Asus H61M-K motherboard for casual gaming...

[Daedroth]

I'm looking to replace the motherboard in my computer (currently Asus P8P67) for this one (reason is because I want to put the PC into an mATX case, but the board I have now is an ATX form factor):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/H61M-K-Motherboard-Socket-Micro-Intel/dp/B00F0WY7AM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455461216&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+socket+1155+matx

 

Will this board suffice for the following:

Corsair Carbide Air 240 Case

Intel Core i7-2600K

8GB (2x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM

GeForce GTX 580

Corsair Hydro H50 CPU Water cooler

1x Samsung EVO 850 SSD

2x 1TB WD 7,200RPM HDDs

1x 2TB WD 7,200RPM HDDs

 

The main difference I think is the chipset. The board I have now is the P67 chipset, but the board I linked is a H61 chipset. I'm not a competitive gamer and I don't get to play as much as I used to. I also don't plan on performing any overclocking, or using advanced features. I just want the gear I have, with this motherboard and case and to be able to play games as I do now.

 

Will this board do what I need?

Edited February 14, 2016 by Daedroth

[Jim K Global Moderator]

It will work.  However, you'll lose your SATA 6Gb/s ports and USB 3.0 ports with the H61.  The SATA might not be a big deal ... but your front USB ports on the case will not be connected (though you could install a 3.0 add on PCIx card)  Something like this (please note I've never used this product)

[Daedroth]

@jjkusafThanks for the reply.

Using the Samsung EVO 850 SSD...will that suffer from being connected at a slower SATA connection?

As for USB...I don't utilise USB 3.0 at the moment, and to be honest, USB transfers are few and far between for me anyway.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Sorry, in your original post you said Evo 250...which I never heard of but figured it may have been an older Samsung drive.

 

Yes, the 850 will max out the SATA port on the board you're looking at.  The 850 pushes around ~540MB/sec where SATA II only does 300ish.

 

Now, if you'll notice that drop in speed ... I dunno...maybe.   /shrug

 

As with the USB 3.0, you could install an add-on card that gives you SATAIII ... especially if you notice that drop in speed.

[Daedroth]

The Intel 2600K is not specifically listed in the list of supported CPUs, so now I'm not too sure on what to do! https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/H61MK/HelpDesk_CPU/

[Jim K Global Moderator]

5 minutes ago, Daedroth said:

The Intel 2600K is not specifically listed in the list of supported CPUs, so now I'm not too sure on what to do! https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/H61MK/HelpDesk_CPU/

ahhh...how embarrassing.  Good catch.  The TDP rating of the 2600k is too high for that mobo (95w) ... which is why only lower TDP rated processors are listed.  

 

Sorry, I made a rookie mistake and just glanced "3rd/2nd generation Core i7/i5/i3/Pentium processors in the LGA1155 package " without looking at the compatibility list.  

 

 

[Daedroth]

No worries, I've been looking for a while and only just caught that!

I'm after a decent board that I can rely on, so I can put it all in a mATX case.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Maybe this one?  http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-LGA1155-u-ATX-Motherboard-Intel/dp/B009US9DCO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455465423&sr=8-1&keywords=MSI+H61M-P31

As with the ASUS you listed earlier ... you'll lose the SATAIII and USB 3.0 ... but you'll only have one PCIx1 (for one addon card...like a USB 3.0 add on or SATAIII add on).  Your CPU is listed though https://us.msi.com/product/motherboard/support/H61M-P31W8.html#support-cpu

 

You can also browse this PCPartpicker link which will list which motherboards are compatabile with the 2600K.  It is a bit hard now since it is a bit old and most motherboards for that "era" are discontinued.

https://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/?compatible_with=intel-cpu-bx80623i72600k

[PGHammer]

On 2/14/2016 at 11:05 AM, jjkusaf said:

Maybe this one?  http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-LGA1155-u-ATX-Motherboard-Intel/dp/B009US9DCO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455465423&sr=8-1&keywords=MSI+H61M-P31

As with the ASUS you listed earlier ... you'll lose the SATAIII and USB 3.0 ... but you'll only have one PCIx1 (for one addon card...like a USB 3.0 add on or SATAIII add on).  Your CPU is listed though https://us.msi.com/product/motherboard/support/H61M-P31W8.html#support-cpu

 

You can also browse this PCPartpicker link which will list which motherboards are compatabile with the 2600K.  It is a bit hard now since it is a bit old and most motherboards for that "era" are discontinued.

https://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/?compatible_with=intel-cpu-bx80623i72600k

That is a flaw with mATX (as a whole) - too few PCIe x1 slots (usually one).

 

I went mATX myself (MSI H81-E33) and while I didn't lose any SATA ports (I have four - two each of SATA 6.0gB and SATA 3.0gB), that single PCIe x1 slot was a possible problem (the Recon3D Fata1ity Professional also has an Intel HD Audio mode which is supported by OSes that are not Windows - such as Linux), most onboard-audio chipsets have their issues outside of Windows, if not IN Windows.  I lucked out that the onboard audio DOES work outside of Windows (and in Linux distributions in particular) - so the Fata1ity is back on the shelf.

[BinaryData]

Whats nice about the Samsung SSDs is the ability to nearly double speeds with their drive boosting technology.

 

I'm not a particular fan about ASUS, why are you specifically picking them, if you don't mind me asking?

[Jim K Global Moderator]

6 minutes ago, BinaryData said:

Whats nice about the Samsung SSDs is the ability to nearly double speeds with their drive boosting technology.

 

I'm not a particular fan about ASUS, why are you specifically picking them, if you don't mind me asking?

Talking about RAPID mode?  Yea, I guess...especially on benchmarks.  In real world performance I honestly cannot tell the difference.  My Samsung feels just as snappy with RAPID off as it does with it on.

 

Better question is what do you have against ASUS?  They are one of the top 3 motherboard manufactures out there.  I personally do not have a problem (or an allegiance to a particular brand...look at my sig block) with any motherboard manufacture.  

[+JHBrown Subscriber¹]

20 minutes ago, BinaryData said:

Whats nice about the Samsung SSDs is the ability to nearly double speeds with their drive boosting technology.

 

I'm not a particular fan about ASUS, why are you specifically picking them, if you don't mind me asking?

Asus has really made a name for themselves, they've become the Mercedes Benz in the hardware world, and sometimes overpricing their products because of the name. I do like their products, I have a few, however, I also find Gigabyte, MSI, and AsRock, to be just as good, while being more competitive in pricing.

[BinaryData]

11 minutes ago, jjkusaf said:

Talking about RAPID mode?  Yea, I guess...especially on benchmarks.  In real world performance I honestly cannot tell the difference.  My Samsung feels just as snappy with RAPID off as it does with it on.

 

Better question is what do you have against ASUS?  They are one of the top 3 motherboard manufactures out there.  I personally do not have a problem (or an allegiance to a particular brand...look at my sig block) with any motherboard manufacture.  

 

1 minute ago, JHBrown said:

Asus has really made a name for themselves, they've become the Mercedes Benz in the hardware world, and sometimes overpricing their products because of the name. I do like their products, I have a few, however, I also find Gigabyte, MSI, and AsRock, to be just as good, while being more competitive in pricing.

I've owned several ASUS products, none of them have made it past a year of use, except my DVD Drive, and I use that maybe ONCE a year?

 

I've owned several of their motherboards, two were LGA775 boards, the other was an 1150. The first two ASUS boards were their ROG brand. Both boards, after about 6 months started having temperature regulation issues, about the 9 month mark my PC would start to over heat. At the 1 year, the boards were fried, the second I hit the power button, it'd freak out. I swapped it out for a Gigabyte board, it's been around 3 years, and still running strong. I've refreshed the paste every year. The third board was recent. Dead SATAIII ports, drives not showing up at all, my favorite one is the BIOS problem. Would lock up trying to change BIOS settings, at one point I got locked out completely.

 

Like I've said previously, I've had massive headaches with ASUS. You say they're the beamers of the PC world, but I look at them like a Datsun. Which is a reject wannabe truck. The same goes for Intel/AMD, I've always liked AMD but both times I owned an AMD Processor, it's been fried. Intel has been the winning chip for me, little more expensive, but they work. Same with NVidia vs ATI. I always buy EVGA NVidia cards. Hell, I hate my 9800GTX+ for ages, when the 500s came out, tht's when I upgraded. That's how awesome it was. I don't do any sort of over clocking, I do leave my PCs online nearly 24/7, once or twice a week I reboot them. I clean their fans and replace them every 2 years. I keep the cases clean and free of dust. I take everything out at least once a year and use an air compressor to blow the dust out. Yes I hold the fan blade so it doesn't move, I'm not an idgit.

[+JHBrown Subscriber¹]

2 minutes ago, BinaryData said:

 

I've owned several ASUS products, none of them have made it past a year of use, except my DVD Drive, and I use that maybe ONCE a year?

 

I've owned several of their motherboards, two were LGA775 boards, the other was an 1150. The first two ASUS boards were their ROG brand. Both boards, after about 6 months started having temperature regulation issues, about the 9 month mark my PC would start to over heat. At the 1 year, the boards were fried, the second I hit the power button, it'd freak out. I swapped it out for a Gigabyte board, it's been around 3 years, and still running strong. I've refreshed the paste every year. The third board was recent. Dead SATAIII ports, drives not showing up at all, my favorite one is the BIOS problem. Would lock up trying to change BIOS settings, at one point I got locked out completely.

 

Like I've said previously, I've had massive headaches with ASUS. You say they're the beamers of the PC world, but I look at them like a Datsun. Which is a reject wannabe truck. The same goes for Intel/AMD, I've always liked AMD but both times I owned an AMD Processor, it's been fried. Intel has been the winning chip for me, little more expensive, but they work. Same with NVidia vs ATI. I always buy EVGA NVidia cards. Hell, I hate my 9800GTX+ for ages, when the 500s came out, tht's when I upgraded. That's how awesome it was. I don't do any sort of over clocking, I do leave my PCs online nearly 24/7, once or twice a week I reboot them. I clean their fans and replace them every 2 years. I keep the cases clean and free of dust. I take everything out at least once a year and use an air compressor to blow the dust out. Yes I hold the fan blade so it doesn't move, I'm not an idgit.

Good stuff. However, my reference to the Mercedes Benz was more about, there are other brands that offer the same performance, similar features, without the Asus badge and Asus price that comes along with it.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

4 minutes ago, BinaryData said:

 

I've owned several ASUS products, none of them have made it past a year of use, except my DVD Drive, and I use that maybe ONCE a year?

 

I've owned several of their motherboards, two were LGA775 boards, the other was an 1150. The first two ASUS boards were their ROG brand. Both boards, after about 6 months started having temperature regulation issues, about the 9 month mark my PC would start to over heat. At the 1 year, the boards were fried, the second I hit the power button, it'd freak out. I swapped it out for a Gigabyte board, it's been around 3 years, and still running strong. I've refreshed the paste every year. The third board was recent. Dead SATAIII ports, drives not showing up at all, my favorite one is the BIOS problem. Would lock up trying to change BIOS settings, at one point I got locked out completely.

 

Like I've said previously, I've had massive headaches with ASUS. You say they're the beamers of the PC world, but I look at them like a Datsun. Which is a reject wannabe truck. The same goes for Intel/AMD, I've always liked AMD but both times I owned an AMD Processor, it's been fried. Intel has been the winning chip for me, little more expensive, but they work. Same with NVidia vs ATI. I always buy EVGA NVidia cards. Hell, I hate my 9800GTX+ for ages, when the 500s came out, tht's when I upgraded. That's how awesome it was. I don't do any sort of over clocking, I do leave my PCs online nearly 24/7, once or twice a week I reboot them. I clean their fans and replace them every 2 years. I keep the cases clean and free of dust. I take everything out at least once a year and use an air compressor to blow the dust out. Yes I hold the fan blade so it doesn't move, I'm not an idgit.

ahh ok.  On the flipside I've never had a motherboard fail...except for an Abit but that was because the PSU failed taking the mobo with it.  I've had no issues with the motherboards I've owned ... ASUS, ASrock, MSI and Gigabyte (and I think I owned an AOpen at one time).  

 

Though I will normally stick with ASUS for my main system.  I gave my old ASUS Rampage Formula II w/ a Xeon 3110 to a friend and it is still going strong.