Thinking about buying the GA-Z97X-GAMING 7

[luisma96]

Hi, I'm putting together a new system with the core i7 4770K, and I was just going to buy the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H, but I saw the release of the new 9 series boards and the new features. I've seen some people trying this board and I'd like to hear your opinion on this one guys (in special the faster ssds that now comes with this 9 mobos).


Thank you very much, this is such an awesome community .

 

[Adrian B]

This board is able to use either M2 Sata Express or two Sata 3 ports as an option. I am not aware of anyone as yet trying either the Sata Express or M2 option on this board. Most people at this point are using a Sata 3 SSD for the installation.

You can get further information from the Gigabyte website on the M2 drives tested with this board. The instruction manual can be downloaded and may help yield some information but it is probably going to need someone to try a Sata Express or M2 drive to see how it works with OS X.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4959#manual

 

[luisma96]

This board is able to use either M2 Sata Express or two Sata 3 ports as an option. I am not aware of anyone as yet trying either the Sata Express or M2 option on this board. Most people at this point are using a Sata 3 SSD for the installation.

You can get further information from the Gigabyte website on the M2 drives tested with this board. The instruction manual can be downloaded and may help yield some information but it is probably going to need someone to try a Sata Express or M2 drive to see how it works with OS X.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4959#manual

And what about he installation process and getting it to work? For the absolute ton of research that I've been doing it seems that z87 continuous to be way easier than z97.


Thank you very much for your reply Sir.

 

[spballer]

Just waiting on my memory to come in and I'll be attempting a z97 build (GA-Z97x-GAMING-GT), should be putting it together sometime next week.

There were a few recent "success" builds with z97 MB's in the user builds section, but they were moderated before I could get a look at them... however, with the boards being in the buyers guide and those threads being posted at all with "success" in the title, I'm feeling pretty good about it

 

[Adrian B]

And what about he installation process and getting it to work? For the absolute ton of research that I've been doing it seems that z87 continuous to be way easier than z97.

The biggest challenge to date is the lack of Z87 boards available and Apple not yet having H/Z87 support in Yosemite. Using the HD4600 graphics is a big challenge. We hope to see 10.10.1 fixing this issue, but Apple need to do this. If you have an inexpensive GT610 or similar that you can use in the short term then installation is easier.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/basics/116220-do-i-need-graphicsenabler-injection-not.html

 

[luisma96]

The biggest challenge to date is the lack of Z87 boards available and Apple not yet having H/Z87 support in Yosemite. Using the HD4600 graphics is a big challenge. We hope to see 10.10.1 fixing this issue, but Apple need to do this. If you have an inexpensive GT610 or similar that you can use in the short term then installation is easier.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/basics/116220-do-i-need-graphicsenabler-injection-not.html

I'm actually using the 4790k because it's near the same price than the 4770k but better and I will use a gt 630; given the situation that I use a z87 board (let's say the Z87X-UD4H) do you think Yosemite installation would be much of a hassle?

Thanks for all the answers to my questions.

 

[Adrian B]

I'm actually using the 4790k because it's near the same price than the 4770k but better and I will use a gt 630; given the situation that I use a z87 board (let's say the Z87X-UD4H) do you think Yosemite installation would be much of a hassle?

Thanks for all the answers to my questions.

If you are using a 4790K processor (its an option on the 5k resolution iMac) with a Z87 motherboard then it is vital that the motherboard has the correct UEFI/BIOS version to support the CPU. In the case of a Z87X-UD4H then you would need to have F9 for the CPU to be recognised. You will not even get into the UEFI/BIOS if your board is on F8
http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=4488

If this happens then you could do a UEFI/BIOS update using a cheap Haswell Celeron or pentium processor like a G1820 or G1830 before then installing the i7-4790K.

My advice is to go with a matching Z97 board if you have not already purchased the board. The issue at present with the Z97 hardware and onboard Haswell refresh HD4600 graphics is that Yosemite 10.10 does not have support built in. This will likely be rectified when the 10.10.1 update becomes available (probably a week or two before Christmas)

I would use a simple GT610 GPU for installation (need to use GraphicsEnabler=Yes) for this card. It is fine for desktop non graphics work in the short term and will support one or two digital displays at up to 1920x1200 resolution. If you need higher resolution then skip the GT630 and get your self a GT640 or GT740 card - far more powerful and a better option if 10.10.1 does not turn out to have support for the latest HD4600