Motherboard for nice build 2013

[000000]

Hi,

First of all id like to say, what a fantastic community, ive already learned so much.
Im planning to build for the first time v soon and Ive been doing a bit of research on my parts. So far Ive come up with :

Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5 GHz 8MB LGA1155 -- €286.00
P Cooling: Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler -- €77.82
Mainboard: ??
Memory: Corsair 16 GB Vengeance 240-pin DIMM DDR3-RAM 1600 MHz PC Memory -- €99.87
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 680, 2048MB DDR5, PCI-Express – €440.00
SSD: Crucial 256GB m4 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s (SATA III) SSD -- €165
Hard Disk: Seagate Momentus Spinpoint M8 1TB, SATA II -- €64
DVD: ASUS DRW-24B5ST -- €28.95
Casing: THERMALTAKE Level 10 GT PC Tower Case -- € 245.42
Power: Be Quiet! DARK POWER PRO 10 550W -- €125

Total: ~ €1529 or $2000

I do a lot of 3d rendering and graphic design, so speed of multitasking different graphics applications is important to me. I also plan to use the system for gaming hence the graphics card. Im aiming for something thats quiet (willing to consider water cooling if its not too much extra).
The motherboard has me completely baffled. Im looking for something which will:

1. Cater for all the usb 3 ports on the front of my case (via headers etc)
2. Works well with the i7-3770k for rendering/gaming
3. Will fit in my case
4. supports SLI Crossfire (preferably 3x)
5. supports 32gb ram
6. sound 7.1
7. firewire header
8. wifi (speed is important to me, willing to get extra card here if needed)
9. preferably will cater for the next gen of components
10. price ~< €300
11. is very reliable

Im open to any suggestions on my parts/possible faults/conflictions with my build/components you feel are better/quieter

Would really love some seasoned opinions any suggestions much appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[itzdanielp]

Motherboards that come to mind for a build like that are:

Asus Maximus V Formula
Gigabyte ZA-Z77X-UP5

Although to be completely honest with what you are looking to do it would probably be better to go with an i7-3820 and X79 chipset system due to the increase of PCIe lanes (48 vs 16)

 

[000000]

Motherboards that come to mind for a build like that are:

Asus Maximus V Formula
Gigabyte ZA-Z77X-UP5

Although to be completely honest with what you are looking to do it would probably be better to go with an i7-3820 and X79 chipset system due to the increase of PCIe lanes (48 vs 16)

Hi daniel,

thanks for the reply. You have me intrigued. If I were to change to the i7-3820, what board would you recommend, does this have an impact on any of the other components? Thanks

 

[itzdanielp]

No it isn't going to have an impact on other components, especially if you are going to use a 4x4GB memory kit (the X79 can handle quad channel memory).

The 3820 is definitely the cheapest route to go, and will give you roughly the same performance as the 3770k. You could also choose to bump up to the 3930k which is definitely more powerful (6c/12t vs 4c/8t) but that can mess up your budget a bit...

This is one of the best "budget" x79 boards out there.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157289

Or for higher end

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131798
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128562

 

[000000]

Ok, ive taken in the suggestions and done some research and come up with this:

Processor: Intel Core i7 3820 3.6GHz Quad Core Processor 10MB L3 Cache Socket LGA2011 -- €345.51
P Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - 120 mm -- €29.74
Mainboard: ASRock X79 Extreme6, Socket LGA2011, ATX -- €187.48
Memory: G Skill Ripjaws Z 16GB DDR3 PC17000 2133MHz Kit for Intel X79 -- €144.62
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 680, 2048MB DDR5, PCI-Express -– €444.31
SSD: Crucial 256GB m4 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s -- €165
DVD: Sony DVD±RW 24x -- €20.90
Casing: THERMALTAKE Level 10 GT PC Tower Case -- €230.72
Power: CoolerMaster Silent Pro M II 620 Watt -- €89.95

Total: €1653 ~ $2140

Any recommendations much appreciated. Thank you

 

[itzdanielp]

If you wanted to drop from a 680 to a 670 you save about $100, and only lose 7-8% performance. And you can easily overclock the 670 up to the same level as a 680. That will save you some money.

Also I would suggest a PSU of at least 750 for future GPU expansions

Other than that, everything looks great!

 

[000000]

If you wanted to drop from a 680 to a 670 you save about $100, and only lose 7-8% performance. And you can easily overclock the 670 up to the same level as a 680. That will save you some money.

Also I would suggest a PSU of at least 750 for future GPU expansions

Other than that, everything looks great!

The final rig:


Processor: Intel Core i7 3820 3.6GHz Quad Core Processor 10MB L3 Cache Socket LGA2011 -- €345.51
P Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - 120 mm -- €29.74
Mainboard: ASRock X79 Extreme6, Socket LGA2011, ATX -- €187.48
Memory: G Skill Ripjaws Z 16GB DDR3 PC17000 2133MHz Kit for Intel X79 -- €144.62
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 680, 2048MB DDR5, PCI-Express -– €444.31
SSD: Crucial 256GB m4 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s -- €165
DVD: Sony DVD±RW 24x -- €20.90
Casing: THERMALTAKE Level 10 GT PC Tower Case -- €230.72
Power: Corsair CMPSU-750HX Professional Series 750W Power Supply-- €139.36

 

[itzdanielp]

Looks good!

That's gonna be one heck of a machine, you'll be happy

 

[000000]

Just thought Id come back and give an update on this machine. It is a fantastic machine and has served me well over the past few months.

 

[itzdanielp]

Great!

Good to hear