Z97 or H97 For 4690k

[Rukeith]

So I'm planning on upgrading to a 4690k soon and was wondering what the difference is between H97 mobo's and Z97 ones, advantages/disadvantages that sort of thing. If i go for the slightly cheaper 'H97 motherboard' option what problems will I run into? If i ever decide to overclock it would probably be to 4.0ghz at the absolute most, with a single GPU setup.

 

[Suztera]

Z97. Z97 offers overclocking and better built components on the motherboard for overclocking.

 

[RCFProd]

You can overclock with the Z97. Also only some of the Z97 motherboards support SLI, H97 doesn't at all.

Maybe overclocking is not necessary for you.

Good combo for non-OC:
i5-4590 + ASRock H97 PRO 4 or H97 PERFORMANCE if affordable

For any type of OC-ing:
i5-4690k + Z97 Extreme 3 or better.

 

[Rukeith]

Z97. Z97 offers overclocking and better built components on the motherboard for overclocking.

You can overclock with the Z97. Also only some of the Z97 motherboards support SLI, H97 doesn't at all.

Maybe overclocking is not necessary for you.

Good combo for non-OC:
i5-4590 + ASRock H97 PRO 4 or H97 PERFORMANCE if affordable

For any type of OC-ing:
i5-4690k + Z97 Extreme 3 or better.

I see. So the H97 motherboards don't offer overclocking at all, or is it kind of a "more trouble than it's worth" sort of deal?

Also I currently have a GTX 780 (Currently bottle necked by an older AMD cpu) so I'm planning on upgrading to a higher end Intel CPU to get the most out of my GPU. What is the noticeable difference between 4590, 4690 & 4690k in terms of gaming performance with a GPU like mine? Is it worth getting a K version i5 or would a 4590/4690 suffice?

 

[RCFProd]

4590/4690 would EASILY suffice, the Intel i5 Haswell processors are very powerful.

In my opinion overclocking is useful in the future, when you buy a much more powerful graphics card in 3/4 years when the CPU at stock speed is no longer powerful enough for example.

Overclocking helps for some CPU hungry games though, or strong graphics card SLI/Crossfire configurations.

 

[Rukeith]

4590/4690 would EASILY suffice, the Intel i5 Haswell processors are very powerful.

In my opinion overclocking is useful in the future, when you buy a much more powerful graphics card in 3/4 years when the CPU at stock speed is no longer powerful enough for example.

Overclocking helps for some CPU hungry games though, or strong graphics card SLI/Crossfire configurations.

Thanks for the help. One last question, when looking at the 4690 specs it says turbo 3.9ghz. What will that mean on a H97 board?

 

[RCFProd]

It will go up to 3.9 Ghz when needed in games. This is also for H97.

 

[Rukeith]

It will go up to 3.9 Ghz when needed in games. This is also for H97.

Thanks. What are your opinions about these budget MOBO's:

ASRock H97M Pro4
Gigabyte GA-H97M D3H

Both seem to have fairly good reviews, from newegg and pcpartpicker. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just a relatively long lifespan for a 4690 and single GPU setup.

 

[RCFProd]

Go for the ASRock H97M Pro4.

Comparison of the 2 motherboards here:
http://motherboards.specout.com/compare/3004-3472/Asrock-H97M-Pro4-vs-GIGABYTE-GA-H97M-D3H

 

[Rukeith]

Thanks, and what if i were to go with a Z97 motherboard and get a 4690k:

ASRock Z97M Pro 4
Gigabyte Z97M-D3H
Asus Z97M-PLUS

All seem to have identical reviews/smart score on that specout website of 93, would i be satisfied from whichever one i select? From what I've read the D3H motherboard are quite nice, also that ASUS is good for quality mobo's and bios's.

 

[RCFProd]

I understand it must be mATX then?

This one is good:

Motherboard: ASRock Z97M OC Formula Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($120.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $120.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-07 08:03 EDT-0400