Motherboard selection

[aditya_27]

guys i am going to get i5 and 6850

i will not be crossfiring or SLI
i will be overclocking

my pc wil be completely and only for games
no recording on fraps, nothing like that.

i have shortlisted following motherborads

1. ASrock B75
2. ASrock H61
3. ASrock z77

budget is not issue if it meets the requirement

and i will be playing
crysis 3, RE6, AC3, NFS RUN,COD, GTA IV & V,
on high and maybe ultra settings on 720p monitor.
At max 1024*768 resolution or a level higher

but i want smooth performance at these settings with this resolution

so please give me a motherboard!

any improvements will definitely be helpful to me

 

[inzone]

Well first off it's not the motherboard that will give you the ability to play any games on high or ultra, it's the video card and then the cpu. You said you were getting an i5 but is it Snady Bridge or Ivy Bridge? You also might want to consider a GTX 670 or 660Ti if your computer is strickly for gaming then you need to make it that way and not skimp on the video card. Even a 7850 or 7950 would be a better choice then the 6850.
For motherboards I would go with a Z-77 board.

ASRock Z77 Performance LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157298

ASRock Z77 Extreme6 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295

 

[aditya_27]

thanks for this

actually i am from india

and here z77 is bit costly

b75 is for 4000 INR and z77 is for 10000 INR
that is why i am confused between the two

bcoz i wont need crossfiring or sli
i will not need 2 slots for grafic cards
which is the main difference i found between these two mobos

and other difference is that b75 supports upto 16gb only
whereas z77 supports 32 gb ram

bt i think that hardly any game will require more than 16 gb for next 3 years

so i thought i should better invest mobo money into grafic card and get a cheaper b75


also is cooling affected by type of motherboardS?
because i will be playing heavy

its hot in india!

 

[inzone]

Ok I see where your going with your build and the motherboard is not affected much by heat and is easily cooled, the cpu and video card are more afected by the heat and need a lot of cooling.
eep in mind the the single most important component in gaming is the video card and that should be the focus of your budget. The cpu needs to be a quad core and then that will be all that you need from it, sometimes overclocking the cpu will help with performance but fro the most part as long as you have a quad core you'll be good.
The ram is not as important and you can use 8gb and be fine, maybe in a few years the games will use more ram but for now if you have 8gb then you have more than enough.
I would like to see you get better than a 6850 but you get what you can get and make the most of it. Sometimes when people are on a tight budget I have seen then get a single video card and then later on down the road get a second one when they can afford it, so that's why I tend to suggest a MB with two video card slots.

 

[aditya_27]

thanks


very much helpfull


i will be getting ivy bridge i5

but next year intells haswell pc will be out

and i will have to get a new mobo and supporting motherboard in next two years or so

so i was thinking that for now all the games will be played on this i5 and lets say 7850 configuration easily

so that is why i was thinking of a cheap motherboard

 

[inzone]

The Asrock B75 would be a good choice.

 

[aditya_27]

1. how do i know if a processor can be overclocked or not?
2. how do i know that if a motherboard is supporting overclocking of processor and grafic card or not?
3.is the cooling system specific/particular to the motherboard i will choose?i mean to ask that if a cooling system is designed for z77,will i be able to use for b75?
4.also can u tell me amd equivalent for i5?bcoz its cheaper

 

[inzone]

The processor can be overclocked and there will be less features because of the lower price, as they say you get what you pay for. If you want to overclock the cpu and overclock the video caerd then your going to have to get a Z-77 board. You can't go with a cheaper board and expect to get all of the same options that's what your paying more money for.
The cooling solutions are based on the socket type and not the motherboard brand or chipset.
There is a reason for the AMD cpu to be cheaper and it's because they just are not as good as the Intel cpu. It's hard to tell what the equilivent of an i5 would be because the AMD cpus are at a lower level.
Here is a chart that can let you see for yourself what the comparison is.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

 

[aditya_27]

thanks very much
of great help

one thing I want to know

is overclocking necessary?
how much it will boost the performance?

I will be playing these games 1024x768 or lower only because my monitor is 720p
so can an i5 7850 and a cheap b75 or h61 will give me a smooth performance at ultra or at least high settings?

 

[Richard3rd]

Ivy Bridge CPUs get hot very quickly when overclocked. That means that if you want to overclock it to a level where you have to increase the Vcore, you also need to invest in some decent cooling.

You will need a K-series CPU and a Z77 or Z75 motherboard if you want to do overclocking. So I guess you want to go for an i5 3570K CPU. That CPU is actually fast enough to play the games that you want to play. If you are buying that CPU, then I suggest simply using the boxed cooler first and not overclock the CPU. You can always decide the replace the cooler and start overclocking in 1 or 2 years time, if you really need more performance.

If you choose to buy a B75 or H61 board instead - with which you cannot overclock the CPU - then you might as well buy an i5 3570 (non-K) to go with it.

The real work is done by the graphics card. Ultra high settings at 1024x768 or 1280x720 resolution should not be much of a challenge for an HD 7850.

Don't forget to use a decent PSU.

 

[aditya_27]

thanks again that's of great help
now the question remains is whether I will be able to play these games at 1024x768 without overclocking anything and at high settings

 

[aditya_27]

Ivy Bridge CPUs get hot very quickly when overclocked. That means that if you want to overclock it to a level where you have to increase the Vcore, you also need to invest in some decent cooling.

You will need a K-series CPU and a Z77 or Z75 motherboard if you want to do overclocking. So I guess you want to go for an i5 3570K CPU. That CPU is actually fast enough to play the games that you want to play. If you are buying that CPU, then I suggest simply using the boxed cooler first and not overclock the CPU. You can always decide the replace the cooler and start overclocking in 1 or 2 years time, if you really need more performance.

If you choose to buy a B75 or H61 board instead - with which you cannot overclock the CPU - then you might as well buy an i5 3570 (non-K) to go with it.

The real work is done by the graphics card. Ultra high settings at 1024x768 or 1280x720 resolution should not be much of a challenge for an HD 7850.

Don't forget to use a decent PSU.

thanks again that's of great help
now the question remains is whether I will be
able to play these games at 1024x768
without overclocking anything and at high
settings.is overclocking really needed for i5.
only then I will go for such a motherboard as z77

 

[IIagentdeathII]

Go with Asrock Z77 extreme 4

 

[Zjenep]

You do not have to overclock the CPU. If you decide that you will not be overclocking the CPU, then you could use an H77 or B75 board and a non-K CPU. If you want to keep the overclocking option open, then go for Z77 and a K-series CPU.

H77 and Z77 both have two Intel SATA 6Gbps ports. B75 has one. H77 and Z77 both support Smart Response, which might be interesting for a budget gaming system.

 

[aditya_27]

Best answer selected by aditya_27.