Budget LGA 1150 motherboard?

[Orpheus123]

I need some recommendations for an LGA 1150 motherboard that will work well with unRAID.

 

Would like to spend $50 - $80 on the motherboard. Will be using a G3220 CPU

 

 

[garycase]

There are several boards in your price range, but none that I'd recommend UNLESS you're okay with only 4 SATA ports.

 

I'd spend a bit more and get a high quality board with 6 SATA ports like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131990

 

 

[Orpheus123]

Ok.  I have been wondering about any of these mATX boards with 6 SATA ports.  I have only ever owned Asus motherboards so don't really know ASRock or which of these might have issues with unRAID. 

 

ASRock B85M-GL ($65 CDN after rebate)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157375

    - Atheros LAN, 6 SATA ports, 1 x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x1, 1 x PCI

 

ASRock B85M-Pro4 ($75 CDN after rebate)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157388

    - Intel LAN, 6 SATA ports, 2 x PCIe x16

 

Gigabyte GA-B85M-HD3 $75 CDN

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128608

    - Realtek LAN, 6 SATA ports, 1 x PCIe x16, 2 x PCIe x1, 1 x PCI

 

ASRock H87M ($85 CDN after rebate)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157385&AID=10657534&PID=3938566&SID=&nm_mc=AFC-C8junctionCA

    - Atheros LAN,  6 SATA ports, 2 x PCIe x16

 

Asus B85M-G ($89 CDN)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131986

    - Realtek LAN, 6 SATA ports, 1 x PCIe x16, 2 x PCIe x1, 4 DIMM slots, some other features (useful?)

 

 

[garycase]

The AsRock H87M is a good choice.  I'd prefer an H87-based board, but it probably really doesn't matter for your planned usage.    Of the B85-based options, I'd go with the AsRock than a B85M-Pro4.

 

[Frank1940]

The AsRock H87M is a good choice.  I'd prefer an H87-based board, but it probably really doesn't matter for your planned usage.    Of the B85-based options, I'd go with the AsRock than a B85M-Pro4.

 

Orpheus123 ----  Double check that the NIC on these boards are supported in unRAID.  I seem to recall that people have had problems with Atheros NIC's.

[Orpheus123]

Orpheus123 ----  Double check that the NIC on these boards are supported in unRAID.  I seem to recall that people have had problems with Atheros NIC's.

 

Thanks for catching this.  It is hard to tell from Hardware Compatibility page whether Atheros is supported or not, but I found this recent thread where a user reports the Atheros AR8171 on the ASRock B85M does not work with unRAID.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31333.0

 

If I rule out motherboards with Atheros, that leaves:

ASRock B85M-Pro4

Gigabyte GA-B85M-HD3

Asus B85M-G

 

[garycase]

Good catch.  Given that, I'd either use the AsRock B85M-Pro4 or the slightly more costly Asus H87M that I initially suggested (a decidedly better board than the lower-cost units).

 

[Orpheus123]

Good catch.  Given that, I'd either use the AsRock B85M-Pro4 or the slightly more costly Asus H87M that I initially suggested (a decidedly better board than the lower-cost units).

 

Thanks for the help.  In terms of chipset features, I googled a bit about B85 vs. H87.  Other than 6 SATA 3 ports with H87 (vs. 4 SATA 3 and 2 SATA 2 with B85) I didn't see any differences that would be an advantage when running unRAID.  Did I miss anything important about H87?  Even with no extra features, I may likely get the Asus H87M just for quality reasons. 

 

In future, I might upgrade the G3220 an i5 when they become inexpensive but this seems fine with either board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[garycase]

Good catch.  Given that, I'd either use the AsRock B85M-Pro4 or the slightly more costly Asus H87M that I initially suggested (a decidedly better board than the lower-cost units).

 

Thanks for the help.  In terms of chipset features, I googled a bit about B85 vs. H87.  Other than 6 SATA 3 ports with H87 (vs. 4 SATA 3 and 2 SATA 2 with B85) I didn't see any differences that would be an advantage when running unRAID.  Did I miss anything important about H87?  Even with no extra features, I may likely get the Asus H87M just for quality reasons. 

 

In future, I might upgrade the G3220 an i5 when they become inexpensive but this seems fine with either board.

 

As I noted earlier, for running UnRAID it doesn't matter.  I like the H87 for its higher bus bandwidth capabilities (thus more USB3 and SATA3 ports), and I specifically like the Asus board I suggested for its very high reliability superb power regulation, and built-in surge protection features.  It's simply a very reliable, high-quality board.

[Orpheus123]

Thanks.  I went ahead and bought the Asus H87m-e and the G3220.  I installed it last night and unRAID seems to run well.  However, the syslog had several Machine Check Errors like this today:

 

Mar 31 06:55:50 helios kernel: mdcmd (35): spindown 0 (Routine)

Mar 31 06:55:50 helios kernel: mdcmd (36): spindown 1 (Routine)

Mar 31 07:25:51 helios kernel: mdcmd (37): spindown 0 (Routine)

Mar 31 07:25:51 helios kernel: mdcmd (38): spindown 1 (Routine)

Mar 31 07:27:42 helios kernel: mce: [Hardware Error]: Machine check events logged (Errors)

Mar 31 07:33:34 helios kernel: mce: [Hardware Error]: Machine check events logged (Errors)

 

Should I be concerned?  I found this thread:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=32314.0 which suggests it is a problem with the unRAID 5.05 kernel, but it would be good to get confirmation.  I have a very short time in which I can RMA the motherboard or CPU.

 

 

[garycase]

Check the BIOS version -- if it's not the most current (v904), update it.  Note there's a BIOS Updater tool on Asus's website that they recommend you use for updating with 4th Gen CPU's.

 

 

[Orpheus123]

Just checked.  The motherboard was running v904 bios.  I will run memtest overnight to make sure the memory is ok. 

 

 

 

 

[darkside40]

I also had a look at several LGA1150 Boards, because my Gigabyte Board simply draws more power than needed. If you want an efficient board the Asrock B85 Series would be the one. If there would not be the problem with the Nic. Seems that it is not supported by unRaid, and  from what i have read, in the latest versions of the Atheros drivers WOL does not work because of some nasty bug.

 

That makes that boards useless for me. Adding another Nic would be no solutions for me, because that would break the excellent energy efficiency.

So i stay with my Gigabyte Board for now.

[fitnessfun]

I'm trying to buy a 1150 but don't know which brand to go for. Are any on here good? http://www.squidoo.com/best-gaming-motherboards

[bkastner]

I'm trying to buy a 1150 but don't know which brand to go for. Are any on here good? http://www.squidoo.com/best-gaming-motherboards

 

If you are looking for UnRAID, I wouldn't necessarily consider gaming boards - they are likely much higher end than you need.

 

Over the last couple of months I've always recommended ASrock or SuperMicro - because they support the virtualization options for Xen that UnRAID 6.0 users may want in the future. Now with Docker this is less of an issue.

 

Realistically most motherboards will do you fine - just double check the NIC on these forums to make sure there are no issues. If you read back through this thread you will see some recommended MBs and why.

[fido666]

Not to hijack the thread but rather than start a new one are there any mini-ITX boards with 6+ SATA ports known to work with UnRAID?

[garycase]

Not to hijack the thread but rather than start a new one are there any mini-ITX boards with 6+ SATA ports known to work with UnRAID?

 

Sure.  This works very nicely and has 6 SATA ports:

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-H87I-PLUS-1150-Intel-Motherboard/dp/B00CXIY468