Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Recommend me an upgrade?

Options
  • 26-04-2016 9:11pm
    #1
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 65,321 ✭✭✭✭
    Chauffe, Marcel, chauffe!


    Currently have an i5-4440 CPU and a basic Gigabyte micro ATX H81 motherboard with 16GB of DDR3

    I do not game, and I do not intend to put in a dedicated graphics card, so will use the onboard graphics. Playing UHD / 4k video must be as good as it gets though (currently using the built-in Intel HD4600 graphics which works fine)

    Must have plenty of SATA connections, the more the better
    Must have M.2 connection
    Must have both DVI and HDMI (and preferably also VGA) on board

    I think I want to go full ATX size motherboard this time. I have everything except mobo, cpu, memory

    What would you recommend? Budget a few hundred, maybe €350 - €400 or so max-ish (I should get decent money for my old components).

    I presume I will be going Skylake (with DDR4 RAM), or is there another newer generation coming soon? I do not plan to overclock. My PC is silent now (no moving parts except for hard disks) and I like to keep it that way


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    It would be much easier just to get a H97 or Z97 board with the features you want for €90-130. Skylake would offer you zero performance increase, as would DDR4 - you'd probably want to still be using it in 2026 to actually see any difference whatsoever for normal desktop use! :)


  • Options
    #3
    Eoinmc97
    Registered Users Posts: 403 ✭✭Eoinmc97


    If you can find a C97 board for around €100, then that offers a boatload of SATA, as it is usuakky used for server Xeon systems.
    They are rare though, although Skylake revived them a bit.
    But in general, the AsRock Anmiversary Z97 board does just fine. It's around €80 I think. Not too sure about M.2, but the MSI Z97 SLI Krait board I can confrim has M.2 and is around €105 or so.


  • Options
    #4
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 65,321 ✭✭✭✭unkel
    Chauffe, Marcel, chauffe!


    TerrorFirmer wrote: »
    It would be much easier just to get a H97 or Z97 board with the features you want for €90-130.

    That's exactly what I did. Got a (nearly) new Gigabyte Z97 mobo for €80 that has triple video out, M.2, intel HD graphics outputting 4k and 6 SATA (of which only 4 can be used when M.2 is in use - seems to be a limitation of the Z97 chipset

    Thank you for your help, voice of reason etc. Saved me a few bob on an upgrade (to Skylake) that I did not need :)


Advertisement