Best value mini-ITX mobo for gaming

harmattan

harmattan

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I'm looking to build my first m-itx machine and was wondering what's the best "value" mobo out there. I've been reading a lot of reviews and most are several months old ambiguous or both.

Here's what I'm looking to do:

- fit in an r9 290 (or gtx 780)
- under or around $100 (if that's possible)
-1600 ddr3 is fine, but would be great if it supported 2133
-Intel or AMD, but looking for most fps possible so would think intel

Also looking for suggestions on cases.
 
Asrock z87e-itx

Just picked one up for $100 in the FS section
 
m-itx mobos that support 2133mhz ram are all going to cost north of $100 new. there are no m-itx boards that are based on the 990fx chipset, and even the fastest fm2+ quad core system would be a bottleneck for an r9 290. this is an enthusiasts forum so you should really state whether or not you intend to overclock. if cost rather than bleeding edge performance is your main concern, then a non overclocking h97 chipset m-itx board paired with the i7 4790 might be your best solution.
 
Are you overclocking or not? H87/H97 might be more tenable for $100 though I agree that wanting to overclock your memory will bring you into a higher tier of motherboard.

It looks like Z87 and Z97 are going to support the latest Haswell Refresh and Devil's Canyon so the Z87E-ITX or Z97E-ITX would be good ones if you are wanting to overclock. They are out of your price range though. I just bought the Z97E-ITX for my WC rig, but I am waiting for Devil's Canyon to come out to overclock on it so it has a lowly Pentium in there for now :).
 
harmattan said:
I'm looking to build my first m-itx machine and was wondering what's the best "value" mobo out there. I've been reading a lot of reviews and most are several months old ambiguous or both.

Here's what I'm looking to do:

- fit in an r9 290 (or gtx 780)
- under or around $100 (if that's possible)
-1600 ddr3 is fine, but would be great if it supported 2133
-Intel or AMD, but looking for most fps possible so would think intel

Also looking for suggestions on cases.
Click to expand...
Wait a second...you have the cash to drop $400+ on an R9 290 or a GTX780 but can't afford a half decent motherboard? That's like those people spending a grand on awesome hardware only to pair it with some shittastic free power supply bundled with a $50 case then wonder why something catches fire from overheating or because the power supply melted like butter in a frying pan.

If you are that hard up for money then you probably should be re-thinking which parts your spending it on. Either that or simply stop eating fast food for a month and you can easily afford decent parts. $100+ motherboard is chump change when you are willing to drop $400+ on your video card alone. If this was a true budget setup, you sure as hell wouldn't be looking to buy one of those video cards to begin with.

My advice would be to save a little longer and get a quality motherboard to pair with that amazing video card you intend to buy.
 
Thanks for the advice -- I'll keep an eye out for that z87e/97e. To reiterate, I do mean "value" mobo, not "budget". It's been my invariable experience with enthusiast motherboards that more money can mean useless "features" and fancy branding than more performance and stability. The board that gives me a good layout, stability, basic features, ability to support high-end hardware and has a reasonable price is what I'm looking for.
 
harmattan said:
To reiterate, I do mean "value" mobo, not "budget". It's been my invariable experience with enthusiast motherboards that more money can mean useless "features" and fancy branding than more performance and stability. The board that gives me a good layout, stability, basic features, ability to support high-end hardware and has a reasonable price is what I'm looking for.
Click to expand...

gigabyte GA-B85N.
 
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