MoBo advice please

[bamford]

So i decided to take the plunge and build a new pc. It's primary use is going to be gaming. Having read around i've found it pretty easy to decide on things like the graphics card and processor but i just cant get my head around which motherboards are the 'best', or more specifically what features define a good motherboard. Since ive seen boards from the same manufacturer, one twice the price of the other and I dont understand the differences. So far i've decided on (but not yet actually purchased) an i5 3570k cpu, Radeon HD 7850 gfx and corsair vengeance 8gb DDR3 RAM using my budget and various reviews/ feedback. I'll also get an SSD but haven't looked into those really.

Is buying the motherboard simply a case of if it all fits jobs a good un? Or should i look for certain other features.

 

[akxpckwb]

Well it depends on what you want/need really. Since you're buying a ''K'' CPU then I assume you will overclock. In that case you need a motherboard that allows you to overclock (that would mean one using one of these chipsets: P67,Z68,Z77).

Then there's Crossfire/SLI. Not all motherboards support it but the ones using one of the chipsets mentioned above will allow it.
Other stuff that make motherboards more/less expensive is the number of USB ports, PCI-E lanes and other technologies, even size will have an influence on price not to mention brands.

So you should first make a list of what you want/need and then look for motherboards