New build for old geezer

[spankmon]

Approximate Purchase Date: Next two weeks

Budget Range: $800 for remaining parts needed

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Normal daily tasks, gaming, media enjoyment, video encoding

Parts Not Required: mouse, keyboard, speakers, monitor, psu, hsf, optical drive, os

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, tigerdirect.com

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: Sandy Bridge (but flexible)

Overclocking: Yes, after the new-car smell goes away.

SLI or Crossfire: Yes, after frustration sets in.

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, 1920x1200

Additional Comments: prefer old-fashioned BIOS (no uefi, please), no integrated video, Linux friendly but will install Win7 64bit initially and dual boot.
******

Happy New Year to all of you. Been buying parts piece-at-a-time for the past few months for my new build, but now getting a migraine from comparing motherboard reviews. I'm leaning towards p67 chipset boards because I plan to do a modest OC, but don't need integrated video. Also leaning towards Gigabyte because they use old-fashioned BIOS (I don't want a EFI partition on the HDD). Also considering lower-end boards of other brands which use normal BIOS.

Planning to get i5 2500K, nvidia gtx 570 or 560 ti. Crucial 120 gb ssd. WD 500 gb storage HDD.

Already have: CM Hyper 212 plus cpu cooler. Corsair GS 700 psu. Samsung 222 DVD burner. CoolerMaster Elite 310 case (willing to consider better case).

Please steer me towards a fantastic motherboard without mandatory uefi or intel graphics integrated... and will work out of the box without flashing the BIOS first.

Any and all advice appreciated.

 

[azeem40]

When you say better case, what is it you actually look for in a case?
Definitely get i5-2500k if you don't plan on heavy Video Editing.
I'd say the gtx 560ti will be cheaper and close to your budget.

 

[a4mula]

I could be wrong here, which I tend to be a lot. Sandy Bridge (the cpu) has the built in igp, so I was under the impression all 1155 boards supported it.

 

[spankmon]

Thanks for the reply.

I bought the 310 Elite case to use for a htpc build, but have since decided instead to build a modest gaming rig that will dazzle my adult children and grandchildren... they will be using it sometimes. Colorful fans and side window on the case are a plus. Want good airflow... enough for OC'ing to maybe 4.2 at the most. Toolless drive bays would be great, but cost less than $80, reasonably quiet. Mid atx, but large enough for the Hyper 212 cooler. In the future I might add a bluray drive, card reader and custom fan controller, tv tuner, bluetooth card and wireless card.

The gtx 560ti was my first choice for graphics, but it seems some people are having driver problems with the overclocked versions. That made me start thinking of the 570 instead. I could save some money if I used two HD5770's in crossfire because I already have one that can be salvaged from my current PC, but I get the impression that such a setup is now old news.

 

[spankmon]

I could be wrong here, which I tend to be a lot. Sandy Bridge (the cpu) has the built in igp, so I was under the impression all 1155 boards supported it.

If my understanding is correct, the p67 boards don't provide any video outputs or access to the igp for encoding. I'll be trusting the discreet card to function perfectly. If it doesn't, my bad.

 

[madchemist83]

Yep you r correct

 

[spankmon]

Best answer selected by spankmon.