MOBO and RAM for i5-2500

bubonicus

Hi,

I am getting an i5-2500, and was wondering which MOBO and RAM combo would be the best bang for buck..

PC will mainly be used for gaming.

Looking at z68 boards and 8 gig of RAM.

Any help would be great..

weisses

I ordered the same setup last week after a lot of digging and reading reviews ...

got the

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68V_PRO/

did you get the 2500k ? that k means you can overclock it very easy especially with that board ... gives you another 1 ghz extra

Monotype

weisses wrote: »

did you get the 2500k ? that k means you can overclock it very easy especially with that board ... gives you another 1 ghz extra

+1. You'd be mad not to get a K.

Where are you buying? Budget? Ordering anything else?

bubonicus

Thanks for the replies.

I'm getting the K variant.

And I have no budget really, just wanted best bang for buck on the MOBO and RAM.

I will be ordering from DABS or SCAN. I just don't want the bank transfer hassle from HWVS..

Also whats the best bang for buck gfx card for this setup, I will be building 3 of these machines , but only one of us needs a gfx card. the other 2 have ati HD5970's


Thanks again.

Monotype

I like the look of the MSI GD65. It's come down a bit and has a load of features.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-p67a-gd65-(b3)-intel-p67-s-1155-pcie-20-(x16)-ddr3-2133-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid-atx
The GD55 is a £6 cheaper and has nearly the same feature set too.

As for the RAM, go with memoryc.com. Better selection and free delivery.
http://www.memoryc.com/computermemory/ddr3/8gbgskillddr3pc31333mhzripjawseries.html

bubonicus

Monotype wrote: »

I like the look of the MSI GD65. It's come down a bit and has a load of features.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-p67a-gd65-(b3)-intel-p67-s-1155-pcie-20-(x16)-ddr3-2133-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid-atx
The GD55 is a £6 cheaper and has nearly the same feature set too.

As for the RAM, go with memoryc.com. Better selection and free delivery.
http://www.memoryc.com/computermemory/ddr3/8gbgskillddr3pc31333mhzripjawseries.html

Board looks good, And I can pick the RAM from memoryc, their offices are only around the corner from my workplace.

What would be the best RAM to get? any advice?

Monotype

^^^ That RAM.

bubonicus

Monotype wrote: »

^^^ That RAM.

haha, lazy me, i thought you had linked to the website and not a product.. thanks again.

Tea_Bag

I've built 2 pcs with the Asrock z68 Extreme4 and have no complaints so far. Haven't had time to OC or anything as I need to study for exams but friends one was spot on and he games with crossfire 6970s.

Look out for the Asrock z68 Extreme4 Gen3. Supposedly garunteed ivy bridge compatable and comes future proofed with PCIe 3.0

I steered clear of the ASUS z68pro-v because its missing a plx bridge which causes problems when you want to ocupy a lot of pci lanes.

MSI gd65 was the same price at the time as the Asrock. Both seemed good quality and I think I ended up flipping a coin in the end.

weisses

Go for this motherboard ... gets very good reviews everywhere specially for gaming the one Monotype quoted is not a z68 motherboard (not saying the p67 is not good)

And its only a tenner extra

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p8z68-v-intel-z68-s-1155-pci-e-20-%28x16%29-ddr3-2200%28oc%29-sata-6gb-s-raid-atx-hdmi

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1615/1/

The Asrock tea bag mentioned is a sweet board as well

Monotype

Tea_Bag wrote: »

Look out for the Asrock z68 Extreme4 Gen3. Supposedly guaranteed ivy bridge compatable and comes future proofed with PCIe 3.0

I didn't know PCI-E 3 was making the rounds yet. That's a pretty evil looking board. I think gigabyte pulls off the black PCB slightly better, but it could be the lighting. I'm glad to see a move to a different colour. I was getting sick of everyone having blue boards.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme4%20Gen3

Great stuff on that board, displayport and even a clear CMOS button. I'd hope that would need more than a casual tap to activate!

Extreme7 is :cool: too.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme4%20Gen3

Monotype

That asrock board looks faaaar better than what they have on their own site. I know the reviewers gloss up the pictures a bit but asrock's pictures are sullen looking.
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_z68_extreme4_gen3_review,2.html

I don't see on sale anywhere bubonicus, so if you want it, you'll have to wait. It'll probably be more than €150.

bubonicus

So I think it is a choice between these two :-

ASUS

or ASRock

Do any of these come in varients with no onboard gfx...just it's not needed by me and seems a waste.

Tea_Bag

I've used the clr cmos on the extreme4 a few times when I had initial problems. Also used the built in power and reset buttons. It's the first board I've had with them and let me say its damn handy, so much so that I wonder how we went so long without them!

Don't think ill ever use my onboard displayport but won't complain.

PCIe3 will only work with ivy bridge CPUs so it won't be a common feature for a while I imagine.

bubonicus

Monotype wrote: »

That asrock board looks faaaar better than what they have on their own site. I know the reviewers gloss up the pictures a bit but asrock's pictures are sullen looking.
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_z68_extreme4_gen3_review,2.html

I don't see on sale anywhere bubonicus, so if you want it, you'll have to wait. It'll probably be more than €150.

that looks sweet, im in no huge rush, I can wait a few weeks before ordering. Just upgrading for BF3. But I am not sure i need all the features on these boards. It's nice and all, But even with the rampage formula I have now, I never needed half the things on it , and seemed like a bit of a waste of money

Tea_Bag

bubonicus wrote: »

that looks sweet, im in no huge rush, I can wait a few weeks before ordering. Just upgrading for BF3. But I am not sure i need all the features on these boards. It's nice and all, But even with the rampage formula I have now, I never needed half the things on it , and seemed like a bit of a waste of money

we cant really make that decision for you tbh. as it stands, the best z68 boards for not too much money is the Asrock extreme4 and the MSI z68gd65 (or cheaper gd55)

gigabyte uses a touch BIOS thing in windows itself, and without full EUFI BIOS i disregard them from all consideration. where else have they taken shortcuts?

they do have a few z68 boards without onboard GPU output, but whats teh point in that.

do you even know why you want z68 over p67?

Monotype

Well to be fair, I get a bit carried away sometimes.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-p67a-gd53-(b3)-intel-p67-s-1155-pci-e-20-ddr3-2133-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid-atx-sli-xfire

That P67 board would give you USB 3, SATA 6Gbps and support for crossfire. If you don't need a load of slots and connectors, that will easily do the job. It will overclock well too.

If crossfire is not important,
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-p67a-ud3-b3-intel-p67-express-s-1155-pci-e-20-(x16)-ddr3-1333-sata-6gb-s-raid-atx

If it is important, watch out for the cheaper Z68 boards, many aren't crossfire friendly.

bubonicus

Tea_Bag wrote: »

we cant really make that decision for you tbh. as it stands, the best z68 boards for not too much money is the Asrock extreme4 and the MSI z68gd65 (or cheaper gd55)

gigabyte uses a touch BIOS thing in windows itself, and without full EUFI BIOS i disregard them from all consideration. where else have they taken shortcuts?

they do have a few z68 boards without onboard GPU output, but whats teh point in that.

do you even know why you want z68 over p67?

I don't, I just want a good solid board. Without the onboard gfx. What advantage is the z68 over the p67's?

I won't be extreme overclocking and I'm not a 3dmark nut, So I was looking for a good, well built, some good features and maybe crossfire incase I wanted to add a card in the future. Sorry I probably should have said all this at the start.:o

bubonicus

Monotype wrote: »

Well to be fair, I get a bit carried away sometimes.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-p67a-gd53-(b3)-intel-p67-s-1155-pci-e-20-ddr3-2133-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid-atx-sli-xfire

That P67 board would give you USB 3, SATA 6Gbps and support for crossfire. If you don't need a load of slots and connectors, that will easily do the job. It will overclock well too.

If crossfire is not important,
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-p67a-ud3-b3-intel-p67-express-s-1155-pci-e-20-(x16)-ddr3-1333-sata-6gb-s-raid-atx

If it is important, watch out for the cheaper Z68 boards, many aren't crossfire friendly.

haha, don't we all, but I know I don't need to spend a fortune to get a good solid setup, without all the enthusiast features that I will never use.

weisses

bubonicus wrote: »

I don't, I just want a good solid board. Without the onboard gfx. What advantage is the z68 over the p67's?

I won't be extreme overclocking and I'm not a 3dmark nut, So I was looking for a good, well built, some good features and maybe crossfire incase I wanted to add a card in the future. Sorry I probably should have said all this at the start.:o

Why not spend some time looking at reviews of different boards chip-sets etc ..... Google things you don't understand and learn at the same time ...


I'm not a overclock 3dmark type of guy either but a few extra features are always handy ...specially when your not upgrading every year

bubonicus

weisses wrote: »

Why not spend some time looking at reviews of different boards chip-sets etc ..... Google things you don't understand and learn at the same time ...


I'm not a overclock 3dmark type of guy either but a few extra features are always handy ...specially when your not upgrading every year

Thanks for all the suggestions everybody, I will probably just go with the P67 board that Monotype suggested, suit's all my needs.