Best mid-range motherboard for the money?

kissenger · 7 Dec 2011 at 13:44

Looking to upgrade. Thinking of getting this Gigabyte Z68 board:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-368-GI

Is this the best one to get in the price range? Is there anything else it's worth spending a little extra on? Probably willing to go up to as high as £140 if it's worth it.

stulid · 7 Dec 2011 at 16:27

Thats the cheapest SLI/Crossfire (at 8X/8X) ATX motherboard on sale at OCUK

Very good board at a great price - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z68xp-ud3-dz68db,2980-6.html

Apem · 7 Dec 2011 at 16:32

Decent board but its not mid range its at the bottom range

stulid · 7 Dec 2011 at 16:35

Apem said:
Decent board but its not mid range its at the bottom range

? surely if its mid-range or not depends on the OP's budget?

Perhaps its mid-range for him.

Montala · 7 Dec 2011 at 16:36

I don't really want to start an off topic discussion here, but are there any real advantages in 'upgrading' from a P67 board to one with a Z68 chipset?

stulid · 7 Dec 2011 at 16:38

Montala said:
I don't really want to start an off topic discussion here, but are there any real advantages in 'upgrading' from a P67 board to one with a Z68 chipset?

Depends if you want,

• Lucid Virtu ( saves power)
• Quicksync ( not many programs use it)
• SSD caching ( most people just use or buy a 60GB SSD for the OS)
• Able to use a onboard ( on CPU ) GFX solution ( useful if a graphics card dies, you can still use the PC for simple tasks)

kissenger · 7 Dec 2011 at 17:01

Apem said:
Decent board but its not mid range its at the bottom range

See this is the thing, I'm at a complete loss with these boards. Don't have a clue what to look for.

Basically what I want is the motherboard equivalent of the 2500k, if you know what I mean. The board which is a good overclocker, fairly futureproof, has all the features you realistically need for general use and gaming and a decent brand name (so I know I'm getting decent quality parts). In other words the best bang for buck motherboard out there.

One thing that I would like (but am not married to) is PCI-e 3.0 because I assume the Kepler cards, or the 2nd gen Kepler cards, will all be PCI-e 3.0.

stulid · 7 Dec 2011 at 17:42

kissenger said:
One thing that I would like (but am not married to) is PCI-e 3.0 because I assume the Kepler cards, or the 2nd gen Kepler cards, will all be PCI-e 3.0.

Well it is PCI-E3.0 for the top PCI-E16X slot, this is because 8X lanes are directly connected to the CPU socket and its the ivybridge CPU that has the controller - http://www.tomshardware.com/news/gigabyte-msi-pcie-3.0-gen3-third-gen,13485.html

IvanDobskey · 7 Dec 2011 at 21:03

kissenger said:
See this is the thing, I'm at a complete loss with these boards. Don't have a clue what to look for.

Basically what I want is the motherboard equivalent of the 2500k, if you know what I mean. The board which is a good overclocker, fairly futureproof, has all the features you realistically need for general use and gaming and a decent brand name (so I know I'm getting decent quality parts). In other words the best bang for buck motherboard out there.

One thing that I would like (but am not married to) is PCI-e 3.0 because I assume the Kepler cards, or the 2nd gen Kepler cards, will all be PCI-e 3.0.

I was wondering the exact same thing as you and started off looking at that same Gigabyte board. I went for an Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 for £149 in the end.