Need Motherboard Suggestions For A Tight Budget...

[William Carter]

Hi guys, I have had the same system for about 6 years now, and I feel like I need to upgrade. I am on a tight budget, so I am looking to find a decent but cheap motherboard that has a better Max RAM on it but uses LGA1156 so I can use the RAM & CPU I already have. Here is what I have:

Asus P7H55-M LE Motherboard (Max 8GB RAM)

Intel Core i5-760 Processor 2.8 GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1156

Corsair Vengeance - DDR3 - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB - DIMM 240-pin - 1600 MHz / PC3-12800 - CL9 - 1.5 V - unbuffered - (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B)

EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti FTW DVI-I/HDMI/Display Port GDDR5 Graphics Card with ACX Cooling 02G-P4-3757-KR

I'd like something that can use what I have above, but has a max RAM of 16-32GB. Any recommendations? I'd like to stay as far under $200 as possible.

 

[alexoiu]

Hi, No reason to invest in your system. You would not find a better board to accommodate your components. I suggest saving for a newer setup.

 

[artk2219]

Hi guys, I have had the same system for about 6 years now, and I feel like I need to upgrade. I am on a tight budget, so I am looking to find a decent but cheap motherboard that has a better Max RAM on it but uses LGA1156 so I can use the RAM & CPU I already have. Here is what I have:

Asus P7H55-M LE Motherboard (Max 8GB RAM)

Intel Core i5-760 Processor 2.8 GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1156

Corsair Vengeance - DDR3 - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB - DIMM 240-pin - 1600 MHz / PC3-12800 - CL9 - 1.5 V - unbuffered - (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B)

EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti FTW DVI-I/HDMI/Display Port GDDR5 Graphics Card with ACX Cooling 02G-P4-3757-KR

I'd like something that can use what I have above, but has a max RAM of 16-32GB. Any recommendations? I'd like to stay as far under $200 as possible.

Honestly if you're looking to stay under 200 you have a lot of wiggle room. You could even look into buying a used LGA 1155 or 1151 combo, or even AM3+, a used FX 8300 series (especially clocked to 4.2 to 4.6) would kick that i5 760 in the face. Also, have you tried to put more than 8gb in the board to see if it's recognized anyway? You could even look into getting a B350 board, Athlon x4 950, and some memory and being on a completely modern platform with room to upgrade.

 

[William Carter]

I'm kinda partial to Intel, my brother has used AMD and has had many issues. So, could you recommend a good Intel motherboard combo for appx $200-$300? One that has a max RAM of 32gb? I'm have never done overclocking (it makes me nervous)...

 

[delaro]

ASUS P7F-M, LGA1156 Socket $60 + 15 shipping
https://www.ebay.com/p/ASUS-P7F-M-LGA1156-Socket-Intel-Motherboard/80253025?iid=253070462163&opts=opick

Honestly it's not worth the cost just to get 8Gigs more ram on a system that is heavily out of date, save you money and look into a lga1151-2 or AM4 for under $40 and get a noticeable speed improvement and be up todate with current hardware support.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($121.73 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($111.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $333.70

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($109.49 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $283.97

 

[artk2219]

I'm kinda partial to Intel, my brother has used AMD and has had many issues. So, could you recommend a good Intel motherboard combo for appx $200-$300? One that has a max RAM of 32gb? I'm have never done overclocking (it makes me nervous)...

To each his own, ive used both over the past 20 years and had no more trouble with one than the other. But sticking with intel for roughly $200, youre better off going used. You could technically build a kaby lake pentium g4560 based system with a motherboard and memory for a little more than the athlon, but its a dead platform, the best you could hope for is an i7 7700k, which while currently a very good chip, will get old faster and you'll have to change platforms again. But thats if youre buying new, you could aim for a used i5 2500k, 3570k or i7 2600k, 3770k or there abouts and keep the memory. You could also look into LGA 2011, that way you could use xeons, keep youre memory, and have something decently future proof, but finding a decent motherboard could be a little difficult. Just for reference though ive included a list with all of the relevant parts with the Athlon and the Pentium.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GBhc8K

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qZFTf8

 

[William Carter]

Thanks for the information everyone, they both look nice. Even though they max at 64gb RAM, I'll likely just go 32... I don't do heavy gaming (hense why I only have an Nvidia 760 gtx 2GB) video card. So, that Intel setup you linked should do great for quite a long time...

 

[delaro]

I'm kinda partial to Intel, my brother has used AMD and has had many issues. So, could you recommend a good Intel motherboard combo for appx $200-$300? One that has a max RAM of 32gb? I'm have never done overclocking (it makes me nervous)...

To each his own, ive used both over the past 20 years and had no more trouble with one than the other. But sticking with intel for roughly $200, youre better off going used. You could technically build a kaby lake pentium g4560 based system with a motherboard and memory for a little more than the athlon, but its a dead platform, the best you could hope for is an i7 7700k, which while currently a very good chip, will get old faster and you'll have to change platforms again. But thats if youre buying new, you could aim for a used i5 2500k, 3570k or i7 2600k, 3770k or there abouts and keep the memory. You could also look into LGA 2011, that way you could use xeons, keep youre memory, and have something decently future proof, but finding a decent motherboard could be a little difficult. Just for reference though ive included a list with all of the relevant parts with the Athlon and the Pentium.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GBhc8K

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qZFTf8

I would avoid the Athlon X4 950 and the G4560 as they are both slower on Multicore performance, the Athlon is based on Bulldozer btw so it also lacks the single core performance.Either of these are more of a side grade place holder. A i3 8XXX or Ryzen 3 on the other hand are both improvements in every way. The Crucial ram is more for a business end system, it lacks a heat spreader which means overheating under long periods of heavy load "Gaming".

LGA2011... not something you want to look at on a tight budget this is a premium which means you will pay a premium during its service life.

I7-2600k, 3570k,3770k and relevant Xeons still retain enough value to keep them out of a $200 budget even the boards that support them are still pricey.

i5 2500k is a nice chip but also at the low end for hardware requirement and a dead socket making it a not so good option for looking at a system that will last many more years.

LGA1151 and i3 7100 is also a good start as it give you access to current i5's and i7's at a cost but it is also slower multicore performance over what he has.

Frankly I would avoid going used if you want something that will last quite a while, AM4 and LGA1151-2 entry level are upgrades in every way and give you a wide margin of upgrade paths for just a little more money. It's easy to spend nearly the same amount on used hardware that maybe faster over entry level CPU's but also maxed out offering you no room to upgrade.

 

[William Carter]

I appreciate the info. The extent of my gaming is limited to like Diablo 3, World of Warcraft, and CoD WW2. My issue is when I run MeMu and Nox for mobile emulation, and watch youtube videos, the slow down is noticable. Yesterday I tried to extract a 300GB rar file, it's still extracting (there like 6 hours left). So, that and things like HyperSpin are why I want a little more power, especially RAM. I may go with the LGA1151 and maybe an i5 with 32gb RAM to start...

 

[delaro]

I appreciate the info. The extent of my gaming is limited to like Diablo 3, World of Warcraft, and CoD WW2. My issue is when I run MeMu and Nox for mobile emulation, and watch youtube videos, the slow down is noticable. Yesterday I tried to extract a 300GB rar file, it's still extracting (there like 6 hours left). So, that and things like HyperSpin are why I want a little more power, especially RAM. I may go with the LGA1151 and maybe an i5 with 32gb RAM to start...

$300 i5... .$300+ for RAM.. $110+ for Motherbaord.. Ouch that's a hefty investment to emulate.

I would think a Ryzen 5 1600 @ 4ghz $199 "$169 at Microcenter" 16GB 3000mhz DDR4 $184 and a B350 board $75 matched with a small SSD would load those texture packs faster and give you exceptional performance. All of it seems unbalanced matched with a $70 GPU though.

DDR4 is so damn expensive and those high up Intel chips will never budge in price.

 

[artk2219]

I'm kinda partial to Intel, my brother has used AMD and has had many issues. So, could you recommend a good Intel motherboard combo for appx $200-$300? One that has a max RAM of 32gb? I'm have never done overclocking (it makes me nervous)...

To each his own, ive used both over the past 20 years and had no more trouble with one than the other. But sticking with intel for roughly $200, youre better off going used. You could technically build a kaby lake pentium g4560 based system with a motherboard and memory for a little more than the athlon, but its a dead platform, the best you could hope for is an i7 7700k, which while currently a very good chip, will get old faster and you'll have to change platforms again. But thats if youre buying new, you could aim for a used i5 2500k, 3570k or i7 2600k, 3770k or there abouts and keep the memory. You could also look into LGA 2011, that way you could use xeons, keep youre memory, and have something decently future proof, but finding a decent motherboard could be a little difficult. Just for reference though ive included a list with all of the relevant parts with the Athlon and the Pentium.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GBhc8K

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qZFTf8

I would avoid the Athlon X4 950 and the G4560 as they are both slower on Multicore performance, the Athlon is based on Bulldozer btw so it also lacks the single core performance.Either of these are more of a side grade place holder. A i3 8XXX or Ryzen 3 on the other hand are both improvements in every way. The Crucial ram is more for a business end system, it lacks a heat spreader which means overheating under long periods of heavy load "Gaming".

LGA2011... not something you want to look at on a tight budget this is a premium which means you will pay a premium during its service life.

I7-2600k, 3570k,3770k and relevant Xeons still retain enough value to keep them out of a $200 budget even the boards that support them are still pricey.

i5 2500k is a nice chip but also at the low end for hardware requirement and a dead socket making it a not so good option for looking at a system that will last many more years.

LGA1151 and i3 7100 is also a good start as it give you access to current i5's and i7's at a cost but it is also slower multicore performance over what he has.

Frankly I would avoid going used if you want something that will last quite a while, AM4 and LGA1151-2 entry level are upgrades in every way and give you a wide margin of upgrade paths for just a little more money. It's easy to spend nearly the same amount on used hardware that maybe faster over entry level CPU's but also maxed out offering you no room to upgrade.

The reason I was quoting the athlon was for the reason you suggested, its a place holder for a better chip and it makes it fit nicely in that roughly $200 dollar bracket. Also it has roughly the same IPC (maybe a smidge lower than nehalem) but it clocks higher for much less power, it really wouldnt surprise me if he would have seen a bit of a boost with that chip. As for LGA 2011, it can be more affordable than you think if you take into account the tons of workstation and OEM boards available, and you're willingness to get a little creative. You could take the board below, with the associated adapter below, buy the xeon also below (or better / better priced), and keep the same ddr3 and have a very nice perf boost for not that much relatively speaking. But you're right, you always take your chances buying used, and it wont be supported as long. Its just that for that 200 dollar price point, its either relatively low end new parts that you replace later, or used parts that you take a chance on. The memory could totally be better, its just the cheapest decent stick i could find, you could easily spend more and get a better performing stick, this would just do the job for now since DDR4 is so friggin expensive, I remember less than a year ago when you could get 16gb's for a fair bit under $100, those were the days :-/.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Workstation-Z420-System-Motherboard-LGA-2011-DDR3-Slots-619557-001-618263-001/282780043954?epid=1407532395&hash=item41d7010ab2:g:sQoAAOSwh1paOs1j

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071NL4VK2/ref=asc_df_B071NL4VK25316404/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B071NL4VK2&linkCode=df0&hvadid=216534554317&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=855630168510275991&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010767&hvtargid=pla-350870547353

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-E5-2667-2-90GHz-15MB-6-Core-130W-LGA2011-SR0KP/232565619055?hash=item3625fdb96f:g:8CwAAOSwR2RaD0ge

 

[delaro]

Your sorta right that used is good for a budget

$85 32gb DDR3 "Server Memory" He cant use what he has
$85 For a outdated server board with no Overclocking potential
$85 for a Xeon that tops at 3.5ghz

Cons..
End of Life hardware with Limited upgrade potential
Heat and Power draw
Lack of support for many new features
Lower single core performance and no way to fix that
Weird quirks in games that don't pick up the Xeon right "Tried this it gets annoying"
Driver issues related to the Motherboard and drivers "Gets annoying too"
Nothing special Audio.. it works just no where near as nice as you get with non server related hardware

Great workstation life.. no so great gaming life but a upgrade over what he has now, for less than $150 more you can start off with something that uptodate and has a longer service life.

 

[artk2219]

Your sorta right that used is good for a budget

$85 32gb DDR3 "Server Memory" He cant use what he has
$85 For a outdated server board with no Overclocking potential
$85 for a Xeon that tops at 3.5ghz

Cons..
End of Life hardware with Limited upgrade potential
Heat and Power draw
Lack of support for many new features
Lower single core performance and no way to fix that
Weird quirks in games that don't pick up the Xeon right "Tried this it gets annoying"
Driver issues related to the Motherboard and drivers "Gets annoying too"
Nothing special Audio.. it works just no where near as nice as you get with non server related hardware

Great workstation life.. no so great gaming life but a upgrade over what he has now, for less than $150 more you can start off with something that uptodate and has a longer service life.

Like we all said, you take your chances buying used. I gathered that gaming was a secondary concern so the added workstation performance would have been a better benefit. But yes, you may have to get a little creative to keep things running happy, either way we both agree the best idea would be a fresh start with decent components to begin with. It's just that stated $200 dollar price point precludes that somewhat, the best idea would be to save up another $100 and start from there. But barring that, there are other options, they just involve a bit more work, and potential risk. Or the build could just be put together piece by piece over a few months.

 

[William Carter]

Ok, so, let's say I wanna go:

New
Intel Mobo/Chip combo
RAM: What I have DDR3-1600mhz (maxes at 16gb-32gb)
Vid Card: Keep what I got... for now...

What do you guys think?

 

[delaro]

New Current Intel chipset will need DDR4.. and DDR4 is expensive. 16GB will run $250+

 

[William Carter]

I meant new as in never been opened or used, not as in made this year...

 

[artk2219]

I meant new as in never been opened or used, not as in made this year...

Honestly if you are going new, I really recommend looking into AM4. For around the 250 mark you can get an R3 1200, a motherboard, and 8gb memory. You would also have room to grow up to 64 GB's of memory, and at least an 8 core 16 thread chip.

 

[William Carter]

What would be the Intel equivalent?

 

[delaro]

Intel Equivalent "NEW"

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($127.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($87.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $317.86

I would wait until the budget boards come out that will drop the price down around $30-$40.

 

[artk2219]

Intel Equivalent "NEW"

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($127.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($87.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $317.86

I would wait until the budget boards come out that will drop the price down around $30-$40.

Thats pretty much your best option, ive attached the Toms review below. If you wanted a "new old stock" option then your stuck looking at haswell and haswell based xeons on LGA 1150. Not that those are bad options, but if your going to be paying a premium for new old stock then you might as well just look at used since neither would probably come with a warranty.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i3-8100-cpu-review,5385-9.html

 

[William Carter]

It sounds good, but isn't the lack of Hyper-Threading an issue? As far as power, what I have now can handle most games I play, but there are a few things that I could use a buff on (why I want to go to 16-32Gb RAM)...

Damnit, why cant they make a DDR3 compt board that goes to 32gb ram... lol

 

[artk2219]

It sounds good, but isn't the lack of Hyper-Threading an issue? As far as power, what I have now can handle most games I play, but there are a few things that I could use a buff on (why I want to go to 16-32Gb RAM)...

Damnit, why cant they make a DDR3 compt board that goes to 32gb ram... lol

It's not so much of an issue yet, but it will be, thats why I recommend that you look into AM4 and the latest version of LGA 1151 that supports Coffee lake since those will both allow you to upgrade in the future. Unfortunately DDR3 is just not supported anymore, but there are still good used options that you could get that use it, like LGA 1150 or LGA 2011, and with 2011 you could throw some chips with some decent power in there. But the boards can be expensive and you can have some compatibility issues you may have to work with. Honesly if you want a sure fire way to make sure that you have a decent enough setup and that you will at least have some options in the future, you will have to buy into the latest platforms, and go with DDR4, even if it is stupidly expensive right now.

 

[William Carter]

Yeah, Im looking into the lga1151 someone posted up above, the i3-8xxx looked good, but would like the hyperthreading as I hear that makes all the difference...

 

[artk2219]

Yeah, Im looking into the lga1151 someone posted up above, the i3-8xxx looked good, but would like the hyperthreading as I hear that makes all the difference...

Yes and no, ideally you want more fast cores over more threads, its why that 6 core I5 8400 can beat a 4 core 8 thread i7 7700. Hyperthreading at best can act like 30% of a dedicated core, meaning that the fight between a 6 core chip and a 4 core 8 thread chip is more like a 6 core vs a 5.2 core when it comes to multi threaded benchmarks. The reason it is added is because its not a crazy amount of extra resources to add to a chip to get up to 30% more performance, but not everything can use those extra hyper threads, so some applications dont see a speed up, and some applications even slow down since some of the threads can be competing for resources. If you're worried about a lack of CPU resources now though, then you may want to bump up to an I5 8400 or ryzen 5 1600 or higher. Honestly I believe those are the 2 chips to get right now, especially with the recent price drop on the R5 1600 to $189. Intel will also be releasing an 8 core / 16 thread chip for LGA 1151 later on in the year as well, and AMD is releasing their 12nm refresh in the next few months, so we may see some new price shuffling on Intels side. 2018 is looking to be as much fun as 2017 was when it comes to new hardware. Things havent been this fast paced since like 2009 - 2011 with the release of Phenom II and going up to the release of Sandy Bridge.

 

[delaro]

Hyper threading on a Budget? That is where RYZEN comes in since LGA1151-2 lacks anything between the i3 8100 4C/4T @ $129 and the i5 8400 6C/6T @ $199. On AM4 you have more options and cheaper board prices at the moment;

R3 1200 4C/4T $109
R3 1300x 4C/4T $129
R5 1400 4C/8T $154
R5 1500X 4C/8T $164
R5 1600 6C/12T $199.

If you insist on Intel and want Hyper threading your better off with just more cores and the i5 @ a cost though, for gaming only it's the best you will find under $200.