My first build - Sandy Bridge - which motherboard to choose?

[junaid96]

Hey,

Basically, I'm currently drawing up a spec list for my first build. It's going to be Sandy Bridge, with i5-2500K CPU, but I'm stuck as to how to choose a motherboard

I want to have 1600Mhz RAM, which I realise not many boards support without OC, and I will be running a 6850/6870 GPU, which I'm hoping to upgrade to Crossfire in the future (so I need a couple of PCIe x16 running @ > x8)

My budget for the entire build is about £800, including the monitor etc, so I'm guessing I'll spend £100-120 on a mobo.

So far I've found what I think are a couple of pretty decent motherboards:

Asrock P67 EXTREME4 V3 1155 Socket 7.1 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/261255

Gigabyte GA-P67X-UD3 P67 Socket 1155 7.1 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/265918


What do you guys think? Which of these should I go for, or are there any other better motherboards for a similar price?
Also, is £100-120 an ok budget for a motherboard if I am going to spend £800 on the whole build?

Thanks in advance ,

Junaid

P.S. *PLEASE* nobody start lecturing me about not having used a specific format for my post...

 

[jaquith]

P.S. *PLEASE* nobody start lecturing me about not having used a specific format for my post...

Huh?!

Either is fine, and I can't think of a P67/Z68 MOBO, maybe Intel, that doesn't support DDR3 1600 or requires an OC.

For gaming and in your approximate price range, I'm in USA, here are a few side-by-side http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&CompareItemList=280|13-130-574^13-130-574-TS%2C13-157-229^13-157-229-TS%2C13-128-478^13-128-478-TS%2C13-130-582^13-130-582-TS%2C13-130-573^13-130-573-TS From that list I like the MSI P67A-GD55 (B3) for it price and specs.

There's no native x16/x16 for the LGA 1155 Sandy Bridge. There are a few P67/Z68 with the NF200 that are very expensive but the NF200 adds latency and the NF200 is really meant for 3-WAY. Meaning the x8/x8 on a mid-level GPU such as either the HD 6850 or HD 6870 will have little to no FPS loss.

edit: $121.72 VAT MSI MSI P67A-GD55 (B3) http://www.ebuyer.com/product/261289

 

[junaid96]

Hi jaquith, thanks for the quick reply

Junaid96 wrote :

P.S. *PLEASE* nobody start lecturing me about not having used a specific format for my post...

Huh?!

Lol, I just hate it when people get all smart and say things like "you asked too many questions in one thread/why didn't you search for other threads/how dare you post twice in a minute/etc."

I can't think of a P67/Z68 MOBO, maybe Intel, that doesn't support DDR3 1600 or requires an OC.

On the comparison thing you linked to (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 130-573-TS) some motherboards don't seem to support 1600mhz RAM without OC - for example one motherboard says "DDR3 1066/1333/1600*/2133*(OC)" This is the same with the MSI board you linked to. What does this mean?

There's no native x16/x16 for the LGA 1155 Sandy Bridge.

What I meant was physical x16 size, but with an actual speed of at least x8, for example this motherboard:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/265918 - it says:
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 ( x16 mode ) ¦ 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 ( x8 mode )

What do you think of the motherboards I came up with in my OP?

 

[jaquith]

I've seen people write a 'book' and 'dump' CPU-z etc, you are very concise

The '1600*' means with some Sandy Bridge, example Pentium Gxxxx, CPUs DDR3 1600 might need to run at 1333 MHz. The i5-2600K has no such a problem and can easily run DDR3 2133 and even with DDR3 2133 it doesn't always require to to OC the CPU.

1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 ( x16 mode ) ¦ 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 ( x8 mode )
The first {x16} PCIe runs at x16 when the second {x8} PCIe is empty, but when the second PCIe is filled e.g. SLI/CF or any PCIe Card BOTH run at x8 -- the first {x16} PCIe switches to x8. The are a Total of 16 PCIe lanes to the GPU to 'share'.

Examples:
PCIe 1 = x16 {filled}
PCIe 2 = x0 {empty}

PCIe 1 = x8 {filled}
PCIe 2 = x8 {filled}

edit: oopsy forgot - the ASRock P67 EXTREME4 - it's fine, it's on the side-by-side and I had the link for sometime before your post

 

[junaid96]

Coolio, that clears everything up

Now just one thing left:

Spoiler

Thank you Jaquith

 

[jaquith]

Enjoy!

Spoiler

You're Welcome! hmm never tried the spoiler.