MB choice AS Rock VS Asus

[Dauntae]

I going to be doing a build for a co worker and he is a hard core Asus fan but all the praise I see for the ASRock boards I looked into them for his build and these are the two I came up with that have what he wants, Well he wants more than one PCI-E 1x slot and more than one PCI slot. Reason being is he want's to be able to use some old hardware like his tv card and whatever else he has and if he upgrades them he wants to be able to switch to the PCI-E slots. (I know you don't have to tell me LOL) Well at least 2 x16 slots also so he can SLI down the road. Well anyhow I found one board from each with similar options so I'm here asking you to decide which one and why it is better so I can tell him. Very close in every way including price so what one is better.

Dauntae

ASUS Z87-A (NFC EXPRESS EDITION)
Newegg.com - ASUS Z87-A (NFC EXPRESS EDITION) LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASRock Z87 Extreme4
Newegg.com - ASRock Z87 Extreme4 LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

[PP Mguire]

I support ASRock so much because they are quality boards with the same basic functionality and specs, usually are cheaper, and aren't butt ass ugly with those "gold" and black colors.

 

[Nukem]

I currently have the Z77 extreme4 from Asrock thanks to PP Mguire's advice, and am very happy with it's capabilities, but I have used just about every board out there over the years.

There are lemons in every company (so-to-speak) but I don't think you'd be going wrong either way. But take into account what you want put on it, not only initially, but maybe in the future. With my board, it made it so I only had one PCIe 1x slot left, so If I wanted to put another PCI card in, I wouldn't be able to without some removing a card first.

... and I have to agree that the ASUS board you picked in kinda unsightly for black and gold.

 

[PP Mguire]

The Z87 Extreme4 has 5 PCI-E slots. Don't forget you can put 1-16x cards in a 16x slot. You're not just limited to 1x cards in 1x slots.

 

[Dauntae]

The Z87 Extreme4 has 5 PCI-E slots. Don't forget you can put 1-16x cards in a 16x slot. You're not just limited to 1x cards in 1x slots.

AH I had forgotten about that, The ASRock has the one extra PCI-E slot over the Asus, Pretty close in specs so I'll see what he wants to do, He originally was going to use his old I7 which is a 1155.but he wants the newest and greatest lol

 

[PP Mguire]

If he has an IB then not much reason to upgrade. Pretty much a waste of money.

 

[Dauntae]

I agree, He even want's new ram LOL Not sure the speed but he's wasting money. He has a budget for it and doesn't care. I'm still going to try to talk him into getting a 1155 board so he can use his original I7. Might get him to do it, But he still wants a new MB that he can SLI when whatever he has starts to struggle. Depending on what I can scratch up after I get a new GPU I may finally upgrade, Still using what's in my sig but at least I'll have the ram, 4 2 gig sticks he's replacing and I'll order him 2 4 gig sticks at the fastest speed the MB can take (Another waste IMHO) But his money and whatever is left over will be mine. No idea on what PS he has but I get to keep that, The old MB with 8 gigs of ram and his GTX 460. Already have someone asking how much I will be asking for it so may be able to add that to my rebuild funds. I decided to just wait for the GTX870 to come out so I'll have to live with my 470. Just won't play Battlefield 4 until then. Looks horrible with everything on low LOL. Well if he decides to get the 1150 CPU then I'll just use his old board because he will give me the CPU also, if not I might get one of the MB I posted in this thread.

Dauntae

 

[PP Mguire]

Yea if he wants to waste money then by all means, we tried. Just like my best friend, had no reason to go 4770k but he did....then went from SLI 680s to SLI 780ti. Le sigh.

You should be able to turn a few things up. The laptop next to me that I fixed has a 460m and we were able to run BF3/4 with low/medium settings.

 

[Dauntae]

LOL Not sure why I'm trying to talk him out of it, His old stuff all goes to me LOL I guess I feel guilty like I'm ripping him off I guess, I like to treat people honest and hate ripping anyone off. As for BF4, Yes it plays ok but having it turned down just makes me want the new card so much more LOL (It's killing my self control to wait for the new one) But I can play it. I got it on sale for $30 so not a big deal waiting to play but when I do I want it in all it's smoke filled detail enhanced glory is all.

Dauntae

 

[PP Mguire]

It's not that great. I play with all low settings because I'd rather have less **** on my screen and save the FPS for max AA and resolution scaling. Trotter plays this way too.