Looking for a motherboard for i5 processor

[khoiboi]

Hi, i just bought an i5 and im not really sure what are the good motherboards out there that are under 130$.
i don't do much with the computer, just a little bit gamming and general uses.
can someone help me?
thanks : )

 

[Shubby]

You could go with a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3. It's under $140 rather than $130 but I think it'll serve you well, supports SATA 6 Gbps and USB 3.0 and is from a good manufacturer.
If you don't care about SATA 6 Gbps and/or USB 3.0, you could get a Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 instead. It's a smaller motherboard but should totally suffice considering your needs.
Somewhere in-between those two motherboards, you could also look at the Asus P7P55D LE but since it's just a few bucks cheaper than the GA-P55A-UD3, I don't think it's worth getting over the GA-P55A-UD3.

 

[khoiboi]

Thanks, looks like ill get getting the UD2.
Another question please, can you compare these two rams:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303&cm_re=g.skill_ddr3_1600_4gb-_-20-231-303-_-Product

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

Thanks.

 

[Shubby]

Either ought to work honestly.
If the choice were mine I'd get the G.Skill kit simply because of its lower CAS latency. Plus it's cheaper.

 

[RetiredChief]

Refer P55A w/sata6 & USB3 support. Almost bought it, Got the P55-UD4P instead and am happy with it (Sligthly over $130 price point).
P55A sounded good until I read the small print. If you enable Sata6 and USB3 support you loose the second pci-e slot and you down grade the first pci-e slot from X16 to X 8.

 

[killerxx9]

Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM

Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard


i need help to lol im about to buy core i5 will the mother board fit it my atx case ?

 

[Shubby]

The GA-P55-UD3R is an ATX motherboard, so it will fit any ATX case.
Be mindful that other things you may have attached to your motherboard, such as a large video card or CPU fan, may on the other hand not fit your ATX case if it is a little cramped. ATX motherboard with ATX case simply tells you that the former will fit in the latter, but nothing more.

 

[exm]

Refer P55A w/sata6 & USB3 support. Almost bought it, Got the P55-UD4P instead and am happy with it (Sligthly over $130 price point).
P55A sounded good until I read the small print. If you enable Sata6 and USB3 support you loose the second pci-e slot and you down grade the first pci-e slot from X16 to X 8.

Multiple tests have revealed that the difference between X16 and X8 is minor, for example:

AMD Radeon HD 5870 PCI-Express Scaling

"What an interesting mix of results! Let's begin our inference of the results by saying that for the Radeon HD 5870, the PCI-Express 2.0 x16 is the broadway it can fit all its four wheels on, and try some road stunts, while it's at it. PCI-Express 2.0 x8 performance, which is perhaps the most crucial set of figures in this review, holds relevance to most people looking to pair two of these cards on mid-range motherboards or one of these cards on an x16 1.x motherboard. It holds even more relevance to users and potential-users of most socket LGA-1156 motherboards, as this is where 16 lanes from the processor's on-die PCI-E switch are split into two 8 lane links. Surprising as it seems, the Radeon HD 5870 is comfortable, with a mere 2% performance drop overall. PCI-Express 2.0 x4 is where the Radeon HD 5870's discomfort is slightly notable, with a 5% drop, and even more surprisingly, on PCI-Express 2.0 x1, big as it seems, the performance drop is "only" 25% overall. Considering that you rob the card most of its data transfer potential, leaving only a 1/16th of the optimum bandwidth, it is still impressive that it can deliver 75% of its performance.

Different applications respond differently to the drop in interface bandwidth, and hence you could do with a closer look at the results for each application. Games with lighter texture, shader, and instruction data don't particularly need all 16 lanes, and evidently, in games such as Quake 4, you're able see the accelerator comfortable with even PCI-Express 2.0 x4. Video memory-intensive games will show bigger performance margins. Besides applications, the other important factor is the resolution at which they are being run. At higher resolutions, it pays to have higher interface bandwidth, as it's usually high-resolution textures the GPU is dealing with. Although small, the gaps widen with increase in resolution. However, it is important to realize that even at 1024x768 some applications will see serious differences in performance caused by PCI-Express bandwidth.

Our bottom-line on this subject is that there is every reason to be optimistic when opting for two of these accelerators on motherboards with two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8) slots, because the performance penalty between that and PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x16) is just too small. Unless you're the quintessential enthusiast and every frame per second increase matters to you, there is no reason to worry about a performance drop on mid-range motherboards, although this is only one of the factors, a main one at that, to contribute to the performance drop. Some motherboard manufacturers are offering a third PCI-Express x16 slot that is electrically x4. The results show that the performance drop isn't as bad as one would imagine, so we will green-signal installing a third accelerator for some 3-way ATI CrossfireX action, or 2-way CrossfireX on entry-level Intel P55 motherboards with the second x16 slot electrically x4 (running in 1.0 mode). If you're crazy enough to mod a PCI-Express x1 slot (by carefully cutting its end to let it seat a PCI-Express graphics card), then the scores should really dishearten you. Buy one of these accelerators now, add one later, and you will have secured yourself future-proofing. "

 

[vinay_venturas]

Before you buy the board confirm that the socket is not manufactured by foxconn.

 

[Techno-boy]

I would recommend you ASUS P7P55D-E PRO with onboard SATA 3 and USB 3.0 support.

Please note that Gigabyte GA-P55A series motherboards are having problem with PCIe being bottleneck down to x8 mode by USB 3.0 and SATA 3. Once you enable USB 3.0 and SATA 3 features, PCIe would be bottleneck and 1 PCIe would be disabled so you cannot do Crossfire/SLI.

 

[RetiredChief]

response to esm
Understand diff between 8x vs 16x(exceptable small performance decrease), BUT to totally disable 2nd pci-e slot is unacceptable!!. If USB3/sata6 is important - get a board that supports it without degrading other components.

 

[exm]

response to esm
Understand diff between 8x vs 16x(exceptable small performance decrease), BUT to totally disable 2nd pci-e slot is unacceptable!!. If USB3/sata6 is important - get a board that supports it without degrading other components.

I don't think/know that current boards can get around this limitation. I bought the P55A-UD4P and am planning (if I can find one) to buy a XGX 5850 which is sufficient (so no SLI for me) and I would like to be futureproof without add-on cards, but it's good to realize this limitation if it's important...