Need suggestions.

Anesthetize · 19 Apr 2011 at 00:05

Okay, building my first rig in a couple of weeks, but I need some suggestions on a motherboard. I had originally intended to get an 'Asus P8P67 Pro R3 P67 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard,' but despite all the good stuff I've read, I seem to keep coming across bad stuff too. Issues people are having.

Now I don't know much about hardware, so I didn't understand what these issues were, but it seemed quite a few people were having them. Something to do with 'red light?' Anyway, not knowing much about motherboards, I didn't look around much beyond my initial recommendation of the Asus P8P67 Pro. But with only a couple of weeks before I buy the stuff, I wanna make sure I'm buying quality gear.

I was just recommended an 'ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard,' and people seem to like it. But I'm open at this point.

So, recommendations please.

Oh, and incase this info is needed, I'm getting an i5 2500k, and I may go SLI down the road a bit (this is primarily a gaming PC), and I'm definately going to overclock. Try to keep any reasonings or explanations simple, I'm still learning about hardware!

Thanks

cmndr_andi · 19 Apr 2011 at 00:08

If you are buying in a few weeks you might want to come back then - a new line of boards using the Z68 chipset are about to be released. In fact Gigabyte have stopped all production on P67 boards in favour of Z68. Not only will this give you more choice, but it should mean that the P67 R3 boards come down in price.

Anesthetize · 19 Apr 2011 at 00:13

cmndr_andi said:
If you are buying in a few weeks you might want to come back then - a new line of boards using the Z68 chipset are about to be released. In fact Gigabyte have stopped all production on P67 boards in favour of Z68. Not only will this give you more choice, but it should mean that the P67 R3 boards come down in price.

Well, around the end of the first week of May. How soon are these new boards coming out?

mufcmark · 19 Apr 2011 at 00:14

Msi c45: Best for a single card setup, has everything you will need apart from the ability to run two graphics cards: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-167-MS

Msi gd53: this will allow you to run two graphics cards but you have to sacrifice some things such as an eSata port(used for backups etc) a firewire and two usb 3.0 ports: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-170-MS

cmndr_andi · 19 Apr 2011 at 00:14

The rumours I have been reading say some time during the second week of May.

According to this, May 8th.

Anesthetize · 19 Apr 2011 at 00:30

cmndr_andi said:
The rumours I have been reading say some time during the second week of May.

According to this, May 8th.

Hmm, sounds interesting. I might order all the parts and hold off on the motherboard for a week or two and see what happens.

Anymore suggestions on current board are welcome though!

Plec · 19 Apr 2011 at 10:18

cmndr_andi sums it up well and is very well informed with all things hardware.

If you can't/don't want to wait for the new Z68 MB's the advantages of the P67's are that they are a few revisions in and, as such, have had most of their teething problems sorted either via BIOS updates or hardware changes (famously in some instances).

MSI, Gigabyte or ASUS - the MSI in particualr are having very good forum fedback and are particularly good value for the spec you get. Giagabye have a fantastic warranty service being UK based (i usually buy Gigabyte because of this but went the MSI route for my 2500K) and ASUS is well ASUS great quality but get let down with their after sales service.

Just remember, when reading poor results/reviews on forums, that most people will only post if they have a problem and some makes (ASUS) will outsell other boards by a considerable margin thus will appear more often - but all brands will have their fair share of duff boards. Any of the 3 i mentioned will clock your sandy bridge very successfuly. I bought the MSI P67A-C45 (budget board by any other name £105) as it had everything i needed and will happily clock my Sandy bridge upwards of 4.7GHz - but i wanted a respectable clock with as fewer volts as possible, hence my sig.

What's your overall budget - the MSI P67A-GD65 is a great board for the money if you need all the 'bells and whistles'?

But as the commander said - if you're not buying for a few weeks it may pay for you to wait for the Z68.

EDIT: However, i wouldn't order your parts bit by bit - you'll waste your 28 day warranty (easy to swap/return) on some parts and also eat into your other warranties when not in use. Make your order when your ready to buy everything - makes things a lot easier if you run into a problem.

EDIT x 2: Sorry about the edits - my laptop seems to be trying to decide whether or not it's going to die... (i may very well make it's mind up for it in a minute with the use of my very solid coffee table :/)

Anesthetize · 19 Apr 2011 at 17:19

Plec said:
cmndr_andi sums it up well and is very well informed with all things hardware.

If you can't/don't want to wait for the new Z68 MB's the advantages of the P67's are that they are a few revisions in and, as such, have had most of their teething problems sorted either via BIOS updates or hardware changes (famously in some instances).

MSI, Gigabyte or ASUS - the MSI in particualr are having very good forum fedback and are particularly good value for the spec you get. Giagabye have a fantastic warranty service being UK based (i usually buy Gigabyte because of this but went the MSI route for my 2500K) and ASUS is well ASUS great quality but get let down with their after sales service.

Just remember, when reading poor results/reviews on forums, that most people will only post if they have a problem and some makes (ASUS) will outsell other boards by a considerable margin thus will appear more often - but all brands will have their fair share of duff boards. Any of the 3 i mentioned will clock your sandy bridge very successfuly. I bought the MSI P67A-C45 (budget board by any other name £105) as it had everything i needed and will happily clock my Sandy bridge upwards of 4.7GHz - but i wanted a respectable clock with as fewer volts as possible, hence my sig.

What's your overall budget - the MSI P67A-GD65 is a great board for the money if you need all the 'bells and whistles'?

But as the commander said - if you're not buying for a few weeks it may pay for you to wait for the Z68.

EDIT: However, i wouldn't order your parts bit by bit - you'll waste your 28 day warranty (easy to swap/return) on some parts and also eat into your other warranties when not in use. Make your order when your ready to buy everything - makes things a lot easier if you run into a problem.

EDIT x 2: Sorry about the edits - my laptop seems to be trying to decide whether or not it's going to die... (i may very well make it's mind up for it in a minute with the use of my very solid coffee table :/)

I'm sitting at around a £150/£160 budget for the mobo. But reading about the Z68s, I'm not sure how many of the new features I'm gonna need. Literally all I need is to be able to have the option to go SLi if I wanted to, and be able to get a stable overclock out of an i5 2500k with low voltage (nothing too serious, 4.5/4.8 max if I were pushing it, but a steady 4.2/4.4 GHz would be fine). And then have all the basic sockets etc.

I dont really know what would be considered 'bells and whistles,' or if I'd even need them.