Damn, the past 72 hours have been a real struggle. Never in the past 7 builds has a single component taken such an emotional and physical toll on me. And never in the middle of my studies.
My H81I broke down somehow (still not sure what exactly went wrong) and was on a frantic hunt for an appropriate motherboard. It always managed to power on but it could not reach the BIOS. I tried to troubleshoot everything, making sure that the RAM, drives, and PSU were all working properly. I could think of no other explanation than a broken motherboard, so I gave up and went looking for a replacement. When I disassembled the rig, I could see no physical damage or bent pins, so I surmised that it must have been internal broken traces from all the flexing on the top edge of the board, where the USB3 header, 24-pin and SATA ports are located.
I couldn't RMA because I'm in the UK, and the H81I was purchased in Canada. I also don't even happen to have the socket cap with me, so I could forget about RMAing the board. There's also carpet everywhere, so I had to be extremely careful when working on my rig (fortunately, there is one small room, completely unsuitable for building PCs, that is lined with linoleum).
I had to shell out nearly 100GBP for a H97N-WIFI, which was the cheapest board I could find that could accommodate a 4790K out of the box, without being MSI. I have trust issues with MSI after the H81I gave up on me, and given that their H97I and Z97I have the exact same layout which, in the SG08, promotes dangerous PCB flexing when inserting the 24-pin, I wasn't ready to give MSI my money again. On the other hand, this H97N-WIFI is well-built (as expected from Gigabyte in my experience), has a great feature set, and has the most stellar layout I have ever seen. This makes it my third successful build with a GB motherboard, the other two being my home rig with the Z97MX G5 and a work rig with the H81M-S2PV. The matte black PCB coating and black-coated LGA 1150 socket are absolutely delightful and the board has some serious heft (that rivals even my mATX Z97MX G5).
I also popped in a ST45SF-G to accompany this new board. I have secured it with velcro to the front of the case (those who are acquainted with the SG08, picture the PSU bracket, drive cage and 5.25" bay removed. The ST45SF-G is rotated so that exhaust still points towards the side and the modular connectors on the side they're supposed to be on, but the solid side of the PSU is up against the solid front wall of the case, the fan draws air from inside the case, and patches of velcro secure the PSU to the front and bottom of the case. It's now extremely roomy inside; I still don't have my camera so I can't document this with pictures right now. The layout of the H97N-WIFI definitely helps. The addition of the i217V and AC-7260 with this board is also really nice.
I can't activate Windows 10 as activation is tied to the motherboard hardware ID, but that can wait. I'll just get on the phone with MS tomorrow and talk it out with them to explain the situation. I have never appreciated good motherboard design in mini-ITX form factor; I sure as hell do now, more than ever before. Never again will I make the same mistake of saving money and buying an ITX motherboard that has a bad layout like the H81I/B85I/H97I/Z97I, and I don't think I'm going to be buying MSI again anytime soon. I'm just glad it's all over.
Another point for Gigabyte motherboards in my books.
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