Need a new motherboard for my system...

[hexagonalbolts]

Hello!

Please suggest a motherboard and give me your reasoning:

I'm getting a i5 2500k and thus need a new motherboard (and RAM). I will be using it for gaming, I will be overclocking the CPU, it must have SPDIF and preferably high audio quality. Budget is £80 to £150.

The problem is that I struggle to distinguish between different motherboards, I find it very hard to know why I should go for an £150 one over an £80 one so please help me out there.

Here's the rest of my setup:

MSI 6950 2GB OC
1TB HDD
CM690 (might buy something else)
Corsair HX Series 520W Modular PSU (Three years old - is this powerful enough?)
Windows 7 x64
Blu-ray drive & DVD drive
1920x1080 27" LG

I'm tempted to get a Corsair H60 for the cooling and I need to buy 8GB of RAM, I'm open to suggestions on that too.

 

[o1die]

This asus board should work fine: Asus p8p67 version 3.0 for 149.99 at newegg. For ram, get gskill 1333 or 1600 ripjaws which I use. The 1600 is about twenty dollars more, but you won't notice the performance difference.

 

[hexagonalbolts]

This asus board should work fine: Asus p8p67 version 3.0 for 149.99 at newegg. For ram, get two sets of these if you can order from newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311. The 1600 is about twenty dollars more, but you won't notice the performance difference.

Sorry o1die, I live in the UK so it would be cheaper for me to buy stuff here. Also I've read people saying that it's better to get a p68 board nowadays...? Not that I know why...

 

[o1die]

x68 boards have had more issues lately, but if you're experienced with bios settings, then get one of those. My reference to newegg is for general price only, but my links sometimes don't work.

 

[hexagonalbolts]

x68 boards have had more issues lately, but if you're experienced with bios settings, then get one of those. My reference to newegg is for general price only, but my links sometimes don't work.

I have a small amount of experience with bios settings, overclocked a processor and changed RAM timings a couple of times. Can you (or indeed anyone) recommend an x68 board and point out the faults I'd need to work around?

 

[o1die]

I recommend a biostar brand z68. Biostar has better default settings than asus or asrock. Lots of posts from folks with ram issues with these brands. Asus makes good products, but sometimes their bios default settings cause ram issues. If you get asus, go by their ram qvl listing.

 

[hexagonalbolts]

Can you point to any strong reviews...? Does anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[o1die]

Both anandtech and tom's hardware guide have reviews, but my links don't work. If you don't need or use all these features, I recommend a cheaper z68 board by asrock or biostar