Motherboard & CPU

Loxa

Loxa

Loxa

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2011
Posts
2,342
Hey,

I was thinking about buying a new Motherboard and a CPU but I'm not 100% sure what I should go for. I have a budget of around £200 for both and would like to get an i5, also 4 RAM slots on the motherboard if possible to keep open the possibility of future upgrades.
 
If at all possible, go for a K-series i5 CPU (like the i5 2500K) and a Z68 or P67 motherboard (like this one) - as this combination will allow you to overclock the CPU (these chips will easily get up to 4.5GHz) and run four RAM sticks.

Unfortunately this is a bit over £200, but if you can afford it - it will be worth it in the long run.
 
The problem with the P8H67-M board is that it only costs £2 less than the Gigabyte Z68 board I linked to above, but it doesn't support any overclocking of the CPU.
 
cmndr_andi said:
The problem with the P8H67-M board is that it only costs £2 less than the Gigabyte Z68 board I linked to above, but it doesn't support any overclocking of the CPU.
Click to expand...

Good spot, my mistake. I was just looking for the cheapest :) But he has not stated whether or not OC is something he's interested in doing!
 
jamesfreddie said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £175.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £84.98
Total : £272.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Whats your current setup?
Click to expand...

Q6600
Geforce 250 GTS
Foxxconn Mobo from a Packard Bell Ixtreme
OCZ 700w PSU
Coolmaster 212 Evo CPU Fan
Sharkoon T9 Case

Overclocking is something i would like to look into because it will keep be from upgrading as much as i could get more from my PC

Is the Asrock Z68 PRO3 Gen3 Intel Z68 a nice Motherboard? The Intel Core I5 2500K is something i really want to purchase just having a problem with figuring out a cheap mobo
 
Last edited:
That asrock board is a nice quality one, however please bear in mind that it doesn't support SLI or CF as it doesn't have a second PCIE x16 slot.

Instead I would personally go with this Gigabyte UD3 board - since it is about the same cost, overclocks great, supports SLI & CF and the RMA is based in the UK.
 
cmndr_andi said:
That asrock board is a nice quality one, however please bear in mind that it doesn't support SLI or CF as it doesn't have a second PCIE x16 slot.

Instead I would personally go with this Gigabyte UD3 board - since it is about the same cost, overclocks great, supports SLI & CF and the RMA is based in the UK.
Click to expand...

Ohh i see, i have been looking at the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI

As shown by another member of OC which i prefer because its cheaper ;p

@jamesfreddie Gaming mostly and other random things, its on pretty much 24/7
 
Thrust4Money said:
Ohh i see, i have been looking at the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI

As shown by another member of OC which i prefer because its cheaper ;p

@Jamesfreddie Gaming mostly and other random things, its on pretty much 24/7
Click to expand...

Yea, as I mentioned in my first post, the £85 D3 board is really nice and gives you a solid, overclockable Z68 board for not much money.

However, compared to a board like the £100 UD3- the D3 doesn't support SLI and the 2nd PCIE x16 port only runs at x4 speed - while on the UD3 this port runs at x8 speed (which is the maximum speed a standard Z68/P67 board can run two cards at).

Therefore, if you want the option of SLI/CF for the future, then spending the extra £15 on the UD3 board may be worthwhile. If you don't think you will want to go down the SLI/CF road - then the D3 is an excellent option.

That said, I would echo what jamesfreddie says - if you are mainly using your PC for gaming, then if you are playing at a respectable resolution then in most games your GTS250 graphics card will be holding you back more than the Q6600 CPU. Therefore, you may want to invest in a new GPU before you replace the CPU/mobo/RAM.
 
jamesfreddie said:
If its for gaming, You should look at upgrading the graphics card first.
Click to expand...

The GPU ive got atm is fine for now, my motherboard only supports DDR2 Ram and im looking to upgrade bits at a time. The main things are Mobo/CPU as i can sort myself with some DDR3 at another time
 
cmndr_andi said:
Yea, as I mentioned in my first post, the £85 D3 board is really nice and gives you a solid, overclockable Z68 board for not much money.

However, compared to a board like the £100 UD3- the D3 doesn't support SLI and the 2nd PCIE x16 port only runs at x4 speed - while on the UD3 this port runs at x8 speed (which is the maximum speed a standard Z68/P67 board can run two cards at).

Therefore, if you want the option of SLI/CF for the future, then spending the extra £15 on the UD3 board may be worthwhile. If you don't think you will want to go down the SLI/CF road - then the D3 is an excellent option.

That said, I would echo what jamesfreddie says - if you are mainly using your PC for gaming, then if you are playing at a respectable resolution then in most games your GTS250 graphics card will be holding you back more than the Q6600 CPU. Therefore, you may want to invest in a new GPU before you replace the CPU/mobo/RAM.
Click to expand...

Probably not as its just not affordable for me to buy more than one GPU at a time even though id love to ^^
 
spenncerr said:
Good spot, my mistake. I was just looking for the cheapest :) But he has not stated whether or not OC is something he's interested in doing!
Click to expand...

When you are in a hole stop digging lol

Why add the i5K then if not for overclocking? Your earlier post with the non K CPU made more sense, although as CM_andi pointed out that H series mobo is roughly the same price as a Z series mobo and has fewer features.....so go for the z series mobos.

The OPs 700W PSU would allow for dual carding of midrange GPUs (560tis let's say). As CM_andi has pointed out the mobos to do this are slightly more expensive, you are looking around £100 for a proper xfire/sli capable mobo.

The other issue is that you need RAM as well :( £300ish is a more reasonable budget.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £175.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard £104.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.19
Total : £322.96 (includes shipping : £9.00).



That is an overclockable i5, you can expect 4ghz oc'ing on the stock heatsink (just up the multiplier in the bios.....it's very simple, we can help you through the process). Mobo has ivybridge support and will dual card properly and you have 8GB of RAM there.....if you drop to 4GB you only save £10, i'd pay the £10 for the extra 4GB myself.

Hope this helps, any queries or problems hit us up.....to be fair Cm_andi has done very well covering any questions you might have :)
 
cmndr_andi said:
Fair enough, D3 it is then.

Nice board - here is a review if you are interested.

Though I would consider a new GPU before the CPU/mobo. One of my friends runs a Q6600 and a HD 5850 (a card roughly twice as fast as a GTS250) and in most games he is still GPU limited.
Click to expand...

Nvidia 460 OC'd then maybe? Adds cuda support to help assist the aging CPU in some tasks depending on software. Many games like WOW tend to favour nvidia and personally i like their HBAO lighting in game.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £127.99
Total : £137.89 (includes shipping : £8.25).



I have that card in my HTPC clocked at 900mhz. I didn't go with the F.T.W edition incase the OP decides he likes the idea of SLI later. That F.T.W edition has 192bit VRAM and he might struggle to find another 460 to pair with it.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/542?vs=539

note that 460 in the benchmark is stock clocked at 695mhz (expect 850 when OC'ing the 460SC), i've compared it with the 6850 which is another fav budget gaming GPU
 
Last edited:
That's a nice card - I installed one in a friend's system a few months ago and it happily chomps through modern games and looks good doing it.

If that is the OP's budget for a graphics card then that is the one I would go for, considering their uses.

To the OP: May I ask what MMOs in particular you are playing? With Wow a pretty low-end GPU is generally OK and a more powerful CPU is often useful. However, with something like TOR a powerful GPU is much more important (see here), while a pretty basic CPU is fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom