Looking into buying an ITX mobo, and i'm tilting towards your "MSI Z87I AC" ITX board.. I've noticed there's a "Gaming" version that is £20 more (roughly), but apart from the red components and shaped heatsink, I cannot really see any differences between them! What are they, if any?
I'm so ITX obsessed at he moment it's untrue... Had to answer that question for myself, so has a quick look on MSI UK site. Z81I [http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/Z87I_AC.html] has dual LAN which gamer doesn't - it has gaming 'Killer' LAN port. Z87I AC Gamer [http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/Z87I_GAMING_AC.html#overview] has upgraded audio circuitry low noise USB for DAC. Z87I AC Gamer has 5 SATA ports, standard Z87I has 4 Z87I AC Gamer has Gaming device ports [USB and PS2] for reduced lag Looks like Gamer has more power phases [2 more chokes visible...] and an 8 pin cpu power plug rather than 4 on the standard Z87I Whether that makes a difference I'm not sure - it seems to have had great reviews and built MSI's reputaion up a bit. Obviously the red bits make all the difference too - if it's good enough for ROG BTW I saw this listed last night [http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5048#ov]- complete with pulsed orange underboard lighting HTH /ITX anorak fix
That gigabyte looks pretty good tbh! Still preferring the SATA layout on the MSI though! (I like to not have cables showing and I have Orange Pulsing RAM ( and Fans & LED Lighting..) so I wouldn't want the cables going over the ram! And the GPU would trap the cable otherwise! But thanks for the help! Just a final question.. Do you know if you have to use an 8-pin for the CPU? I have an i3 so can't OC and my PSU only has a 4 pin CPU cable!
I only put the Gigabyte Phoenix in for a laugh, too blingy for me really. Is your RAM Ballistix Tracer Tactical? I did have to buy some - the blue/orange switchable leds are quite something. AFAIK you should be OK with a 4 pin CPU connector. I have just built an i5 Z77 rig and bench tested it with a small PSU with 4 pin feed plugged into the 8 pin socket and it's fine. 8 pin seems to be for high current situations so that the each wire doesn't take too much current and heat up. As you said, no OC should keep things under control. Be interesting to see what you choose
It's not.. I thought i'd be different and opted for the Avexir Core Orange Series.. Spoiler £80 for 8Gb @ 1600Mhz It's only Orange LED's, not Blue/Orange and they shine through Plastic rods mounted on the top.. Also instead of the manic strobing that can happen, it's more slow pulsing.. Like a heartbeat! One stick is slightly quicket than the other, so they're always slightly out of sync..
@Arboreal, I opted for the MSI H97I ITX.. It's essentially the same as the Z97I that's in the ITX group review on here, but with a slightly cheaper chipset and a £89.99 pricetag on it! Since I'm not going to OC (i3) I couldn't see the point in upping for the Z97.. But it still has all the Wi-Fi etc on it, so i'm one happy bunny! ..When it arrives EDIT: It wasn't in stock for ages.. So I changed the order the the Z97I Gaming AC I LOVE it!
