Hi, what's the best Motherboard for good quality usb ports/sound card ? I'm not looking for SLI and will never do, I just want some high quality motherboard that'll be great in doing as much as any mobo with higher quality? and that can take gtx 980 with core i7 etc.
Motherboard for good quality USB / sound card?
5 days later
Recommendation: Asus z97 K
Proven quality - 5X Protection. 1000+ compatible devices. 7000+ validation hours.
Crystal Sound 2 - Flawless audio that makes you part of the game
Speed up your system with lightning-fast 10Gb/s M.2
Fan Xpert 3 - Advanced fan controls for ultimate cooling and quietness
Media-acclaimed UEFI BIOS with new EZ Tuning Wizard
ASUS HomeCloud - A digital PC hub perfect for sharing and home theater
Intel® Z97 chipset :
6 x USB 3.0/2.0 port(s) (4 at back panel, blue, 2 at mid-board)
Intel® Z97 chipset :
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 port(s) (2 at back panel, black, 6 at mid-board)
Being Using It with my High End System with no SLI - One GTX 970 MSI Gaming ; the system is working very stable on Ultra 2K Gaming
Proven quality - 5X Protection. 1000+ compatible devices. 7000+ validation hours.
Crystal Sound 2 - Flawless audio that makes you part of the game
Speed up your system with lightning-fast 10Gb/s M.2
Fan Xpert 3 - Advanced fan controls for ultimate cooling and quietness
Media-acclaimed UEFI BIOS with new EZ Tuning Wizard
ASUS HomeCloud - A digital PC hub perfect for sharing and home theater
Intel® Z97 chipset :
6 x USB 3.0/2.0 port(s) (4 at back panel, blue, 2 at mid-board)
Intel® Z97 chipset :
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 port(s) (2 at back panel, black, 6 at mid-board)
Being Using It with my High End System with no SLI - One GTX 970 MSI Gaming ; the system is working very stable on Ultra 2K Gaming
Get the ASUS Maximus VII Hero, ASRock Z97 Extreme6, MSI Gaming 7 or Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 7. All motherboards have the some Intel chipset USB ports and some ASMedia USB ports, and all of those boards have the same sound card, the Realtek ALC1150.
Based on items currently available at pcandparts.com
MSI H97 GAMING 3 (DDR3) (LGA1150) $146.00 (excl TVA) Link
I selected this for several reasons:
- It has the H97 chipset, it will run up to the 4th generation Haswell CPUs out of the box, it doesn't support overclocking like the Z97 but why paying more if you don't want to use that feature!
- It has Audio Boost 2 with isolated audio PCB circuit to prevent any noise in the output (check the link)
- Currently available unlike the Asys z97k which out of stock
- No SLI support, saves money if not needed
- 4xUSB3.0 Rear and 2xUSB3.0 On board plug if the case has front USB3.0 plugs
- 2xUSB2.0 Read and 4xUSB2.0 On board
Benefits over the Asus Z97k:
- 7.1 Channel audio
- Golden Audio connectors for durability
- More fan headers on board, Asus Z97k (2xCPU fan, 1xSystem Fan), Msi h97 g3 (2xCPU fan, 3xSystem Fan) it means you can plug 3 case fans and control them via BIOS or software and it will save you a lot of cabling inside your case (it will look cleaner)
- Black plate board (Asus has a brown plate) which looks nicer and more modern.
- Horizontal and Vertical Sata plugs: Msi board has 4 horizontal plugs and 2 vertical plugs for SATA which will make the cable management much more easy and clean.
MSI H97 GAMING 3 (DDR3) (LGA1150) $146.00 (excl TVA) Link
I selected this for several reasons:
- It has the H97 chipset, it will run up to the 4th generation Haswell CPUs out of the box, it doesn't support overclocking like the Z97 but why paying more if you don't want to use that feature!
- It has Audio Boost 2 with isolated audio PCB circuit to prevent any noise in the output (check the link)
- Currently available unlike the Asys z97k which out of stock
- No SLI support, saves money if not needed
- 4xUSB3.0 Rear and 2xUSB3.0 On board plug if the case has front USB3.0 plugs
- 2xUSB2.0 Read and 4xUSB2.0 On board
Benefits over the Asus Z97k:
- 7.1 Channel audio
- Golden Audio connectors for durability
- More fan headers on board, Asus Z97k (2xCPU fan, 1xSystem Fan), Msi h97 g3 (2xCPU fan, 3xSystem Fan) it means you can plug 3 case fans and control them via BIOS or software and it will save you a lot of cabling inside your case (it will look cleaner)
- Black plate board (Asus has a brown plate) which looks nicer and more modern.
- Horizontal and Vertical Sata plugs: Msi board has 4 horizontal plugs and 2 vertical plugs for SATA which will make the cable management much more easy and clean.
The motherboard has nothing to do with the quality of sound a dedicated sound card produces or anything for that matter. Calculate your rig with all of its components, and spend the rest on a motherboard equivalent for your budget
I think he meant the motherboard's onboard audio.AvoK95 wroteThe motherboard has nothing to do with the quality of sound a dedicated sound card produces or anything for that matter. Calculate your rig with all of its components, and spend the rest on a motherboard equivalent for your budget
Die_Kapitan wroteGet the ASUS Maximus VII Hero, ASRock Z97 Extreme6, MSI Gaming 7 or Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 7. All motherboards have the some Intel chipset USB ports and some ASMedia USB ports, and all of those boards have the same onboard audio, the Realtek ALC1150.
Well motherboards that have decent built in audio cost hundreds of dollars more than a mid-range board. So I suggest you get mid-range board and a dedicated sound card and that way you'll have a better experience and value for the same price.
Actually, the Gigabyte Z97X G.1 Sniper is a mid-range board and has by far the best onboard audio, it beats most low-end to mid-end sound cards.
The MSI Gaming 3 Z97 looks like it has a very good audio chip and it has an optical audio out spdif.
You win the 5th generation i5 support too.
You win the 5th generation i5 support too.
9 days later
- Edited
Hi Tech Guru and thanks for your input,Tech Guru wroteRecommendation: Asus z97 K
Proven quality - 5X Protection. 1000+ compatible devices. 7000+ validation hours.
Crystal Sound 2 - Flawless audio that makes you part of the game
Speed up your system with lightning-fast 10Gb/s M.2
Fan Xpert 3 - Advanced fan controls for ultimate cooling and quietness
Media-acclaimed UEFI BIOS with new EZ Tuning Wizard
ASUS HomeCloud - A digital PC hub perfect for sharing and home theater
Intel® Z97 chipset :
6 x USB 3.0/2.0 port(s) (4 at back panel, blue, 2 at mid-board)
Intel® Z97 chipset :
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 port(s) (2 at back panel, black, 6 at mid-board)
Being Using It with my High End System with no SLI - One GTX 970 MSI Gaming ; the system is working very stable on Ultra 2K Gaming
I'd like to get it, but I couldn't find Asus z97 k at pcandparts, I've made the choice that I won't get the mobo from outside Leb since the price doesn't differ that much, aside from the warranty advantage.
What do you think of MSI Z97 GAMING 7 (DDR3) ?
- Edited
Hmmm great, I see you choose H97 chipset to save, I liked what you said about it's features, do you have any idea if MSI Z97 GAMING 7 (DDR3) comes with the features you mentioned? Thanks.anayman_k7 wroteBased on items currently available at pcandparts.com
MSI H97 GAMING 3 (DDR3) (LGA1150) $146.00 (excl TVA) Link
I selected this for several reasons:
- It has the H97 chipset, it will run up to the 4th generation Haswell CPUs out of the box, it doesn't support overclocking like the Z97 but why paying more if you don't want to use that feature!
- It has Audio Boost 2 with isolated audio PCB circuit to prevent any noise in the output (check the link)
- Currently available unlike the Asys z97k which out of stock
- No SLI support, saves money if not needed
- 4xUSB3.0 Rear and 2xUSB3.0 On board plug if the case has front USB3.0 plugs
- 2xUSB2.0 Read and 4xUSB2.0 On board
Benefits over the Asus Z97k:
- 7.1 Channel audio
- Golden Audio connectors for durability
- More fan headers on board, Asus Z97k (2xCPU fan, 1xSystem Fan), Msi h97 g3 (2xCPU fan, 3xSystem Fan) it means you can plug 3 case fans and control them via BIOS or software and it will save you a lot of cabling inside your case (it will look cleaner)
- Black plate board (Asus has a brown plate) which looks nicer and more modern.
- Horizontal and Vertical Sata plugs: Msi board has 4 horizontal plugs and 2 vertical plugs for SATA which will make the cable management much more easy and clean.
The Z97 Gaming 7 is more advanced and has a lot more stuff over H97 Gaming 3, I'll tell you what are the differences,
Positive:
- 8xUSB3.0 on Rear IO
- Z97 Chipset that supports overclocking, more power delivered to CPU
- 3 Way SLI and Crossfire
- Dual BIOS which is important in case anything wrong happened while updating it
- 3000mhz RAM support in case you want to get some high frequency RAM (it doesn't really affect the performance, 1600mhz is good enough for DDR3)
- Onboard buttons (Power, Reset, OC Genie) and small debug LED which shows temperature or the error in case of problems
- Small plugs to monitor voltage on components, this is mainly used by overclockers who changes the voltage on CPU, RAM, etc.
- 8 Sata 6gb/s plugs
- Plastic protection around the usb2.0 on board plugs (minor thing)
Negative:
- Well I only found one negative which is the only horizontal Sata plugs, this is a minor thing.
An advice from an MSI board owner, DO NOT update BIOS using MSI Live Update, it is so buggy and fails which will force you to recover from backup BIOS, in my case I have the MSI Z97-G45 which doesn't have dual BIOS, I sent it back to pcandparts they recovered it using mFlash, this is my case
Positive:
- 8xUSB3.0 on Rear IO
- Z97 Chipset that supports overclocking, more power delivered to CPU
- 3 Way SLI and Crossfire
- Dual BIOS which is important in case anything wrong happened while updating it
- 3000mhz RAM support in case you want to get some high frequency RAM (it doesn't really affect the performance, 1600mhz is good enough for DDR3)
- Onboard buttons (Power, Reset, OC Genie) and small debug LED which shows temperature or the error in case of problems
- Small plugs to monitor voltage on components, this is mainly used by overclockers who changes the voltage on CPU, RAM, etc.
- 8 Sata 6gb/s plugs
- Plastic protection around the usb2.0 on board plugs (minor thing)
Negative:
- Well I only found one negative which is the only horizontal Sata plugs, this is a minor thing.
An advice from an MSI board owner, DO NOT update BIOS using MSI Live Update, it is so buggy and fails which will force you to recover from backup BIOS, in my case I have the MSI Z97-G45 which doesn't have dual BIOS, I sent it back to pcandparts they recovered it using mFlash, this is my case
anayman_k7 thanks, so if I go with Z97 Gaming 7.. I will have to update Bios via M-Flash. Hearing about MSI Live Update issues I don't think MSI is best at mobo's... I don't know yet if I'll be going with MSI or asus, couldn't find the latter at pcandparts.
Yeah BIOS is better get updated via MFlash, but there is no necessity because this board supports all current CPUs and GPUs, ASUS known to have better quality but there is not a lot of choices at pcandparts currently, MSI mobos are very good, one bad software doesn't mean everything is bad, I pointed it out to you just as an advice.
You're right, I may only have the choice to go with msi z97 gaming 7, although really.. paying a price of premium and lacking a very basic thing in a mobo like bios update and that I could brick my board doing it, isn't the best.anayman_k7 wroteYeah BIOS is better get updated via MFlash, but there is no necessity because this board supports all current CPUs and GPUs, ASUS known to have better quality but there is not a lot of choices at pcandparts currently, MSI mobos are very good, one bad software doesn't mean everything is bad, I pointed it out to you just as an advice.
- Edited
Get the Maximus VII Ranger, it's better than the Gaming 7 in terms of quality, plus ASUS has the best UEFI out of all manufacturers.
Well you can still update BIOS securely like I said from MFlash, it's a simple operation, the MSI Live Update software is the problem, plus as I said this board have dual bios, so you are safe.