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Which M-ITX mobo?

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So I am downsizing my system to Mini-ITX standard. My current rig takes up too much damn space. Plus, it is a really PTA to carry around. (LAN parties etc)

So, I have been asking on other forums (read: LTT, TekSyndicate, PCPer, etc) and some/most have told me to get an Asrock Z97 mITX board instead of the Gigabyte ones. I am wanting one with built in Wireless AC and BT 4.0. I will be selling my current Mobo and Case and Soundcard (located in my specs) I do still have my Corsair Graphite 600T that has yet to sell. I will NOT be switching to that case. I have a limited budget but switching Mobos is a good first step. What do you guys think? Can you recommend a good Mini-ITX board for my i7-4770k?
 
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what is people's take on the Gigabyte vs Asrock boards?
 
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Compare models you have in mind, not brands as whole, since both have good and shitty products
ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ and
GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XN-WIFI
 
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huh? those are AMD boards
sorry, late night. Im a security guard and got called in for a night shift. Those are the AMD versions of the Z97 boards.

The case is hopefully the Elite 130. But If I do that case, I would need a good cooler for the i7-4770k. My h100i kicked the bucket recently. I think my i7 4770k killed it. That CPU runs too damn hot, I thought about the Noctua NHu9b or something but it is too tall for the case.
 
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sorry, late night. Im a security guard and got called in for a night shift. Those are the AMD versions of the Z97 boards.

The case is hopefully the Elite 130. But If I do that case, I would need a good cooler for the i7-4770k. My h100i kicked the bucket recently. I think my i7 4770k killed it. That CPU runs too damn hot, I thought about the Noctua NHu9b or something but it is too tall for the case.
No worries man, I work night shifts also along side my studies and i know how they can fuck you up mentally wise. Can you link the boards you have in mind. I think we already discussed them in another tread thou. Also no air cooler will be as good as your h100i so you should go with water again
 

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sorry, late night. Im a security guard and got called in for a night shift. Those are the AMD versions of the Z97 boards.

The case is hopefully the Elite 130. But If I do that case, I would need a good cooler for the i7-4770k. My h100i kicked the bucket recently. I think my i7 4770k killed it. That CPU runs too damn hot, I thought about the Noctua NHu9b or something but it is too tall for the case.
I'm using the Elite 130, you can mount a 120mm rad in the front(H80i in my case).
Getting the system put together the first time is a pain due to size constraints, but definitely doable. Just make sure you use a modular PSU.
 

joeylee032

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Sorry for being a bit late, but if you still wondering about the Asrock and Gigayte boards...Gene is good mobo, but if its pretty expensive. If you don't want to spend so much for with AR Z97M or ASUS Z97M-PLUS Open box, both of these are under 100$
 

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If AsRock vs Gigabyte is your choice, I'd vote for AsRock. The turning stone for me here is that some of their mITX boards have M.2 slot on the back. Although it only supports the short models of M.2 Sata SSDs and M.2 Generation 2 PCIe SSD's you could at least at some point install such drive and may be have one less or no other drives at all in the case. While Gigabyte doesn't have this. Even MSI doesn't have it on their gaming board. And Asus have M.2 slot only on two of their 1150 - mini ITXs- the Maximus Series and Z97I-PLUS.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z97E-ITXac/ (you could see listed M.2 in the drive section)
 
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peche

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if the i4770 killed your last HSF i would seriously consider a complete rethink on the whole system, including a different cpu, especially if its going in a smaller case
 
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well, my last HSF was a POS H100i. I am definitely looking at a new CPU since I want to do virtualization and need VT-d or the AMD equiv. With out it, I can not do PCI-Passthrough for the GPU. i am trying to switch to Linux completely but Arma 3 is the only game keeping me on Windows. running a KVM with Windows on it and hardware passthrough should solve the issue but my CPU is a limiting factor. At this point, I may have to go mATX. I don't know. I want to go mITX but unless I dual boot with dual SSDs etc....... As it is, I have 2 SSDs and 2 HDDs already. I would need at least 1 more SSD and most likely another HDD. I looked at getting an i7 with VT-d but they were all at least $300. so the SSD option is looking better.
For my replacement HSF, I plan on getting the NH-D14 at this time since I can get one on amazon for ~$73. Maybe downsize the case to something nicer than the CM HAF-XB which as it is really limits my drive capacity. i can only have at most 2 HDDs. And adding a drive is a royal PTA.
 
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