MoBo - Cheap Cheap or No Holds Barred? H67,P67,Z68?

[pacioli]

My original post is here http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/332914-31-upgrading-wifey-opinions-please

I have revised the 'puter that I will be building this Saturday as follows:

I decided to pull the trigger on an EVGA GTX 560 Ti SC. It was on sale for $235 yesterday and had a $20 MIR on top of that. GPU arrives tomorrow from Newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610

The case arrives today. Great price with lots of features you would not expect. 5 Star reviews so-far.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103035

The memory arrives Friday and came with a free 8 Gb micro SD. Opinions? Did my desire for a free Micro SD card cloud my judgement? It is Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) @ 1600 Mhz Cas 9.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220570

As far as the processor goes I've decided to get the i5 2400 at Microcenter for $150
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354590

Since I am driving out to Santa Clara I plan on picking up a motherboard at the same time. I am flexible with the mobo

I suck at this whole 'saving money stuff' as can be evidenced by my original upgrade costing $330 and the current version of the upgrade running closer to twice that... My wife is the cheap one and has asked me to spend as little $ as possible (while still getting her a kick-arse rig). The mobo is the last place to save any $.

So here is the question... What is my least expensive best choice for a motherboard based on what is available at Microcenter? I'd like to stay away from the H61 as I was planning on installing a RAID.

Here is the choice of boards at Microcenter (I suppose I could hit up Fry's Electronics too):
http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?sortby=pricelow&N=4294966996%2B4294930321

The bottom line is... I am not going to be overclocking this. I won't be running it in SLI now or in the future. I am not going to drop an SSD in it ever. The only drives going into this will be Sata 3Gb/s. So how feature rich does the mobo really need to be?

Edit:
Went to Fry's on my lunch break... They had the CM hyper 212+ on sale for $25... so I had to get it for this build. Should keep it nice and quiet. See I'm really bad about doing things on a budget.

 

[pacioli]

FYI: Quality is also a factor.

 

[g-unit1111]

Here is the choice of boards at Microcenter (I suppose I could hit up Fry's Electronics too):
http://www.microcenter.com/search/ [...] 4294930321

Ugh, stay away from Fry's. They are, IMO, one of the most dishonest resellers you could buy from. Any time an item is returned they will put it immediately back on the shelf, offer you a "discount" but they won't explain what it was returned for, nor can you buy a service contract for that part. But when you do, they do not service it directly and will send you to a smaller service department.

Anyways that being said - try this: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0366668

Or the one I use: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364085

 

[pacioli]

I hear you about Fry's. I used to work there many years ago.

Would a less expensive board meet my needs?

 

[g-unit1111]

I hear you about Fry's. I used to work there many years ago.

Would a less expensive board meet my needs?

If you were going to, maybe check out the Intel board: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0373757

Or the Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

 

[chubbywan]

The Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 or Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 for $150 (-$50 bundle discount) are your best options for the lowest cost. The main difference between the two are the ports. The X has VGA, DVI & eSATA while the XP has mSATA and only HDMI.

Gigabytes are rock solid, but if you want to spend and extra $10, you can get what I'm getting, the MSI Z68A-GD65 (G3) which is more overclockable and future-proof with PCie 3.0.

 

[g-unit1111]

The Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 or Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 for $150 (-$50 bundle discount) are your best options for the lowest cost. The main difference between the two are the ports. The X has VGA, DVI & eSATA while the XP has mSATA and only HDMI.

Gigabytes are rock solid, but if you want to spend and extra $10, you can get what I'm getting, the MSI Z68A-GD65 (G3) which is more overclockable and future-proof with PCie 3.0.

I already recommended the UD3H. I have the UD3P and it's indeed rock-solid, probably one of the best I've ever owned. My gaming system also uses the 990FXA-UD3 and it's also a really excellent board.

MSI on the other hand - one of the worst I've ever owned (870A-G45) - died on me after three days of owning it.

 

[pacioli]

The Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 or Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 for $150 (-$50 bundle discount)

Bundle discount? Where? That is the kind of deal I have been looking for...

 

[chubbywan]

I was a little hesitant about MSI initially but the Z68A-GD65 has some good write-ups and a 5 yr warranty. If I need to return it, I'll drive the 5 miles to Micro Center.

For the Mobo/CPU bundle deal, Check out Micro Center's ad, page 27:
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/57e09b6d#/57e09b6d/27

 

[pacioli]

I was a little hesitant about MSI initially but the Z68A-GD65 has some good write-ups and a 5 yr warranty. If I need to return it, I'll drive the 5 miles to Micro Center.

For the Mobo/CPU bundle deal, Check out Micro Center's ad, page 27:
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/57e09b6d#/57e09b6d/27

The bundle deal is amazing. I just pulled the trigger and upgraded the processor based on the deal on page 2 of the ad. It was $60 off a $119 mobo when you bought a 2600K/2500K. For $240 I got the i5 2500K and the ASUS P8Z68-V LX. The i5 2400 with that board would have been $220. The reviews on that board are good.

My wife always accuses me of giving her my crap hand me downs when I upgrade my PC. Now she will have an i5 2500K and a GTX 560 Ti just like me. Chubby, Thanks for the tip on the bundle deals in the ads... I had no idea Microcenter was such a steal! I'm in the Sacramento area so getting to Santa Clara is only a once in a while event. I would have paid $340 before tax and shipping at newegg for the same deal...

 

[pacioli]

Best answer selected by pacioli.

 

[chubbywan]

Glad I could help. I love that place.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey