Question on motherboards

Hey guys, I'm a total noob and planning on building a gaming PC this summer.

So far I've purchased:

• Case: Corsair 500R ATX mid tower
• Power supply: Corasir CX500
• Optical drive: Lite-on DVD drive

The rest of it will depend on how much money I'm able to save; it will be a budget build. CPU I'm thinking i3-2100 (hopefully) or else Pentium G860. 8 GB memory, Seagate 1 TB drive, some sort of wireless internet adapter, Windows 7, and for a GPU hopefully an HD 7850 from one of the manufacturers.

What's got me confused is the motherboard. I'm currently thinking of an ASRock H61M-DGS micro ATX LGA1155. Like I say I'm a total noob and this one is inexpensive ($45) and seems compatible with my other component choices according to PC Parts Picker. Though the case has USB 3.0 and the motherboard is 2.0, but the case came with an adapter cable and I don't think it really matters for gaming - does it?

I have no idea if one motherboard will increase my gaming performance vs. another, or what features to look for or anything. Will that ASRock motherboard I mentioned be a good choice to start with? Or is it a completely idiotic choice? If so what should I get instead? Preferably not over $100.

I'm not really planning on overclocking the CPU, just because I don't know how. I'll be playing on a 32" 720p TV so I don't think I'll need the last few percentage points of performance. Games I play are RPG's (Skyrim etc.), racing sim's and action/adventure stuff. Don't care about Battlefield 3 or Crysis etc.

Thanks for any advice :)

With motherboards, features are a big issue. The more, the better. What expansion slots does it have? What ports are on the back panel? Examine everything. Most importantly, do your research about the chipset (northbridge and southbridge) since they control it all.

Thanks for the advice guys, maybe I'll look at my first pick as the budget solution and if I get a bit more money go for an ASRock Z77 Pro 3 or something in that price range.

I ended up ordering an MSI Z87-G45 to go with my new i5-4670K - should be here Tuesday :D

Got the MSI because it seems like it will be about the same performance-wise as most other motherboards, it's a reputable manufacturer, it's got plenty of PCIe X1 slots for my wireless network card and possibly a TV tuner card in the future, and it's got both coaxial and optical digital audio outputs, which I need for hooking it up to my stereo receiver.  I also don't know anything about overclocking and from the reviews I've read, the OC Genie feature on the MSI boards actually works pretty well, providing a somewhat mild overclock - decent boost in performance without pushing anything too far.  And it's a gorgeous board too lol.

That mobo hasnt got any USB 3.0 internal headers so the USB 3.0 connections on the case wont work. Nothing to be worried about as its a $45 board, you cant expect the world for that price :P That board and CPU would be fine for 720p gaming. Throw in a Nvidia GTS 550 as they are really cheap used now and your golden.clyde46

He can always buy a USB 3.0 expansion card, either PCI or PCI-E 1x.