What Motherboard for i7 3770k?

[Honestly3k]

Hi folks,

I have been experiencing an issue with my HD 7950 not wanting to work at all with my motherboard.

Thread here-

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/386289-15-brand-radeon-7950-iceq-turbo-wont-boot

Anyways, i tried the card in my brothers PC and it works no problem and he has an even more outdated mobo than i do.

So ive pretty much decided to get a new CPU and motherboard and think im going to get the i7 3770k.

My question is what motherboards should i be looking at?

Ive read the latest (best) chipset is the Z77? Correct?

Obviously i am going to need the latest USB3, PCIe3 etc and a memory controller that can handle atleast 1600mhz but preferably more to future proof myself a little.

Ive been looking at this, the ASUS Sabretooth Z77 -

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-512-AS

Seems to be great for overclocking too.

But have i overlooked any other boards of equal or better value for money?

Im a little dubious about buying ASUS again. Ive updated my bios on my current board to the latest version and whenever i updated the BIOS i seem to have lost options/abilities in the BIOS menus.
I think the EVO is a bit of a piece of poo if im honest.

Any advice gratefully received!

 

[C12Friedman]

Before you purchase a new mobo, did you attempt to 'force' the drivers for the graphics card? My motherboard absolutely refused to recognize my HD7950 so I just loaded the driver manually - has worked fine ever since.
Something to try before shelling out extra cash.

 

[Honestly3k]

What do you mean force the drivers?

I basically cant do anything with the 7950 installed. The screen stays black and the PC speaker sounds one long beep and 3 short beeps meaning 'bad video RAM' or something.

It wont even post, literally nothing is onscreen when you turn the PC on. I cant install any drivers

 

[Frank Corley]

Z77, Intel or Gigabit mobo, should work fine, did for me, no problem 7950. Where you able to check for updated drives? The reason I mentioned that is the drivers on the 7950 are not current on the disk. However, I didn't any problems with the drivers on the disk just my normal things I do by updating the drivers, hope that helps

 

[C12Friedman]

Sorry, the Z77 comment through me off. Thought you were already on an intel board - or at least a board with integrated graphics.

 

[Honestly3k]

Sorry no, im currently on an ASUS M4A79XTD Evo which is a socket AM3 board but when i plug my 7950 into that, the whole computer kills itself. Got the symptoms as above.

The Intel i7 and Sabretooth are potential new buys

 

[Honestly3k]

So any input on i7 motherboards chaps? Cmon

 

[chugot9218]

i7 is not necessary if this is intended for gaming mostly, and the Sabertooth is overpriced and over-hyped, you can get one of their lower model boards for cheaper with more/better features.