Which mobo for i5 2500k?

ashatron

ashatron

ashatron

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Hi all.

im a bit overwhelmed by all these mother board names and codes etc.
i understand P67 = overclocking, no cpu graphics, and H67 = no overclocking, cpu graphics enabled.

So which mobo would you recommend for a i5 2500k?
i do want to overclock.
I care not for SLI / CF (sounds great, but ill never bother doing it)

The more inexpensive the better!

Are the cheaper ones around £100 any good? what dont they offer that the £150 ones do?

And whats this talk about some mobos have a better BIOS than others? How do they differ? And i hear some ASUS boards have problematic bios'. Hope you can help!

(my other components i think will be 6950, 2x2gb ram, psu undecided.)
 
I would say that the Gigabyte P67A-UD3 is quite a good buy for around £100.
In comparison to the more expensive models it doesn't have sli support, (just crossfire),also if crossfire'ing the second card will run at 4x not 8x.

GA-PH67-UD3 (rev. 1.0) £100
Intel® H67 Chipset
1.Supports the newest LGA1155 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processors
2.Ultra Durable™ 3 classic technology with 2oz copper PCB design
3.GIGABYTE 3x USB Power with On/Off Charge USB ports
4.CrossFireX support for ultimate graphics performance
5.XHD technology accelerating hard drive performance with ease
6.Features high speed Gigabit Ethernet connection
7.GIGABYTE DualBIOS™ technology delivering highest level failure protection

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-312-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906

GA-P67A-UD4 (rev. 1.0) £150
Intel® P67 Chipset
1.Supports the newest LGA1155 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processors
2.Innovative 12 phase power VRM design for optimum power efficiency
3.Ultra Durable 3 Technology with copper cooled quality for lower working temperature
4.Supports USB 3.0 with superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps
5.GIGABYTE 3x USB Power with On/Off Charge USB ports
6.High speed SATA3 storage interface with superfast 6Gbps link speed
7.SLI and CrossFireX multi-graphics support for ultimate graphics performance
8.XHD technology accelerating hard drive performance with ease
9.Supports Dolby Home Theater audio

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-317-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906
 
+1 for Asrock Extreme6 or Extreme4 - I had problems with my Asus, other people have had no issues.

As for H67 or P67 - do you plan on buying a graphics card? If not (and you also don't want to overclock) then get an H67 - the onboard graphics are pretty decent on the K series chips (Intel HD 3000 graphics).

If you are going to get a graphics card (e.g gaming, Video, CAD or digital graphics) - then get a P67 motherboard - you'll be glad in the future when you want to squeeze an extra Ghz from your chip (which by all accounts you'll be able to do without without any trouble)
 
Thanks Dave Beast, they look good, cheers!

Mangochutney said:
I would say that the Gigabyte P67A-UD3 is quite a good buy for around £100.
In comparison to the more expensive models it doesn't have sli support, (just crossfire),also if crossfire'ing the second card will run at 4x not 8x.
Click to expand...

Ahh so the more expensive ones have SLI and better CF support - which i think ive read has one 16x + 8x port, but with two cards it runs at 8x + 8x (which is very good performance IIRC).

Awesome, so a cheaper mobo just means no SLI and no (or not so good) CF, but they still overclock fine? Thanks mate :)
 
One guy in Anandtech forums has the Asrock Extreme4 board ,he has it stable at 4.4GHz with no issues ,so another vote for Extreme4 or Extreme6 board.
 
Thanks Elevon, thats good to know :)
bassface said:
+1 for Asrock Extreme6 or Extreme4 - I had problems with my Asus, other people have had no issues.

As for H67 or P67 - do you plan on buying a graphics card? If not (and you also don't want to overclock) then get an H67 - the onboard graphics are pretty decent on the K series chips (Intel HD 3000 graphics).

If you are going to get a graphics card (e.g gaming, Video, CAD or digital graphics) - then get a P67 motherboard - you'll be glad in the future when you want to squeeze an extra Ghz from your chip (which by all accounts you'll be able to do without without any trouble)
Click to expand...

Thanks dude!
yeh ill be doing 3D work and video editing, so it would be nice to get round 4.5 stable for an added boost! :D
 
Is it worth me getting a high performance crossfire (as ill be going ATI) mobo (16x + 8x slot i think they are) for future upgrading?

I wonder if a more future proof mobo is worth it.

And when looking at some images, the ASUS bios does look a lot better, i hear its made for overclocking.

Im not sure weather to go for a £100 mobo or a £150 mobo :/
 
Well the £150 (ish) boards look to have 12 phase power and an extra heatsink compared to the £100.
I'm not an expert, but the £150 look built for better overclocking to me.
 
i have the asus p8p67 pro and i have had no problems so far with 2500 k oc to 4.3 stable ( not pushing it any further yet) the bios is a dream, dnt think icould go back to the old one now lol
 
Thanks for the help Ginger and mango.

The question is, is the new asus bios worth the extra? (provided I don't get problems other users had)
Becuase p8p67 for £130 seems ok.
But then the p8p67 pro is only £20 more which I think supports full cross fire and sli (that right?).

Choices choices. It's the classic pc component way - but for £15 more I could ge this, but then for £20 more i could get this , then another £30!!! Etc etc :)
 
The P8p67 pro is looking like the most popular at the moment, bought one myself. Unfortunatly I'm sending it back due to a fault.
The forum is full of p8p67 problems but thats maybe because the've sold so many and you always get teething trouble with new tech. Most of the problems look like they are due to dodgy BIOS but that will soon get sorted with future updates.
Oh, and the pro does xfire and sli (8x and 8x).

If your not in a rush, it might be prudent to wait and see just how these problems 'develop'.
 
I received my Asus P8P67 today, along with a 2500K. The BIOS is brilliant - takes a little getting used to being a new chip architecture etc. as well, but being able to use a mouse is extremely efficient for many tasks.
 
Mangochutney said:
The P8p67 pro is looking like the most popular at the moment, bought one myself. Unfortunatly I'm sending it back due to a fault.
The forum is full of p8p67 problems but thats maybe because the've sold so many and you always get teething trouble with new tech. Most of the problems look like they are due to dodgy BIOS but that will soon get sorted with future updates.
Oh, and the pro does xfire and sli (8x and 8x).

If your not in a rush, it might be prudent to wait and see just how these problems 'develop'.
Click to expand...

Yeh thats an idea, let the problems work their way out.
Did you get the same mobo again out of interest? (wondering if its that good!)
 
MikeHiow said:
I received my Asus P8P67 today, along with a 2500K. The BIOS is brilliant - takes a little getting used to being a new chip architecture etc. as well, but being able to use a mouse is extremely efficient for many tasks.
Click to expand...

you can use a mouse in it?? SWEET! such a simple thing, but BIOS seems so primitive usually.
 
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