need motherboard help

[chaosbroken]

I have a gigabyte b75m-d3h motherboard that I want to upgrade but I don't know much about motherboards. I also plan to buy an nvidia gtx 970 but i don't know how well it will work with my current motherboard. I want to see if i can get a motherboard that will work better all around for my current computer components. I have an intel i5 2500k cpu with corsair vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800). I have a limited price range $300. Any help i can get is appreciated.

 

[Archaic59]

Your current board is M-ATX, so you'd need the same unless the case you have supports larger ATX boards. A Z77 board would be good with your 2500K CPU. Since these boards are no longer in production, finding one can be difficult and come at a premium. I found two Z77 M-ATX boards you can use.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/asrock-motherboard-z77m%2Cgigabyte-motherboard-gaz77md3h/

 

[Darkbreeze]

Availability of new, not used, LGA 1155 boards is getting scarce. Is something wrong with your current motherboard. If so, I'd probably recommend this board as one of the few available new boards that is pretty fair quality and also will allow for some overclocking with that CPU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $134.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-14 14:36 EDT-0400


Honestly you'd be better off to just get a new CPU and motherboard after Skylake is released if there is nothing wrong with your current board. As mentioned, your case model may determine that any selection must be micro-ATX but if your case allows full size ATX boards, that's probably the best choice without getting ridiculous on the price.

 

[fudgecakes99]

If you have a budget of 300 dollars you want a r9 390. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127874

It is a much much much much much mu better card 5.5 more gigs of vram and just better in raw performance. Trust me 970 vs 390, 390 is better. That said.

You have a motherboard with a pcie 3.0 gen port. So to put that into perspective i have an intel h57 motherboard. Intel stopped making motherboards. It has a pcie 2.0 gen port and i'm running a 980 ti g1 without any issues. So you have nothing to worry about. If you had a pcie gen 1.0 port then maybe a little worried but not much. You're fine it'll run perfectly with that board.

You don't need to replace the motherboard unless you want to. If you want to waste/spend money on a 300 dollar motherboard go asus and or look for anything with a p67 chipset. But really spending 300 on a motherboard is overkill unless you're running servers i wouldn't waste it on a mobo.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I believe that budget was for the motherboard, not the GPU. There's no way to get an LGA 1155 board and a GTX 970 for three hundred bucks.

 

[fudgecakes99]

I believe that budget was for the motherboard, not the GPU. There's no way to get an LGA 1155 board and a GTX 970 for three hundred bucks.

Theirs no way to get a 970 for 300 bucks. Unless you get it used but still 390 is too good of a deal to pass up. Save up the cash you don't need a new moba that 390x is gonna be worth it gaming wise.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I guess it really depends on whether there is currently issues with the current motherboard, or if replacement is elective.

 

[chaosbroken]

i guess the question now is would i see better performance with a new motherboard over the one i have and would a new board work better with a gtx 970? and just for clarification 300$ is the top end for a motherboard. Also thanks for the quick reply's and the help so far.

 

[Darkbreeze]

In some cases, yes, there are performance differences between motherboards. The Z97 SLI Krait editions are a good example of this. Poor gaming scores were recorded at several review sites when using identical components on those boards as were used in previous testing with other board models. I never recommend anything other than the H and Z series boards for gaming rigs unless the budget simply won't allow for it, or you're using a lower end chip like the Pentium, at least on Intel builds.

I think in your case though that the replacement of the board on a system that's already several generations old is a bad investment when you already have a functional motherboard. I'd get your graphics card, then save the rest of your money for a CPU and motherboard upgrade to either an LGA 1150 platform or the newer LGA 1151 Skylake platform sometime after August, or near that.

 

[fudgecakes99]

i guess the question now is would i see better performance with a new motherboard over the one i have and would a new board work better with a gtx 970? and just for clarification 300$ is the top end for a motherboard. Also thanks for the quick reply's and the help so far.

No you wouldn't. Motherboard performance and gpu's aren't exactly in tandem. As it stands most motherboards can run just about any gpu from super high end gpu to a less then spectacular one. That said i'm running an 980 ti g1 edition ona pcie 2.0 motherboard and the motherboard you have currently is a pcie 3.0 a newer generation you could probably run a 980 ti on a pci 1.0 gen mobo and still not see any performance issues. You don't need a new motherboard but if you're gonna spend 300 dollars on a graphics card don't get a 970 get a 390x more bang for the same buck.

 

[Darkbreeze]

i guess the question now is would i see better performance with a new motherboard over the one i have and would a new board work better with a gtx 970? and just for clarification 300$ is the top end for a motherboard. Also thanks for the quick reply's and the help so far.

No you wouldn't. Motherboard performance and gpu's aren't exactly in tandem. As it stands most motherboards can run just about any gpu from super high end gpu to a less then spectacular one.

This is incorrect. Period. Generally most models across a particular platform perform reasonably close, but there are cases of poorly performing models and definitely performance differences across disparate platforms. Know what you're saying before spreading misinformation so you don't mislead somebody.

Many boards can't handle dual cards, higher end RAM and there are a variety of other considerations as well such as the efficiency of PCI performance on a given platform. Some boards just have poor designs that don't utilize the chipset well.

 

[fudgecakes99]

i guess the question now is would i see better performance with a new motherboard over the one i have and would a new board work better with a gtx 970? and just for clarification 300$ is the top end for a motherboard. Also thanks for the quick reply's and the help so far.

No you wouldn't. Motherboard performance and gpu's aren't exactly in tandem. As it stands most motherboards can run just about any gpu from super high end gpu to a less then spectacular one.

This is incorrect. Period. Generally most models across a particular platform perform reasonably close, but there are cases of poorly performing models and definitely performance differences across disparate platforms. Know what you're saying before spreading misinformation so you don't mislead somebody.

Many boards can't handle dual cards, higher end RAM and there are a variety of other considerations as well such as the efficiency of PCI performance on a given platform. Some boards just have poor designs that don't utilize the chipset well.

The likelihood that his gigabyte board is going to have "poor" pci performance on a single gpu? Not likely. Sure he could have ram thats rated at higher speeds, and its speeds are decreased. What noticeable difference would their actually be. Theirs no major difference unless op wants to render things in 4k. Why worry about things that don't matter. Regarding pcie ports he doesn't need to worry especially with a gen 3 port. Why waste money on something when you have something perfectly capable already?

 

[Darkbreeze]

I agree he shouldn't buy another board of the same chipset. I already said that several times. I'm simply communicating the fact that performance from one board to another, even within the same family, can make as much as a 10-15fps difference on a gaming rig, even with a single card installed. It's proven and repeatable and well documented. If what you are indicating were true, all Z97 motherboards would offer similar performance which just isn't the case. Case in point:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/msi_z97_sli_krait_motherboard_review/13


There are similar disparities among boards from all the manufacturers and between chipset the differences are often more pronounced.