Need advice on a Motherboard.

K

Kodama

New Member
Approximate Purchase Date: Hopefully in the next couple months.

Budget Range: 600-800

System Usage from Most to Least Important: High quality gaming, streaming of games, and watching of movies.

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers, Headset, Power supply(650 watt) and case (Antec DF-85)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: amazon.ca, newegg.ca, and bestdirect.ca

Country: Canada, BC

Parts Preferences: Intel, and Nvidia

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Not at first but will in future.

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050, may upgrade to 1920x1080, 1920x1200)

Additional Comments: I have my processor, ram, and graphics card already picked out, but not bought so the 600-800 range includes the prices of these four items, the thing i'm looking for is a good mobo, that will have future support for the ivy bridge cores when they come out, and are easy to sli with and doesnt bottleneck the sli.
Free Shipping is definetly prefered, but not required. If the item has shipping costs but is still cheaper then going with free shipping item i dont mind)

CPU: Intel i5 2500k - $209.79(Free Shipping) + $27.27 in tax approx
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/232639/BX80623I52500K/Intel/

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) - $41.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231426

GPU: EVGA GTX 560 Ti - $239.99 + $12.29 S&H + $35.31 in taxes(for both ram and gpu since from same site)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130623

Current Total before mobo: $566.64
 
I have the same RAM and CPU as you (2500K and RipJawsX) and I have an ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 motherboard. It's a very nice board and of course it has the Z68 chipset so it supports SLI and CrossFire and with a BIOS update will support Ivy-Bridge. It also has PCI Express 3.0 but the current generation CPUs don't support this, Ivy-Bridge will though. Any P8Z68 GEN3 board will do, just get the one that fits your price bracket. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1&isNodeId=1&Description=p8z68-v+gen3&x=0&y=0

The CPU, RAM and board will all work in perfect harmony, you don't even need to adjust anything in the BIOS other than maybe set the RAM speed to 1600MHz to get optimal performance. The board will work just fine with an NVIDIA graphics card as well and there shouldn't be an SLI bottleneck. I know you're not interested in overclocking but I've overclocked my 2500K to 4.0GHz on this board with the Freezer 13 cooling and it was easy, took all of about 10 minutes, so it's good for overclocking too.
 
So this board will support ivy bridge? im assuming the bios update would be on the asus site when the ivt bridge comes out then?
 
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lol random thank you from random person. Anyway my other concern is space between cards. i have a wireless card which goes in the express pci slot. and then of course i plan to sli my gpu's at a later date, im concerned if ill be able to stick my wireless card at that top express slot and still have clearance to put in the gpu right below it etc etc.
 
Kodama said:
So this board will support ivy bridge? im assuming the bios update would be on the asus site when the ivt bridge comes out then?
Click to expand...
Yes it will support Ivy-Bridge, just remember to update your BIOS when the new CPUs are released. ASUS will upload the new BIOS on their website.

Kodama said:
Anyway my other concern is space between cards. i have a wireless card which goes in the express pci slot. and then of course i plan to sli my gpu's at a later date, im concerned if ill be able to stick my wireless card at that top express slot and still have clearance to put in the gpu right below it etc etc.
Click to expand...
I assume you mean the wireless card goes in the PCIe x1 slot? Yes there's on above the first PCI Express slot and it should fit in OK without interfering with your graphics card. If the wireless card is PCI then you can probably stick it in underneath the PCI Express slot and above the second PCI Express slot OK. Room may be a bit tight though. If you want to use two triple-slot cards then you can't use a PCI wireless card, but you can use one PCIe x1 wireless card. You should be fine if you only want the dual-slot graphics cards though.

This is also a very good board for the price which you may want to consider http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
 
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yeah i had meant a PCIe x1 slot, i was just worried it wouldnt fit properly on that top slot above the first PCI express slot, as it didnt seem to be much clearance from the audio ports to the PCIe x1 slot. board seems fairly solid, do you have any other recomendations that might be a slight bit cheaper? As i stated above as well I live in canada, so .ca sites are usually better for me. and often have slightly diferent selection in item's unfortunatly - -
 
That's a great choice. Have fun with the new board and your new system! Pleased I helped you decide which board to buy! :)
 
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