Which motherboard and RAM to get for i5-4460?

[dpac712]

Hey guys,
Hey everyone,
My new pc is almost ready, first gaming pc for me 😀


I'm going to buy a motherboard for my new i5-4460. Which of these should I get for the price?
Asrock B85M Pro - 75€
Gigabyte B85M-D2V - 60€
Gigabyte B85M-D3H - 75€
Gigabyte B85M-HD3 - 70€
Gigabyte B85M-HD3 R4 - 78€
MSI B85-G41 PC Mate - 77€
MSI B85M-G43 - 79€
MSI B85M-P33 V2 - 61€


Also, I'm going to buy 2x4gb of RAM 1600Mhz, which brand would you choose?
Corsair, Crucial, Kingston or Gskill? Or it really doesn't matter the brand I chose.

Thanks for any help everyone! 😀

 

[Chris Droste]

any reason you're not going for a more modern board like an H or Z 87/97?

of those choices I'd probably get the Gigabyte HD3 R4 unless newegg reviews say anything terribly negative

Gskill classically gets great reviews and thumbs up from the Tom's staff. then again so does corsair and crucial. I think if you're not tweaking though I would pay a little extra to have kingston memory. i have had weird issues with crucial, gskill i just personally, inherently don't trust(i have no solid reasoning for this) but I've had nothing but excellent kingston memory products for almost 20 years now. just check your mobo's memory compatibility list to verify before purchase.

 

[dpac712]

any reason you're not going for a more modern board like an H or Z 87/97?

of those choices I'd probably get the Gigabyte HD3 R4 unless newegg reviews say anything terribly negative

Gskill classically gets great reviews and thumbs up from the Tom's staff. then again so does corsair and crucial. I think if you're not tweaking though I would pay a little extra to have kingston memory. i have had weird issues with crucial, gskill i just personally, inherently don't trust(i have no solid reasoning for this) but I've had nothing but excellent kingston memory products for almost 20 years now. just check your mobo's memory compatibility list to verify before purchase.

Because I heard those motherboards are more suitable for people who intend on overclocking, which is not my case with the i5-4460. What advantages do those motherboards have over one of those H85?

 

[Chris Droste]

per Intel; B or H-chipset boards are NOT suitible for overclocking. with the B85 chipset, you have several board manufacturers that have "unlocked" and tested overclocking features on a modified BIOS. however, if you're going to purchase a non-K intel chip, the multiplier is locked so you can't really overclock that CPU anyway. Z-series chips (87 and 97) are A-Ok and fully support overclocking across the board, but again you'd need an intel CPU that has a K on the end of the model to take advantage.

 

[dpac712]

per Intel; B or H-chipset boards are NOT suitible for overclocking. with the B85 chipset, you have several board manufacturers that have "unlocked" and tested overclocking features on a modified BIOS. however, if you're going to purchase a non-K intel chip, the multiplier is locked so you can't really overclock that CPU anyway. Z-series chips (87 and 97) are A-Ok and fully support overclocking across the board, but again you'd need an intel CPU that has a K on the end of the model to take advantage.

Exactly, so I guess I don't need a Z-series since I'm not overclocking and a H-series will do. Won't it?

 

[Chris Droste]

correct. usually the older boards will work on the 4th-gen core chips, you may need a BIOS update. Usually it's simplest especially if you're on a new build to pick up an H97 board for $60-70 which will have most recent support, connectivity, etc options.

 

[dpac712]

I found this H87 one.
ASRock H87 Pro4 Intel for 70€, which is actually cheaper than some of the b85 ones. Do you recomend it? Don't the H87 have better sound than H81?
As for H81, they have these ones in stock:
Msi H81M-P33 - 47€
Msi H81M-E33 - 47€

 

[sparestuff]

I would try get a Gigabyte, ASRock or Asus motherboard. MSI is known to have poorer quality motherboards. Also, try find a H97 motherboard, I myself recently bought an H97 Gigabyte Gaming 3 which is running very well.

 

[dpac712]

I would try get a Gigabyte, ASRock or Asus motherboard. MSI is known to have poorer quality motherboards. Also, try find a H97 motherboard, I myself recently bought an H97 Gigabyte Gaming 3 which is running very well.

Thanks for your response, what is the diference between a H87 and a H97?

What about the BIOS update, I heard some MB need BIOS update to work with some CPU's. My CPU is a i5 4460.

 

[Chris Droste]

go for it. the Z97 might have a few extra options but given your configuration it will likely be negligible; just check the manufacturer website for CPU support before you pull the trigger.