Whats the difference!

[majorgibly]

Hello there people,

Well for the past few month I have been wanting to upgrade Motherboard and CPU and move to an Intel Based system mainly because sometimes my current PC won't boot. I think it's because it needs a new BIOS update but don't know how to do it so easier just to move onto an Intel Based system and be done with it. (Pc is mainly used for Video Editing and gaming skyrim so call of duty and games such as this.)

Current Specs
AMD Phenom II 1055t 2.8GHz
ASUS M4N75TD
Noctua nh-d14
8GB DDR3 1600MHz
GTX 460 Sonic Platinum
Corsair 750w



Moving to;

i5 2500k / i7 2600k (Depends on the money situation since I could save money on the motherboard which is why I'm here)

Asus P8P67 PRO REV 3.1 Motherboard (Socket 1155, ATX, DDR3, Quad USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s Support) £120

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-P8P67-PRO-REV-3-1/dp/B004ZIFWBK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1324869242&sr=8-2

Or do I get


Asus P8Z68-V LE Motherboard (Socket 1155, Intel Z68, DDR3, ATX, GPU Boost) £106

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-P8Z68-V-Motherboard-Socket-Intel/dp/B005AR7BFU/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1324868713&sr=8-8

Then Rest of Specs
Noctua nh-d14
8GB DDR3 1600MHz
GTX 460 Sonic Platinum
Corsair 750w

Money saved may go towards a second GPU or even better an SSD...So what is the difference between the 2 and would it benefit me at all?

Cheers Cain

 

[tinmann]

The Z68 has more features than the older H67 and P67 Chipsets plus more, such as LucidLogix Virtu (switchable graphics/GPU virtualisation), Intel Quick Sync Video Technology (faster media transcoding) and Intel Smart Response Technology (SSD caching, or faster performance of SSDs. If you are thinking of the P8Z68 go with the Pro Version Gen 3. it has PCI-E 3.0.

 

[majorgibly]

The Z68 has more features than the older H67 and P67 Chipsets plus more, such as LucidLogix Virtu (switchable graphics/GPU virtualisation), Intel Quick Sync Video Technology (faster media transcoding) and Intel Smart Response Technology (SSD caching, or faster performance of SSDs. If you are thinking of the P8Z68 go with the Pro Version Gen 3. it has PCI-E 3.0.

So which one do you suggest for me? Is it worth the extra money or not?

 

[majorgibly]

The Z68 has more features than the older H67 and P67 Chipsets plus more, such as LucidLogix Virtu (switchable graphics/GPU virtualisation), Intel Quick Sync Video Technology (faster media transcoding) and Intel Smart Response Technology (SSD caching, or faster performance of SSDs. If you are thinking of the P8Z68 go with the Pro Version Gen 3. it has PCI-E 3.0.

Also the one you suggested is slightly over budget and would mean downgrading to a 2500k and miss out on the 2600k. I'm so confused right now lol

 

[a4mula]

LucidLogix Virtu gets mixed reviews at best and in most cases more hindrance than help.

Quick Sync and SRT on the other hand are both very nice features if you use them. If you do a ton of encoding then there's no doubt it's worth having. On the other hand if you want to setup a smaller SSD to use as a system cache SRT allows it. If neither of the options are things you'd use however than Z68 really offers no advantage over P67 and the choice should come down to which board supports the most features you're looking for. Prices between the boards are usually separated by about $10 bucks, so it's not a huge deal one way or the other.

Stepping down to the i5-2500k isn't necessarily a bad thing. If your primary pc use is gaming, there is very little benefit hyper threading offers. $100 is a pretty big jump for 4 virtual cores that are only going to be beneficial in a handful of programs.

 

[majorgibly]

LucidLogix Virtu gets mixed reviews at best and in most cases more hindrance than help.

Quick Sync and SRT on the other hand are both very nice features if you use them. If you do a ton of encoding then there's no doubt it's worth having. On the other hand if you want to setup a smaller SSD to use as a system cache SRT allows it. If neither of the options are things you'd use however than Z68 really offers no advantage over P67 and the choice should come down to which board supports the most features you're looking for. Prices between the boards are usually separated by about $10 bucks, so it's not a huge deal one way or the other.

Stepping down to the i5-2500k isn't necessarily a bad thing. If your primary pc use is gaming, there is very little benefit hyper threading offers. $100 is a pretty big jump for 4 virtual cores that are only going to be beneficial in a handful of programs.

I will go with the more expensive one then. Someone told me about heat and something about phases. What does this mean, 1 - 4 or something can't really remember you might know

 

[a4mula]

I will go with the more expensive one then. Someone told me about heat and something about phases. What does this mean, 1 - 4 or something can't really remember you might know

I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to. If by heat you're referring to the Hyperthreading on the 2600k, then yes there is some overhead with it which can limit your overclocks, but it's not a huge hindrance. On my i7-860 the difference was less than 200mhz between overclock with and without it.

If you're talking about VRMs, they are the part of the motherboard that feeds the cpu with the power required to operate. In the past, and to a certain point today the phase count was a good indicator of how well a motherboard would perform as you increased the voltage (thus increasing stable overclocking speeds) to your processor. I'm not really in a position to say what would be considered an 'acceptable' phase count. This is an area that starts to get a lot more technical than my limited knowledge of electrical engineering allows. I do know that there has been very little overclocking differences in 1155 regardless of the motherboard used. I could not say if that means that over the course of time all boards that allow to you to overclock to these similar speeds will be equally as reliable.

 

[RetiredChief]

(1) Number of phases. Up to some point increasing the "Phases" improves the "Quality" of the output voltage to the CPU. Note: this is not related so much to voltage as it is to the Current being drawn by the cpu. The higher the load the greater the ripple - this ripple is what is ofsett by increasing the number of phases suppling power. More importain in OCed systems.

One advantage that I like about the Z-series MBs is that the "new" system can be built with out the Dedicated GPU. Just verify that the MB doesin fact have HDMI out connector - Not all Z68 MBs do. If the system does not post out-of-the-gate, then you have already eliminate4d the GPU. Also down stream if the GPU fgails you can still use the system on the IGP until the GPU is replaced.

 

[majorgibly]

(1) Number of phases. Up to some point increasing the "Phases" improves the "Quality" of the output voltage to the CPU. Note: this is not related so much to voltage as it is to the Current being drawn by the cpu. The higher the load the greater the ripple - this ripple is what is ofsett by increasing the number of phases suppling power. More importain in OCed systems.

One advantage that I like about the Z-series MBs is that the "new" system can be built with out the Dedicated GPU. Just verify that the MB doesin fact have HDMI out connector - Not all Z68 MBs do. If the system does not post out-of-the-gate, then you have already eliminate4d the GPU. Also down stream if the GPU fgails you can still use the system on the IGP until the GPU is replaced.

Okay so I have to motherboard at the top, which one is better on the phases. Still slightly confusing lol.

 

[majorgibly]

I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to. If by heat you're referring to the Hyperthreading on the 2600k, then yes there is some overhead with it which can limit your overclocks, but it's not a huge hindrance. On my i7-860 the difference was less than 200mhz between overclock with and without it.

If you're talking about VRMs, they are the part of the motherboard that feeds the cpu with the power required to operate. In the past, and to a certain point today the phase count was a good indicator of how well a motherboard would perform as you increased the voltage (thus increasing stable overclocking speeds) to your processor. I'm not really in a position to say what would be considered an 'acceptable' phase count. This is an area that starts to get a lot more technical than my limited knowledge of electrical engineering allows. I do know that there has been very little overclocking differences in 1155 regardless of the motherboard used. I could not say if that means that over the course of time all boards that allow to you to overclock to these similar speeds will be equally as reliable.

Yeah it's the phases on the motherboard I was referring to but thanks for you help ;0)

 

[RetiredChief]

While you are in the UK, you can always us newegg to get a better feel on which to buy.
1) for examle, a side=by-side comparision: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001315%20600093976%20600008069&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280%7C13-131-773%5E13-131-773-TS%2C13-131-771R%5E13-131-771-Z01

2) Look ar what people are saying about the specific MB.

3) On phases- Only important if shooting for a high end OC, ie above 4.6 GHz

 

[majorgibly]

While you are in the UK, you can always us newegg to get a better feel on which to buy.
1) for examle, a side=by-side comparision: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001315%20600093976%20600008069&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280%7C13-131-773%5E13-131-773-TS%2C13-131-771R%5E13-131-771-Z01

2) Look ar what people are saying about the specific MB.

3) On phases- Only important if shooting for a high end OC, ie above 4.6 GHz

Thanks for the information, however the only real difference I would see was 2 (x16, x4) 3 (x16/0 or x8/x8, x4) but what does this mean?

 

[RetiredChief]

If you plan on running 2Graphics cards in SLI or crossfire you will have to have at least x8,x8 . My self although I'veno plans on xfire to GPU, who knows about a yr or 2 down stream.

Sata III (6) is only important if planning on getting a SATA III SSD. I know, ther are sata III HDD - Bu the only benifit sata III offers is in burst speed. So two should be OK. Myself I prefer a min of 4 sata II and 2 Sata III ports (mine also has 2 extra sata III using a Marvel controller (DON'T put Sata III SSDs on the marvel controller, use the Intel sata III ports for SSDs

 

[majorgibly]

If you plan on running 2Graphics cards in SLI or crossfire you will have to have at least x8,x8 . My self although I'veno plans on xfire to GPU, who knows about a yr or 2 down stream.

Sata III (6) is only important if planning on getting a SATA III SSD. I know, ther are sata III HDD - Bu the only benifit sata III offers is in burst speed. So two should be OK. Myself I prefer a min of 4 sata II and 2 Sata III ports (mine also has 2 extra sata III using a Marvel controller (DON'T put Sata III SSDs on the marvel controller, use the Intel sata III ports for SSDs

So to GTX 460's in SLI and 1 SSD and 2 HDD's would be fine with both motherboard? Correct or am I missing a point here.

 

[RetiredChief]

The ASUS P8Z68-V LE would NOT do SLI/Xfire as it has a X16/X4 slots. need X8, X8.

Might look at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
added to compare list: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600093976%20600158412%204017&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280%7C13-131-773%5E13-131-773-TS%2C13-131-771R%5E13-131-771-Z01%2C13-157-271%5E13-157-271-TS

all should be OK for Sata ports.
Put the 2 HDDs and DVD drive on sata 2 and stick the SSD on SATA 3.
Can stick one of the HDDs on Sata III. You have 6 slots and with 2 HHDs, 1 DVD drive, and one SSD that would still leave 2 free ports.

 

[majorgibly]

The ASUS P8Z68-V LE would NOT do SLI/Xfire as it has a X16/X4 slots. need X8, X8.

Might look at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
added to compare list: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600093976%20600158412%204017&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280%7C13-131-773%5E13-131-773-TS%2C13-131-771R%5E13-131-771-Z01%2C13-157-271%5E13-157-271-TS

all should be OK for Sata ports.
Put the 2 HDDs and DVD drive on sata 2 and stick the SSD on SATA 3.
Can stick one of the HDDs on Sata III. You have 6 slots and with 2 HHDs, 1 DVD drive, and one SSD that would still leave 2 free ports.

May as well go with the one I was going with then. The more expensive one that will do SLI correct?