Motherboard advice

glynf

Hi all,

Planning on a new CPU & motherboard and could use some opinions & a fresh set of eyes on things-I'm fried from reading motherboard reviews J.

Current setup:

I5-750
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3
4gb G.skill Eco Series PC3-12800 CL7 1600MHZ
128GB Crucial M4
MSI HD 7970

There are two reasons for the upgrade-I want a board with better SATA III ports and it has to be crossfire capable. I plan on using an I5 2500k, and 8GB RAM. Budget for the motherboard I want to keep to <€145 ish, might overclock it but not much more than 4Ghz. I was looking at these two:

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3

MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)

Would prefer to buy off Komplett or Dabs, I don’t think I’m ordering enough to warrant the €30 delivery from HWVS.

Thanks in advance.

deconduo

If you're buying all 3 together you are probably better off ordering from HWVS. The i5-2500k alone is €25 cheaper which almost makes up for the shipping cost:

HWVS:
Item|Price
Total build cost: €339.70 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€191.82
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€114.23
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€33.65


Dabs:
Item|Price
Total build cost: €392.18 (inc delivery Free!)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz LGA1155 6MB|€214.47
Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz DIMM 240-pin CL9|€39.20
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA1155 Intel Z68 DDR3 ATX|€138.51

Monotype

If you do want to buy from komplett, The Z68A-G45 G3 is a good price @ €117.
http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/15_MOBO/02_INT1155/productdetails/20099574/MSI_Z68A_G45_(G3)_Socket_1155_ATX/Z68A_G45_(G3)/default.aspx
Suitable for crossfire.
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z68A-G45--G3-.html

glynf

deconduo wrote: »

If you're buying all 3 together you are probably better off ordering from HWVS. The i5-2500k alone is €25 cheaper which almost makes up for the shipping cost:

HWVS:
Item|Price
Total build cost: €339.70 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€191.82
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€114.23
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€33.65


Dabs:
Item|Price
Total build cost: €392.18 (inc delivery Free!)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz LGA1155 6MB|€214.47
Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz DIMM 240-pin CL9|€39.20
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA1155 Intel Z68 DDR3 ATX|€138.51

deconduo, point tken but shipping included, thats just a difference of 22.48. I would prefer to have bought locally for the sake of 20 quid, having had some serious grief with RMA's with UK companies let alone German.

deconduo

glynf wrote: »

deconduo, point tken but shipping included, thats just a difference of 22.48. I would prefer to have bought locally for the sake of 20 quid, having had some serious grief with RMA's with UK companies let alone German.

Well HWVS are probably the nicest and easiest guys I've ever dealt with regards to RMAs. However its up to yourself.

glynf

Monotype wrote: »

If you do want to buy from komplett, The Z68A-G45 G3 is a good price @ €117.
http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/15_MOBO/02_INT1155/productdetails/20099574/MSI_Z68A_G45_(G3)_Socket_1155_ATX/Z68A_G45_(G3)/default.aspx
Suitable for crossfire.
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z68A-G45--G3-.html

Thanks Monotype, what do you think of the GA-Z68X?

Monotype

RAM is cheaper on HWV too. If you do want to go locally, I recommend memoryc for RAM as you'd need a mortgage for komplett's RAM last time I checked.

Looks like a good board.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3853

... but the Z68 MSI is still cheaper and it's Gen 3 board.
Any other particular feature that you're after that would make the gigabyte a better choice? Only thing that stands out is that the gigabyte has firewire.

glynf

deconduo wrote: »

Well HWVS are probably the nicest and easiest guys I've ever dealt with regards to RMAs. However its up to yourself.

Remember reading posts here about issues with them, but then again the horror stories always stick in the memory.. I find bank transfers a pain in the arse, plus I have purchase insurance on the card.

glynf

Monotype wrote: »

RAM is cheaper on HWV too. If you do want to go locally, I recommend memoryc for RAM as you'd need a mortgage for komplett's RAM last time I checked.

Looks like a good board.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3853

... but the Z68 MSI is still cheaper and it's Gen 3 board.
Any other particular feature that you're after that would make the gigabyte a better choice? Only thing that stands out is that the gigabyte has firewire.

The MSI Z68A GD65 (G3) seems well regarded, and an I5 2500k can be overclocked to 5GHz on air easily:)


Seems the 50 quid extra goes towards better components than the G45, so think I'll go with one.


Well, I pulled the trigger on:

I5 2500k €209.00 (komplett)
MSI Z68A GD65 (G3) €167.00 (komplett)
8GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 RipjawsX (9-9-9-24) €50.43 (Memoryc)

Now I play the waiting game..