How important is a motherboard for a gaming pc?

[OmegaShadow]

i'm thinking of going a bit cheap on the motherboard and buying mobo #1 but i'm also having some doubts about cheaping out on a mobo and having performance issues later on vs mobo #2

here are the two motherboards


mobo #1

Gigabyte H61M-DS2H mATX LGA1155 H61 DDR3
http://www.ncix.com/products/?tab=1&sku=73210


mobo #2

Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 ATX LGA1155 Z68 DDR3
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=61002&vpn=GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3&manufacture=Gigabyte


mobo #1 is the cheaper motherboard that i want to buy since it'll save me about $100 on my pc build.

should i go with mobo #1 or mobo #2? i plan on playing the latest games on high setting. i have all the other parts of my pc done already and the motherboard is the last part i'm deciding on right now.

the other parts of my pc build are

cpu: intel i5 2500k
gpu: nvidia gtx 560
memory: 1333 corsair
power supply: corsair 650W
operating system: windows 7

 

[dma0991]

For the purpose of gaming, both boards will work just fine. You're paying $100 more for the extra features that the expensive motherboard has that the cheaper one don't. Should you go for the cheaper alternative, you're losing out on SATA 6GB/s ports, USB 3.0 ports and internal header, overclockability(H61 chipset does not support overclocking).

The features that I've mentioned are essential if you're looking for a motherboard that gives a little bit of 'future proofing'. Some features like additional RAM slots and PCIE slots are not mentioned as you might not need it, depends on your usage.

 

[superccs]

Yeah try and find a z68 mATX board for cheap and you should be good to go.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Does the h61 chipset on that 1st option even offer overclocking paired with that overclocking chip you selected?

 

[Binky]

With a 2500k, you need a Z68 board. You won't be able to overclock on the H61 and the 2500k is a very good overclock chip.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Besides overclocking and any differences in chipsets just as RAID etc. Then they will perform exactly the same in games at stock speeds.

A 300$ board wont be faster than a 50$ board.

 

[piasabird]

Well you could look at something like a ASROCK B75 motherboard or an H77 motherboard. Probably neither one are really gaming motherboards. If you were not overclocking them might be fine. I never have overclocked. I don't see many people using a B75 chipset. However, I noticed ASROCK sells one of the B75 motherboards in the $60+ dollar range.

A long time ago I realized if the motherboard says premium or pro it probably has some extra stuff on it that I will never use and will never miss, and I should just purchase the normal motherboard.

 

[OmegaShadow]

doing some research after reading all of your comments i've come to the conclusion that i should buy a H61 motherboard because i actually don't intend to overclock. also i've changed my mind on the cpu and now i'm planning on buying a i5 2400 instead.

 

[ky54]

Here's a nice chart comparison among the boards and what each of them can do:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1155