Low end motherboard with mid-high end components? Bad idea???

[milesdkenyon]

I was looking at a build which will have the following motherboard

'Asus h81m-k'........ I know this is an old motherboard but will it be bad for gaming if I use it with these mid-high end components?

i5 4460 (because I don't want to overclock)

GTX 970

I was just worried that the cpu and gpu might be too powerful for a shit mobo?

Thanks

 

[shakeel amlay]

A bad mobo and seriously mess up your system. Try for a better one. Whats the max you can go for one?

 

[timeconsumer]

Not necessarily. Since you won't be overclocking, it should be all you need. It's just an 88w TDP CPU so that board should be plenty stable enough. You will need to flash the bios to the newest revision to ensure it supports Haswell Refresh CPUs

 

[furiousss]

motherboards don't have a role in gaming. it has a pcie 2.0 slot for gpu. the gtx 970 uses a pcie 3.0 slot but it is backward compatible with 2.0 x 16 slot. there is no big difference in gaming between 2.0 x 16 slot and 3.0 x 16 slot.

so don't worry. IMO the cpu and gpu are fine for that mobo.

 

[rhysiam]

Motherboards have very little impact on performance. You generally pay more for a mobo if you want more features, or most stable/higher overclocking. Since you care about neither, a cheap mobo is a good choice.

Just be a little careful with that particular CPU as it was a Haswell refresh model and some of the older H81 boards will need a BIOS update before they can accept them. You're safe with a 4430, or check the asus website to see what bios version you need to support that CPU and make sure the shipping bios is there or higher.

 

[milesdkenyon]

Thanks for your replies. When it comes to updating the bios, is it ok to put the cpu in the motherboard and then update the bios straight away or should the cpu only be put in after the update? I don't want to damage the cpu by adding it in before the update if that's the case

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

The motherboard is basic, yes, but it's hardly bad.

It will support a 4460 with BIOS revision 0703 and a GTX 970 will work just fine in the PCIe 2.0 slot. Assuming that you game at 1920x1080 resolution, there's no real-world difference between PCIe 2.0 and 3.0.

A BIOS flash doesn't affect the processor at all, just the motherboard, and you need a functional PC to perform the flash anyway. Just make sure that you understand what you need to do before you start.

 

[milesdkenyon]

The motherboard is basic, yes, but it's hardly bad.

It will support a 4460 with BIOS revision 0703 and a GTX 970 will work just fine in the PCIe 2.0 slot. Assuming that you game at 1920x1080 resolution, there's no real-world difference between PCIe 2.0 and 3.0.

A BIOS flash doesn't affect the processor at all, just the motherboard, and you need a functional PC to perform the flash anyway. Just make sure that you understand what you need to do before you start.

Thanks for your reply. There's an even newer bios update so I will be fine using the latest one? My main concern is can I not just build the pc and on the first boot I can go into the bios and update it through there? What do you mean by a fully functional PC? I thought it could be done through the bios? Thanks

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

Yes, you can build the PC and then flash the BIOS immediately. That's what I meant by a fully-functional PC; you need to install the CPU before you can perform the flash.

Sometimes a BIOS flash can be performed from the OS.

 

[timeconsumer]

EDIT: Answered above

Alternative: Buy an i5-4440 and you won't have to worry about the BIOS.

 

[jsmithepa]

Thanks for your replies. When it comes to updating the bios, is it ok to put the cpu in the motherboard and then update the bios straight away or should the cpu only be put in after the update? I don't want to damage the cpu by adding it in before the update if that's the case

No, just do it carefully and you will be OK. I love the 1150 socket, there are no pins under the CPU, you just have to lower the CPU onto the socket GENTLY and do the same removing.

Here is the thing, the 4460 you want is on the refresh list. If your Mobo has an old BIOS, IT WON'T BOOT. You need the Mobo to boot in order to update the BIOS, is a chicken&egg thing. If you have another pre-Refresh 1150 CPU around you can borrow then fine. Somebody here just suggested you get the pre-Refresh 4440 instead which wouldn't have the BIOS problem. Is a risk, buy from somewhere you can return.

I encoutered the same problem and obted for a refurb Mobo, I was hoping this is a Mobo somebody got, couldn't update it himself and returned it, then the vendor went ahead and refurb it before putting it on sales again. JACKPOT! even though it's a 2013 board, it came to me with an updated BIOS and I saved myself a few bux. You can say I took a calculated risk and won.

 

[rhysiam]

EDIT: Answered above

Alternative: Buy an i5-4440 and you won't have to worry about the BIOS.

OP, if you're new to all this can I advise you to do the above... that's basically what I was suggesting earlier too. You don't want to have to stuff around with returns etc for the sake of 100mhz... it's just not worth it. If you get an i5-4440 you are guaranteed for it to work without any bios hassles.