[New Build] Mostly need motherboard advice

[tsmall]

Hey all, as the title suggests I got it mostly figured out but I'm still not sure on the motherboard choice.
also while i did build computers in the past I'm by no means an expert and feel it would be nice to get some more professional opinions before i spend a large sum of money.
Approximate Purchase Date: will probably buy within the next 2 weeks before I'm going on vacation

Budget Range: around 1200$ max

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, watching movies, and web browsing
Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: basically everything as its a totally new build, with a few exceptions:
I already got a ssd (samsung 830 120 gigs)
I'm gonna reuse my storage drives as they fairly new (newer one is less then a year old and the other is about a year and a half)
also gonna reuse my optical drive (don't see a reason to waste 20$ on a new when i used my old about 3 times total

Do you need to buy OS: No, still using the student license I'm getting while doing my masters


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: will probably buy most parts from http://en.ksp.co.il/?store=eilat, though i think you'll have trouble using for the budget since the currency isn't in dollar or euros, its roughly 4 nis = 1$

Location: Israel, Tel Aviv

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe at a later time if I feel the need for more then 1 monitor.

Your Monitor Resolution: currently using a 1920x1080 but I'm gonna upgrade to 2560x1440 sometime during this computer's life cycle so I'd rather it supports it

Additional Comments: the computer cant be too loud, my current one is making me crazy , it gets so loud at times i cant use my speaker without hurting people's ears.
I think i mostly got it figured out, but the amount of mother board features is just crazy.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: mostly because my current one is starting to show its old age, getting low fps on high graphic settings in games, also because I'm finally making enough money to feel comfortable with a higher end computer.

As i said before i mostly got it figured out, so he is what I'm thinking at the moment:

cpu: core i5 3570k

cpu cooler: still trying to choose between the corsair h80 and a good air cooler, will probably get the h80 as I'm a bit crazy with aesthetics

motherboard : here I'm still drowning in the sea of features( atm im looking at asus P7Z77-V Pro)

What I want from a motherboard is good to be able to overclock at least moderately a good amount of USBs, at least 2(preferred more) USB3 at the back and 2 for the front, and im not sure abuot all these other features and what i need and what I dont.

ram: 2x4GB of G.skill ares, mostly because they get good recommendations and a a bit cheaper then others I've looked at

gpu: Gigabyte Nvidia Geforce gtx 670

psu: SeaSonic 660W Gold X-Series Active PFC 12cm Fan Modular PSU X-660 ( i want it modular, as said before i need it to look clean)

ssd: samsung 830 120 gigs (already owned)
case: NZXT Phantom 410, mostly because other competitors of this level of noise reduction and cooling (Corsair Graphite or Fractal Design Define R4) are either stupidly expensive or unavailable around here.

So as I said i mostly need help with the mother board but any comment/tip regarding the build will be very welcome.

Thanks in advance.

 

[emperor piehead]

if you want to sli in the future you need a 750w psu. Corsair's hx psu is good. i would spend the little extra and get a h100 and 2 decent fans, the h80 is very thick and would look awful in the window. i have 410 phantom and a thin radiator on my rear and can see it. If you need wifi then get the v-pro if you don't need the wi-fi get an extreme 4 or 6.

 

[TheBigTroll]

1: if you have the xfx xxx 750w, id get it over the hx750w from corsair given it is usually cheaper. if you dont have it, get th hx750w
2:the h80 will drive you crazy from the noise. go and get a noctua nh-d14. its ugly but it gets the job done extremely quietly. replacing the fans would reduce performance. you can technically run the d14 passively if you dont overclock
3:id get a msi power edition gtx670. looks better and overclocks better
4: the z77-v pro is a great board. if you are looking for something that is cheaper, id get a gigabyte z77x-ud3h

the rest looks fine

 

[malbluff]

Asus motherboard is excellent, using one myself in upcoming build. There are cheaper, with similar abilities, but Asus is top quality, and software is good and easy to use.
For monitors, it rather depends what's left in your budget. I'm not familiar with market in Israel, but you can probably save money, by shopping around, particularly for monitors. On that site, for around 24", the Asus VE248H and Dell u2312HM are quite good. The Dell U2412M is the best, but expensive, on that site. Some of the LG's may be OK, but I'm not familiar with them. When it comes to a high res monitor, a 27" Dell U2711 is exceptional, but not cheap.

 

[TheBigTroll]

for monitors id get a asus vs228h-p or a asus PA238Q. the pa238q is in around the same calibre of the dell u2412m but cheaper

 

[tsmall]

First of all thanks for all the replies.

Regarding SLI, in my current home I don't have the space for 3 monitor gaming, so I'd actually like to see how much I'd save by not going the "SLI ready" way.

Regarding monitors, I already own a fairly good 24" monitor, so if I will upgrade it will only be to a 27" with higher resolution ( was already giving that dell you recommended a look)

As a sidenote I have an almost new psu, AcBel iPower 750w, I got it for next to nothing when my old one died, but from what i read its kinda horrible, so I'm guessing it wont be a good idea to use it.

 

[tsmall]

Oh and on the cpu cooler, is there anything else you recommend other then the noctua (it makes my eye bleed, as I said I'm not very rational about this) and it seems like the h100 isn't really available around here.

Edit: bleh I did some extra reading and apearantly the h80 is very loud, so its pretty much off the table, so it seems like unless I find a better option ill have to go with the noctua, and bare the eye pain.

 

[TheBigTroll]

if you have phanteks coolers, they are my other recommendation. they come in every colour

no-name psu s are not great. go with good brands

 

[malbluff]

If you want to go with a "liquid" solution, you can always use a H60. It doesn't quite have the performance, of its big brothers, but not too shabby if your don't want to overclock agressively. Because it's single thickness, it's less awkward, and only needs a single fan, so if too noisy for YOU, easy to change to a better, quieter fan.
Having said that, air coolers are cheaper, and, at least equal performance (just ugly).

 

[TheBigTroll]

you do know that a hyper 212 evo can beat the h60. and it would be quieter and half the price

 

[malbluff]

you do know that a hyper 212 evo can beat the h60. and it would be quieter and half the price

Thought I had (sort of) said that. If OP WANTS liquid. Air is cheaper, at least as good, and if he wants QUIET, he might have change fan. If he doesn't want high overclock, it's basically personal preference.

 

[TheBigTroll]

lol the h60 is a thin radiator with inferior performance to most air cooling solutions. not to mention the loud fans. if you add a aftermarket fan, it would cost 70. by then, i could get phanteks, the tpc 812, or a noctua

 

[malbluff]

I totally agree that air is a cheaper solution. The only direct comparason, on performance, I've seen between H60 and 212EVO, on overclockers, puts them neck and neck. The Noctua, certainly, is better for less, but, at the end of the day, if OP wants to pay extra, for his prefered option, that's his choice. All I'm saying is that it's an adequate solution, provided he doesn't want to overclock a lot.

 

[tsmall]

I think I'll go with the noctua after all.
though, lets say i could get my hands on an H100, firstly would it even fit in the phantom 410 especially with extra 2 fans, and how does it compare to the noctua?

 

[TheBigTroll]

the h100 would fit fine in the roof

the noctua and the h100 are about the same at stock speeds. they show their differences when you crack 4.5ghz and above with the h100 pulling ahead

 

[tsmall]

HMM how do they compare noise wise?
edit: i just looked around and push/pull config isn't possible with that case only way to do it is to keep it with 2 fans either in or our of the case and the other fans on the other side, witch makes me wonder if it can compete with the noctua without the push/pull config.

 

[TheBigTroll]

h100: hair dryer x2
d14: silent or a very (very) low humm

 

[tsmall]

aight, I'd like to thank everyone who helped and especially TheBigTroll.

my final build is gonna look like this:

cpu: core i5 3570k
cpu cooler: noctua(will explore the possibility of painting/dying it if thats possible in such a hot spot)
motherboard: either GigaByte z77x-ud3h or asrock extreme4 depending on what i can get cheaper.
gpu: gigabyte grforce gtx670
ram:2x4GB ares 1600
psu: seasonic x-series gold 760w (modular)
case: NZXT phantom 410

 

[TheBigTroll]

note: painting the fans could reduce performance because if you increase weight to the blades or somehow affect the vortex notches, it causes a change in the airflow pattern.

another thing: do you have a corsair ax750w over there? if it is cheaper, get that instead. they are the same units but under different branding.

are you sure you dont have the msi power edition gtx670?

 

[tsmall]

I dont have access to the power edition.
Regarding PSU the AX costs around 25$ more then the SeaSonic one in the places I checked in.
and regarding the cooler i mean to only paint the frame, I wont touch the blades, I will do more research about its viability, I wont do anything that will risk its performance, hopefully these brown blades wont be as noticeable in black frame.

As a side note I did more research on the hydro h80 and h100 and apparently the noisy ones are basically faulty and there are ALOT of these faulty ones, a whole batch.
when functioning properly they are about as noisy as the Noctua, or at least that was my impression from some posts on overclockers.net and the Corsair forums.

 

[malbluff]

If you use paint that is intended for car bodywork or for coloured heating radiators, you will be ok. Obviously, you need to be careful WHAT you paint.

 

[TheBigTroll]

As a side note I did more research on the hydro h80 and h100 and apparently the noisy ones are basically faulty and there are ALOT of these faulty ones, a whole batch.
when functioning properly they are about as noisy as the Noctua, or at least that was my impression from some posts on overclockers.net and the Corsair forums.

no. the faulty ones had a loud pump. all of them come with nice, 2500rpm jet turbines

jump to 6:34
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFi39czpsac

 

[tsmall]

holy..., these stock fans are loud.
I'm guessing though that with 4x corsair SP 120 quiet edition H100 should be able to beat the Noctua quietly, but 4 of these would cost me around 80$ witch is almost the price of the Noctua, oh well, I'll try to get my hands on a phantronics, otherwise it seems like the noctua realy is the most ideal one

 

[tsmall]

I guess using a white case those off white fans wont look all that horrible.

 

[TheBigTroll]

its phanteks that makes a heatsink that is the same as the noctua, but better looking to a degree