I'm up to gaming and I am planning to switch to Intel. Does Haswell and Ivy Bridge good for my purpose? If not, what can you suggest for a top level motherboard?
In choosing the best motherboard for your gaming purpose, you need to ensure upgradability on the way, access to overclocking functions and system immovability. Chipset options is knotted with the mobo selection. The essentials of motherboard choices did not actually change at all between the Intel and AMD. The obvious distinction between the two is the chipset design. AMD is still using NB/SB layout while the Intel already shifted to integrated PCH.Â
Choosing a board will change a bit between the budget ranges. However, they are still reasonably complete. Haswell probably is the best for gaming and overclocking. Just go with LGA1150 socket that is compatible with it. The chipsets will alter depending on the purpose and the budget of course. Here are the selection of Intel's motherboard according to your budget:
1. ASRock B85M – This $73 board has a reasonable quality micro-ATX board from ASRock. IT has:
– Support for 16000MHz memory
– 4xSATA III ports
– standard 7.1 channel audio
– UEFI BIOS
2. MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate – This $110 budget board is good for its quality and features. The features are good for basic CPU and memory overclocking. This is a good choice for someone that handles a one-card machine with the purpose of probing CPU/RAM overclocking. It runs with 6-phase power design and inert level cooling.
3. MSI G45 – This $150 board uses an 8-phase power scheme with inert level cooling on the two flanks of the socket. It has a big heatsink on top of the chipset and it comes with a high-quality audio and LAN chipsets.
4. ASUS Maximus VI Hero – This $210 board is one of the top of the line boards. The board's cap is structured with materials that are temperature and age defiant among any other boards. It uses MOSFETs, amped-up sound cntroller, T-Topology design from ASUS. This is best for extreme overclockers.
For AMD:
1. ASUS M5A78L-M LX Plus – This ultra-budget $55 board supports the newest chips which is good if you are just building a lightweight gaming form.
2. ASUS M5A97 R2.0 – This $100 board gives an overclocking functionality with the 970 chipset. This board is good on one video card with inert heatsinks on top of the chipset that allows thermal indulgence on Ocing the processor.
3. MSI 990FXA-GD65V2 AM3+ – This $110 board runs on 990FX chipset with CrossFirX/SLI, OC, high-TDP AMD CPUs, overclocking and high-end capacitors with a huge inert heatsink on top of the overclocking content, and more.
4. ASRock 990FX Extreme9 – This $180 board has a 12+2 power design equivalent to 12 CPU, 1 RAM and 1 HT phases. and an enormous heatpiped sinks to make everything cooled. Caps inside the board are gold-plated to ensure lonegvity.
