Z77 motherboard advice

[stickmansam]

Looking for a reliable motherboard with a z77 for 4.2ghz overclock.

Is this motherboard a good one?

http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/part/msi-motherboard-z77ag41

Worried about VRM quality and lack of heatsinks on them.

Looking for recommnedations around $80-100 as well

My preferred vendor is NCIX Canada

 

[Bejusek]

It's one of the cheapest Z77 mainboards, so don't expect miracles. Maybe go with a z77-g43 or g45 if the low price is most important.
I would recommend Asrock z77 Extreme4, but you can consider the Extreme3 too.

All of them should be capable of 4.2GHz OC, provided you don't install 4 modules of high voltage RAM.

 

[stickmansam]

It's one of the cheapest Z77 mainboards, so don't expect miracles. Maybe go with a z77-g43 or g45 if the low price is most important.
I would recommend Asrock z77 Extreme4, but you can consider the Extreme3 too.

All of them should be capable of 4.2GHz OC, provided you don't install 4 modules of high voltage RAM.

Between the g43 and g45 and the extreme 3 which one would you go for?

Would the g41 be able to handle something higher later on like 4.5-4.7?

Likely only 2x4gb of 1600mhz, maybe more in future

 

[navalweaponsofficer]

I agree with Bejusek I have an Asrock z77 Extreme 4 and although the first one had 1155 socket problems the second one worked just fine. I tried a gigabyte and an MSI board after my first Asrock z77 Extreme 4 was DOA but they did not work correctly in my configuration. the Asrock z77 Extreme 4 works just fine.

 

[mrdowntownkiller]

AT LEAST the extreme 4 for a proper overclocking performance and i think it's available for $110 i think

 

[stickmansam]

I agree with Bejusek I have an Asrock z77 Extreme 4 and although the first one had 1155 socket problems the second one worked just fine. I tried a gigabyte and an MSI board after my first Asrock z77 Extreme 4 was DOA but they did not work correctly in my configuration. the Asrock z77 Extreme 4 works just fine.

Out of curiosity which ones did you use?

I'll take a look at the Extreme 3 and 4 then

Is the Asrock Pro3 good?

 

[Bejusek]

Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 is a very solid motherboard on par with higher models from Asus and Gigabyte. It has the highest model of realtek audio chip while many of competition are still using an older version. As mentioned above it's a way to go for proper overclocking.

Pro3, g41,43 are mainboards with weak cpu power delivering sections (limited phases etc) and can't really be recommended for OC. It's difficult to estimate the OC potential of those boards, especially when it depends on what CPU itself. You haven't mentioned what CPU you are going to OC, I'm guessing 3570k, and for 4.7GHz you need a board with good components. It may be possible that g41 or pro3 will let you OC to 4.5Ghz, but what if it fails after two months or so, because some components were not able to handle the increased stress any longer and simply burned?

Extreme3 is a little better, but still it's power section and electronic components used are worse than those on the extreme4.

 

[stickmansam]

I am trying to decide between the 3470 or the 3570k, GPU is only a 7850OC.

I will upgrade the entire platform in 2-3 years and then give my build away to my brother. He only plays some games not really hardcore.

 

[stickmansam]

So generally g41 < g43 < extreme 3 < g45 < extreme 4

 

[Bejusek]

Yeah, something like that.
For 3470 go with a good h77 or b75.

 

[stickmansam]

It should not make a big difference between a 3470 and a 3570k if I only pair it with a 7850OC right?

 

[stickmansam]

Best answer selected by Stickmansam.