I've got permission from my wife to build a new PC, I've committed myself now by buying my case (Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced Dominator and am looking at what board to get.
I plan to put a Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) in whatever I get.
I've read up on Z68 and don't think I'll make good use of the facilities it offers.
By all accounts, the MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION is a good board especially as it currently come with a free cooler.
BUT... reading a review it stated:
The P67A-GD65 is good but falls short of greatness. Overclocking it is a chore, although MSI tells us it’s addressing this. The price works against it too, and while voltage readout points and on-board power switches are desirable, you won’t use them every day. We’d recommend buying the Asus P8P67 over the GD65.
The "overclocking is a chore" bit causes me a little concern though.
Is this a good board for a newbie overclocker or is there a better alternative I should be looking at.
The free fan is nice but I have had a little though about installing a Corsair Hydro H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler don't won't my decision to be totally upon the free fan - however there is every chance I'll start with the fan and upgrade the colling at a later date.
I also won't be using a SSD but would like to in future. Whatever board I get will probably last me few a good few years.
So, can I do better than a GD85 without extending the budget (a few pounds may be allowed for a much better option).
I plan to put a Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) in whatever I get.
I've read up on Z68 and don't think I'll make good use of the facilities it offers.
By all accounts, the MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION is a good board especially as it currently come with a free cooler.
BUT... reading a review it stated:
The P67A-GD65 is good but falls short of greatness. Overclocking it is a chore, although MSI tells us it’s addressing this. The price works against it too, and while voltage readout points and on-board power switches are desirable, you won’t use them every day. We’d recommend buying the Asus P8P67 over the GD65.
The "overclocking is a chore" bit causes me a little concern though.
Is this a good board for a newbie overclocker or is there a better alternative I should be looking at.
The free fan is nice but I have had a little though about installing a Corsair Hydro H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler don't won't my decision to be totally upon the free fan - however there is every chance I'll start with the fan and upgrade the colling at a later date.
I also won't be using a SSD but would like to in future. Whatever board I get will probably last me few a good few years.
So, can I do better than a GD85 without extending the budget (a few pounds may be allowed for a much better option).
