I'm upgrading from an i5-10400 to an i5-14600KF, which I found for about €221 in Germany, and I'd like to keep using my existing 32GB of DDR4 memory for now. I'm currently comparing the GIGABYTE B760 Gaming X DDR4 GEN5 at around €128 and the MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI DDR4 ATX at roughly €137. A Z690 or Z790 board would be preferable in theory, but they're outside my budget and seem overpriced locally. I'm not planning to spend much more than the prices above, especially since I may switch to DDR5 in a few years when it becomes more worthwhile. Are there any better-value DDR4 motherboards I should consider?
3 Answers
The Gigabyte B760 Gaming X DDR4 Gen5 is a solid choice and should handle the 14600KF without trouble. Just make sure you’re looking at the DDR4 version, since the similarly named DDR5 model is a different motherboard.
I’m using the same processor with a Gigabyte B760M Gaming X DDR4 Gen5, and everything has been working well. One thing to watch out for is memory compatibility. Some older G.Skill kits have caused boot problems, so it’s worth checking your Samsung kit if the system doesn’t start immediately.
A B660 or B760 board should be perfectly adequate for this build. Unless you specifically need CPU overclocking or additional features, a Z-series motherboard usually doesn’t provide much benefit anymore. The Gigabyte and MSI options you listed are both reasonable, and some cheaper alternatives include the Gigabyte B760M Gaming Plus WiFi DDR4 and ASUS Prime B760M-A WiFi D4.
My current kit is Samsung memory, though I’m not sure of the exact model and it isn’t anything special. I’d rather reuse it for now instead of buying new RAM, but I’ll keep compatibility in mind if I run into boot issues.