Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
I am planning on moving my PC into a mATX case from my current full tower case. The board I have (Asus P8P67) is a full ATX board, so I'd need to replace it.
However, I am having trouble sourcing a decent mATX motherboard to suit my needs. I do some gaming using my GeForce GTX 580, though don't overclock. I'd prefer to avoid brands such as ASRock and Biostar as I don't have any experience with them and generally heard not great things about them.
Can anybody help me find a decent mATX board that won't break the bank given the age of the equipment and from a decent brand?
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
I physically downsized my 1155 system about a year ago, even then it was hard enough finding a decent micro ATX 1155 motherboard, now it seems nearly impossible. I ended up importing a basic Z77 ASRock micro ATX board from Germany.
The only new micro ATX 1155 boards I've seen around recently have the H61 chipset, 4x 3Gb/s SATA, no CPU overclocking and possibly no USB3.
Even on the used market, you don't really have a choice between boards.
Not exactly the help you're looking for, but I don't think it's worth searching. Either splurge on some new kit or live with the H61. Brand wise, I reckon it's really much of a muchness when it comes to budget H61 boards.
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
Asrock are fine and their boards over the last few generations have been pretty solid. Biostar are more budget orientated boards although they have thrown a couple of excellent boards out in the past. Support with them is patchy at best and once a board is launched they tend to forget about them and not issue any updates. Seeing as you don't want to overclock there is no problem with going for a H61 board that has no overclocking. To be honest though, you paid extra for a 2600k so it's a bit of a waste not to overclock it. With that in mind you should be looking to pick up a P67/Z68 or preferably a Z77 motherboard. You are going to be limited to what you can pick up second hand though as any new boards still available are likley to be overpriced and of the basic H61 chipset variety. Worth a shot is checking online retailers B grade/clearance sections but keep in mind that although the price will be cheap you could end up with just a bare board and no accessories at all. If you can't find something then unfortunately it's time to upgrade and with the ridiculous price of Intels cpu's these days it's going to be costly for a new cpu/motherboard and DDR4. Alternatively you could try to pick up a decent second hand bundle along the lines of a Haswell cpu and socket 1150 motherboard but with the silly prices on the likes of ebay it's not far off the price of buying new.
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
Thanks for the replies. :)
I've found this on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Sure, it's the H61 chipset but I don't plan on overclocking or using advanced features. Plus it only has USB 2.0, but I don't use USB 3.0 as it is at the moment.
Would that board do?
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CHiLL
Thanks for the replies. :)
I've found this on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Sure, it's the H61 chipset but I don't plan on overclocking or using advanced features. Plus it only has USB 2.0, but I don't use USB 3.0 as it is at the moment.
Would that board do?
Afraid not, that board is only good for 77W chips, the 2600K is 95W.
I know you're not fond of ASRock, but in your position, I personally wouldn't hesitate to buy one of these for £36;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-H61M-.../dp/B00DGDINA2
or this, if you need a DVI output for £40;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-H61M-.../dp/B00IYYUGAS
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
Hmm, they all seems to only have SATAII, which would throttle my Samsung EVO 840. :(
I've seen this board: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-H61M-...srock+H61M-DGS which would support my i7-2600K, though it is ASRock. :(
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
I know I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between having my SSD connected to the 3Gb/s or 6Gb/s SATA port on my gaming machine*, in fact the last time I took my rig apart and put it back together, I just plugged the SSD's SATA cable in to the most physically accessible port.
Of course there will be a performance penalty on some tasks, but for a general use PC and even high end gaming rig - considering the circumstances; I wouldn't worry about an EVO 850 capped at 3Gb/s.
EDIT: * Except by looking at my system info or running a benchmark of course!
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
Like I said earlier, don't be put off by Asrock, they are good boards.
I have found a brand new Asrock Q77M Vpro m-ATX board on ebay with Sata 3 and USB 3.0 but at £79.99 plus £5.99 delivery it's expensive. It's is a retailer and they have been around for a while plus with ebay favouring the buyer 99% of the time if anything should go wrong you should be fine. It's here if you are interested.
An alternative would be to put the move to a smaller case on hold until you are ready or there is something worthwhile upgrading to and stick with what you have for the time being.
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
Same board, same seller but on Amazon instead of ebay. See here.
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
Asrock boards are just as good as MSI, Asus or Gigabyte. I have three 1155 boards - two are Z77 from Asrock and Gigabyte (I had a third which was Asus, but it died. I still have a H77 Asus too. Nothing wrong with any of them.
Don't be fooled by their budget roots, they make good boards.
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
A good search of ebay should turn up a few second-hand Intel Q67 or Q77 boards at around £50 - I grabbed one just after xmas for my stepson. Damn fine boards for the money.
The ASRock Q77M previously linked is by far the best *new* 1155 board you can get; if my budget hadn't been constrained it's the one I'd've gone for.
Re: Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
asrock are good mobo's, my z97 is a asrock and its rock solid.