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I am building a computer for about £1000 and I was wondering what the difference between motherboards is. Will it really make much of a big difference if i choose this:https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi...oard-z97pcmate
over this: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asr...rd-z97extreme4
if so, what would the differences be and is it worth paying extra money?
Hi Rory
It's telling you the differences on the page:
The ASRock has a MSATA slot, higher official memory support, and SLI support.
Do you need any of those features? Only you can answer that :)
Brand is down to preference. I like Gigabyte due to a UK RMA based and I've found their support to be very good. Others prefer ASUS, MSI and recently ASRock has been making some fantastic boards.
The chances of actually noticing a difference, features to one side, in day to day operation is pretty much zero.
Completely agree ^^
Look at any reviews for any Z97 based board and you'll see very similar numbers in benchmarks etc so you only really need to pay for the features you want.
Do you need 118 SATAIII ports? Do you need a 1gigawatt capable 16.3 surround on-board sound? Do you need 16 way SuperSLI? etc you get the idea.
They all add to the price and if you're not going to use them there's no need to pay for them.
Although I want against my own advice just because I liked the red and black of this MSI gaming motherboards, even tho I rarely game haha
You may also find an attractively priced bundle including RAM and CPU from one of the retailers which lets you accept a Z97 board on price alone. I was looking at quite a few boards and settled on an Asus Maximus VII Ranger on that basis as all in I had best value for all the features at the time of buying.
Will you overclock, will you want a future proof motherboard (M.2), do you want nice audio etc?