Upgrade time! Help me spec please!

Jay85

Jay85

Jay85

Soldato
Joined
22 May 2010
Posts
13,004
Location
Minibotpc
So after upgrading my dads, im finally taking the plunge aswel to upgrade!

All i want to replace is my board and cpu as i can reuse everything else.

Specification:

Has to be an mATX board (this cant be changed)
I would prefer a Z77 board
What is better, i5 2500k or 3570k for gaming??

Appreciate the help, thanks!

Jay
 
have a look at the Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 mobo and 3570K processor will set you back about £290 ish(includes delivery).
 
Take a look a these boards.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Z77 Maximus V Gene Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £151.99
1 x Asrock Z77 Extreme4 M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £101.99
1 x MSI Z77MA-G45 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard £92.75
1 x Asus P8Z77-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £88.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £86.99
Total : £534.71 (includes shipping : £10.00).




Ive looked at your build, which is awesome by the way. :)

I think the gigabyte board is the one that least matches your build. The others will go with it, though each adding a different colour. Performance which i can't see much between them, though the Maximus is better rated, though comes at a much bigger premium.

I feel its an aesthetic choice between the middle 3. :)
 
Doomedspeed said:
Take a look a these boards.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Z77 Maximus V Gene Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £151.99
1 x Asrock Z77 Extreme4 M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £101.99
1 x MSI Z77MA-G45 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard £92.75
1 x Asus P8Z77-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £88.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £86.99
Total : £534.71 (includes shipping : £10.00).




Ive looked at your build, which is awesome by the way. :)

I think the gigabyte board is the one that least matches your build. The others will go with it, though each adding a different colour. Performance which i can't see much between them, though the Maximus is better rated, though comes at a much bigger premium.

I feel its an aesthetic choice between the middle 3. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for looking :), i'm hoping to spice it up a little. Especially with the 680 in there, i know its being bottlenecked by my phenom quite badly at the moment.

I think out of the 3 middle ones, the one that catches my eye the most is the MSI board. It's also because i've just used the atx version of this board on my dads build lol so i know the bios layout and i quite like it to be frank. Easy to overclock and manage.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Asrock Z77 Extreme4 M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £101.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £43.99
Total : £325.97 (includes shipping : FREE).



I would sell off your old mobo bundle (CPU,RAM and mobo).

This OEM CPU is cheaper but has no heatsink (you'll get a waterblock no?) and a shorter warranty, although in my experience CPU failure is very unlikely. Sadly you have literally just missed a great offer on the OEM ivybridge i5K :( The IB CPU has a better IGP (more on this later) and uses less power to operate, it also enables the PCI-E slot on the Z77 mobo ;)

The Z77 mobo can overclock obviously but it also has lucidMVP which will switch between the IGP and the dedicated GPU as needed (saves power) and during gaming the IGP is used to boost the IGP. Quick sync uses the IGP for speeding up video encoding tasks if the software supports it.
 
honosuseri said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Asrock Z77 Extreme4 M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £101.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £43.99
Total : £325.97 (includes shipping : FREE).



I would sell off your old mobo bundle (CPU,RAM and mobo).

This OEM CPU is cheaper but has no heatsink (you'll get a waterblock no?) and a shorter warranty, although in my experience CPU failure is very unlikely. Sadly you have literally just missed a great offer on the OEM ivybridge i5K :( The IB CPU has a better IGP (more on this later) and uses less power to operate, it also enables the PCI-E slot on the Z77 mobo ;)

The Z77 mobo can overclock obviously but it also has lucidMVP which will switch between the IGP and the dedicated GPU as needed (saves power) and during gaming the IGP is used to boost the IGP. Quick sync uses the IGP for speeding up video encoding tasks if the software supports it.
Click to expand...


Any idea on when OEM cpu's will be back in stock??


And yes i will be re-using my old EK LTX block but getting new fittings i.e. new back plate and precise mount kit as i dont think my old back plate will fit on the new Z77 boards.
 
honosuseri said:
It says they have 6 in stock now. Last week they were on offer for £160ish, offers changed today :(
Click to expand...

Ah i thought you meant it was completely out of stock, my bad! Yea £180 for oem is a little expensive lol, i got my dads retail version for under that price elsewhere. Guess i should wait then but not worry theres time :D
 
I'd go MSI. They do have great overclocking features and are a very reliable brand.

Where as Asrock are a newer brand, in terms of high-end reliable products. Im sure it's is a great board but my head is telling me MSI.

If it was my choice. :)
 
name89 said:
Not saying its the best for you, but this is what i have and it works a treat!
,similar board to the UD3H but has 1 more Ethernet port and a few extra SATA and eSATA connectors.
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £173.99
Total : £359.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Click to expand...

He needs a mATX motherboard, it says in the opening post.

I know the gene is a great Overclocker but i don't feel it's worth an extra £55. £10-£20 maybe.
 
Hi guys, thanks for all the replies.

I have the cpu in transit just need a board for tuesday to start the build. The gene is way over my budget, i would prefer something more in the £100 range as i still
Need to get some other bits and bobs.

I see there aren't many matc boards out yet for the z77 chipset... So it really comes down to the msi board or the asrock board.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom