Core i5 -3570 - explain chipsets, to me, and recommend MB?

[kevinnem]

Hello THW peeps. You have always giving me great advise, and was hoping you might so kind again.

I am trying to figure out what the different chipset do/how they affect the end value of the build I am going to do.

I am going to build, using boxing day sales, a new computer, I have not done any of the ground work yet, but basically will be using a few parts from my old comp.

New- I need :
SSD, core i5 (overcloackable), and new motherboard /ram , and case.

I will be useing my old 6970 video card to drive 3 x 1080 monitors, yea, its a hair slow, I know , but I can't really afford to sink much more cash in to GPU at the moment, and it isn't THAT bad - BF3 is still CPU limited with my core 2 duo from 4 years back.

Anyway- I find I am having the biggest issue figuring out what chip set to get, and then what motherboard. Can someone explain why I might want one or another chip set.

Mostly games, some other stuff. I tend to open a lot of stuff at the same time ....I will have 6+ webpages, video running, or a game running ni a window (eve) stuff like that ..

So yea, . biggest issue is chipset, then motherbaord, and then ram -- I don't understand ram speeds/timing at all.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Motherboards & Memory by Mousemonkey

 

[geofelt]

Not so hard.

For gaming, you want an intel cpu; they are much faster, clock for clock than amd today.
You are looking at a "K" suffix cpu which means that it can be easily overclocked by simply raising the multiplier.
Since few games use more than 2-3 cores, I would favor the cheaper 4 core(no hyperthreading) 2500K or 3570K.
BF3 in multiplayer can be very cpu intensive. Single player, not so much.

In order to overclock, look at a motherboard with a Z77 chipset.
A older P67 chipset would do, but they are not enough cheaper to be worth it.

On ram, for gaming, a 8gb kit of DDR3 1600 ram in a 2 x 4gb configuration is the usual.
A game by itself will not use more than 2-3gb.
Faster ram has negligible impact on performance(1-2%), and is not worth it.
Ignore the latency, timings, speed factors. They make little difference in real app performance(vs. synthetic benchmarks)
This link might explain:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3
Look for low profile ram to avoid cpu cooler issues.
But, ram is cheap, and if you are doing a lot of multitasking, then go ahead and buy a 16gb kit of 2 x 8gb.

 

[kevinnem]

THANKS!, that pretty much sums it up, thanks for your information.

Z77 it is, and based on the read of that articial I will be going with DDR3-1600 ram, it will be the "new" ivy ridge 3570k.

I don't really have a need for a "primium" board do i? .. I am not in need of a ton of usb ports or anything. Only issue is taht I might upgrade video in future, so n-vida, and AMD multi card support is useful.

I will have 2 or 3 drives, 1 SSD, and maybe 2 mechanics in raid. Maybe. Might drop the raid.


Really the mother board doesn't effect much does it?

 

[J_E_D_70]

It needs to be stable but don't have to pay for tons of bells and whistles. The ASRock Extreme4 is very capable and will do what you're asking. Should be able to shop around and find it at a reasonable price (which in my little world is no more than $140 USD).

 

[geofelt]

No, you don't need a premium motherboard unless you are looking at competitive overclocking or triple graphics cards.

I am not much in favor of spending more up front, preparing for sli.
Here is my canned rant on that:
-----------------------------Start of rant----------------------------------------------------
Dual graphics cards vs. a good single card.

a) How good do you really need to be?
A single GTX650/ti or 7770 can give you good performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.

A single GTX660 or 7850 will give you excellent performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
Even 2560 x 1600 will be good with lowered detail.
A single gtx690 is about as good as it gets.

Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming, then sli/cf will be needed.
Even that is now changing with triple monitor support on top end cards.

b) The costs for a single card are lower.
You require a less expensive motherboard; no need for sli/cf or multiple pci-e slots.
Even a ITX motherboard will do.

Your psu costs are less.
A GTX660 needs a 430w psu, even a GTX680 only needs a 550w psu.
When you add another card to the mix, plan on adding 150-200w to your psu requirements.

Even the strongest GTX690 only needs 620w.

Case cooling becomes more of an issue with dual cards.
That means a more expensive case with more and stronger fans.
You will also look at more noise.

c) Dual cards do not always render their half of the display in sync, causing microstuttering. It is an annoying effect.
The benefit of higher benchmark fps can be offset, particularly with lower tier cards.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

d) dual card support is dependent on the driver. Not all games can benefit from dual cards.

e) cf/sli up front reduces your option to get another card for an upgrade. Not that I suggest you plan for that.
It will often be the case that replacing your current card with a newer gen card will offer a better upgrade path.
The GTX780 and amd 8000 series are not that far off.
-------------------------------End of rant-----------------------------------------------------------