Best Motherboard And CPU

[robbo01]

Hi. I Built my Pc in August Last Year and It Needs Some Upgrading. All Your Help Appreciated

My Current Specs;

EVGA H55V Motherboard

Intel Core I5 650 (Socket 1156)

12GB Corsair Vengeance Blue

500GB Samsung Spinpoint 7200RPM

1TB Seagate Baracuda 5200RPM

Gigabyte 9800GTX Passive Cooler

500W Coolermaster PSU

All In A Coolermaster 690II With Custom LED Setups

What I Would Like To Do;

Upgrade CPU and Motherboard

Add Two GTX560's 2GB Version

My Requirments;

I Will Need At Least 2 Graphics Card Slots on My Motherboard.

No Other PCI Devices Will Be Used

Will I Need A Bigger Power Supply To Run 2 GTX560's In SLI?

I Am on A Budget of £350 For The Motherboard and CPU. The Graphics Card's Will Probably Be Bought End Of June Start Of July.

The Motherboard and CPU Will Be Purchased Within A Couple Of Weeks From Now (16.03.2012)

Also Should I Do A Build Log On This?

It All Lies In Your Hands

All Help Much Appreciated!!

 

[leejc73]

Hi Robbo,

Welcome to the forums mate - Glad you found it from facebook.

Realistically you'll be looking at Sandy-Bridge architecture with that budget.

And from your other components I would reckon you're looking for a gaming rig???

I would be looking at an Intel 2500k which you can pick up >£200.

Your choice of motherboard is slightly more complicated as you're hitting a time where we are waiting on Z77 chipset motherboards.

I run Z68 a lot of the guys run P67 both are capable overclockers if you choose the right board.

You're going to need a more manly power supply realistically, and to be honest it should be higher on your consideration list than other components as it's one of the most often overlooked parts, but critical to system stability and longevity. Corsair HX/AX series are considered to be among the best there are others.

Yes definitely do a build log - people poach ideas all the time

it will also give you a centralised thread for discussion if you come up against any issues which someone might have an idea of solving.

Cheers

Lee

 

[leejc73]

Sorry meant to ask.

Have you got an overall aesthetic appearance you are looking for as with the higher end boards features tend to fall by the wayside at a certain price point and it becomes more about the look of your rig.

 

[robbo01]

Thanks Lee. I Was Looking at the 2500K and The 2600K And Trying To Compare Them, Do You Know The Differences Obvs one Is I5 And The Other Is I7 But Is There Anything Else.

What Size PSU Would You Recommend I Looked At The AX 750 But It Ain't on The Cheap Side.

What Do You Think Of These Boards?

Z68

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p8z68-v-lx-intel-z68-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-20-(x16)-d-sub-dvi-d-hdmi-atx

P67

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-p67a-ud4-b3-intel-p67-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-atx

Thanks

 

[robbo01]

Sorry meant to ask.

Have you got an overall aesthetic appearance you are looking for as with the higher end boards features tend to fall by the wayside at a certain price point and it becomes more about the look of your rig.

Yeah My Current Systems is Black With Blue and some white LED's to Light It Up A Little

 

[leejc73]

The I5 doesn't hyperthread - That is it can't run multiple threads off a single core (I guess the easiest way to imagine it is you've got 4 physical cores, but they operate with an additional 4 virtual cores giving 8) it's a great thing to have if you're into rendering/image manipulation that kind of thing but for the gamer as currently we aren't seeing any games utilising much more than 2 cores it's unnecessary. I've got an i7 2600k but i've actually disabled hyperthreading to give me a higher stable overclock.

Power supplies are without shadow of a doubt one of the things where you get precisely what you pay for - there isn't a lot of room for gimmicks/marketing opportunity so the cash goes into the components within the unit. I'm seeing a power pull quoted of 170W for a 560Ti so call it 350 for Gfx.

The i5 datasheet shows 95 watts, but if you're overclocking (make sure your cooling is up to it) then I've seen my i7 also quoted at 95W pull 130+ on an overclock (that's within a tool called Hardware Monitor) So you're looking 500 Watts on CPU and GFX. That's without consideration of your motherboard/drives/optical/fans/other devices.

I tried following the links bud but came back with page not found.

 

[leejc73]

Managed to follow the boards you've suggested.

I've not used a gigabyte board in a long time but there seems to be general consensus that the UD4 range is a good one to look at, I do use Asus myself and there are those who love the P8Z68.

There is an Z68-UD4 from gigabyte as well, you might want to try one of the forum partner sites..............

at the bottom of the customer care field.

 

[robbo01]

Ok Thanks Probs Got For The 2500k Then

PSU Wise Do You Think 650W Would Be Enough

http://tinyurl.com/650WPSU

Motherboard Wise i Fixed The Link

The Z68 one Was No Use It didn't support sli here is the P67 Though

http://tinyurl.com/P67MOBO

 

[leejc73]

Something for you to consider............

Aria quick code 36021 101.99

Aria quick code 44417 95.99

Aria quick code 43216 149.99

Total Spend 347.97 (and you'll be ready for the further upgrades you're planning)

You do need to consider you're cooling if you're going to overclock though - and with that board it would be criminal not to.

 

[robbo01]

Thanks My Cooling IS Going To Be A Corsair H80 (Possibly) I Have Been Offered it by a friend of my dad's for my old graphics card

 

[leejc73]

I've no experience of the Corsair H series watercooling solutions.

Tom on the other hand has bloody loads, did you view the vid on the H80 with the Noctua NF-F12's???

 

[robbo01]

I Had No Intention On Doing So Until I Was Offered I Might Go And Watch That Just Now

 

[I Hunta x]

The h80 for a 9800 is a good deal for you tbh.

My vote would be for a 2500k and a Gigabyte ud4 and put the 100 or so you have left over towards the gpu upgrade.

 

[robbo01]

The h80 for a 9800 is a good deal for you tbh.

My vote would be for a 2500k and a Gigabyte ud4 and put the 100 or so you have left over towards the gpu upgrade.

The gpu upgrade is going to be completly separate I think the other 100 will go into a beefier psi

And yeah the h80 is a good deal

 

[MaXiMiZe]

Thought about Ivy Bridge?