Motherboard tier list: H97 chipset

[MeteorsRaining]

H97 chipset


Intel’s 9 series non-OCable chipset w/o SLI ability, this is a great chipset for non-OCers and single (or dual CFX capable cards at most, though it's not ideal at x16/x4) GPU users. The chipset also supports Intel Smart Response Tech which is a SSD caching tech, useful with dual Hard Drive solutions. As of now, all current LGA1150 chips are supported w/o the need for any BIOS updates. Boards are ranked according to Form Factor and quality in this list, as a mini-ITX board cannot have dual GPU (Crossfire) support. Features like M.2 and SATAe have been given due weightage as well. Quality has been looked upon, and there are no persistent issues with most boards.

NOTE: In addition to lack of OCing and SLI capabilities, no H97 board other than MSI Gaming 3 supports XMP memory (ie, higher than 1600Mhz).

NOTE: OCing is supported on H and B series LGA1150 MoBos when Pentium G3258 is installed.

Helpful links:

Overclocking a Pentium G3258 on H81, B85, H87 & H97 Chipsets
ASUS Enables Overclocking on H97, H87, B85 and H81 Series Motherboards

NOTE: CrossfireX capability is not the best, performance wise, as x4 speed for the second card does not allow it to function to it's full potential, thus reducing performance.

Key:

Red: MSI
Blue: ASROCK
Green: GIGABYTE
Gold: ASUS
Black: EVGA
______________________________________________

Tier One: Very high quality. These MoBos are the best H97 you can find, for their purpose (like mini ITX board for Home theater/ media center builds), have great storage features like M.2 and SATAe (missing in Mini ITX board). Appropriate boards are CFX capable, and they’re solid quality wise.

ATX Form Factor:

H97 D3H
GAMING 3
MSI Gaming 3
Pro Gamer
Fatal1ty H97 Killer
H97 Pro
Fatal1ty H97 Performance
H97 PLUS

mATX Form Factor

H97M-D3H
H97M-E/CSM
H97M PLUS
H97M GAMING 3
H97M-D3HP

Mini ITX Form Factor:

H97I PLUS


______________________________________________

Tier Two: High quality. Good MoBos with CFX capability wherever applicable. Decent quality and good for general purpose. Contains Mini ITX boards as well. M.2 is not present.

ATX Form Factor:

Guard-Pro
H97-PRO4
PC MATE
H97 Anniversary
GA-H97-HD3
H97-DS3H

mATX Form Factor

H97M-PRO4
H97M-G43
H97M-E35
H97M Anniversary
G1.SNIPER H6
GA-H97M-HD3
GA-H97M-DS3P

Mini ITX Form Factor:

H97M-ITX/AC
H97I AC
H97N-WIFI (H97N doesn't have WiFi)

Thin Mini ITX Form Factor:

H97TN

______________________________________________


NOTE: This thread is a part of the article series 'Motherboard tier list'.

 

[random5]

H97M-G43 is high quality? whoah! fried two of them. yeah their VRMs are SOOO high quality.

 

[MeteorsRaining]

H97M-G43 is high quality? whoah! fried two of them. yeah their VRMs are SOOO high quality.

Tom's included that MoBo in it's budget build list and OCed Pentium to 4.4Ghz w/o issues:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/build-budget-microatx-gaming-pc,review-33033-3.html

OC results:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/build-budget-microatx-gaming-pc,review-33033-8.html


I'm unsure what you put on it to fry it's VRM.

 

[random5]

I'm unsure what you put on it to fry it's VRM.

Well most basic i5-4690K?

 

[MeteorsRaining]

i5 4690K on a H MoBo? These boards are not supposed to contain K series CPUs, which are OCable. H/B MoBos have unlocked multiplier for Pentium but that's it, you can't OC 4690k on H MoBo, the pairing is not right.

 

[RazerZ]

No H97 boards have real Crossfire support. The PCI lanes run at x16/x4 speeds. x4 speeds cripples performance of the second card.

 

[MeteorsRaining]

No H97 boards have real Crossfire support. The PCI lanes run at x16/x4 speeds. x4 speeds cripples performance of the second card.

Noted. Point has been added in the chipset description.

 

[chimera201]

No mention of Intel SRT?

 

[MeteorsRaining]

No mention of Intel SRT?

A brief description about SRT has been added in chipset description.

 

[mitsosvazelos84]

By saying Gaming 3 in tier 1 ATX motherboards , do you mean the MSI h97 gaming 3 or the equivelant of gigabyte ?

Thank you

 

[MeteorsRaining]

By saying Gaming 3 in tier 1 ATX motherboards , do you mean the MSI h97 gaming 3 or the equivelant of gigabyte ?

Thank you

The green color indicates Gigabyte motherboards, but I by chance left out the MSI's version to be included in any tier. MSI H97 Gaming 3 deserves Tier 1 as well.

 

[mitsosvazelos84]

By saying Gaming 3 in tier 1 ATX motherboards , do you mean the MSI h97 gaming 3 or the equivelant of gigabyte ?

Thank you

The green color indicates Gigabyte motherboards, but I by chance left out the MSI's version to be included in any tier. MSI H97 Gaming 3 deserves Tier 1 as well.

Ok thank you because im on the point of buying the msi h97 gaming 3 .

Since you seem to know a heck of a lot about motherboards , can you tell me if this msi h97 is a good motherboard ?
And is the audio chip better than simiraly priced motherboards ?

Thank you in advance

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Yes, no issues with the MSI H97 performance/ quality wise. Looking at the features, Gaming 3 is as good of a board as you can find, with all available features.

Regarding the audio, the board uses ALC1150 codec which's a high end chip. Many enthusiast level boards use it as well, for eg Maximus 7 boards, altough with a few adjustments. So in the department, MSI is just as good as you'd find (even in very high end boards)

 

[mitsosvazelos84]

Thank you once again for helping me out , I will buy that motherboard after all :0

 

[mitsosvazelos84]

Yes, no issues with the MSI H97 performance/ quality wise. Looking at the features, Gaming 3 is as good of a board as you can find, with all available features.

Regarding the audio, the board uses ALC1150 codec which's a high end chip. Many enthusiast level boards use it as well, for eg Maximus 7 boards, altough with a few adjustments. So in the department, MSI is just as good as you'd find (even in very high end boards)

Thank you once again for helping me out . i will buy this motherboard after all

 

[MeteorsRaining]

No worries, glad to help.

 

[mitsosvazelos84]

Sorry to interupt again , would you go with the MSI Gaming 3 or the Fatal1ty H97 Performance ? they are really close price-wise in my country , and I can't decide what to get

 

[MeteorsRaining]

I'd go with the MSI, as it has M.2 which the Fatal1ty lacks, that's the only noticible plus but it's worth considering the MSI over ASRock for

 

[mitsosvazelos84]

Yeah it seems that you are in my mind . I have good expierience with msi , I will buy that one for sure now that I have someone else backing me up too

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Haha it is a worthy board indeed 😉

 

[mitsosvazelos84]

I wish that they would spend a bit more in pci-e 3x16 slots so that we can have two of theese ... Overall great mobo though ...

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Since the chipset itself won't allow SLI (ie, x8 on 2nd PCIe x16 slot), it won't make much of a difference. The second x16 slot is best used for expansion cards/ drives than 2nd GPU for CFX, because of low bandwidth available.

 

[mitsosvazelos84]

Yeah ... I won't sli or cfx anyways ...

Thank you for the support
mitsosvazelos84

 

[MeteorsRaining]

No worries, glad to help

 

[Lordgeorge16]

Since the mini-ITX boards don't have CFX capabilities, M2 or SATAe ports, how exactly did you determine their ranking? I would imagine the ASUS H97I PLUS would be on tier two and the other three would be on tier one since they each have a slightly better audio chip (Realtek ALC892) than the ASUS board (Realtek ALC887).