best z68 motherboard for £139 or less?

squarehead94 · 22 Dec 2011 at 21:13

hey all, got my dads rig built, now im wanting to make my own. i have a budget of around 400 for basically the entire machine, i have set myself budgets for each major component. im looking at currently:
30 for ram (8gb of ripjaws ddr3 1600), 200 for processor (stuck between i5 2500k and i7 2600k), 70 for case and PSU (maybe a 750w psu and a decent case, likely to be sourced from ebay for the case, rather get a brilliant used case than a cheapo new one) and the remainder on motherboard. I want a motherboard that has 2 pci-e slots that run in 16x (my dads rig has 2 pci-e slots one in 16x one in 8, id like dual 16x pci e slots) erm, 4 DIMM slots, atx form factor, and one that is a good overall board. ideally id like to spend between 80-120 for one but will go up to 140. also, is it worth getting a better board and an i5 2500k or a worse board with a 2600k?
thanks!
ste

RJC · 22 Dec 2011 at 21:18

Virtually all Z68 boards will run the dual PCI-E lanes at dual 8x, some motherboards have a onboard chip which allows for extra bandwidth on the PCI-E slots.

What will be the main use of the pc?

Edit:

Couple of motherboards:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-368-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-191-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

Davefran · 22 Dec 2011 at 21:22

The difference between dual x16 and dual x8 is only 2-3 %.
Don't skimp on the Psu, get a quality brand one it's THE most important piece of hardware in the PC.
Do you already have sata optical and hard drives you can re-use ?

squarehead94 · 22 Dec 2011 at 21:23

thanks @RJC,
main uses: gaming, general computer use (browsing net, movies, word processing) very rarely i may use photoshop, i mean very rarely lol.
to be honest, im building it for future proofing, id rather pay 400 and build a rig myself than pay 400 for a rig from pc world that has rubbish components.
so yeah, mainly general use, gaming, future proofing, may do some overclocking but not over 4.3ghz.

RJC · 22 Dec 2011 at 21:26

Go with the 2500k cpu, this would be fine for your needs, one thing with the Geil ram is t may inter fear with a after market cooler, the kingston ram is on offer and has low heatsinks.

Davefran · 22 Dec 2011 at 21:35

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £335.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Starting Base, PSU will depend on your choice of GPU. Get a good brand ( Antec, Corsair or XFX) e.g for GTX560 Ti SLi min 650w, GTX570 SLi min 750w, GTX 580 SLi 850w.

squarehead94 · 22 Dec 2011 at 22:04

Davefran said:
The difference between dual x16 and dual x8 is only 2-3 %.
Don't skimp on the Psu, get a quality brand one it's THE most important piece of hardware in the PC.
Do you already have sata optical and hard drives you can re-use ?

i have a 500gb hard drive from an all in one pc that im going to swap out (due to the fact im going to sell my acer z5700 all in one) and i have a usb dvd drive for now, so in a few months ill buy a blu ray (when i have more money, around march-ish.)