School a noob on chip lingo...

[paulys55]

Noob here looking to rebuild my computer that my cousin built me 6 years ago. I use my computer for internet, photo editing and gaming (just getting into the gaming part). My old mobo was an Asus p5nsli and I was recently given an ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II GPU from a friend who is upgrading so I would like to kind of build around that. Can probably reuse my monitor, power supply (500w) and tower. Looking to get an Asus mobo, new CPU (probably Intel Core i5-3570K) and an SSD and use my old hard drive for storage. I also have a 1.5T external hard drive. I've been looking at mobos on Asus home page and don't really understand the difference between 1.) the different Intel sockets such as 2011, 1366, 1156, 1155, etc. and 2.) the subcategories under the sockets such as Z77 and Z68. Any help/advice would be great. My budget for the mobo, CPU and SSD is around $500 give or take $100. Thanks.

 

[HEXiT]

Intel Core i5-3570K needs a socket 1155 preferably with a z77 chipset. ram you want between 1333 and 1600mhz lowest latency you can afford. preferably 7-7-7-20ish or lower @1.35v or less.
the z77 chipset will allow you to overclock as long as you have good cooling.
1600mhz is about as high as you need go. there is no real benefit from running faster ram. you can literally run ram thats 50% faster and see no benefit at all.
8 gigs will be enough for gaming and light photoshoping.
try to get the biggest ssd you can afford. 128gigs just disappears fast if you have more than 1 gig of mechanical storage like your hdd. 250gig would be about as far as i would suggest.

 

[paulys55]

Intel Core i5-3570K needs a socket 1155 preferably with a z77 chipset. ram you want between 1333 and 1600mhz lowest latency you can afford. preferably 7-7-7-20ish or lower @1.35v or less.
the z77 chipset will allow you to overclock as long as you have good cooling.
1600mhz is about as high as you need go. there is no real benefit from running faster ram. you can literally run ram thats 50% faster and see no benefit at all.
8 gigs will be enough for gaming and light photoshoping.
try to get the biggest ssd you can afford. 128gigs just disappears fast if you have more than 1 gig of mechanical storage like your hdd. 250gig would be about as far as i would suggest.

Any mobo in the Asus p8z77-v family that you would suggest for what I will be using it for? I was thinking maybe the p8z77-v pro that I could get at $40 off if bought with the CPU...

 

[J_E_D_70]

Are you going to SLI in the future, need an unusually large number of USB ports, or want to do max overclocks? If not, I'd recommend spending no more than around $140 - an ASUS Z77 LX (LK?) or ASRock Z77 Extreme4 (or a Gigabyte/MSI equivalent).

 

[littleleo]

The 1156 and 1366 are obsolete. The current Intel sockets are the 1155 & the 2011. If money is no object and you're rich go with the 2011. If your like the rest of us Joes go with the 1155 models. That is what the i5-3570K is a 1155 socket. There are chipsets that each generation of Sandy Bridge CPUs & motherboards are tied to. For the 2nd generation Sandy bridge (e.g. i5-2500K) those were the Z68, H67, P67... For the 3rd generation (Ivy Bridge) like the i5-3570K the current chipsets are the H61, H77, Z77, Z75, Q77... The H61 is your barebone chipset, little to no features and is mainly use by businesses for cheap workstations. The H77 is good for all round home user it has lots of features, and is not too expensive. The Z77 is for the Gamer and Enthusiast it has lots of bells and whistles but is much more expensive. The B75, and Q77 are more business related models. So most home users get the H77, and most hard core gamers get a motherboard with the Z77 chipset. The 4 brands I like the best and see the most purchased by gamers are Gigabyte, Asus, MSI and Asrock. Check the features you need and try to get the best bang for the buck. Here are a few models to consider:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128554

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130643

I'd go with a 8GB kit DDR3-1600 as far as Ram goes. There are lots of good models to look at.

 

[smorizio]

also with a case that 6 years old check to see if the case is an atx or and older form factor. you should replace your power supply the newer mb and power supply the spec for them to run and sleep have changed in 6 years. the new power supply have to be atx 2.03. if you have a local micro center they have the 3570 for 169.00.