Motherboards... H110... Z170... B150M... what do they mean?

Smiley012

I was originally going to go with a H110 for my build, but I realised that it had very few PCI slots, I could have had a graphics card, and a wifi card, and that was it.

I need a micro-ATX board, so I began to see if there was one that had more slots... and low and behold there are LOADS...

After a lot of deliberation, I'm getting a core i5-6600, 8GB ram, 240GB SSD, 2TD HDD, and holding off on getting a graphics card until the end of this month.

With the above in mind, I need a motherboard that has a 1151 socket... in the 100euro price bracket

I found this one: http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/Asus-B150M-PRO-GAMING-Intel-B150-So-1151-Dual-Channel-DDR4-mATX-Retail_1029653.html

And this one: http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/MSI-B150M-Mortar-Intel-B150-So-1151-Dual-Channel-DDR4-mATX-Retail_1016262.html

And SO MANY MORE... any advice? I literally don't have a clue, they all seem the same with a few small differences...

Digital Solitude

You need a 1151 socket.

Generally, B150s are for business standard PCs, H110s are for lower end consumers, H150s are higher end consumers and Z170 are enthusiast level boards. Zs are also the only ones that allow overclocking.

Generally they're all the same unless you need something specific from them. For the likes of me or you with 3-4 hard drives and a regular i5, 16gb RAM maximum there's literally zero difference between a €60 H110 and a €200 Z170.

Higher end boards have more PCIe slots, more RAM slots, and support for more SATA drives and M.2 drives.

By the way, might be worth looking at Power line adapters instead of a WiFi card

Smiley012

Oops, spelling error - I meant 1151!

Thank you Digital Solitude, you have been so helpful on here for me! I'll be sharing pictures when it's finally bought and built.

As you can see, I went from an i3, up to an i5, and I think soon I'll be wanting an i7, so I need to hit purchase tonight I think!

So, no point in getting a B150M? I kinda want something that does have more than 2 ram slots, and 2 PCIe slots... you know?! The opportunity is there to upgrade then...

Digital Solitude

You won't use more than 16gb of RAM. Your i5 will be a relic by the time you need 24 or 32gb.

As per the PCIe slots, I've never used more than one, extra USB ports and WiFi is the handiest thing for them but there are workarounds anyways.

If you're thinking of SLI then you want two X8 ports to utilise the ports, which will probably require a relatively expensive z170. SLI is generally a worse option than upgrading unless you get a serious deal on a GPU, so unless you're at the high end (€400 and up) you won't get that good a bargain anyways

TerrorFirmer

For 90% of people the standard chipsets are more than enough - it makes zero performance difference to games, just a functionality thing.

Also if you're in the market for Doom, most Asus boards come with a free copy at the moment - so you can knock €20-25 off the price technically

Serephucus

Here ya go.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z170-H170-H110-B170-Q150-Q170---What-is-the-Difference-635/