Budget 2500K build ordering 1st thing tomorrow -last minute mobo advice...

FishPolice

FishPolice

FishPolice

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Ordering a new 2500K system for my son tomorrow. Kinda stuck at the moment between budget 2 mobos:


MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 £89.98 inc VAT

Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 £89.99 inc VAT

Z68 is newer technology I guess but for overclockability at this price point I think the MSI is gonna be better. Plus I'm probably a bit biased as I have the MSI P67-GD65.

The budget for the board is pretty maxed out at £90-100 inc VAT (might stretch to £110 though).

Might possibly go crossfire in the future but more likely to stick with a single GPU.

Any thoughts/recommendations for me? All suggestions much appreciated :)
 
Westie said:
U are one cool dad!
Click to expand...

Well I reckon he deserves a new pc because he usually has to make do with my 2 - 3 yr old systems when I upgrade. Also me & the missus just found out that he opted out of a school skiing trip to Andora because he was worried about costing us money :(
 
 
If you think you might go Crossfire in the future, then the MSI P67A-G45 would be a better choice as its 2nd PCI-E x16 would run at x8, whereas the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 is only runs X4.
 
RJC said:
The 2nd Gigabyte motherboard offers SLI & Crossfire @ dual 8 x as well, and offers the usual Z68 options which may be of use later.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-368-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990]
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GA-Z68AP-D3:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4015#sp

"1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2 and PCIEX1_3 slots. When the PCIEX1_2 slot or the PCIEX1_3 slot is populated, the PCIEX4 slot will operate at up to x1 mode."
 
Marine-RX179 said:
GA-Z68AP-D3:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4015#sp

"1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2 and PCIEX1_3 slots. When the PCIEX1_2 slot or the PCIEX1_3 slot is populated, the PCIEX4 slot will operate at up to x1 mode."
Click to expand...

might want to check the link there ;)

rjc has linked to the z68xp-ud3 NOT the one you're quoating the specs to i.e. the z68ap-d3

fishpolice whats the rest of the specs?

if you can stretch maybe http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-192-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990 for future pcie3.0 compatibility?
 
fowler002 said:
might want to check the link there ;)

rjc has linked to the z68xp-ud3 NOT the one you're quoating the specs to i.e. the z68ap-d3
Click to expand...
Em...the OP is asked about the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3, and all of RJC's previous responses were regarding the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 as well. Because he said "The 2nd Gigabyte motherboard offers SLI & Crossfire @ dual 8 x as well", I was under the impress he was still referring to the same board...2nd motherboard that the OP quoted in his first post, and I didn't realise he linked to a different motherboard.

To be honest, I don't know what is that "2nd" is he referring to, as the motherboard he linked to is the 3rd motherboard Z68 Gigabyte motheroboard on OCUK's list if in the order of price from lowest to the highest. Would had been less confusing if he just said something like "Here's a different Gigabyte board that offers offers SLI & Crossfire @ dual 8 x".

Anyway, the MSI Z68A-G45-B3 is still cheaper, with new bios interface and the onboard 8 Channel HD Audio with THX TruStudio Pro that's probably better than the Realtek onboard.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the advice last night :)

Went with the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 in the end. Should be here tomorrow :D

Complete spec (cos someone asked earlier in the thread):

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz
Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 [from my current rig -I've got 8GB to go in mine now]
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 [from my previous rig]
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler
XFX Pro 550W Core Edition
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB [managed to buy this when it was £40]
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case [really wanted the Lancool K62 but couldn't afford it]

He will be gaming at 1680 x 1050 on his existing monitor so hopefully Skyrim will run ok with the 5830...

Sadly funds wouldn't permit Win7 for him as well so he'll have to make do with XP for a while yet. I did manage to get him a cheapo printer as well though -this means I can sort of get away with spending this much on him on the grounds that it's gonna help him through his school/college work. The missus would have gone nuts otherwise. So for the sake of £30 extra on a printer I'm now in her good books lol :D
 
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