Recommend a socket 1155 MB?

oceanclub

After (I presume) my motherboard (ASRock Z68 Extreme4 (B3)) failed I thought of doing a complete upgrade, but when I compare benchmarks to my current system I realise it makes no real financial sense - a lot of expenditure for very little real-world improvements. (Current specs below)

So my plan is simply to get a new case (current one shows its age and is hell to work with) and pop in a new MB. Can anyone recommend a cheap socket overclockable full ATX 1155 motherboard still for sale?


ASRock Z68 Extreme4 (B3), Socket 1155, ATX
Intel Core i5-2500K, LGA1155
Be quiet! Dark Rock Advanced C1 CPU Cooler
8GB-Kit (2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-12800U CL9
OCZ Agility 4 128GB (OS drive)
GTX 960 graphics card
Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer
Corsair TX750 750W PSU

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Ant695

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-H61-BTC-Motherboard-Capacitor/dp/B00HDP6TPA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1446636408&sr=8-6&keywords=1155+motherboard

If you search on amazon for 1155 motherboard there is quite a few but will depend on features you want and money you want to spend. That one looked like a good middle of the road job to me.

oceanclub

Ant695 wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-H61-BTC-Motherboard-Capacitor/dp/B00HDP6TPA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1446636408&sr=8-6&keywords=1155+motherboard

If you search on amazon for 1155 motherboard there is quite a few but will depend on features you want and money you want to spend. That one looked like a good middle of the road job to me.

Nothing fancy really needed. I don't need audio (have a Creative X-Fi card) or anything Crossfire, etc (only one GPU). As long as it's compatible with my existing memory and has enough slots it should be grand. Thanks.

EDIT: PS - I'm tickled to see that MB is specifically designed for bitcoin mining! http://www.legitreviews.com/asrock-launches-two-motherboards-designed-bitcoin-mining_128973

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Lu Tze

oceanclub wrote: »

Nothing fancy really needed. I don't need audio (have a Creative X-Fi card) or anything Crossfire, etc (only one GPU). As long as it's compatible with my existing memory and has enough slots it should be grand. Thanks.

EDIT: PS - I'm tickled to see that MB is specifically designed for bitcoin mining! http://www.legitreviews.com/asrock-launches-two-motherboards-designed-bitcoin-mining_128973

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If you are looking to overclock you should be looking at the z77 boards

oceanclub

Lu Tze wrote: »

If you are looking to overclock you should be looking at the z77 boards

Any recommendations for one around €50-60 mark? (I have a pretty good cooler so even in my currently cluttered case had no problem getting 4.2 Ghz on my 2500K)

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Ant695

Lu Tze wrote: »

If you are looking to overclock you should be looking at the z77 boards

Ah yeah forgot about that when I was looking. Good catch.

Lu Tze

oceanclub wrote: »

Any recommendations for one around €50-60 mark? (I have a pretty good cooler so even in my currently cluttered case had no problem getting 4.2 Ghz on my 2500K)

P.

I've had a couple of as rock boards(h61 and b75) which were fine, and cheaper than the other brands at the time. I would get whatever is cheapest that meets your needs. Not sure if there is much difference in the spec between different manufacturers for z77 boards other than some differing connections. Have an MSI b75 board as well which is also grand, better looking uefi/bios is about the only difference! I do use the ram disk software that comes bundled with the as rock motherboard, so there can be small things like that which may sway you one way or another

oceanclub

Lu Tze wrote: »

If you are looking to overclock you should be looking at the z77 boards

I see that this page says H61 and H67 don't allow overclocking (https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z87-H87-H81-Q87-Q85-B85---What-is-the-difference-473/), yet the description of this H61 says it does (http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-H61-BTC-Motherboard-Capacitor/dp/B00HDP6TPA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1446636408&sr=8-6&keywords=1155+motherboard).

Am curious to know how this overclocking is implemented? (Will get this motherboard if it can actually overclock)

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Lu Tze

oceanclub wrote: »

I see that this page says H61 and H67 don't allow overclocking (https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z87-H87-H81-Q87-Q85-B85---What-is-the-difference-473/), yet the description of this H61 says it does (http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-H61-BTC-Motherboard-Capacitor/dp/B00HDP6TPA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1446636408&sr=8-6&keywords=1155+motherboard).

Am curious to know how this overclocking is implemented? (Will get this motherboard if it can actually overclock)

P.

There isnt an unlocked multiplier on the H61 etc. boards like there is on the z77. Opened up the tuner utility and you can put the multiplier up two settings on mine (thats the limit), so it basically runs at the turbo boost speed, which it would anyway as far as i know if you were running something that would make use of it.

Screengrab attached - limited to x36 multiplier

oceanclub

Lu Tze wrote: »

There isnt an unlocked multiplier on the H61 etc. boards like there is on the z77. Opened up the tuner utility and you can put the multiplier up two settings on mine (thats the limit), so it basically runs at the turbo boost speed, which it would anyway as far as i know if you were running something that would make use of it.

Screengrab attached - limited to x36 multiplier

Aha, thanks. Looks like I'll have to get a Z68 or Z77 MB to avail of overclocking and 4 years after their release they seem to be at a premium (presumably many not manufactured anymore). Bummer.

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Lu Tze

oceanclub wrote: »

Aha, thanks. Looks like I'll have to get a Z68 or Z77 MB to avail of overclocking and 4 years after their release they seem to be at a premium (presumably many not manufactured anymore). Bummer.

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You get the odd one on adverts if you want to chance the second hand route.

TerrorFirmer

They still fetch good money though, even 2nd hand. It'd probably be easier just to get a basic H81 or B85 motherboard with an i5-4440, and sell that 2500K for €80 or whatever, if you were going to spend €100+ on a Z77 board anyway.

You might have to add €50 on top of what you were going to spend but you'd have a much newer socket type and a full warranty as well.

oceanclub

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

They still fetch good money though, even 2nd hand. It'd probably be easier just to get a basic H81 or B85 motherboard with an i5-4440, and sell that 2500K for €80 or whatever, if you were going to spend €100+ on a Z77 board anyway.

You might have to add €50 on top of what you were going to spend but you'd have a much newer socket type and a full warranty as well.

I guess I'm missing something obvious, but... why should I buy the i5-4400 when at normal clock it seems to be about the same as the i5 2500k? As in, isn't the cheapest option just to buy a cheap H81 or B85 motherboard and just use the i5 2500K without overclocking?

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/491/Intel_Core_i5_i5-2500K_vs_Intel_Core_i5_i5-4440.html

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oceanclub

Hmm, what about a Z75 board? There seem to be more of them available and the only difference (seemingly) between them and Z77 is the former don't support SSD caching which I no longer use anyway.

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TerrorFirmer

oceanclub wrote: »

I guess I'm missing something obvious, but... why should I buy the i5-4400 when at normal clock it seems to be about the same as the i5 2500k? As in, isn't the cheapest option just to buy a cheap H81 or B85 motherboard and just use the i5 2500K without overclocking?

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/491/Intel_Core_i5_i5-2500K_vs_Intel_Core_i5_i5-4440.html

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Because at normal frequency it's faster than the 2500 (not much admittedly) but it's a newer socket type which gives you more options down the line.

If you don't want to overclock a cheap H61 mobo can still be gotten be €40 new, most retailers just carry the more basic boards now. Realistically if its just games, the 2500K still gets by fine at stock speed.

oceanclub

I think I have a vague plan; get my new case plus a mATX form H61 or H67 motherboard, which are cheap and floating around. That'll keep me going for a bit.

Then at some point I'll do a big upgrade, at which point I'll swap the innards of that case to a small-form case and use that as an under-the-TV games/media PC.

EDIT: Wavered back and forth and have thought - feck it, I'll just do a full upgrade to 1150. I don't actually really need a media PC and it'll only be one more PC to maintain anyway.

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