Best mid-range mobo around £200 - £250?

PumpkinSteve

PumpkinSteve

PumpkinSteve

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I just bought myself this HAF 922:

A3_CM-RC922RW.jpg


I'm looking for a decent mobo that isn't too expensive that will support the usual 6GB DDR3 1600 RAM, I'll probably be looking to fit a GTX 580.

I've seen the Asus P6X58D Premium Intel X58:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-379-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1692

EVGA X58 FTW3 Intel X58:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-027-EA&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1692

I don't know really know what I'm looking for TBH... :D

Any suggestions?
 
My personal preff would be for the Asus MB. But then I have used Asus for years. It depends what you are looking for in the system. You should be able to overclock with both those MBs. You would be fine with what you have stated you are going to use as your other components.
 
TBH, for a nice quality X58 motherboard I would suggest looking at this board. It is a great piece of kit and the price is nice. The Sabertooth TUF and Gigabyte UD3R are also worth a look.

You could pay £100+ more than this on an X58, but tbh you don't get a lot extra for your money.

May I ask, have you already bought the CPU and RAM? As the next generation Intel "Sandy Bridge" CPUs are coming out on January 9th - less than a month away.
 
cmndr_andi said:
TBH, for a nice quality X58 motherboard I would suggest looking at this board. It is a great piece of kit and the price is nice. The Sabertooth TUF and Gigabyte UD3R are also worth a look.

You could pay £100+ more than this on an X58, but tbh you don't get a lot extra for your money.

May I ask, have you already bought the CPU and RAM? As the next generation Intel "Sandy Bridge" CPUs are coming out on January 9th - less than a month away.
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No, I haven't bought the RAM or CPU yet but I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to Sandy Bridge. Surely the i7 will still be a competitive CPU for quite a while to come though?
 
PumpkinSteve said:
Surely the i7 will still be a competitive CPU for quite a while to come though?
Click to expand...

Have a look at this preview and compare the performance. Bear in mind that the chip tested is a sample i5 2400 which can enable hyperthreading - so simulating the i7. However the true i7s will also have a 8MB L3 cache, while the i5s only have 6MB - what real performance difference this produces is unlcear (though i'm betting its not a lot).

May I ask what you will mainly be using the PC for?
 
cmndr_andi said:
Have a look at this preview and compare the performance. Bear in mind that the chip tested is a sample i5 2400 which can enable hyperthreading - so simulating the i7. However the true i7s will also have a 8MB L3 cache, while the i5s only have 6MB - what real performance difference this produces is unlcear (though i'm betting its not a lot).

May I ask what you will mainly be using the PC for?
Click to expand...

Gaming/ internet browsing basically, nothing more. The Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R that was linked to above, what do the higher priced models (UD5, UD7 etc.) offer over this one?
 
I think I'm definitely going to go for a Gigabyte UD3R or UD5 after reading some great reviews. The spec of the UD5 says:

Memory: 6x DDR3 DIMM 2200 / 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz (Max. 24GB)
Click to expand...

Stupid question: why doesn't it mention 1600 memory in there?
 
No clue - but it definitely runs at 1600MHz (with 3 sticks). The memory speeds are just guides - the memory controller is actually on the CPU, so your CPU will be the limiting factor here, not the motherboard.

The main difference between UD3R, UD5 and UD7 is onboard cooling and features (like SATA ports and PCIe spacing). If you only plan to use air cooling then the UD3R is more than sufficient and generally a cracker of a board. It also means you have more to spend on a graphics card/SSD/monitor/sound for a better gaming/general usage experience.
 
Don't know if it's worth making another thread because this is going a little off-topic here but after checking out all of the motherboards suggested above I have come up with this spec so far (going by cheapest prices I've found, is this allowed?):

HAF 922 £107.95
ASUS P6X58D-E £139.33
Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular PSU £123.58
Corsair XMS3 6GB 1600 8-8-8-24 £83.44
Intel Core I7-950 3.06Ghz £216.99

TOTAL: £671.29

Still need a graphics card though. I have an HD5970 at the moment but I'm in two minds whether to keep it for this build or sell it and replace with a GTX 580 or maybe crossfire 6950 or 6970.

Seriously can't believe how cheap it has worked out so far, I must admit the red case was a bit of an unnecessary luxury item...it does look nice though :)

EDIT: I also thought about buying a used i7 920 to knock some more off the price but they seem to be going for only £30- £50 less than the 950.
 
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Mate I would seriously look at the Gigabyte UD3 board again.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-235-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1692

Yeah it is £6 more than the one you have selected but man alive it is a rock solid board and so easy to overclock if you want to. Can not stress how impressed I am with the Gigabyte X58 range. The UD3 like the one I linked too is my 24/7 and game rig. And I love it.

And just to put things in perspective I own a Rampage Extreme 3 board too. But time and time again I find that when I bench I pick up my UD7 board to bench with. Benching is a a big time hobby for me. :D The Gigabyte BIOS is just so intuitive to overclock.

Your graphic card is still a top top card. I would say stick with it or if you can get a good price when selling it then go with two 6850 or 6870 as you were thinking. But really I rate that card you have.
 
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