P67 or H67 - need advice please.

Morph3ous

Morph3ous

Morph3ous

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I'm shortly going to attempt my first self build using an Intel i5 2400 processor with 8GB of 1033 RAM and an SSD. I'm really torn on which mobo to get though.

I won't be playing any games on the machine but will be doing lots of PhotoShop, audio editing and some video editing. I was initially considering a discrete GPU with the Asus P8P67, something like the Ati 5450 512mb to help with my editing tasks. I've read the P67 loses the ability to use quicksync though, which considerably improves video editing tasks? Therefore seems H67 is best for me as the 2400 has little OC ability anyway, but I don't know if I can add the 5450 to the H67, for use alongside the integrated graphics? Does it work like that? Would it be worth buying the GPU if I'm not gaming? Would the GPU disable quicksync?

I have a budget of £120 for the mobo. Which is best for my needs? H67 or P67? I want USB3 for future proofing and preferably a full size ATX board as I'll be using the coolermaster 212 plus CPU cooler.

Help greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Quick sync seems to be exclusively for transcoding h.264 video, which it does extremely well. If you will be doing this a lot then I would certainly go with the H67 board and use the integrated graphics.

As for which CPU to go for the 2400 is OK, but it only uses the Intel HD 2000 graphics processor - while the more expensive 2500K uses the 3000. If you look at this page, the 3000 is significantly more powerful than the 2000 - and even matches the power of the ATI HD 5450. Also, quick sync makes use of the graphics processor - so using the 2500K with the HD 3000 GPU would be faster than the 2400 with the HD 2000. Also, if you insert a discrete graphics card into a H67 board, the ability to use Quick Sync is removed, as the graphics core is bypassed.

Therefore, my suggestion would be to get a H67 board, a i5 2500K CPU and no discrete graphics card.
 
Do you really have to upgrade now? If not, you should probably wait a month or two for Z68 motherboards. If you can save up a bit more money and grab a Z68 + i5-2500K you'll have a fantastic machine for X264 encoding (an i7-2600K would be even better but obviously it's a lot more money so probably not worth considering if your budget won't stretch).
 
No, I wont be overclocking. The H67 with 2500K option does seem very appealing as it means the overall PC cost is actually reduced with the loss of the HD 5450. Think thats what i'll go with.
 
I’ve been going through a similar thought process as Morph3ous.
Couldn’t decide between the 2400 with H67 mobo or 2500K with P67. (I’m not really intending to overclock, but wanted to keep my options open for the future).

After reading (cmndr andi’s) post on the Intel HD 2000/3000 graphics processors I’m defiantly go for the 2500K, but I’m still unsure about the mobo. The problem is I’ve already bought an ATI Sapphire HD 6850 1GB GPU so can't save money not buying a discrete GPU.

I couldn’t say if I’d be transcoding video in the future, but at the moment I’m more interested in photography and using Photoshop. Also, it’s a new build, so I don’t have as OS to up-grade.

Would it be better to go for a cheaper H67 now and replace it with Z68 (if or when) I decide to overclock, or go for P67 now?
 
cmndr_andi said:
Quick sync seems to be exclusively for transcoding h.264 video, which it does extremely well. If you will be doing this a lot then I would certainly go with the H67 board and use the integrated graphics.

As for which CPU to go for the 2400 is OK, but it only uses the Intel HD 2000 graphics processor - while the more expensive 2500K uses the 3000. If you look at this page, the 3000 is significantly more powerful than the 2000 - and even matches the power of the ATI HD 5450. Also, quick sync makes use of the graphics processor - so using the 2500K with the HD 3000 GPU would be faster than the 2400 with the HD 2000. Also, if you insert a discrete graphics card into a H67 board, the ability to use Quick Sync is removed, as the graphics core is bypassed.

Therefore, my suggestion would be to get a H67 board, a i5 2500K CPU and no discrete graphics card.
Click to expand...

But if he uses a K Series CPU, with H67 Motherboard then he will not be able to change the multi so the overclocking is very limited.
 
jamesfreddie said:
But if he uses a K Series CPU, with H67 Motherboard then he will not be able to change the multi so the overclocking is very limited.
Click to expand...

True, but it really depends what he plans to use it for.

If he plans to make use of the integrated graphics and Quick Sync, then the K series would still be worthwhile purely due to the much more powerful graphics core. Since he is doing video editing - then Quick Sync sounds like it will be of use for when doing transcoding (more info here) and is not available when using a P67 (overclocking enabled motherboard).

However, if he wants to overclock - then the same K series CPU and a P67 board would be a good option (though it has to be weighed against the loss of quick sync).


Perhas it would be worth picking up a H67 board now - try out quick sync, see how useful it is. Then, in Q2 (when the Z68 boards are released) pick up a Z68 board, sell the H67 and do have a crack at overclocking - while maintaining integrated graphics and quick sync.
 
MeatLoaf said:
As far as im aware the non K also has the HD3000 GFX
Click to expand...

Sorry man, I don't think they do. Have a look at this page, bottom table (under "more differentiation").

The non-K i7 has a pretty high max graphics clockspeed, but because it is only using a HD 2000 - it still performs much slower than the lower-clocked HD 3000 in the i5 2500K.
 
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