Not sure what the different types of motherboards mean!

[Deleted]

Hi I want to buy a new motherboard however I am not sure which is which..

I am looking at the Intel ones and on Aria.co.uk I noticed that they are categorized into the following:

B75
H77
Z77
X79

These letters at the start usually mean something such not being able to OC for example but I am not entirely sure what they mean exactly so can anyone help me? Thank you!

[Deleted]

they usually refer to the chipset and socket type.
B is locked from overclocking and usually budget boards. (socket 1155)
H middle of the pack feature wise but can overclock fine. (1155 aswell)
Z highest tier of boards most features and overclocking extra's for some boards aswell. (1155)

X79 is the general chipset for socket 2011.

what current CPU do you have that you want a new mobo for?

[Deleted]

Thank you that was very useful, much appreciated!

EDIT: The board is for an i5 2500k sandy bridge.

[Saithes]

[vesseblah]

words

Wrong.

picture

Useless for understanding the fundamentals.


B75 = Socket 1155 for IB/SB, CPU overclocking capped to +4 turbo, no RAID, no SSD caching
H77 = Socket 1155 for IB/SB, CPU overclocking capped to +4 turbo, RAID, SSD caching
Z77 = Socket 1155 for IB/SB, CPU overclocking uncapped, RAID, SSD caching

X79 = Socket 2011 board meant for i7-3820, i7-3930K, i7-3960X, i7-3970X only

And for completeness' sake:

H61 = Socket 1155 for SB*, CPU overclocking capped to +4 turbo, no RAID, no SSD caching
H67 = Socket 1155 for SB*, CPU overclocking capped to +4 turbo, RAID, no SSD caching
P67 = Socket 1155 for SB*, CPU overclocking uncapped, RAID, no SSD caching, no integrated graphics
Z68 = Socket 1155 for SB*, CPU overclocking uncapped, RAID, SSD caching

*61-68 boards may support Ivy Bridge processors with BIOS patch but it's not guaranteed.

[chazus]

For TLDR, adding to what Vesseblah stated
B75 = Used for non-K models (ex: i3s, i5 3550, 3470, 3570, i7 3770), Cannot OC (I don't consider Turbo as OC)
H77 = Not really used for any reason. B75 is cheaper, and nobody really uses SSD caching. Oftne found in pre-builts.
Z77 = Used for 3570K/3770K for OC (Z75 does the same thing and is cheaper, usually. Doesn't support SSD Caching either. Very few 'great' quality Z75s though)
X79 = Used for i7 Extreme CPUs

[Deleted]

Thank you that was very useful, much appreciated!

EDIT: The board is for an i5 2500k sandy bridge.

what kind of budget do you have and are you planning to overclock?
also what hardware do you currently have?

@vesseblah , only thing you did include was the exact features and older series mobo's -_- still the same for the OP......

[neuk]

Thank you that was very useful, much appreciated!

EDIT: The board is for an i5 2500k sandy bridge.

A Z68 MB would be a perfect fit for the 2500k if you can still find one. If not then go for a Z77.

[vesseblah]

H77 = Not really used for any reason. B75 is cheaper, and nobody really uses SSD caching. Oftne found in pre-builts.

There's also small difference in number of USB3/SATA3 ports between B and H models that I omitted which might be interesting for people making file servers, but for gamers it's of no consequence. B75 would indeed be better if those can be found. Could be hard from small local stores.

@vesseblah , only thing you did include was the exact features and older series mobo's -_- still the same for the OP......

No, you said H77 is oveclockable which is outright wrong and the only difference between Z77 and H77 chipsets. Asus, Gigabyte, MSI etc could make exact same boards with same number of USB's, SATA's, PCIe lanes etc around either chipset but it's pointless for multiplier locked H77 since those wouldn't sell. Intel actually does these high end H77 boards in small quantities but the prices are at Z77 level or even higher.

[yurano]

B75 CPU overclocking capped to +4 turbo
H77 CPU overclocking capped to +4 turbo

Been looking into whether B75 and H77 can be overclocked. The non-forum links I can find say that B75 and H77 are not OC chipsets.

http://service.msicomputer.com/html/...esoformid=3041

ftp://europe.asrock.com/manual/B75%20Pro3.pdf - Page 9 - "Due to chipset limitations, overclocking is not supported."

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...84_P8H77-V.pdf - Page 67 - 2.4.1 Ai Overclock Tuner - Mentions BCLK/PEG but not multipliers
(Compare to http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...74_P8Z77-V.pdf - Page 80 - 3.4 Ai Overclock Tuner - Mentions core ratios)

[vesseblah]

Been looking into whether B75 and H77 can be overclocked. The non-forum links I can find say that B75 and H77 are not OC chipsets.

Intel talks about CPU turbo multipliers as overclocking in this context even thought users will not consider it as such. i5-2500 runs at 3.3GHz normal speed but the turbo overclocks it to 3.7GHz or +4 multipliers is what they mean with B75 and H77 chipsets. So it's just easier to say those aren't overclockable than go into detailed explanation.

In hindsight I should've dropped that bit from my little chart above for the same reason.

[Deleted]

overclocking in the end pretty much comes down the definition it holds to different people.
i just went with the most basic assumption of overclocking as in making it run faster compared to stock clocks. (if that's via multi/blck not being the point)
still for the OP i think it will likely be a Z68/Z77 board but we need some more info to confirm that.

[yurano]

Intel talks about CPU turbo multipliers as overclocking in this context even thought users will not consider it as such. i5-2500 runs at 3.3GHz normal speed but the turbo overclocks it to 3.7GHz or +4 multipliers is what they mean with B75 and H77 chipsets.

When you say a i5-2500 can turbo to 3.7 Ghz, do you mean 4C or 1C? According to the i5 turbo table, 3.7 for 1C is standard (and not indicative of a +4 limited unlock overclock).

From what I have read, B75/H77 chipsets support turbo, but not the limited unlock overclock extension of turbo capable CPUs.

[chazus]

I was sort of stupid when I first got my 3570K, and 'overclocked' it to 3.8. Not realizing my Turbo was set to 3.8. So basically it sat at 3.8, doing the same performance it did before during gaming.

Now it's back to 3.4 and 4.5 turbo... Anytime a game isn't running, it drops to 1.6.