-intel-4790.html

 

[JackNaylorPE]

well im looking @ jacknaylorpe motherboard it looks nice but was it worth the money i mean im gonna have to pay 200$ for it lol.

What is the cost of the other options ? Are they $180ish ? If not I don't understand why it is so high.

 

[Corey_9]

I thought that the Dell XPS 8700 is a mini-tower that only handles micro-ATX size motherboards. When you look on the back of the computer case how many expansion slots do you see? Four or seven?

He said above that he has a full ATX tower so I assumed he swapped cases at some point.

Also i hear water cooling is best but im not sure if i wanna use water cooling whats yalls opinions on that?

Real water cooling or '"Faux water Cooling ?

By real water cooling I mean custom loops components which are suitable for the purpose intended including pumps that can deliver > 1.0 gpm, include all copper / brass components to prevent galvanic corrosion, can be maintained can add corrosion inhibitors as original will lose effectiveness over time), do not sound like grandmas 1950s style vacuum cleaner. These can be either assembled by the user or pre-assembled at the factory as "All-in-one" units

By "Faux Water Cooling" I mean the CLC units sold by many vendors (OEM'd by setec and CoolIt) foisted on consumers which use aluminum radiators and inadequately sized pumps so that they can in no way match the performance of lower priced air coolers. here's a good example at the 23:00 mark of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYKdKVxbnp8

-The $80 Noctua air cooler beats the $100 Corsair 100i by a whopping 3C but to even get that close the CLC has to be 12 times as loud.
-The $150 Kraken does manage a marginal victory over the Noc but again, it has to be more than 4 times as loud ... not worth it for 1C to my eyes (er.. ears)
-The Swiftec H22-X on the other hand beats the Noc by a rather significant 5C and tops the Kraken by 4C. The Swiftec is twice as loud as the Noc but the Kraken is 3 times as loud as the Swiftech

So when it comes down to it, the CLC type water coolers with 2 fans that costs 20% more than the air cooler won't be able to touch it performance wise and will be 12 times as loud trying. CLCs that cost twice as much, can score marginal 1C victory over the Noc (tho the Cryorig R1 air cooler also beats the Noc by 1C, albeit louder again) but to do that it has to be 6 times louder.

The Swiftech uses a capable pump, an copper / brass radiator, has a reservoir, you can expand it to water cool your GFX card(s) and costs the same as the Kraken but it wallops the CLCs thermal performance while the CLC is 3 times louder.

Finally, as i don't see a "K" on the end of the 4790, if it's not a K there, then there is no reason to use anything but the stock cooler that came with it.

so even with 2 gpu's only use stock cooling?lol?

 

[Corey_9]

would this mobo work? https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128837&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[ko888]

would this mobo work? https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128837&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Not with an i7-4790.

 

[Corey_9]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128711&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= what about this one? my ram is ddr3 1333. i got it from the list yall gave me to choose from.

 

[ko888]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128711&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= what about this one? my ram is ddr3 1333. i got it from the list yall gave me to choose from.

That model will work.

 

[Corey_9]

hell yeah im gonna grab it then thanks fellas.