Need A LGA 1150 Motherboard For A Mini-ITX Build

[famillybaror]

Hey everybody!
I am building a Small Form Factor PC for one of my friends and I am not sure of any good motherboards that would fit my needs for this build.

Specifications
- Mini-ITX (Mini-ATX Should Also Work In my Case)
- A Z97 Chipset
- Compatible With 16GB Of RAM With 2 Slots Or More
- Preferably a USB 3.0 Header
- Preferably Onboard Wifi Or Antenna

I am not too familiar with this socket so if anyone could recommend a motherboard for me that would be great! Thanks

 

[parani]

You already have the processor ?

 

[richiestang_78]

Its a dead socket so you'll probably have to look online for a used one.

 

[famillybaror]

You already have the processor ?

Yes, I have an old i5-4670k lying around that still works that I can use.

 

[famillybaror]

Its a dead socket so you'll probably have to look online for a used one.

Yes, I know that I am just looking for any recommendations.

 

[richiestang_78]

Motherboards are all about the same, but when dealing with used market itll be more abotu what you can find. I would just look for one that has features you want and not get too picky.

 

[famillybaror]

Motherboards are all about the same, but when dealing with used market itll be more abotu what you can find. I would just look for one that has features you want and not get too picky.

Well, do you have recommendations? That's what I am looking for, because not all motherboards are the same.

 

[richiestang_78]

Actually they mostly are. Asus are considered the best, and ASRock usually offers the most features at the best price. MSI is alright and Gigabyte is somewhere in the middle of it all. Regardless of brand there wont be any warranty.

I wouldn't pay more then 50-70 bucks for any of them.

 

[geofelt]

What case will you use?
Will this be for gaming or desktop work?

The reason I ask is that a ITX case can be very small and will fit only a ITX motherboard.
If it is for gaming, you likely will need to be using a weak wifi dongle since ITX only has a single pcie slot for a discrete graphics card.

M-ATX is larger with 4 expansion slots.
Gaming cases with good airflow will be full desktop size.
There are some Home theater types which are relatively compact, but they do not have good cooling for a K processor and a discrete graphics card.

Regardless, you will be best off by buying used on ebay.
New lga1150 motherboards are sold as replacements at a price premium.

 

[famillybaror]

What case will you use?
Will this be for gaming or desktop work?

The reason I ask is that a ITX case can be very small and will fit only a ITX motherboard.
If it is for gaming, you likely will need to be using a weak wifi dongle since ITX only has a single pcie slot for a discrete graphics card.

M-ATX is larger with 4 expansion slots.
Gaming cases with good airflow will be full desktop size.
There are some Home theater types which are relatively compact, but they do not have good cooling for a K processor and a discrete graphics card.

Regardless, you will be best off by buying used on ebay.
New lga1150 motherboards are sold as replacements at a price premium.

This would be more for light to medium gaming. I am using the Thermaltake Core V21 case, it does support Mini-ITX and Micro-ATX. I'm not sure if Micro-ATX would have more advantages than Mini-ITX but if you can give me a solid recommendation that would be very useful. Also, I would use an external dongle instead of using a PCI-E slot for Wifi.

 

[famillybaror]

Looking at the Gigabyte - GA-H97M-D3H motherboard... seems to have solid reviews and has everything i need (exept the Wifi, but that is not a big deal anyway). Found on Ebay for around ~$70.

 

[geofelt]

Nice case; your choices are now much better.
Buy a M-ATX motherboard with a Z97 chipset.
Z97 lets you OC your 4790K.
You will have 4 expansion slots including at least one pcie X16 slot for your graphics card.
Some will have two x16 slots for sli(which I do not recommend)
Asus Maximus VII gene would be one such example.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VII_GENE/
Long time ago, I used one, it was excellent.
Another might be the Asrock Z97M Pro4
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z97M%20Pro4/

I do not think you will find included wifi from the gigabyte msi, or others.
Better to buy a strong pcie wifi add in card, USB dongles tend to be weak.

 

[geofelt]

Looking at the Gigabyte - GA-H97M-D3H motherboard... seems to have solid reviews and has everything i need (exept the Wifi, but that is not a big deal anyway). Found on Ebay for around ~$70.

H97 will not let you oc your "K"
You are leaving some 25% cpu performance on the table.
Otherwise, OK.