Best Micro-ATX board

[dignoe]

I currently have a hackintosh that's using the ASRock P55M Pro Micro-ATX motherboard. It doesn't really run the best... I get a lot of crashes when ripping blu-rays, have no audio, and went through 3 video cards just to get the thing to boot. So I'd like to upgrade a few components and turn this into my main machine (I use my 2009 MacBook Pro for everything but blu-ray ripping now).

So, what's the easiest to set up, and most compatible Micro-ATX board out there? I'm looking at the GIGABYTE GA-Q77M-D2H from the latest CustoMac post. Does this support pretty much everything out of the box? I'd like this machine to be powerful enough to do video editing but stable enough to run for weeks without crashing.

 

[miramar]

I currently have a hackintosh that's using the ASRock P55M Pro Micro-ATX motherboard. It doesn't really run the best... I get a lot of crashes when ripping blu-rays, have no audio, and went through 3 video cards just to get the thing to boot. So I'd like to upgrade a few components and turn this into my main machine (I use my 2009 MacBook Pro for everything but blu-ray ripping now).

So, what's the easiest to set up, and most compatible Micro-ATX board out there? I'm looking at the GIGABYTE GA-Q77M-D2H from the latest CustoMac post. Does this support pretty much everything out of the box? I'd like this machine to be powerful enough to do video editing but stable enough to run for weeks without crashing.

If you're looking for something cheap, the Gigabyte B75M boards are nice and cheap and very compatible.

 

[hacman]

What CPU :?

 

[dignoe]

@miramar, I read your build post last night and was considering a B75M board. It looks like that series is one of the easiest to set up around. My only reservation is with the no mute button for the audio. I was considering getting an audiophile quality USB DAC / headphone amp though, so that might not even end up being a problem.

@hacman, most likely a Intel Core i5-3570K. I am an entrepreneur / software developer and occasionally dable in photo and video editing, so I figured that this would give me enough power to handle those tasks when I need it and would be plenty for my day to day coding tasks.

I currently have the Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor in my machine with 4 GB of RAM. I'll take a look around for any easy to setup 1156 motherboards, as this could be immensely cheaper if I just replace the motherboard and double (or quadruple) my RAM. If anyone knows of a really stable 1156 board, don't hesitate to let me know!

 

[samisnake]

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/73558-z77-matx-motherboards-os-x.html

write up on z77 matx boards. these would be the 'best' matx boards, taking into account things on the z77 chipset like ability to overclock, sata ports etc

 

[dignoe]

Thanks samisnake, that's a great write-up! I guess all I need to do now is decide on a budget and go from there.

This community rocks. Thanks guys.

 

[thierry37]

I'm adding my vote for the GA-B75M boards, because easy and cheap. (if you don't plan to over clock, it's the best choice.)
Have a look there for some more builds: http://www.tonymacx86.com/general-hardware-discussion/73712-many-success-builds-ga-b75m-board.html

At beginning, I was not so happy about the mute button, but in the end, it's not big deal, I just keep the F11 pushed until minimum volume. It requires a fraction of second more than with mute.

 

[dignoe]

Alright, I think I'm going to go with the following:

*Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H
*Intel Core i5-3570k
*Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz
*SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB SATA 6.0
*Targus USB Bluetooth® Adapter

I already have:
*Rosewill R363-M-BK Black Ultra High Gloss Finished MicroATX Computer Case with 400W ATX 2.2 12V Power Supply
*LG W2453V-PF Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor
*BenQ 19" 4:3 monitor (DVI)
*Asus DVD-RW
*Sony Blu-ray
*Apple wired keyboard
*Apple magic mouse
*500gb SATA hard drive

Future purchases:
*Audiophile quality asynchronous USB DAC
*More RAM
*27" display?


I was looking at the MSI Z77MA-G45, but it's $35 more and it doesn't seem like I really need any of the advantages it has over the B75 board. I'm not a hard core gamer, so I don't need to overclock. Both boards seem to be able to support dual monitors with the HD4000 graphics in the processor. They both support all the normal sleep settings and speed step, and have expandability for a dedicated graphics card in the future. I figure that the $35 could double my memory or go towards a different blu-ray drive if my current one messes up the ability to sleep. The only thing I'd miss is the second SATA 6Gb/s port if I wanted to put in a second SSD as my data drive in the future, but would I even notice the difference while using Aperture? Anything I get wrong or that I'm missing?

 

[thierry37]

Both boards seem to be able to support dual monitors with the HD4000 graphics in the processor.

I'm running 2 monitors from the on board graphics. (DVI + HDMI with adapter) All is fine for me.

They both support all the normal sleep settings and speed step, and have expandability for a dedicated graphics card in the future.

I have the sleep working without any problem.

The only thing I'd miss is the second SATA 6Gb/s port if I wanted to put in a second SSD as my data drive in the future, but would I even notice the difference while using Aperture? Anything I get wrong or that I'm missing?

I also thought about this, when I started to search my components. In the end, I took this GA-B75M-D3H over the D3P, because I would not use a second SSD before long.
I don't know at this point if you would see a big difference in Aperture.
Maybe more on video editing with big files.
For me, it's my first SSD in 10 years of computer life. It's so crazy fast! compare to previous HDD.
I would honnestly not see a difference between the super fast SATA 3 and the super super fast SATA 6