z97 VS z97m VS z97x Motherboards?

[trombonier]

z97 vs z97m vs z97x. Specifically the ASRock Fatal1ty Killer series of motherboards. Unless you have another suggestion of Motherboards? What's the difference between these motherboards? Besides Price, I don't know what would be best for my $1500 PC build. Which would be a good motherboard for an i5 CPU? I was considering the i7 4790K but I was thinking I would just get the i5 3570k or i5 3590k (which is the better i5?)

Gracias

 

[GRUxTSAR]

Z97 - Normal Fatal1ty
Z97m - Micro-ATX Fatal1ty
Z97x - The normal Fatal1ty but with a few more features

 

[GRUxTSAR]

Oh and get an i5 unless you're big into editing, rendering, recording, and streaming

 

[jdcranke07]

Go i7 all the way, future proofs and allows for smoother processing compared to i5.

 

[GRUxTSAR]

Go i7 all the way, future proofs and allows for smoother processing compared to i5.

Not 100% true. This would be true if games were to immediately take advantage of hyperthreading, which is something they do not benefit at all from bar the dual cores with HT. You could also argue that the higher base clockspeed of the 4790 would help future-proof it, but considering you could get a 4690K for the same price, it doesn't make sense

OP, i7s are not meant for gaming. i7s are meant for video editing, rendering, streaming, recording, 3D modelling, animation, and various other applications that require heavily threaded workloads. If you are just going to be gaming (Which I assume is what you're doing judging by your choice of a gaming-orientated motherboard), an i5 will be just as good as an i7

 

[trombonier]

Z97 - Normal Fatal1ty
Z97m - Micro-ATX Fatal1ty
Z97x - The normal Fatal1ty but with a few more features

Thanks for your super quick reply! I will over clock the CPU. And my way of thinking, gaming is more taxing on the GPU than the CPU, so the money that's not going towards the i7 will be going towards an ASUS GTX970 STRIX. Makes more sense to me. Also, since I've only had a Macbook Pro for like 5 years and nothing else, I would need the Operating System as well, along with peripherals. So that's also something I need to account for. I already have a decent monitor. Asus VS247H-P 23.6-Inch LED that I've had for like 3 years. Any recommendations on a good keyboard / mouse? I never really liked the "windows keyboards" (i'm not sure what they're called exactly) but the ones that have tall keys that you have to press down really far and hard. I like my Macbook Pro keys. they're thin, you don't have to press them down so far to type, and they're pretty sensitive; fingers don't get tired. Thanks a bunch, again!

 

[jdcranke07]

Z97 - Normal Fatal1ty
Z97m - Micro-ATX Fatal1ty
Z97x - The normal Fatal1ty but with a few more features

Thanks for your super quick reply! I will over clock the CPU. And my way of thinking, gaming is more taxing on the GPU than the CPU, so the money that's not going towards the i7 will be going towards an ASUS GTX970 STRIX. Makes more sense to me. Also, since I've only had a Macbook Pro for like 5 years and nothing else, I would need the Operating System as well, along with peripherals. So that's also something I need to account for. I already have a decent monitor. Asus VS247H-P 23.6-Inch LED that I've had for like 3 years. Any recommendations on a good keyboard / mouse? I never really liked the "windows keyboards" (i'm not sure what they're called exactly) but the ones that have tall keys that you have to press down really far and hard. I like my Macbook Pro keys. they're thin, you don't have to press them down so far to type, and they're pretty sensitive; fingers don't get tired. Thanks a bunch, again!

Just don't cut back too much on the CPU, some games like WoW and BF4 are more CPU heavy than other games.

 

[trombonier]

Z97 - Normal Fatal1ty
Z97m - Micro-ATX Fatal1ty
Z97x - The normal Fatal1ty but with a few more features

Thanks for your super quick reply! I will over clock the CPU. And my way of thinking, gaming is more taxing on the GPU than the CPU, so the money that's not going towards the i7 will be going towards an ASUS GTX970 STRIX. Makes more sense to me. Also, since I've only had a Macbook Pro for like 5 years and nothing else, I would need the Operating System as well, along with peripherals. So that's also something I need to account for. I already have a decent monitor. Asus VS247H-P 23.6-Inch LED that I've had for like 3 years. Any recommendations on a good keyboard / mouse? I never really liked the "windows keyboards" (i'm not sure what they're called exactly) but the ones that have tall keys that you have to press down really far and hard. I like my Macbook Pro keys. they're thin, you don't have to press them down so far to type, and they're pretty sensitive; fingers don't get tired. Thanks a bunch, again!

Just don't cut back too much on the CPU, some games like WoW and BF4 are more CPU heavy than other games.

I will be playing games like The Witcher 2, Half Life (all the games to ever come out), Portal games, Neverwinter MMO, Skyrim, and Dying Light when it's released... Realistically, do I truly need an i7 CPU? or can I get away with an i5?

 

[GRUxTSAR]

Z97 - Normal Fatal1ty
Z97m - Micro-ATX Fatal1ty
Z97x - The normal Fatal1ty but with a few more features

Thanks for your super quick reply! I will over clock the CPU. And my way of thinking, gaming is more taxing on the GPU than the CPU, so the money that's not going towards the i7 will be going towards an ASUS GTX970 STRIX. Makes more sense to me. Also, since I've only had a Macbook Pro for like 5 years and nothing else, I would need the Operating System as well, along with peripherals. So that's also something I need to account for. I already have a decent monitor. Asus VS247H-P 23.6-Inch LED that I've had for like 3 years. Any recommendations on a good keyboard / mouse? I never really liked the "windows keyboards" (i'm not sure what they're called exactly) but the ones that have tall keys that you have to press down really far and hard. I like my Macbook Pro keys. they're thin, you don't have to press them down so far to type, and they're pretty sensitive; fingers don't get tired. Thanks a bunch, again!

Just don't cut back too much on the CPU, some games like WoW and BF4 are more CPU heavy than other games.

I will be playing games like The Witcher 2, Half Life (all the games to ever come out), Portal games, Neverwinter MMO, Skyrim, and Dying Light when it's released... Realistically, do I truly need an i7 CPU? or can I get away with an i5?

Definitely get the i5 4690K. Most MMOs use few CPU cores and that's where the i5 beats the FX every time. You don't need an i7 for gaming. I've seen far too many gamers waste money on i7s for no performance gains

Also, if you want a cheap, backlit membrane keyboard, check out the Cooler Master Devastator bundle. It's $30 and comes with a mouse

 

[trombonier]

Z97 - Normal Fatal1ty
Z97m - Micro-ATX Fatal1ty
Z97x - The normal Fatal1ty but with a few more features

Thanks for your super quick reply! I will over clock the CPU. And my way of thinking, gaming is more taxing on the GPU than the CPU, so the money that's not going towards the i7 will be going towards an ASUS GTX970 STRIX. Makes more sense to me. Also, since I've only had a Macbook Pro for like 5 years and nothing else, I would need the Operating System as well, along with peripherals. So that's also something I need to account for. I already have a decent monitor. Asus VS247H-P 23.6-Inch LED that I've had for like 3 years. Any recommendations on a good keyboard / mouse? I never really liked the "windows keyboards" (i'm not sure what they're called exactly) but the ones that have tall keys that you have to press down really far and hard. I like my Macbook Pro keys. they're thin, you don't have to press them down so far to type, and they're pretty sensitive; fingers don't get tired. Thanks a bunch, again!

Just don't cut back too much on the CPU, some games like WoW and BF4 are more CPU heavy than other games.

I will be playing games like The Witcher 2, Half Life (all the games to ever come out), Portal games, Neverwinter MMO, Skyrim, and Dying Light when it's released... Realistically, do I truly need an i7 CPU? or can I get away with an i5?

Definitely get the i5 4690K. Most MMOs use few CPU cores and that's where the i5 beats the FX every time. You don't need an i7 for gaming. I've seen far too many gamers waste money on i7s for no performance gains

Also, if you want a cheap, backlit membrane keyboard, check out the Cooler Master Devastator bundle. It's $30 and comes with a mouse

I just checked it out, looks awesome. I like they keyboard, but how well would the mouse hold up? idk too much about the DPI or what is good for gamin. I've never been too picky, but i've also never built my own custom gaming PC.

 

[GRUxTSAR]

Z97 - Normal Fatal1ty
Z97m - Micro-ATX Fatal1ty
Z97x - The normal Fatal1ty but with a few more features

Thanks for your super quick reply! I will over clock the CPU. And my way of thinking, gaming is more taxing on the GPU than the CPU, so the money that's not going towards the i7 will be going towards an ASUS GTX970 STRIX. Makes more sense to me. Also, since I've only had a Macbook Pro for like 5 years and nothing else, I would need the Operating System as well, along with peripherals. So that's also something I need to account for. I already have a decent monitor. Asus VS247H-P 23.6-Inch LED that I've had for like 3 years. Any recommendations on a good keyboard / mouse? I never really liked the "windows keyboards" (i'm not sure what they're called exactly) but the ones that have tall keys that you have to press down really far and hard. I like my Macbook Pro keys. they're thin, you don't have to press them down so far to type, and they're pretty sensitive; fingers don't get tired. Thanks a bunch, again!

Just don't cut back too much on the CPU, some games like WoW and BF4 are more CPU heavy than other games.

I will be playing games like The Witcher 2, Half Life (all the games to ever come out), Portal games, Neverwinter MMO, Skyrim, and Dying Light when it's released... Realistically, do I truly need an i7 CPU? or can I get away with an i5?

Definitely get the i5 4690K. Most MMOs use few CPU cores and that's where the i5 beats the FX every time. You don't need an i7 for gaming. I've seen far too many gamers waste money on i7s for no performance gains

Also, if you want a cheap, backlit membrane keyboard, check out the Cooler Master Devastator bundle. It's $30 and comes with a mouse

I just checked it out, looks awesome. I like they keyboard, but how well would the mouse hold up? idk too much about the DPI or what is good for gamin. I've never been too picky, but i've also never built my own custom gaming PC.

The mouse'll hold up just fine. If anything, you could buy a new gaming mouse for $30-$40. Don't be fooled by DPI. DPI does NOT equal accuracy. DPI is how much the mouse moves on screen to how far you move it on your mousepad.

Ex: at 1000DPI it may take 2 inches of mouse movement to get your cursor across the screen

At 3000DPI it may only take half an inch

DPI is basically all marketing. Manufacturers will market an 8200DPI mouse while most people will only use 1000DPI. High DPI is only useful if you have multiple monitors