Which of these would be better?
Almost there with my list for a new box, tending towards having DisplayPort on the mobo, have some preference for Gigabyte but the MSI has DisplayPort, however the warranty is longer on the Gigabyte!
The two I'm looking at are:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...b-dvi-hdmi-atx
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-z...port-dvi-d-atx
Re: Which of these would be better?
I cant see a great deal of difference between them with the exception of the daughter board configuration. The Gigabyte model has more older style PCI slots, whereas the MSI offers more PCIe, but at 2x. If you have older PCI cards to use then Gigabyte would be the way to go. Most consumer grade cards are now PCIe. Rarely is anyone with a new system going to go out of their way to get PCI these days.
Addressing your concerns with displayport, and warrantee:
Should you go with the Gigabyte motherboard, you can always get a cable that converts to display port. I have a HDMI to Display port cable, cost about a fiver.
Should you go with the MSI board, the value of these motherboards after 1 year will be just over half what you paid. To use the Warrantee after that point you will have to pay shipping to MSI/Gigabyte, if they worm their way out of any warranty work will then charge you for repair if even possible, then in most cases charge you for the return shipping. So I personally wouldn't worry about it on a board of this level. Paying more than a £100 then yes extended warrantees can be more important after the 1st year.
Re: Which of these would be better?
Yes, I see your point - 1 year will get past the steep bit of the bathtub curve so, with luck, after that most early possible failures should have, er, failed!
I didn't know about the cable - nice way to do it - thanks.
Re: Which of these would be better?
Better is subjective.
But my personal choice is Gigabyte all the way, never seen an issue - Don't expect to
I've also dealt with their support team a handful of times (not for any bad reasons haha) They've made me a custom BIOS to support a USB 3 PCI Card, and have been really responsive for any of my q's :)
Re: Which of these would be better?
Good to know that Gigabyte is responsive.
I've bought the Z97-D3H and it's installed, then it won't POST because it's only Rev. 1.1 (latest is 1.2) and the BIOS doesn't support the CPU.
I've bought a cheap CPU to get it going so that I can flash the BIOS, then I'll sell the CPU. 1 use, cooler not even taken from box - should be worth something (I hope!).
Re: Which of these would be better?
Its annoying the manufacturers don't use different barcodes or identifiers when BIOS versions and Board revisions are changed, I know creates a larger inventory but It's surprisingly important when buying compatible components.
Re: Which of these would be better?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
AGTDenton
Its annoying the manufacturers don't use different barcodes or identifiers when BIOS versions and Board revisions are changed, I know creates a larger inventory but It's surprisingly important when buying compatible components.
TBH I've only every had/seen trouble with Intel boards in that regard; every AMD board I've ever had has booted just fine with newer chips that aren't officially supported (usually show as "unknown CPU @ xxxxMHz" during POST) then let me update the BIOS with the new chip in place. Last Intel upgrade I tested was a right pain the rear as the build was in a very ... compact ... matx case and was using a LARGE push-pin cooler. Made for a lot intricate finger-wiggling replacing that cooler several times to test the chip, find out I needed the BIOS update, swap the old chip back in to update the BIOS, swap them back out to test the new chip, then swap them again so I could wrap the new chip to go under the tree!
Good present though :)
Re: Which of these would be better?
Yes that would be the preferred option from Intel. At least allow a UEFI BIOS boot to gain the ability to update the BIOS rather than a complete no POST. From the AM2 era AMD wanted that forwards / backwards compatibility which has certainly paid off for situations like these. Even with the 939 I installed an Opteron on a non compatible board and it worked like a charm.
Re: Which of these would be better?
Gigabyte has UK based RMA BTW.
Re: Which of these would be better?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
scaryjim
TBH I've only every had/seen trouble with Intel boards in that regard; every AMD board I've ever had has booted just fine with newer chips that aren't officially supported (usually show as "unknown CPU @ xxxxMHz" during POST) then let me update the BIOS with the new chip in place.
I did have an AMD machine where I had to take out one ram dimm to do the flash update as the machine wouldn't get into the BIOS with two sticks in it until it properly understood the CPU. Was a while back though, probably AM2 :)
Re: Which of these would be better?
Well, I'm still having trouble :help: - The new CPU arrived (1 day at this time of the year!, from CCL), a G1840. I fitted it, the PC POSTed, updating the BIOS was very easy (after I realised just how damned fast it was).
Now running on BIOS F9; no changes apart from changing Power Off on pressing the Power button from instant to 4 sec.
Back to the Broadwell, now runs for 15 - 20 sec. rather than the 5 sec. it was but still won't POST!
I'm now wondering what to do, as everything should work. I know that the Mobo, RAM, PSU etc. are OK, so what the hell is stopping it running?
Any help much appreciated.
Re: Which of these would be better?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Giraffe
Well, I'm still having trouble :help: - The new CPU arrived (1 day at this time of the year!, from CCL), a G1840. I fitted it, the PC POSTed, updating the BIOS was very easy (after I realised just how damned fast it was).
Now running on BIOS F9; no changes apart from changing Power Off on pressing the Power button from instant to 4 sec.
Back to the Broadwell, now runs for 15 - 20 sec. rather than the 5 sec. it was but still won't POST!
I'm now wondering what to do, as everything should work. I know that the Mobo, RAM, PSU etc. are OK, so what the hell is stopping it running?
Any help much appreciated.
So, you can go to the BIOS and make change and save them, right?
Can you select different boot options in the BIOS, save the changes and try to boot?
Or
Can you select the outside-BIOS boot menu and select a device and try to boot?
How about live OS? (any Linux distro, or even a simple USB boot solution, like memtest or such)?
Re: Which of these would be better?
Yes, I can save changes in the BIOS, based on the one done.
The choices of Boot in the BIOS are limited - only HDD installed so far.
I've just selected the USB drive and intalled W7 Pro, SP1.
All of this on the Celeron.
Not yet tried the Broadwell with W7 installed - too busy atm.
Re: Which of these would be better?
I'd personally recommend the Gigabyte. their build quality is usually superb and customer services are fantastic.
In fact, in my new high end build i'm going to be fitting their skylake gaming 7 board in the sexy Corsair 750D Airflow Edition case.
However, if you're not using an iGPU, i'd recommend msi's cards over gigabyte's.
Re: Which of these would be better?
oh wow, I just noticed you've already bought the Z97-D3H. I really should read the entire thread before posting (total noob) :(
I can't really help you with the processor, no experience with the model outside of prebuilt machines. however, the solution you're trying seems like the right thing to do. i'd probably do the same in a similar situation
Re: Which of these would be better?
Thanks. The board has been to Gigabyte's repairers (only a bus ride and short walk away), still the same - OK with Celeron but not with Broadwell. Then Christmas got in the way, so in limbo atm.