- Jan 20, 2013
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**This post exists in an alternate form in another thread that was about motherboards, generally, but in order to get some more varied perspectives I figured I'd re-post with a title geared specifically toward chipsets**
I'm in the process of researching the various components that will go into my first build—a gaming PC.
- I'm working on a budget of about $1000 (hopefully less) before monitor and peripherals.
- want to use the system for fairly high-end gaming. Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite, and Witcher 3 are among my list of future game purchases. 1080p (and perhaps even a tiny bit higher) will be my preferred resolution.
- I am looking at buying a Radeon HD 7800 series or 7900 series video card. As it happens, those cards have a promo on right now for some free games with purchase, so I might just splurge and cut my losses.
- I don't think I need SLI or Crossfire, but I wouldn't mind if I had it. My thinking is that my usage will tolerate a single high-quality video card just fine, and if I decide I really want SLI or Crossfire, I can include them in a future build.
- I don't intend to overclock (at least not for a few years).
- 8GB of DDR3 1600 RAM should be plenty.
Now, on to my actual question! I'm trying to choose a motherboard, and I'm a bit intimidated by how much there is out there. As such, I've been doing a lot of reading, posting in other forums, etc. Long story short:
I've been hearing a lot about the Z77 chipset and how it's the best chipset for gamers, but after looking at and comparing all the available LGA 1155 chipsets I really can't see any significant difference between 4: the Z77, the Z75, the Z68, and the H77 (comparison from Intel here: ark.intel.com/compare/64024,64021,52816,64018). Can anyone offer any insight on whether or not any of these chipsets stand out as superior or inferior to the rest? All four of them are compatible with overclocking, I think, so that shouldn't be an issue down the road.
I'm in the process of researching the various components that will go into my first build—a gaming PC.
- I'm working on a budget of about $1000 (hopefully less) before monitor and peripherals.
- want to use the system for fairly high-end gaming. Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite, and Witcher 3 are among my list of future game purchases. 1080p (and perhaps even a tiny bit higher) will be my preferred resolution.
- I am looking at buying a Radeon HD 7800 series or 7900 series video card. As it happens, those cards have a promo on right now for some free games with purchase, so I might just splurge and cut my losses.
- I don't think I need SLI or Crossfire, but I wouldn't mind if I had it. My thinking is that my usage will tolerate a single high-quality video card just fine, and if I decide I really want SLI or Crossfire, I can include them in a future build.
- I don't intend to overclock (at least not for a few years).
- 8GB of DDR3 1600 RAM should be plenty.
Now, on to my actual question! I'm trying to choose a motherboard, and I'm a bit intimidated by how much there is out there. As such, I've been doing a lot of reading, posting in other forums, etc. Long story short:
I've been hearing a lot about the Z77 chipset and how it's the best chipset for gamers, but after looking at and comparing all the available LGA 1155 chipsets I really can't see any significant difference between 4: the Z77, the Z75, the Z68, and the H77 (comparison from Intel here: ark.intel.com/compare/64024,64021,52816,64018). Can anyone offer any insight on whether or not any of these chipsets stand out as superior or inferior to the rest? All four of them are compatible with overclocking, I think, so that shouldn't be an issue down the road.
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